POOR SOD

Back in 2003, two years before my success in Pan, I lost an IW Council by-election in Newport North by 32 votes on the day the allied forces were occupying Baghdad as part of the massively unpopular invasion of Iraq. I felt like the unluckiest Labour candidate in history, especially when I always opposed that war.

However, the last month has seen my 'unluckiest candidate' crown taken over by the Labour candidate in the Mount Joy by-election, Steve Cooper. For the last month he has seen the world economy crumble around his ears thanks to the greed and incompetence of banker cretins in the USA , UK and elsewhere, who have now taken state bail outs from governments who have still taken all the blame for the crash - whether Labour - or Republican.

Tonight Steve reaped the tail end of the worldwind at the vote counting. Although Labour clearly did not expect to win we expected to poll our usual 15-20% in this ward when the by-election was declared back in August. Sadly our vote crumbled to just 38, or 6%, tonight as the reality of our doorstep experiences over the last couple of weeks hit home.

The Tory won - with 45% of the vote - which tells you everything you need to know about what Islanders are currently thinking about political parties. The Liberals got 25% and the Independent (no school changes) candidate got 24%.

ISLAND TORIES, WASTING OUR MONEY

The following article in the Sunday Telegraph this week reminds us of how Tories govern - by feathering the nests of the few, at the expense of the many:

"When Joe Duckworth resigned as chief executive of Isle of Wight Council to take on the best-paid job in local government at Newham, his decision to leave after less than two years in the post surprised and angered many on the island.

Mr Duckworth had promised to turn around the Isle of Wight's fortunes when he arrived there in 2006.

But the island council, which had been awarded only two out of four stars in the Audit Commission's annual quality ratings for 2005 and 2006, received the same low grade again in the 2007 ratings published earlier this year.

A two star rating is defined as "only at minimum requirements". Only one in six councils has a rating of two stars or lower.

In its report for 2007, published this year, the Audit Commission said Isle of Wight Council was "improving well" overall, but also found that it was the only council in England which had worsened over the course of the year in the key performance area of "financial standing".

Mr Duckworth, a father-of-three and a keen mountain biker and surfer, has worked in local government since 1991, with previous stints at York, Surrey, Hackney and City of Westminster.

He was paid £150,000 a year as boss of Isle of Wight Council, far above his predecessor who received only just over £80,000 a year. His policies included striving to turn the island into an "Eco Isle". But he appears to have alienated some local councillors.

"His departure sparked very mixed feelings," said one councillor who asked not to be named. "People were very cross with him because he achieved very little. But at the same time there was a collective sigh of relief that he was leaving.

"When he arrived we were a two-star council, and we are still a two-star council now he has gone."

Critics on the island claim his time in office was marked by expensive pipe dreams and low morale at the town hall. His personal manner and communication skills were not to everyone's liking.

One female councillor, who asked not to be named, said: "He swore like a trooper, stamped his feet a lot and shouted. You wouldn't think of it when you first met him, but that was the way he operated.

"A lot of people used to complain about that, but they were too scared to complain to his face. There was a real atmosphere of fear at the council."

Mr Duckworth dismissed the complaints about swearing as sour grapes. He said he had curtailed his use of bad language after the matter was raised with him on the Isle of Wight"

MOUNT JOY VOTERS - DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY

On Thursday there is a by-election for an IW Council vacancy in the Mount Joy ward in Newport. The Labour candidate STEVE COOPER is a resident of Ventnor, but if that is important to you you should also know that he works in Newport at the IW College and has many connections in our town.

Island Labour didn't ask him to be our candidate because we were desperate, as theTories seem to have been judging by their campaign literature. We selected him as candidate because we know what an excellent councillor he would be for local people.

I hope that he does well on Thursday and is able to join the most effective opposition Group at County Hall.

(posted and published by Geoff Lumley on behalf of Steve Cooper, both c/o 30 Fairlee Road, Newport, IW)

NEW TORIES, STILL NOT TRUSTED

Lets throw the gang of Tory, but anonymous, blog parasites (one pictured left) who lurk on my open comments facility a little more red meat !

In the Independent today they report the following from an opinion poll they commissioned,

'Gordon Brown is seen as the "best in a crisis" of the two main party leaders by 43 per cent of people, with 33 per cent opting for David Cameron. Mr Brown (43 per cent) is more trusted on the economy, while 33 per cent trust Mr Cameron most.'

