Sandwell Parking fiasco

I hate to say I told you so, after years of telling Sandwell Labour that their parking policy was a total failure and damaging business in the 6 towns, Labour seem to have finally listened to our comments, we now wait and see if they have the guts to follow our free parking charge plan in full?

Labour here's a clue, you have allowed an out of town shopping centre to be built just 100m away from its premier high street town, West Bromwich. 

 Do Labour actually class this as a success ?

The next step will be to dig up the pathetic pedestrianised areas allowing vehicle traffic, this will bring back passing trade to Wednesbury and West Bromwich and help bring them back to life?

Sandwell Tory said

The Socialist ideal of get em on public transport, bicycles and walking, has helped destroy our towns, driving people to out of town shopping with free parking, but free parking is simply not enough to repair the damage, the paved areas have to go as well

reference

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/11/11/sandwell-parking-fees-may-go-to-boost-trade/

Another Sandwell Children's Services Shock

The Chief of Ofsted has listed Sandwell in a report as one of 20 councils that are unacceptably poor in children's services, so I ask, will our local Labour MP's condemn this Labour run council?

Barnsley,Bexley,Birmingham,Blackpool,Calderdale,Cambridgeshire,Cheshire East
Cumbria,Devon,Doncaster,Herefordshire,Isle of Wight,Kingston upon Thames,Medway
Norfolk,Northamptonshire,Rochdale,Sandwell,Slough,Somerset are the 20 councils


"Incompetent and ineffective leadership must be addressed quickly”. and
"These are shocking statistics are a national disgrace."are just a few of his comments


Commenting on Birmingham he said
"Why is it that nearly a third of children in the city live in households on low incomes? Why is it that infant mortality is almost twice the national average, worse than in Cuba and on a par with Latvia and Chile?
and "one of the worst places to grow up in the developed world".


Sandwell Tory said
Absolutely shocking, Once again Sandwell is listed as one of the worst authorities in the UK, this comes not long after Sandwell Labour moaned about Ofsted
link
boss-urges-rethink-on-sandwell-council-childrens-care-rating/

 I just hope the Government send in a team to run Sandwell Children's Services


Reference to read more at these links
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/oct/15/child-protection-inadequate-ofsted-report
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/10/15/sandwell-council-one-of-worst-for-childrens-care/



Sandwell Conservatives previous comments
http://sandwellconservatives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/inadequate-sandwell.html
http://sandwellconservatives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/sandwells-childrens-services-will-no.html
http://sandwellconservatives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/sandwell-childrenss-services.html
http://sandwellconservatives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/sandwell-childrens-services.html
http://sandwellconservatives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/childrens-services-shock.html

Red Ed's Gas & Electric Tax

Figures released today show Red Ed knows more about your energy costs than he's letting on, while he was in Government as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, taxes were introduced so about 9% of your bills are now green taxes. .

Your Energy (Gas or Electricity) Bills have these “Green Taxes" to pay for

The Greenhouse Gas levy £9

a Levy of Power plant emissions

The Green Energy mark-up Levy £36

This makes up the difference in renewable energy costs

Wind etc. is much more expensive to produce electric

The Insulation Levy £60

Energy firms have an obligation to spend on home insulation

The Carbon Dioxide levy £4.50

Electricity producers have to pay £16 per tonne of CO2 produced, while making electric

The Winter fuel top up levy £15.64

the Warm homes discount

Feed in tariff £9

People with wind or solar generators are paid more than the selling cost of electricity they produce.

 so you pay a subsidy to them

The Electronic metering Levy £3.46

You pay for other peoples smart meters

And these Taxes are put on your Bill

Sandwell Tory said

Remember the wind generator Labour wanted in Sandwell Valley ? your tax would have helped pay for it.

The sad thing is,  these Labour “green taxes “ are a now significant part of our Gas and Electric Bills costs and when added to the EU fuel taxes,  we are all in a bigger mess and taxes are planned to go up

Under Labour Gas and electric prices were going the same way as Labour's Petrol tax, UP.

just like Petrol, the Tax on Electric or Gas would have soon been more than the products actual cost.

Labour like to tax you then waste the lot.

Ask your Labour MP why Labour taxes your Gas & Electricity

so much?

Reference

Red Ed's great green obsession

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2456760/Red-Eds-great-green-obsession--real-reason-YOUR-gone-roof-The-hidden-subsidies-household-pays-year-thanks-Milibands-laws.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Is Ed Miliband is economically illiterate ?

