More magic at the Public

It has been announced today that Sandwell Council is apparently considering taking over a floor of the Public for SMBC employees to work in, this comes after the £1.4 million already given this year.

Sandwell Tory said

“This is shocking news they have spare office space all over the borough they could use and in the last 6 months they’ve said they will be using agile working and working at home, which should free up more space.

I wonder if SMBC will be paying rent for using a floor in that building and I have to ask how long it will be before we get a press release from this “council” saying

The Public is a total success and paying its way, when it might only be tax payers’ money going round and round”.

See for yourself

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2010/12/28/sandwell-council-staff-could-move-into-the-public-arts-centre/#comment-348104

Sandwell schools given OK

Following the awful financial mess we have inherited from the last government

We owe thanks to Michael Gove for releasing funds to work on 3 more schools

in Sandwell

Sandwell Tory said

Well done Michael, we know its been hard trying to find the money, Sandwell Conservatives will now have to make sure its spent wisely on schools and not on bureaucrats”      

Children’s Services Shock

Sandwell Conservatives are shocked at the latest Children’s services report

Its now been one year after the appalling Ofsted report about our looked after children’s department, what have we to show for it ?

12 months and 3 senior Managers later followed by 150 redundancies we then find that   

£2.25 Million was spent to pay for temporary workers.

Yes temporary workers, while they were considering making redundancies? 

Just what is going on in Sandwell ?

See the report yourself

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/oxcare_providers/la_download/(id)/5434/(as)/lac_2010_333.pdf

 

Sandwell Snow

Labours first Policy

Yes its here at last

Labour have announced their first policy, you’ve guessed it they’ve blamed the snow problems on the Conservatives.

Sandwell Tory said

“Heavy Snow used to be called an “Act of God” but a number of Labour may not know that as they have openly stated they do not believe in God”.

Yet after just 6 months in power it’s all our fault, they hope you have forgotten last years mess with no road salt.

We’ve put some of their mess right already, but to put some of their mess right in

6 months, now that would surely take a miracle.

Sure Start, £10bn in funding failure

£10 Billion spent and a report says that our young ones progress failed to improve. 

Sandwell Labour hailed it as a major success but a report issued today says that

Over £21 Billion of Government funding over the past 10 years on a number of Labour plans to help our kids has had no effect at all.

The report goes on to say that kiddies skills in words and simple math’s did not improve between 2001 and 2008, in fact by the time they start school many kids cant count to

7 or write their own names.

Sandwell Tory said

“Labour should hang their heads in shame £ Billions spent and no improvement, yet at the time Labour’s spin was said it was wonderful.

Yet these are the very same kids that have now got to pay off Labour’s debts and compete in the modern world.

See the full story at

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1338417/Labours-childcare-failure--10bn-Sure-Start-scheme-effect.html

Where are the Labour Policies

We’ve sent a team of inspectors out to look for them    

So far based on what Labour have said, all we’ve found is lots of spin

   1, The Financial Crash is not our fault it’s the bankers  (ah but)

   2, Just who introduced tuition fees?                                 (Shhhh )

   3, Debt what debt.                                                              (duhh)

   4, The coalition have it wrong they should do what we say (borrow some more money).

   5, Its the Cuts its the cuts

   6, Spin at ever opportunity.

Let’s remember

Labour brought us to the brink of bankruptcy. They doubled the national debt and left us with the biggest budget deficit in the G20. We are spending £120 million every single day just to pay off the interest on Labour's debt. This is the legacy Labour left behind them.

 If we listened to Labour, our debt would be almost £100 billion higher by the end of the Parliament and we would be paying £4 billion more in debt interest alone by the time of the next election.

This interest money that we pay to foreign creditors, helps pay for their schools and hospitals rather than our own.  Which would mean less growth, less investment and fewer jobs for us all.

PFI projects
We Sandwell Conservatives are now looking at the issue of PFI - we need to ensure that risks are genuinely transferred and not kid ourselves they have been when they have not, more info shortly

Our thanks go to People clipart.com



Local Conservative plan to open up West Bromwich High Street

Conservatives have asked the council to consider reopening Bratt Street and the middle section of West Bromwich High Street.

This is a bid to help to help the ailing towns economy. The news comes days after it was revealed the town's Queens Square development has gone into receivership and work to create the new Tesco is likely to have a negative impact.

Councillor Ray Nock, leader of the opposition Conservative group at Sandwell

Council said:

"I am calling for Bratt Street and High Street to be opened up to traffic to try to stimulate the business in West Bromwich town centre, where more and more shops are closing.