ISLAND TORIES, FACING DANGER

I went along to the Standards Not Tiers public meeting on Monday night. It was a very interesting meeting and confirmed that the Council decision of 19 March on schools reorganisation won't be left unchallenged. I won't go into all the details, but SNT are preparing a serious legal challenge to the planned reorganisation - and if that fails are planning to contest the elections to the IW Council next May/June with more than 20 supporting candidates claimed so far.

Given that they are likely to stand primarily against local Tories who reneged on their election promises of 2005, it could be that just at the time the British people may be having collective amnesia about the dangers of Tories at a national election, the good people of the Isle of Wight could be kicking the Tories out here for being what they always are - dishonest b***ds !

NEW TORIES, SAME DANGER

The Tories tactics of marginalising Full Council continues unabated. By not putting any significant decisions on the agenda the Tories have effectively neutered real debate at Full Council. Consequently the Full Council tonight was again very light on attendance with one-third of councillors missing, and all wrapped up after 90 minutes. Real decision-making now takes place at Cabinet, though only Labour seems to have realised that over the last year or so, which is why I am usually the only opposition councillor at their meetings.

As for tonight's agenda - well presentation of the annual Public Health Report is hardly likely to stimulate debate. Everyone thinks it is a wonderful report and only so many people can reasonably say so without it getting very boring. Indeed the two Liberals in the public gallery obviously found it so as they slipped off very early after asking their opportunist questions about traffic in Newport and free swimming. Two issues already pretty much flogged to death by myself.....

We then saw a loyal Tory given an extra job 'championing children' after supporting the planned closure of his local primary school.

After that it was questions to Cabinet members. This was roughly a balance between:

my asking distinctly unfriendly questions about-

• the imperilled budget delivery, with £10m less reserves to raid
• continuing planning process failures
• and persistent non-delivery of affordable housing over the last 3 years;
  

one 'Independent' asking a mixture of friendly and neutral questions;

and Tories standing up and saying "Will the Cabinet Member agree with me that everything in the Tory Island garden is as Eden before man's fall", or something similar.

I can assure them it is not and hopefully they will learn that lesson next Spring. One thing we are seeing on the Island is that it may all be 'new Cameron, new Tories' at a national level, but here we see the reality:

new Tories, same danger

RETURN OF THE 'MIDNIGHT RUNNER' !

or, SEARCHING FOR THE YOUNG LIBERAL REBEL:

Back in the 1993 IW County Council elections, the current IW councillor for Carisbrooke West Barbara Foster (standing for the last time as a Tory) was beaten at the elections by a Liberal Democrat.

This Liberal then spent 2 years as the County Councillor most notable for his absences from County Hall and became known as Dixcey's Midnight Runner. After 2 years of mainly inattendance he dropped out at the 1995 unitary IW Council elections, allowing Barbara to re-claim the ward as an 'Independent'.

So it was to much jollity and astonishment that we today learnt that this same ex-Liberal is to be the Conservative candidate at the upcoming Mount Joy by-election. No wonder there was a major fall-out amongst Newport Tories last week (see County Press, 5.9.08) if this was the candidate that some preferred. Its like holding up the white flag and saying, "but chaps, Roger won't hang around beyond next May even if by some miracle he does win".

And as we in Labour always say - there's no such thing as a Liberal with principles. More evidence here if it was needed.......

CAN I SUPPORT PAN DEVELOPMENT ?

So the IWC Cabinet last night agreed the Financial Agreement with Miller Homes for the Pan Development. No surprise there then.

However, I have a number of continuing worries that I raised at the meeting:

1. There is no guarantee that there will be the additional affordable homes to bring the % on the development up to the 30% the Council leadership claims to aspire to - which in itself isn't enough. They remain fixed on 24%;

2. There is no written guarantee that a future IW Council will maintain the £1 million for community provision on Pan from the capital receipts they will receive for selling this land;

3. There is no written guarantee that the developer's £3.7m for Highways works will be spent by the Council on Newport roads.

I did NOT get any satisfactory responses from the Cabinet to these concerns. Until I do, I do not feel that I can support the development. However, I am hopeful they will be forthcoming.......

ARROGANT & RUDE

I see the IW Council is now issuing press releases about my ward without at least giving me the courtesy of having what I think ruled out as unacceptable !

http://www.iwight.com/home/pressReleases/frmView.aspx?prId=369

I suppose that at least they are saving time arguing with me.......

Anyway what I think about their Financial Agreement with Miller Homes for the Pan Development will be posted here after tomorrow night's Cabinet meeting.