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/douglascarswellmp/100237412/ed-miliband-is-economically-illiterate/

Cameron and Miliband clash over green energy policy

http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2299608/cameron-and-miliband-clash-over-green-energy-policy

 

Great Bridge Parking nightmare

Sandwell Labour's obsession with the car strikes again, this time its Great Bridge traders who are claiming up to a 70% drop in trade under the new parking rules.

 

Great Bridge on a sunny market day (mind the Queue)

 just up the road a massive car park has been dormant 

for years since the council closed it  

Yes following on from Labour's disastrous doubling of parking charges in West Bromwich, its High street already devoid of business's was given a further kick in the teeth, now the council is repaving the pedestrian area in front of rows of empty shops, at a cost of £millions.

Labour now seems to want to spread the misery around the other towns in the borough, Blackheath, Cradley Heath and Old hill traders have complained and got nowhere

meanwhile some councils have seen the light and try to help local businesses by lowering or scrapping parking charges 

Staffordshire car parking fees cut to 10p

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/09/19/staffordshire-car-parking-fees-cut-to-10p-in-trial/

Charges will not be introduced on free on-street parking bays in Cannock town

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2012/07/19/cannock-parking-charges-plan-off/

Charges cut to lure Walsall shoppers                                                    http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/08/12/car-parking-charges-cut-to-lure-walsall-shoppers/

but over in Sandwell ? 

the news is  "Car park charges are sent rocketing"

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/04/01/sandwell-car-parking-charges-are-sent-rocketing/

Sandwell Tory said

Well done Labour, traders say your parking policy is a total mess

ref : P7 E&S Sandwell Edition 7/10/13

Sandwell leaders training

While council staff lose their jobs, they can reflect back at their leader who was using Fairy dust at £2700 a year to help him communicate better.

Sandwell Tory said

Yes £2700 a year of your tax money that's the same as saying 270 people in Sandwell would not have to pay the spare room subsidy for one week if this money had been used to pay it.  Labour call it a bedroom tax, Gordon and labour like the word tax they raised the tax for the poor

Reference E&S 13th Sept 2013 p11 Sandwell edition

Sandwell Labour's Mess

Years after Labour's failed “home pathfinder programme” bulldozer frenzy knocked down your homes leaving acres of land rat infested and strewn with rubbish, Sandwell's Home building programme finally gets started with Conservative led government money.

Labour Do you remember Harvills Hawthorn

 Good solid houses Bulldozed under a failed Labour plan

 Labour are you ashamed of this mess ?

 

Now the Conservative Government has to put this mess right

Who Remembers Lia's Fish and Chip shop in Golds Hill ?

Opposite the Royal Exchange Pub ?

a favourite of mine on the way from school

Demolished in 1971, the council CPO'ed the land for an urgent development 

40 years later its still a weed infested mess

Meanwhile

Sandwell's Education achievement improves, has schools leave the Council's control to become Acadamies,  and

The Economy up 0.7 % in one quarter

 Jobs are coming back.

New home building up,

Business confidence up

Deficit cut by a third.

Income tax cut for 25 million people.

1.3 million new private sector jobs.created

More than a million apprenticeships.

Benefits capped.

Net immigration down by more than a third.

Crime down by more than 10 per cent.

You can tell we're running the economy 

things are working again 

Remember Browns No Return to boom and bust

and we all went bust

Sandwell Tory said

Red Eds Labour's gloom and doom is doomed, all economic indicators show we are leaving Labour's mess behind and Red Ed's “oh wow is me” approach to politics is backfiring right into his polling figures.

Not only that but I wait to see if Red Ed makes it to the election as Labour has more splits than a garden full  of crazy paving,  with his own former minister questioning his leadership 

People want to see a policy and after over 2 years of moaning everything is wrong they slowly turn off.

Labour please keep him, he's the best you've got 

The Public West Bromwich

Readers of this blog know I've never loved the Public Arts centre, but I do find it amusing that our local MP is quoted as saying, There’s a lot to do in West Bromwich and he would try to help secure the future of the Public arts centre, then while he's on “Walk about” in OZ his Labour colleagues close it.

I feel the Public was the wrong building in the wrong place, our borough had and still has a much more important list of priorities to be tackled, Education, Housing and health before an Arts building was pursued.

