It wasn’t just Nick Clegg who gave an inspirational speech, Chris Huhne gave an excellent speech too.

Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and Chris Huhne make a formidable team who will come into their own against the lack lustre front benchers from the ping pong, it’s our turn, parties.

Roll on the campaign and the opportunity for the voters to vote for Real Change by backing Jo Crotty here in Warrington South.

I am pleased to hear that members of the Lymm Youth and Community Association (LYCA) committee have met with officers of Warrington Borough Council and have agreed a way forward in negotiating a new lease for the Youth Club building.

When concluded this will allow LYCA to develop their programme of activities for the whole community in the building to demonstrate the need for such facilities in Lymm.

The Playgroup had the official opening of their new secure outdoor playspace by the Village Hall at lunchtime today. It was delightful to see the children enjoying what is a surprisingly big paved space.

This is an essential facility for the children. The Playgroup is required to provide such space to meet the Early Years Foundation Stage requirements of the Department for Children Schools and Families, so without this the Playgroup’s future could have been under threat. Warrington Borough Council were able to fund a fencing scheme.

The Playgroup committee had to go through several sets of proposals to the, somewhat sceptical, Parish Council because of the sensitivity of the location. However their final idea of safe, secure, soft, see-through panels which are locked into the ground, but can be put away, finally won the Parish Council over.

These look very good indeed while providing a safe space for the children to run about, ride bicycles and enjoy outdoor play. Congratulations to the Playgroup committee for persevering and putting together such a good scheme which will be enjoyed by generations of children.

A new journey planner based on cycling routes and centred on Lymm has just become available at http://lymm.cyclestreets.net/ . It looks like this:

 This is a beta test version so it is still being developed and improved. The beauty of the planner is that it is based on the Open Street Map which is a resource built and maintained by volunteers around the world and available for free use and reproduction – no royalty payments – Ever! All you need do is acknowledge that your map is copied from Open Street Map or Open Cycle Map.

Cycle tracks and paths are being added all the time and the street network is constantly being added to and improved. If you find an error or want to add something to the map, it is easy to join in and do so.

I feel inspired by Nick Clegg’s excellent conference speech. Take the time to read it and see if it inspires you.

Lymm Youth Club

Statement by Cllrs Robert Barr, Ian Marks, Sheila Woodyatt

who are members of:

Warrington Borough Council and Lymm Parish Council.

A very enthusiastic and hard working group led by Neville Davies has helped members of the original Youth Club Committee bring the Youth Club Premises on the Lymm waterfront at Bridgewater Street back into use.  We welcome this.

Unfortunately this has been done in an acrimonious atmosphere in which accusations have been thrown at Warrington Borough Council and the three Borough Councillors which are unfair and untrue. The purpose of this note is to clarify our position and form a basis for resolving the points on which we agree and those on which we disagree.

Ownership of the Youth Club building and the plot on which it stands.

The land at Bridgewater Street belonged to Lymm Urban District Council.  In 1966 the land was leased to the four Trustees nominated by the Lymm Youth Club to enable them to build on the site. Under local government reorganisation in 1974 ownership of the site was transferred to Warrington Borough Council. The lease expired in 2006,   However, as early as 2004, the Property Services department of Warrington Borough Council tried to begin negotiations over a renewal.  Unfortunately there was no longer a panel of trustees able to take on the lease.   Negotiations continued through 2006 up to and beyond the expiry of the original lease.  These negotiations are still continuing.  Warrington Borough Council interprets the lease, their registered title, and the history of the site as giving ownership.

The ‘Neville Davies group’ has publicly challenged this, claims to have legal advice to the contrary and claims that they have grounds for suing both the Council and the Borough Councillors over this matter.  No specific charges have been made by the group and the group has provided no evidence of the legal advice they have had.

All three Borough Councillors have made it clear that if this matter requires legal resolution, that must happen and all parties must abide by the outcome so the future of both the building and the club can be settled.

Youth provision at the club

In recent years the youth activities at the club have been provided, somewhat sporadically, by a group of volunteers who also did their best to bring the building up to a standard suitable for use.  It has been extremely difficult to do both, so the involvement of the ‘Neville Davies group’ in managing the building was welcomed, by all three Borough Councillors.

However the issue of the youth provision and the best way to deliver it in Lymm remains, which is why we welcome the opportunity that the three year lease offers to test that.  The youth club has been in difficulties since the withdrawal of youth worker support under the previous administration at Warrington Borough Council.

Lymm offers a very wide range of youth activities in sports clubs, music groups, scouts, guides, air cadets, church groups and out of hours school provision.  It is not unreasonable to ask what the role of the youth club is in the future?   We are not saying it isn’t necessary, but a 10 year peppercorn lease on the assumption that there is an ongoing requirement is not a reasonable demand.