COUNCIL TO REJECT £200K GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR FREE SWIMMING

In just about the most churlish Cabinet paper it has been my misfortune to read over the last 3 years, next week's Council Cabinet is planning to reject nearly £200,000 of Government funding under its new free swimming programme for the over 60s and under 16s.

The Government is offering a mix of revenue support and capital monies, but taking up the offer would cost the Council an estimated £110,000 per annum. The Cabinet paper considers this to be too much - and this from a Council leadership that has happily lined the pockets of solicitors and outside consultants to a quite obscene level in the last 3 years. Instead they go on about their One Card, which they claim has a 'hugely popular' takeup of 4000. Just 3% of the Island's population. Most people have never heard of it.

This Council should be ashamed of itself if it approves this nasty and niggardly paper next week.

PLANNING THE SACK OF OLD NEWPORT

I went along to the IW Council Planning Committee tonight to support a new Newport parish councillor who was endeavouring to put a stop to Sainsbury's manoevuring to secure the re-routing of historic Petticoat Lane as part of their approved (but highly controversial) expansion plans. Our parish council had supported her objections earlier this month and she volunteered - as one of the local members - to make the objections to Sainsbury's seeking to overturn a planning condition about the lane only imposed on them - with their agreement - last March.

Well she made her objections - not easy in the Council Chamber when you have a quiet voice and the PA system is absolute rubbish (still) - supported by the other local parish member and IW councillor, but to no avail. The quality of debate by the committee shed no intelligence on the issue, with only one councillor having any real understanding of what the issue was. The rest of the contributions were bordering at times on the asinine and the variation to the planning condition was approved by a clear majority. The only Newport member of the committee voted in favour of this variation.

On the way home it got me thinking about how this committee works. It is a deeply unimpressive body of people who, in the main, seem to have little understanding of what they are deliberating. And these people will determine the biggest planning application in a generation next April.................All the consultation in the world will never deliver people from the whims of this deeply flawed committee.

THE FIBBING LIBERALS, part 1

I came across a discarded Liberal 'Focus' flyer today in a part of Newport soon to have a by-election......

These flyers always give me real laugh at the bare-faced cheek of people who will never govern Britain and who were overwhelmingly ejected from County Hall by Islanders just 3 years ago.

An absolute classic in this edition was, "We want to cut Tory waste by replacing highly-paid chief officers (of the IW Council) with staff who actually do the work".

Of course cutting Tory waste is laudable, but this suggested solution is complete balderdash. The best they could do is terminate the contracts of the current chief officers, involving massive compensation costs - out of our pockets. They would then have to replace most of them as Council's have to have certain chief officers, who by their nature don't come cheap if they are any good. The thought of a new chief executive on say £100k per year instead of the £175k paid by the Tories, then doing front-line work - issuing parking penalties perhaps? - is just so ridiculous it can only be a LibFib !

Watch out for more LibFibs............(1st in a new series)

REFUGEE FROM PLANET TORY DEPARTS

So Melanie Swan has decided to resign as IW Councillor for Mount Joy ward in Newport. Thankfully after 5 years or so on Planet Tory, Melanie returned to civilisation in December 2007 and joined the small band of IW councillors I have any respect for. I will never forget the shock I had in March 2003 seeing her door-knocking in Newport with the Tory MP, having always previously considered her to be the antithesis of a Tory. She will be missed, particularly by those who have campaigned against the school reorganisation. I am pleased she is staying on with the less burdensome Newport Parish Council.

Now for a by-election. Not something a Labour activist relishes much these days, though at least here on the Island the voters now remember how arrogant the Tories are in power - and how invisible the Liberals are.

HOW THIS COUNCIL NOW WORKS, part 2

Prior to last summer and the subsequent coup at County Hall the overview and scrutiny functions necessary to democratic forms of modernised local government seemed to work quite well.

The functions on the IW Council are spread between 4 Policy Commissions and the single Scrutiny Committee. Prior to last summer the Policy Commissions had delivered in two years 14 so-called 'blue papers' suggesting policy changes to the Council leadership, and the Scrutiny Committee had delivered 8 enquiry Reports, with 2 more almost complete.

However, since the coup last September the Policy Commissions have delivered just 5 'blue papers' and the Scrutiny Committee just 2 Reports on new enquiries.

Clearly effective overview and scrutiny has been reduced in the last of the 3 years of this Council.

HOW THIS COUNCIL NOW WORKS, part 1

The latest Forward Plan of decisions intended by the leadership up to the end of the year demonstates how undemocratic the Island Tories have become.

