The beatings consultations will continue until morale improves
The Cabinet of Bristol City Council will meet on July 22nd 2010.
Cabinet members:
- Cllr Barbara “Magnanimous” Janke (Lib Dem), Leader of the Council
- Cllr Simon “Luvvie” Cook (Lib Dem), Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Culture, Sport and Capital Projects
- Cllr Clare “The Goat” Campion-Smith (Lib Dem), Executive Member for Children and Young People
- Cllr Gary “The Tache” Hopkins(Lib Dem), Executive Member for Strategic Transport, Waste and Targeted Improvement
- Cllr Bev “The Beard” Knott (Lib Dem), Executive Member for Neighbourhoods
- Cllr Anthony “New Boy” Negus (Lib Dem), Executive Member for Strategic Housing and Regeneration
- Cllr “Nice Guy” Jon Rogers (Lib Dem), Executive Member for Health and Care [and Bikes]
- Cllr Mark “Bulldozer” Wright (Lib Dem), Executive Member for Efficiency and Value for Money
Cabinet Business
1. “We’ll keep consulting you until you give the right answer”
PILOT KINGSDOWN RESIDENTS PARKING SCHEME
Well it took over ten years of continually beating down the electorate by both Lib Dem and Labour regimes, but the Council have finally managed to put together a proposal for a “Pilot” Residents Parking Scheme in one tiny area of the city. A simple Prisoners Dilemma analysis suggests that this Pilot is just the beginning, unless it gets stamped on PDQ.
To remind you all, these are the abridged consultation numbers:
Cabinet will recall that the survey was sent to 2558 households in the Kingsdown area and 440 responses were received. Of these, 203 supported having a scheme, 200 opposed it and 37 were undecided.
203 out of 2558 houselhold. And here’s the original, original consultation when the ideas were put to the whole city, with the delightfully Orwellian colour key (two colours for less than 50% approval, one colour for 50.1% – 100% approval).
For more details, see: KeepParkingFree.org.
Total Bill: £0.5m over five years, and no specifics on what the actual permit charges will be [probably still £40, but we’ll see…] Supposedly the scheme will be self-financing, but since it must be seen to work, I’ll guarantee you that the inevitable overspend will come out of general receipts.
Barlow’s view: What Bernard Cooke said.
2. “It’s coming home, It’s coming home, It’s coming…The Back Hander is coming home”
DISPOSAL OF LAND AND PROPERTY INTERESTS TO BRISTOL CITY FOOTBALL CLUB
As previously discussed, Football is a game for girls, and quite why local and national government seem so keen to get in bed with Football Clubs is a mystery to me.
In this report, the Council propose to transfer around £5m worth of land to Bristol City Football Club, on a thirty year deal, in exchange for a bag of magic beans. Wait, no, it’s not magic beans; it’s a bit of free room hire, some gym memberships, and a couple of part-time PE Teachers.
Barlow’s view: If the land is that important to the Club, I’m sure they’ll buy it at Market rates. Then the Council can rebate the money to local tax payers. Just so you know, lads. I’ve put a note in my Google Calendar for circa 2041, reminding me to remind you that the land is to be returned to the people.
3. “The South-West’s finest foyer. The auditorium? Meh…”
COLSTON HALL GOVERNANCE OPTIONS
Bristol City Council spends something like £2m a year on the Colston Hall, and earns about £1m in Trading Income. If it weren’t for Arts Council Grants (i.e. taxpayers’ money), the whole thing would be as big a money sink as the Museum of Bristol. So it’s a dead loss. Some of the problems may be down to inefficient management, but frankly it’s not the greatest venue in the world, is it?
This report proposes to create a Barge Pole Arms Length Organisation, specifically an “embryonic strategic music trust”. The creation of this extra bit of bureaucracy will turn the Colston Hall into a cutting edge music venue, by some process yet undefined.
Consultation with over 200 people involved in music and community provision in Bristol has demonstrated that the Colston Hall has many strengths. It is much loved as a building, which many Bristolians have performed in or attended whilst at school, or later as a paying customer.
200 whole people? Wow.
Barlow’s view: Good Grief, just sell the damn thing already. The Council has enough issues with education, adult social services and maintaining the roads; does it really need an entertainments division? And anyone who buys it is free to rename it the “Edward Colston was a slave trading bastard Hall” if they so choose.
4. “Subsidies for All!”
COMMUNITY ASSET TRANSFER POLICY
The word “community“ is a dead giveaway that someone is going to be getting some free money from taxpayers. This paper rubber stamps the Community Asset Transfer ('CAT') policy, in which CAT is defined as:
“The transfer of land or buildings from the council’s freehold ownership into the stewardship and/or ownership of third sector organisations.”
It’s rather like the Back-Hander to Bristol City Football Club, only the benefiting party is a registered charities. The great thing about this proposal, from a public sector employment perspective, is that whereas before you might have had someone whose job included keeping a land register up to date, now you can also can employ a CAT policy officer, a CAT inspector, a CAT advisory board administrator. All that, and the opportunity to do a few favours for your mates down at the CREATE centre.
Barlow’s View: Next time you meet someone who works for a not-for-profit organisation, ask them if they work on a not-for-salary-or-pension basis as well? Every Third Sector Organisation who takes part in CAT will be getting a going over from me to establish whether they are a fake charity.
5. “Unfashionable, but good”
PROPOSED ADOPTION OF TRUST SCHOOL STATUS - NEW FOSSEWAY SPECIAL SCHOOL
New Fosseway Special School seeks approval to become a Trust school.
The new regime in Westminster has rendered “Trust schools” somewhat unfashionable; the new buzz words are “Free” schools or “New Academies”. A Trust school is defined as:
[a] maintained foundation school supported by a charitable Trust. The Trust school is maintained by the Local Authority, but owns its own buildings and grounds. It employs its own staff and determines its own admissions.
In that the Local [Education] Authority still has a hand in management of these schools (i.e. they are maintained), it still has the opportunity to continue it’s traditional policy of creating a generation in which at least 1 in 5 school leavers are functionally illiterate, and a deal more of them innumerate. Admittedly, you don’t need to be that literate to stick up a MySpace page, but still, I regard this as a problem.
Barlow’s View: Well, it’s not as if they can do any worse. Go for it.
The Public Forum
“In the Swim of It”
Much angst in the Public Forum about the cancellation of the “free” swimming grant [approx £140,000 per annum average] by the Department of Kultcha, Meejah and SPORT!!!
Cllr Ron Stone in particular asks what the Council will “continue to provide the popular service?”. Hopefully, the answer will be nothing. [I find myself in agreement with the coalition on this one]
Barlow’s View: Of course free swimming is popular [looking at the stats, very popular], but then taking money from one group of people and giving it to another group of people will always be a popular option from the perspective of the net recipients.
Note - It costs £3.00 a session to take a swim at the Bristol South Swimming Pool. If you’re in real financial straits, to the point where you can’t set aside £3 a week, then rather than writing to the Council about this, write to the Government and claim Disability Living Allowance instead.