"Its about time Sandwell Council talked to the shop owners, market traders and

businesses to see what they need to prosper.

"It saddens me to think what a vibrant busy town West Bromwich was, it wasn't called the golden mile for fun. Just what have we got to show from 10 years of promises and plans?

 Nothing but more Uncertainty."

Send us your views?

see E&S for more details

How to Save your Street

Next week a localism Bill is going though the commons, this will allow people to give an input into local amenities threatened with closure by the council.

Local people will be able bid for funding and take over closed libraries or post Offices

Best part about it is Authorities will have to show publically why they believe a group cannot take over the property

The same Bill will give local people a greater say in planning in their area specifically in new developments

Sandwell Tory Said
“ Its about time local people had a voice in the things that affect their local area, for too long
Councillors from the other side of the borough and in some cases officers who live in other boroughs have dictated what is built by us”.  

Sandwell Childrens's Services

Sandwell tory said today
"What is going on in Sandwell ?.

Just 11, months after a terrible Ofsted report on looked after children and 3 heads of department later Sandwell MBC decide to sack 150 jobs in children’s services

Here’s the report

See the full report yourself at

 http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/oxcare_providers/la_view/(leaid)/333

Sandwell Tory said

I wonder who they will try to blame for this?

Sandwell Metro Trams

Sandwell Conservatives throw down the gauntlet

Look at the photo does the tram look familiar.

 but take a closer look

The track is grassed, yes grassed

The location Porto in Portugal   

Christmas magic at the public

Following on from our last scene of the public, you can now see

how a dusting of snow enhances the £70Million development

Giving a totally new skyline to West Bromwich

10 years and still waiting     

The squeezed middle debate starring Red Ed

Ed Miliband seems to have a problem this week, making up his mind !

His problem is just who the “squeezed middle” actually are and whether he agrees with his shadow chancellor on tax policies.

In a newspaper article, he wrote:

We must understand why, despite all that was achieved over the last decade, so many people who work hard and want to get on came to feel squeezed.

Why did too many families feel that the gap between their lives and their dreams became larger and harder to bridge?’ (Daily Telegraph, 26 November 2010)

Sandwell Tory said “ Let me remind him “

£751 more in council tax. Council tax soared across the country under Labour,

on an average Band D.

£2,100 more in personal tax. Personal taxation, including national insurance contributions, rose by £2,100 for a person on the average wage of £23,300, under Labour

Higher pensions tax. Labour’s pension tax raid is estimated to have cost pension funds £5 billion a year.

In total, taxes on the middle classes rose by £40.9 billion under Labour. Taxes taken from middle income households rose by £40.9 billion, or 22 per cent, between 1998/9 and 2008/9.

“No wonder Labour’s policies are a “blank sheet of paper”.



IN AN EMPTY BOOK

Poor Mr Milliband does have a massive problem to solve, his Governments prolific rampant spending helped get us into this mess and the people know it.

It had got to a point were the taxes from the private sector simply could not pay for

their plans for public sectors spending, hence a lot of the borrowing.

Labour also forgot about engineering and industry during their 13 years in power, a major sector in wealth creation, the last 13 years has seen a number of big names

leave the UK for the lower tax levels on the continent further raising local unemployment.

They will now have to re-build and repair what they did to get trust back, so look out for Labour snuggling up to industrialists.

In the mean time the only policy Labour has forthcoming has been to blame everything on the coalition, including the weather, perhaps hoping the people will forget what they did.

We must never forget

During his Labour Party conference speech, Gordon Brown said “We will not put hard won economic stability at risk. No return to short-termism. No return to Tory boom and bust”  .

Come on the TV & tell that story to the people on the dole.

 

Labour always has had short memories

1968

1978

2010

 Life is full of mysterious coincidences 

These are the years Labour were in control and our country went belly up, the young should research 1978, that was the year the UK went broke and the Labour prime minister went to the IMF for an emergency loan, just like Ireland has this week.   

Ed, give us a policy any policy will do? or are you waiting for policies to come out of the “blue”

           He also told BBC radio: ‘Yeah. I am a socialist. I’m not embarrassed about it’                     (Radio 5Live, 26 November 2010)

Get out , I just don't believe it  !



Pull that school down, whoops build it again

Sandwell LEA have been brought to task on their primary school programme

Only 3 to 5 years ago the LEA was saying that following the Labour government’s orders they had to demolish a number of primary schools with under capacity.

Apparently now the birth rate is increasing and Sandwell is now short of over 300 primary places, due to over capacity.

