We may be all being carried away with the Tory Liberal Democratic cuts,But always remember who was in charge of the Country for all these years and also in Charge of Salford-LABOUR.
Don’t forget to look at the condition of your roads.
No Police.
No Jobs
No Homes
No Future.
Don’t at any cost let Cllr Merry get away with Blaming every one else.If you voted Labour this year ask where is my Councillor!!!
Next may you will have a choice.
Rather desperate this mole . As a result of Labour we had record police. Council houses being built for the first time in decades and a dramatic increase in employment. Maybe I should take you around with me to see the hard work being done on the ground to give Salford a future. As you were a member of a group that included Rick Houlton I hardly think you are in any position to lecture anybody about absent councillors.
Lets take each issue.Council housing do you honestly think the numbers built were realistic to cover the problems which we have, You are in charge of a city and yet you allow the growth of flats,you pull down houses to build water side flats which hold a premium and yet there is a delay in the build of social housing,at the last count we have over 18.000 on a waiting list with no hope.. Policing is totally reliant on community bobbies, you are lucky if you call to get a response,that in reality is why the statistics look so good.because people don’t call any more all they get is someone on the end of the phone giving out crime numbers.You ask me to walk with you I will publicly say today I will take up the offer that I no you will never fulfill, Because if you did I would take you to see people that you would not wish to talk to,do you remember when as a councillor of Swinton south I asked would you walk with me on the valley estate and you declined because it was not the political thing for you to do? So if now you offer I will except the ball is in your court.Unemployment well John if you believe Labour
Have done anything in that area I give up.
As for Councillor Houlton I will not defend him because as stated so many times the group were independent only coming together to try to get the help and information that it needed to work to represent the constituents that voted for them , this council penalizes Any one who does not have ether Red Yellow or blue on their chest. The treatment Cllr houlton got on the day of his debut at council was a Disgrace he was attacked by your members why because he beat Roger. But with Cllr Hulton unlike Your Cllr from Claremont I do believe he as a contact number after 5.00 I NEVER FELT WHEN YOU WENT FOR THE JOB IT WAS OFFICE HOURS ONLY?I think I have every right to raise the issue ,I await you response to put in my diary to walk around the city with you I hope sooner than later.
did any of you see nick griffin on salford precint today?
Gutted only Joking!! The funny thing is Garry why does he have to have bouncers,do you pay them by the hour? good job you put your stall close to the car park,easy if you get chased off to get to the car.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Qgwhao3z0 see for your self
Let me tell you JOE SALFORD BNP get chased nowere mate, bouncers? weres the bouncers? i cant see any we need secuirty because the labour state funded UAF thugs attack us and you should no that mate,
I really sorry Garry but I always feel like there is that look that is intimidating,As much as John Merry gets a kicking I could never see the day he would have to walk around with security,we all have different views and we all face the fact that people from all parties will try to put the knives in that goes with the territory but some of those guys who walk with Griffin scare me and I thought I had been around the block.
He’d look great in a popemobile!
Joe there are so many holes in your argument I don’t know where to start. On the police I would have liked to take you to see CS mulligan so that he could have told you about the hard work that has been put in to reduce crime and of course if you were leader of the council I don’t believe there is one thing you would have done differently. In fact I don’t recall you making a single practical suggestion on crime apart from demanding more resources. On the housing front we built the maximum number allowed by the Labour Government which was more than the zero allowed by the Tories. We have offered rehousing to any affected by demolition and let’s take Langworthy as an example. When we took action houses were changing hands at £5k and streets were half empty primarily because of the activity of private landlords. We could have left it or put some money as we done twice before into making it look superficially attractive. Instead we supported people to stay in the area in a house worth far more than the price they could get for theirs and many are now reaping the benefit. I suppose you would have stopped devoplement in Salford. Don’t give me any nonsense about what you would have forced the private sector to do . You have no way of doing so. Instead you would have forgone the millions in extra council tax the developments have brought in which means for example that we have one of the best provisions for elderly care in the country. If you don’t believe me try being elderly in Trafford and see the difference.
Glad you did not defend Cllr Houlton being a councillor entails rather more than just being on the end of a phone.
Finally on employment even your beloved Salford Star has accepted the 1500 jobs for salford peoplein the construction of media centre and the work by the Childrens Service directorate ensure that children get decent qualifications , the apprenticeship courses we have supported and the future jobs fund the Labour Government created helped to save Salford from the worst effects of the global recession.
The pity is you cannot see any of this . You think all that is required is to wave a magic wand and the full employment of the sixties will come back . I want to give this city a future you appear to just want to despair.
John can I clear your last comment first,to say all I want is despair is unfair you no that’s not true, Strange also you appear for some reason to have forgot the points raised in your counter argument over your Councillor in Claremont and her approach to the Job ,no contact address except for member services we help only in office hours !! not really fair for the people of claremont who voted labour, do you honestly think that is a sound base for any ward councillor?