Only now, 12 years after Labour closed the 2 public baths (the GALA) are they now in the process of replacing it on a much smaller scale.

People quote the Public's cost at £75Million but I feel its much higher than that, consider this

Where is the cost for the old bus station land?

Where is the cost for the new bus station land ?

Then we must include the cost impact of moving the bus station to allow the land to be used for the Public which press reports stated severely damaged the Queens squares trading ability and shops quickly closed, the single act of giving us the 3^rd West Bromwich Police station in 40 years shows how good the “Development Plan” was especially now we learn the new station has got no cells and no staff car park, with the extra problems and cost that brings to the Police force.

The Kings 3 cinema complex was an excellent business with queues all over the car park, but within weeks of the new bus station work starting (2^nd bus station in 40 years) It was in the press for all the wrong reasons, it went out of business saying lack of trade was the reason.

Sandwell Tory said

So what is the cost of this single building? We will never now the true costs, in this staggering mess, we have land transfers, the impact of lost businesses and lost jobs, lost commercial rents and rates.
West Bromwich does need an arts building, but first it needs to clarify what Art means , flashing lights was good 10 years ago but any games console can reproduce a much better display than the Public's "attractions"..and recently its slowly turned into a form of community centre.
It would be good to see our Town halls come back into life, before the councils bulldozers start rolling, West Bromwich Wednesbury, Smethwick etc, would be excellent places of art and history and music, but I fear the story is not over yet and there are more tears to come as Labour turn this into the Public farce Building

Reference

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/07/08/future-of-the-public-now-mp-tom-watsons-priority/

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/aug/09/tom-watson-news-corp-murdoch

 

Faggots & Peas or Children's Services

Sandwell has serious problems, Labour have given us, The Public Farce, failing Children’s Services, Bulldozed Housing, Bulldozed Schools, low academic achievement, Empty High streets, meanwhile companies line up to close and relocate to other boroughs and we have rising unemployment, all this follows 30 years of Labour running the borough, but with these major priorities we are advised that Faggots and Peas is the answer that will put everything right.

Our Labour MP's talk about Buses or grey peas and how bad the government is, but the main issues

affecting Sandwell residents are totally ignored.

Which do you feel is important?

a bowel of grey peas or put children’s services right ?  after 5 years of promises

a bus ride or building homes Labour bulldozed ?   Remember Labour's Pathfinder plan ! Bulldoze em

a bowl of faggots or Low academic achievement ? Over 10 years ! schools closed shocking Ofsted reports

a bus ride to an empty High street or high streets full of trading shops ? For Decades !

Once again its down to priorities, what is important to you?

After the last Labour government back in 1979 it took a whole generation before the public trusted Labour with running the country. This trust was broken by yet another Labour economic collapse, giving the youth of today the same experience my generation had in the 60's and 70's , if Labour win an election a economic collapse strangely follows.

Sandwell is made from a number of historically economically strong towns, then along came Sandwell and Sandwell Labour

Sandwell Tory said

30 odd years of Labour's promises, have got us were we are, while other boroughs prosper

Where are Sandwell's priorities

Reference

http://www.expressandstar.com/lifestyle/blogs/2013/08/06/blog-celebrate-the-bostin-black-country/

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/08/02/sandwell-council-is-failing-children-in-care-damning-report-reveals/

Sandwell Council is failing children in care

‘Inadequate’ that's the rating given to Sandwell but the residents have become accustom to the word

inadequate, since 2009 its being used a lot, We demand the Government places a management team to control the service as even I've even lost track on the directors and cabinet members that have been and gone with a common Labour phrase It will get better.

Year after year it excuses,  One person from the council said they needed more time , Isn't the years they've had enough ?

reference

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/08/02/sandwell-council-is-failing-children-in-care-damning-report-reveals/

http://sandwellconservatives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/sandwell-childrenss-services.html

http://sandwellconservatives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/sandwell-childrens-services.html

http://sandwellconservatives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/childrens-services-shock.html

Labour's Record

Lets take a look at Labour's record on the Economy, Education, Policing, Immigration, NHS,

Welfare, Children's Services, Adult Services,Social Housing,  Crime/Justice, Public sector

contracts(PFI),

Then ask yourself, Is there one thing Labour did well ?