Conspiracy theories

The many conspiracy theories which are being put about such as linking the withdrawal of youth support with a desire to sell the site, or any contacts with potential developers are entirely without foundation and could be interpreted as being intentionally defamatory.

 It is true that the Borough Councillors did investigate the possibility of a joint development on the site that would have provided a community facility together with a Primary Care Trust clinic or jointly with the Citizen’s Advice Bureau.  Both fell through.  It is also true that the possibility of developing this and other sites on the waterfront to provide enabling development for community facilities and other improvements to the village are being considered and may be put to the public for consultation.  The ‘Neville Davies group’ have stated that they are not necessarily averse to this, provided a replacement facility is also on the waterfront or near the village centre.

Community provision

A full list of community spaces used for non-commercial community activities around the village is being compiled.  This is because the Youth Club is not the only community centre that needs support.  We believe that what really matters is that the right spaces, in good usable condition, are available for all the community activities in the village.  It is the activities that matter, not necessarily the buildings in which they are housed.

This is why we are encouraging the ‘Neville Davies group’ to test the demand for additional community space in the building on which they have done so much work to bring it back into usable condition.  If such a demand is demonstrated, it will make it much easier to ensure the future of either the youth club building or any replacement or alternative.

It was for this reason that one of the Borough Councillors, when working with the Youth Club committee on a business plan to secure the future of the premises suggested that they should turn themselves into the Lymm Youth and Community Association to widen the user base for the building and to ensure that it is used for community activities for most nights of the week.

Moving forward
 
It is entirely unhelpful to move forward in an atmosphere of conflict.  Warrington’s Property Services staff and the three Borough Councillors are doing all that they can to ensure that the full potential of the Youth Club building is fairly tested.  However collectively they have a responsibility to the residents of Lymm and the people of Warrington to ensure that resources are properly used.  The government demands this, and the next government, given the state of public sector finances, will not change that.  The case for community facilities for the youth of Lymm as well as people of all ages has to be made.  If it is, then it should be possible to do something constructive.  The preservation of the existing youth club building must be a lower priority than the provision of appropriate youth and community facilities to meet the demonstrable need of the residents of Lymm.

9th March 2010

I have written before about why I am a Liberal Democrat and my belief in our party’s commitment to a freedom I can believe in. I’ve also confessed my former association with the Conservatives.

Now I have to confess to having woken with a spring in my step when the “new dawn” of Blair’s term as Prime Minister began on the 2nd May 1997, even though I didn’t vote Labour then, never have and doubt I ever will.

It didn’t take long for disillusion to set in. Members of my family and close friends marched against the war in Iraq, I would have been there too if I could. Too many Tory policies were kept on. The party was too cosy with the City while, as it turned out, turning a blind eye to the excesses and dangers of deregulation. Progress on fairness was put on the back boiler for too long.

Good things were done however; essential investment in schools, universities hospitals and the transport infrastructure, among them, but probably at too high a price. In the end New Labour was at its worst when it was too much like the Conservatives and that was far too often.

Now the Guardian journalist and commentator John Kampfner has encapsulated exactly what I feel in an excellent article and pamphlet.

If you had hope in the New Labour project read these and think carefully where to cast your vote in the coming election.

Did Helen Southworth live up to your expectations? Will the smooth message from David Mowat, oiled by money from the Ashcroft cash machine and his own resources, sway you? Will brainy Nick Bent’s infantile campaign, supported by an enthusiastic bunch of schoolboys, impress you? Or will you vote for fairness, principled politics and the best interests of Warrington by voting for Jo Crotty?

If your are interested in the ideas behind the politics of the coming election I strongly urge you to read John Kampfner’s article and pamphlet.

Nick Bent, the aspiring Labour MP for Warrington South, is fighting an utterly shameless campaign, jumping on every half understood populist issue he can find in the town.  

For someone as well educated as Nick it is an embarrassing tactic, though he appears to be utterly unembarrassed to be peddling “the malicious confusion of EfW [Energy from Waste] plants with incinerators [which] has been most misleading to both the public and Government”. 

No not my words, but the words of a report from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, a highly respected independent professional body. Their report clearly explains what Energy from Waste is, how it is controlled to be one of the cleanest forms of energy by European legislation and why it is an essential part of the country’s future energy mix as well as dealing with the problem of waste disposal.The report points out that: 

A garden bonfire or a few fireworks can produce more damaging output than an Energy from Waste plant does in a year.

It is very sad to see that Nick, who has written with religious zeal about “sustainable development”, is prepared to sell his soul for a few votes, by trying to frighten the citizens of Warrington with his talk of incinerators. I hope he is ashamed of himself.