IN relation to policing within this city be honest with yourself come with me and let us talk to the people and you will see something different. The role of policing is being taken over by PCSOs, take Swinton South or North and ask any one do they phone up the Police,the answer is no because the police do not respond you get crime numbers, In Swinton South the only Bobby we saw was ,
Well it’snot really right to put out names,He was an excellent officer but he was a one man band backed up by pcsos. The Valley and poets still suffer, at the Community committee I heard the Chair say that Blantyre Street was a no go area. Even David Lancaster had is car pinched of the Town Hall car park,How bad is that? Mind you no CCTV. The officers we have are a credit to the uniform I I would support them 100% but their are to few and now we have the possibility of what we have being cut, we should not be fighting we should be be looking at how we together raise the issues and highlight the problems.
There are over 18,000 homeless in Salford you can’t get away from the fact your Government did nothing in real terms to deal with the problem. And it is getting worse.
You and I share the same basic political stance, You can argue your points and I will counter,Langworthy was a thriving community it died and now the residents who lived their have gone to be replaced by people who can’t afford Manchester house prices,Littleton Road will become a new Quays and social housing will take a back foot.
Over the coming months I will be working hard to retake Swinton South other members will be working equally hard to take seats . May will be a different animal than the last , it will be up to me and the executive to put forward policy and to highlight the failings of your Government and the shambles that we have now, a Government that does not even have a mandate to rule. I have met with you on many occasions and I respect you and your views, please respect the fact that I have the right to counter,
Does anyone know how many council houses have been built in Salford since 1997? and how many more are planned for MediaCityUK? (not including Cllr Dobb’s luxury loft apartment in the NV towers!)
Mind you there are lots of cosy looking empty homes in Broughton…. What puzzles me is: if there’s a housing shortage and the council aren’t allowed to build new stock why demolish what’s already there and sell-off to the private sector? Is chasing yuppie professional council tax revenues (#ComeToSalford) really that important?
Gotta give you 10/10 for responsiveness though John, you know Sir Richard Leese wouldn’t dream of fighting his corner in cyberspace.
On the subject of empty homes, I recently the visited Langworthy area and, in the Nansen Street/Kara Street district, I noticed quite a large number of renovated houses which, according to the local residents, had lain empty since the renovation work was done,(up to 2 years). My question is, if there is such a big waiting list for homes, why are people not being allocated these houses, which, I assume were renovated at public expence, or is there some other reason for them being left unoccupied ? lots of local people will be interested to hear the answer !!
>>>why are people not being allocated these houses
Because the agencies who allocate them are incompetent.
Their priorities are all skewed. Running family fun-days and organising ‘best garden competitions’ are clearly taking up SO much of their time and resources, that moving in new tenants and bring down waiting lists goes to the bottom of the pile.
If you look at the documentation regarding allocation and ‘priority banding’ in Salford you’ll notice that ‘regeneration tenants; go straight to the top of the list, people who already have homes, which there is normally nothing wrong with – except for the council proposing to knock-em-down and sell them off to the private sector to turn in to luxury apartments.
Don’t get me started on the deceptive “bidding system”, it offers false hope to homeless people and pretends there are far more available properties in the city than people can actually move into. The colour sheet with ‘homes to let’ is deceptive because these homes are only to let if 1. You bid for them, 2. you meet the often strict criteria and 3. you are at the very top of the waiting list of other ‘bidders’ which is often as long as 300 -400 names. The ‘waiting list’ no longer exists, you just keep getting a ticket every time you ‘bid’ and 99% of the time you’ll go to back of the line, then be told “why not rent in the private sector”.
Anyone got the number for Urban Splash? *yawn*
Well said David Henry,you see John David Henry is one of the Thousands of real people who have waited for that home that never came,a home that someone born in this city and works in the city would i hope expect,i home were he can live set down his routes and enjoy life.Why are the BBC allways on the phone to me over the issues of housing or lack of it? i have allready been around some estates within Salford with a film crew from one of our Major universities looking at the problems,This government like yours will not deal with the issue,you have failed to provide one of the basic needs of man a HOME,, You are the most senior politcal person i have ever met within Salford lets throw out the politics for one second and tell me what you would like to see? this city needs to grow how can it without homes?
Hopefully in 2047 when I’m 65 (sorry, I know) I’ll get a call from Salix homes offering me a bungalow in Little Hulton
People from 3rd world countrys and refugee’s are getting salford houses 1st, you from the greens support this, so stop moaning David, BNP Say british come first… locals would get housed up first… alot of support we are getting
PS Did you see Nick Griffin on Salford Precint last sat? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgIlb-mRVVg i think Salfordians be seing alot more of him.
Thanks for the reminder that there are people far less fortunate out there, but remember it’s the rich guys (like Mr Urban Splash and Chek Whyte) getting richer who really took away our council homes in back-room deals with the council.
I’m sure Chimney Pot Park and MediaCity are very popular and affordable locations for refugees. I’m not moaning really, as I’m rather quite fortunate myself, resentment gets us nowhere.
We need to build more homes to meet demand, even at this rate the demand will still be there even if the pressures of immigration, teenage parents and the recession suddenly vanished over-night.
P.s I missed Nick! how Derek?
I hope your aim is better next time David,lol