One guess to were they are now short on kids school places,

You’ve guessed it in exactly the areas that they demolished the original primary schools

It’s now been revealed that Sandwell LEA removed almost 2000 primary school places

In the last 5 years and 1000’s more in secondary school places.

Sandwell Tory said

This is a typical example of bad planning and waste; some think it’s easy to put problems right using Tax payers’ money, each new classroom built is some ones

job lost.

A council spokesman said

What we did then was a result of Government (Labour) policy    

Tell that to the mothers who have to travel big distances to get their kids into school.

  

E&S 19^th Nov page 12   

Prime Minister reassures Sandwell Parents

At Prime Ministers Questions (17:11:2010) in answer to a question from  James Morris MP about Sandwell Schools

The Prime Minister said

We’ve had to make difficult choices in the spending review  

But there’s more money for early year’s education for 2 year olds from deprived families

More money for extra hours for 3 & 4 year olds at school  

Pupil premium, over and above the existing funding which will go on to University

Even though we inherited a mess that we had to clear up

Sandwell Tory says

When you put this together with the School getting direct funding with out having to

pay the LEA there will be more money for our Kids

AWM Wage Bill

Sandwell Conservatives were sadly not surprised to learn today that the old AWM is

Still costing £1.5 Million in bosses wages.

Conservative MP Paul Uppal said today

This is one of the reasons the Government felt reforms to the RDA's was absolutely necessary.

Sandwell Tory said
" Its hoped that the new LEP's (Local Enterprise Partnerships) will soon
Take over this area of local development and be Business lead rather than bureaucrat lead, with the main aim of creating more jobs for our area”

Ghost town fears

Apparently Cuts may be responsible for West Bromwich’s problems As stated in the E&S tonight 15^th Nov 2010 Page7

A spokesman stated
We have had ambitious plans in the past but since the cuts have been made all these opportunities are drying up.

Sandwell Tory says

Who moved the bus station? to a place were people can’t walk to the north of the town?  
Who closed Bratt Street?
When did the big names shops go?
When and why did the cinema close?
When did the baths close?
Where are the dance halls?
Who taxed people to park?
How can you park to get to a Bank or Building Society?
Just where is the Arcadia?

The Coalition has been in power for 7 months we ask you is it their fault?

We can supply a list on request, whoops its years not months

 Sadly another card shop opens

School Heads back plans for a new funding system for schools

"The (NAHT) National Association of Head Teachers has said it supports new proposals for a "national school funding formula".
This would mean local authorities would have little input into education spending, allowing more money to go direct to our schools.

Michael Gove, is expected to issue a white paper before the end of this year, to reallocate around £5 billion in funding for approximately 20,000 primary and secondary schools. Using a  new "fair and transparent formula"

Under these new proposals our Head teachers would be given much more responsibility for day-to-day work, which would effectively put all schools on a similar financial footing as the academies.
Academies already have a lot of freedom from Sandwell authority control.
See also

Sunday Telegraph

Sandwell Tory said “this means more money will go to our kids not to bureaucrats’”

Sandwell Cuts shock

In the light of possible cross authority job sharing, allied with the job cuts Sandwell MBC have already announced to High ways Engineers, Job link and Library services  *.

The Express & Star announced today ( 13^th Nov 2010 page 5) that  in reply to Cllr Nock’s call for sharing the Chief Exec Cllr Coopers response was and

I quote

"If your taking away the head of the paid service then his responsibilities need to be transferred to the council leader.

That makes the leaders job harder and will mean the leader will have to be paid more".

Pssst,  job share means the job is shared, it doesn’t go away !!!

Read more

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2010/11/13/councils-could-merge-services-to-save-money/

* send us your views on    "what is a front line service"

Town Hall Sign Shock

Complaints have been received about a new “Town Hall” sign which has been installed

on the gates of  

West Bromwich Town Hall, saying it looks cheap

Sandwell Tory said

One look says it all, I wonder if the proposed Town Crier will have his photo taken in front

of it ?

What are your comments?  

Sandwell Herald Must Go

Sandwell Tory is making calls for the "Sandwell Herald" to be scrapped.
How can they justify paying approximately £90,000 per year for that and we hear from some residents they never see a copy.

Saving this £90,000 would keep about 4 highways engineers in their jobs, or pay for 4 new qualified teachers

Is the "Sandwell Herald" politically neutral?  give us your views.

Labour Politics Sinks to new Low.

Former Labour immigration minister Phil Woolas could face jail after an election court ruled yesterday that he spread lies about his main rival at the General Election.
Giving judgment,

Mr Justice Nigel Teare and Mr Justice Griffith Williams said Mr Woolas was guilty of illegal practices under election law.