The Tories have led us to reverse the battle cry of the American Revolution. The colonists broke away from Britain because they were being taxed but not represented in Parliament. Lord Ashcroft has been seeking to influence your vote, that of every voter in a marginal constituency, and, ultimately, who represents you in Parliament, while opting not to pay taxes in the United Kingdom.

The anger that the disclosure of Lord Ashcroft’s tax status has unleashed isn’t just because he is a non-dom who opts not to pay taxes in the UK. It is because he has been concealing this fact from the electorate through a wall of silence which was becoming increasingly embarrassing to his Conservative beneficiaries. Every member of the shadow cabinet was being asked about Lord Ashcroft’s tax status, and the undertakings he made when he became a peer, and they all avoided giving an answer. If there is nothing wrong with accepting funds from offshore billionaires to help you persuade voters in marginal seats why not simply admit it?

The ultimate hypocrisy is that they now all say how pleased they are that it is all out in the open, so why was it hidden for so long? They are right to say that both Labour and the LibDems have benefited from political donations from other non-doms. However neither party tried to cover it up. We all have some donors who end up being embarrassing, as do politicians in most western democracies where campaign funding has to be raised from donors. It is part of the price we pay for a democracy based on private political funding.

The problem of course is that the Tories attract funding from the superrich. They are now priding themselves on having reduced their dependence on Lord Ashcroft. Sure, but only to replace it with cash from bankers’ bonuses.

Likewise Labour depends both on a small number of wealthy donors and on the deep pockets of the trade unions, who appear to get precious little in return.

The LibDems have the lowest level of funding and, fortunately, we are not in anybody’s pocket.

So when the silky voiced Tory call centre operative gives you a ring to persuade you to support their campaign, or the latest suspiciously glossy piece of Tory literature falls on your mat don’t be seduced. Think carefully whether what is good for the superrich is also good for you and the wider community. If you decide it isn’t you will know that you should cast your vote elsewhere.

The opinion polls running into the coming election are extraordinarily interesting for anyone who pays attention to politics. For those of you following such things two resources I have found helpful are the UK Polling Report which records every poll. And the wonderful BBC animated graphic which makes this type of data more understandable.

The polls are sitting in what is called “hung Parliament” territory. I don’t like that term, “hung”, it  sounds too much like a death penalty, and that is what the two big parties, who have happily played ping pong with Parliament for generations, want you to believe. I believe that a balanced Parliament, with no single party having overall control, is actually a very positive solution to the crisis in politics we face today.

A balanced Parliament would not have taken us to war in Iraq. A balanced Parliament may have been less afraid of regulating the bankers and would probably have given us an economy less dependent on the profits from City speculation and subject to the devastating consequences of failed bets. A balanced Parliament may well have allowed us to reduce inequalities in society faster and given our young people a better start. In a balanced Parliament MPs would think for themselves, properly represent their constituencies and not vote robotically according to the party whips’ instructions, (just take a look how often the current MP for Warrington South went against the party line).

In most constituencies the voters have no chance of affecting the outcome of the vote. One of our Labour councillors will be fighting a safe seat in Wigan which the bookies rate as a total certainty. Another, who fought Warrington South, somewhat unsuccessfully, for the Tories last time, has gone to Congleton, part of the former Winterton empire where the chances of losing are negligible despite the current  MP couple’s eccentric sense of humour and attitude to the unfortunates who travel standard class.

Fortunately Warrington South is a three way marginal. Here your vote will have a real effect on the outcome of the election and the makeup of the next parliament. That is why the Tories are pouring vast cash resources into the seat. Lord Ashcroft, the ”is he, isn’t he a non-domiciled peer”, with his fortune secreted in Belize, the bankers who have failed the country but still want to sway its politics and the candidate himself are doing their best to buy your vote.

Labour are in a much more difficult position, which is why Nick Bent is calling in favours from his old boss, Tessa Jowell, and friend Beverley Hughes, both members of the New Labour establishment, to raise funds for his campaign. Jo Crotty is funded substantially through local contributions and the contributions of individual Liberal Democrat members.

If you think a balanced parliament and MPs who think for themselves and represent your views are a good idea, you will support Jo Crotty in the coming election. Don’t listen to the squeeze messages, both David Mowat and Nick Bent will try to frighten you that a vote for Jo is either a wasted vote, or a vote for another candidate.

Admittedly without a fair voting system, votes for everyone except the candidate who is first past the post are ‘wasted’ and we are certain to end up with an MP that only a minority of those eligible to vote want. However the only way to declare yourself in favour of a fairer, more accountable, balanced Parliament is a vote for Jo. I hope you will support her.