Out of 42 Council-level decisions planned for the next 4 months, 18 will be made by individual Cabinet members under 'delegated' powers (a whopping 43%), 21 will be made by the Cabinet collectively, and just 3 will go to Full Council (just 7%).

Interestingly the Forward Plan at this time last year - pre-Coup - had 28 decisions planned, 8 by Cabinet member (29%), with 5 to go to Full Council (18%).

I know modernisation of local government was supposed to lead to more streamlined decision-making (though I had my doubts), but I am sure that negating the need for Full Council meetings was not the overall intention.

One very interesting decision planned to be taken by a Cabinet member is on an "Unreasonably persistent customers policy" ! With no consultation with other Elected members......... It must only be a matter of time before I am subject to an "Unreasonably persistent councillor policy".....

PAN DEVELOPMENT - IS IT GOING AHEAD ?

"Is it still going ahead", people keep asking me about the Pan development in the light of the downturn in the housing market ? A question I keep repeating to IW Council officers, especially after you read about the cutbacks being made by other national housing developers like Barretts and Persimmion—both of whom were interested in Pan before Miller Homes won the bidding round. And the answer is always—'definitely'………………..

However, at the time of writing:

*** the Development Agreement—or contract—between the IW Council and Miller Homes remains as yet to be agreed;
*** the Planning Application will now not be submitted until December/January (it was supposed to be submitted in June/July just gone) and will be considered by the Planning Committee in April 2009, not this November;
*** and the works will not commence until September 2009 at the earliest, instead of April 1st 2009.

And even when it does go ahead we are still not getting the 30% affordable housing that we were promised at the beginning and which we really need on the Island. Currently more like 25%…….though IW Council officers are assuring me they are seeking more funding to increase this.

So yes, I suppose it is still going ahead. Sort of....

SCHOOL REORGANISATION contd.......

For your diaries if you are still keeping an eye on what is going on - notification to IW Council Members:

"There will be an additional meeting of the (IW Council) Cabinet on Monday 3 November 2008 at 6.00pm in Committee Room 1, County Hall.

This is to deal with the paper -

'School Re-organisation: Publication of the Specifications for New Schools and Decision to Invite Potential Proposers to Bring Forward Proposals'. "

2008 ELEVEN YEAR OLDS's SATS RESULTS

Just picked this up from the newspapers, not good news:

% of 11-year-olds achieving level 4 or above in reading, writing and maths.

Bottom 10:

1 City of London 34
2 Isle of Wight 48
3 Portsmouth 49
4 Southampton 49
5 Kingston upon Hull 51
6 City of Nottingham 51
7 Thurrock 52
8 Hackney 52
9 Stoke-on-Trent 53
10 Luton 53

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/06/sats.primaryschools

CAN'T 'READ ALL ABOUT IT' !

I saw the first edition of a free newspaper on a Council Director's desk today. 'The Island Gasbag' or something. The only copy I've seen and it was dated 1 August. Which is surprising given how many other local publications end up in my reading pile. Oh well - clearly not a paper that wants the working-class hoi-poloi to see it........

CAN WE TRUST 'TRUST' SCHOOLS ?

The Tory Council's refusal to apply for a Government waiver from having to offer the planned new Secondary Schools for tender - as they believe they have a 'slim chance of success' despite the creditable performances of Sandown and Medina High Schools in recent years (see my post of 3rd June) - could see a rush of applications by current High Schools to become Trust Schools ahead of the tender process in November-February. That way existing High School governing bodies can tender to take over the new Secondary Schools, which are likely to become Trust schools anyway, no matter who ends up winning the tender process. At least two or three applications are rumoured to be in the pipeline.

Some people may see that as the sensible way forward, particularly if the school is an improving one, but personally I deeply regret and oppose the Tory decision not to apply for a waiver.

'Trust schools' were a very contentious part of the Government's 2006 Education & Inspections Act within the Labour Party. The reasons being:

1. School land and buildings transfer from Local Authority ownership (i.e. ours) to the Trust; also all staff are employed by the Trust rather than the Council;

2. The Trust will appoint more than half the new governing body - no more of the significant elected parent governor bloc (usually one third) - a major reduction in parent power;

3. The Trust can set its own admission arrangements - a threat to fair access opportunities.

I was opposed to the legislation as it went through Parliament and I maintain my belief that Trust Schools are a very bad thing for the above reasons.

Therefore, although we will not get a waiver from them on the Island due to the Tory Council's refusal to apply for one, I will maintain my opposition to them and will seek to ensure that the consultation on establishing them early on the Island is as wide and as open as possible.