The E-mails

We are informed that apparently In April Mr. Woolas’s election agent, Joseph Fitzpatrick, emailed Steven Green, the MP’s campaign adviser, to say:

‘Things are not going as well as I had hoped ... we need to think about our first attack leaflet.’

He proposed publishing a newspaper-style mailshot called the Saddleworth and Oldham Examiner to encourage Tory voters, many of whom disliked the fact that the Conservative candidate was Muslim, to vote Labour rather than switching to the Lib Dems.

The Conservatives in Oldham East & Saddleworth, had selected a very nice local chap, a

Mr Kashif Ali who lives in and was born and brought up in the constituency.

He also works as a barrister in Manchester and sits on the board of a national housing charity.

2010 election results

Labour	Phil Woolas	14,186
Lib/Dem	Elwyn Watkins	14,083
Conservative	Kashif Ali	11,773
BNP	Alwyn Stott	2,546
UKIP	David Bentley	1,720
Christian	Gulzar Nazir	212

Sandwell Tory said 

“let’s hope this type of treatment with election candidates stops here”

Read the article for your self

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1327104/Labour-MPs-sink-new-low-brawl-racist-smears.html#ixzz14UgQ5eJY

Town Crier

Cunning plans are afoot to introduce a town crier to Sandwell.  

Once again Labour “MAGIC“ up some money to pay for uniforms etc.   #

This is at the very time we hear “CUTS, CUTS and more CUTS”, sadly with lots

of job cuts.

They should have no problem getting applicants for the job.

People have been crying about what happened to

West Bromwich Town centre for years.  

Vote on your views on the town below

# E and S Thursday Nov 4^th 2010 Page29

West Bromwich is it a Healthy Town ?

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills ( BIS ) has released a new document to assess local town centres

The Government has supplied a self assessment questionnaire to help you and with it comes a little Question sheet

Sandwell Tory says here's the tick box, make your own mind up to what’s happened to West Bromwich after 30 years of Labour control”  

See the document your self, Look at section 6 Warnings

http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/business-sectors/docs/h/10-1224-healthy-high-street

Give us your views by Voting at the bottom of this Blog

The Coalition Government has plans for jobs and growth in Sandwell

Following on from the spending review Sandwell blogger said

"Its good news for Sandwell" at long last the lets tax em till it hurts days are over
the coalition is setting the path for industry, commerce and small business.

Local councils will have to work with Industry rather than tell them what to do
and the new LEP’s will be driving force for new jobs

Perhaps we could see a return to the “Golden Mile”

Keep an eye open for elected Police commissioners

Sharing a Chief Executive

Sandwell Conservatives believe that talks should start with regards to sharing agreements with other local boroughs.

Sandwell blogger said

We have an excellent opportunity at the moment to share the post of the

Chief executive, which is currently an interim post.

This could be followed by an appraisal of the councils Publicity department,

scrapping the "Sandwell herald" and a range of other functions saving the council £M’s , which could then be directed to front line services and front line council jobs.

Other boroughs are already well advanced in this process to share management costs

and then use bulk cross borough purchase powers to drive down costs even more.

Sadly we hear some authorities have banned paper clips.

     

In a letter to All Chief executives on the 20^th Oct 2010

The Rt Hon Eric Pickles said

Local innovation

But at the same time, the onus is very much on councils themselves to make the most of this unprecedented freedom and flexibility to focus all efforts and resources on protecting hard working families, vulnerable people, and front line services. That must mean;

·         Fundamentally re-examining every aspect of the way that councils work;

·         Eliminating all traces of waste by becoming more transparent and improving
  procurement practice

·         maximising efficiency and productivity, drawing on the lessons of the LGA-led
  productivity programme;

·         sharing departments, officers and back office services between different local
  authorities; and

·         bringing excessive senior pay under control.

Lets wait and see what SMBC do ?

Harriet Harman apologises

Some of the Labour team are getting personal again, it seems if they cant win the argument out comes the verbal

Mrs. Harman has admitted her use of  'ginger rodent', to describe Liberal Democrat

Danny  Alexander in a speech was wrong  

George Lyon, Scottish Liberal Democrat election chair, said: 'There is no depths to which the Labour Party will not stoop.'They aren't fit to be in opposition, let alone in government.'

On this, you can make your own mind up

Read the article yourself

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1325107/Harriet-Harman-brands-Treasury-chief-Danny-Alexander-ginger-rodent-extraordinary-outburst.html#ixzz13sa8EJRa