Manchester gave the congestion charge a resounding ‘No’ vote in December 2008, it seemed there was no plan B for improving public transport.

But five months later, a £1.5bn transport fund has now been agreed to fund the final Metrolink extensions to Manchester Airport, East Didsbury, Ashton-under-Lyne and the town centres of Oldham and Rochdale, as well as a second city crossing between Victoria and G-Mex.

And it’s not just Metrolink that will benefit. Money will also be spent on additional busways, park and ride schemes and bus improvements including:

• a Leigh to Manchester busway;
• new transport interchanges in Bolton and Altrincham;
• park and ride schemes;
• Mottram bypass;
• Ashton Northern bypass;
• cross-city bus scheme;
• Wigan inner relief road

However, while most of the cash is coming from the Government, the rest will have to be raised locally from a £2 a year levy in council tax.

  HOW MUCH DID IT COST THE REFERENDUM THE SELL, ALL THE TIME TAKE IT OUR LEAVE IT, YOU WILL GET NOTHING ELSE? AND NOW PLAN B. lf Labour tell you blacks blacks get a second opinion.

in late 2009.

Hazel evens claims for her Kit Kat

SALFORD MP Hazel Blears appeared on television brandishing a cheque to the taxman as she tried to rebuild her reputation following the expenses saga.

Ms Blears hit the headlines after leaked expense claims showed she accrued more than £20,000 per year in second-home allowances as the fall-out from revelations about MPs’ expenses centered on the conduct of the communities and local government secretary.

Ms Blears sent a cheque for £13,000 to the Inland Revenue after revelations she avoided paying capital gains tax on the sale of her London home, but maintains she had acted within the rules and the law.

The leaked expense claims also show that Ms Blears spent £850 on a TV and video and £651 on a mattress for her home in Salford in March 2004. She should have tried Langworthy Road!!

After selling her London property in August 2004, she claimed for two months living in London hotels – including claims for two Kit Kat Chunkies and a glass of wine sad/

Hazel said: “I’m really aware of how angry the public are about all this. I talked to my husband and although I have complied with all the rules and am not liable for the money, I decided that I wanted to pay what I would have done in capital gains tax.

“I put the cheque in the post in order to rebuild my relationship with the people of Salford.”

Despite repaying the money, Ms Blears still insisted she had done nothing wrong and called for a review of the parliamentary expenses system.

She said: “I think the whole system is in disrepute and needs to be reformed top and bottom.

“When I became an MP my first home was in Salford, and when I became a minister the Fees Office said that I had to designate my flat in Kennington as my main home. The reason for this is an old archaic rule that had been in place for about 50 or 75 years.

“If you are a minister, they said that your main home has to be in London because you had to spend most of your time there.

“In 2004 they changed the rules to allow all members to designate which home was their main home.”

Ms Blears also defended her claims for a glass of white wine and two Kit Kats from the mini-bar of a London hotel.

She said: “While I sold my flat in Kennington, I stayed in hotels and I even stayed in a friend’s house to save money because I didn’t have anywhere to live in London. The Kit Kat Chunky was what I had to eat after a day of meetings – I took it from the minibar and it was on the hotel bill which I submitted to the Fees Office.

“It wasn’t as if I’d deliberately claimed for a four-course meal. If people take the view that a Kit Kat Chunky is the basis of all this then they can, but the reality is that the life I lead does mean that I have to come home late and get something to eat. I didn’t look at that bill meticulously and I think it is fair to say that the system needs to be more meticulous.”

Some thing that makes my blood boil…

 I received this today the first thing in a year inviting me to see our kids with a fantastic Orchestra,an Orchestra i remember as a child, good news fantastic. Cost Free, what makes my blood boil why do we have to subsidise the BBC Orchestra and i have seen nothing like this, and at this scale. The people of this city are now paying for an Orchestra that they will more than likely never see. Well all i can say well Done Salford Labour    

Salford Music and Performing Arts Service are delighted to invite you to the ‘Come Play with the Halle’ event involving the Halle Orchestra and over 1000 pupils from Salford primary schools. The performance will take place at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester on Monday 22 June at 1.15pm. Please find attached a flyer containing more information.

 

The concert will conclude at approximately 2.45pm. 

 

 

Funny thing last night i went to a meeting of residents and a guest from Urban Vision read on.

Urban Vision repair our roads, and what ever you say they are falling apart. The ruling labour group have failed to come to terms with the understanding of basic info structure, the ability to move from point to point. What did amaze me last night was the guest from urban visions use of the word defence. In what terms well i assume they are sticking to a guide line in the depth of hole or creators what ever you wish to call them and they have covered  them selves against claims.Can you blame them no if your starved of funds how do say who gets what?i i joined some residents last night in the rain on their street and they complained over the state of the road, i found it funny that only two month before i had reported a huge hole on the same street had they repaired it? well yes but 2 inches up one more as arrived. I sometimes think would it be a better idea to get a machine to dig up the tarmac and go back to cobbles.Perhaps the Labour leadership could sell the idea. How about visiting Nostalgic Salford any comments?

From the diary of Cllr Warmisham part 3

 SALIX HOMES,                                                                                                                          I’ve always had good relationships with area managers and housing staff in the past and worked well together for the benefit of the community, but for now that seems to have stopped. Perhaps it’s my suspicious mind,but maybe somebody has told them to!

Strange we get on really with City West we meet With the Chief executive constantly. Perhaps the management on Salix are Liberal Democrat supporters?

Hazel gives exclusive peek into her new career after the elections. we hope.

 Was it a dream no, found it on the net gave me a giggle

Blears writes cheque to Inland Revenue and vows to ‘rebuild’ her reputation

Blears writes cheque to Inland Revenue and vows to ‘rebuild’ her reputation

Cabinet minister Hazel Blears vowed to “rebuild” her reputation after promising to pay £13,332 in capital gains tax she escaped when she sold one of her homes.

Acknowledging “public outrage and anger” about MPs’ expenses, the under-fire Communities Secretary said she had been “affected personally by what people have been telling me in the past couple of days”

 

Hazel your reputation is dead and buried with the people of Salford along with the Labour Group. I hope you will enjoy the constant reminder over the coming months

Regards…

Elliot Morley claimed £16,000 for mortgage that did not exist: MPs’ expenses source the Telegraph

A former Labour minister claimed parliamentary expenses of more than £16,000 for a mortgage which had already been paid off.

 

 

Elliot Morley, who continued to claim for a mortgage that had been paid off Photo: PA

Elliot Morley, the former agriculture minister, continued claiming for the mortgage interest on his constituency home for more than 18 months after the loan had been repaid.

 Comment,To what depth can these people sink to. They are the ones who make our laws. i have met and worked with people with criminal records with more integrity. These people bring the whole system into disrepute.

Scrutiny IN Salford is it working?

Well on Wednesday i will see how the chairs of scrutiny and vice chars pan out. I have all ways believed that to offer any democratic balance you need to show proportionality.But with Salford Labour it’s lets take it to full council for the decision,  pure case of mathematics we loose, How this council will ever go from a three star council to a four star when it will not work with the opposition god knows. The same goes for the cabinet re shuffle we can all see the areas of weakness but the same lead members stay put and one who as had bad press gets moved. Well you need to be brave and weed out the people who are failing it’s obvious the leader of this council is not.