Labour now think people are begging for them to come back and use their “expertise” to give us even more of what we had

This bloke thinks he saved the world

Meanwhile the Conservative led Coalition has

Helped the private sector to create more than 1.3 million jobs in the past three years.

Employment is up by 872,000 since the election with 14,000 more women in work

Youth unemployment is down 20,000 over the quarter.

 

            The volume of sales in the retail sector in June 2013 has risen by 2.2 per cent

            compared to June 2012

 

            The IMF board of directors have backed the Chancellor’s fiscal plan in their conclusion

            of the Article IV report in May:

Red Eds Labour opposed everything and moaned, but we have also

Cut your messy Deficit by a third.  

Mortgage rates are at record lows

Helped Businesses to create 1.3 million new jobs.

We are well on our way to fixing Labour's mess

Sandwell Tory said, Will any Labour councillor tell us why 

Labour left Britain with the biggest budget deficit in its peacetime history?

Labour think you can borrow less by borrowing more?

Unemployment went up by nearly half a million under Labour?

I doubt it 

The Press attacks on Labour

A number of major news papers have run with  NHS stories and  some questions need to be asked and Labour need to answer.

What was going on ?

Such a shame for the families So, So Sad

Read More at this link : daily mail. 

"No Parking" Affects Trade in Sandwell

I really feel sorry for traders in Sandwell, as Sandwell Labour's nationally famous obsession with parking strikes again, this time its the red route Labour implemented seriously hurting shop keepers trade.

Our High Streets have empty shops, traders from towns over the borough have complained or petitioned for parking charges to be dropped to help them survive and No was the answer.

Link to expressandstar.traders-in-new-call-to-reduce-no-stop-roads-in-sandwell

One councillor is quoted as saying "Red routes are working"

Sandwell Tory said

What is it with Sandwell?

Will they explain what working means ?

Is Sandwell on a quest to close even more shops ?

this comes after Sandwell Labour

1, Demolished homes under Labour's failed Pathfinder programme, which left acres of land rat infested .

2, Pedestrianised our main high streets, then introduced high parking charges

3, Let Sandwell schools rot

Will Sandwell now become famous for its business un-development skills?

 This is incredible

 Will someone from Labour please explain 

Why double yellow lines go on a blocked up road to nowhere

 and on the subject of safety

How many vehicles have come down the lane and knocked the new trees down 

since this road was modified 

Remember the song "We're on the road to nowhere"
HOW MUCH DID THIS COST ?

Another week in Politcs

The end of another week and things are looking much better

House prices are rising at their fastest rate for years,

Link to bbc.co.uk

UK new car registrations jumped by 13.4% in June

Link to .bbc.co.uk 

UK service sector growth 'fastest for two years'

Link to bbc.co.uk 

Business confidence in the UK is at its highest level since 2007

Link to bbc.co.uk 

and Red Ed & Labour Party are in a total mess

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/5001289/Labour-Unite-crisis.html

Sandwell Tory said , 

                                    Labour are in the same mess they left our country in

EU Referendum

So today's the day the Conservatives led coalition are having a vote to see if you ( the people )will be able
to have a vote on Europe

I wonder how many Labour MP's will not vote for it ,after all Ed Miliband said NO to a vote, but after all he's got enough problems holding his party together at the moment with the Labour party falling apart seams


Ref
Link to Expressand Star


see also

Link Express and star.Tom-Watson

Labour's Parking fiasco

Sandwell Councils cash cow is seriously poorly, some say parking in the borough needs a urgent second opinion, With revenue money is drying up, shops closing the once great midland towns that make up the borough of Sandwell have a problem, its Labour's obsession with the Car.

Meanwhile in towns across the borough car parks lay empty, as shoppers go out of town for goods and Labour continue to stick their head in the sand. 

 This Is Wednesbury, Taken on the Special Market Day

No problems getting a parking spot 

( meters standing guard over nothing ) 

Taken By Wednesbury housing office

Now we move to Smethwick 

 the lone meter waiting forlornly for a customer

 Next we move to Great Bridge
 This Car park by the private market was closed years ago

 The Car park on the council Market sadly lacking traders and customers  parking

Sandwell Tory said

As Sandwell is a transparent authority !, I wonder if they will release the cost of having these machines dotted over the borough doing nothing ?

Yet even today as I write this,  homes (little square ones) are being built with little or no parking facility

for its residents,  will this be tomorrows ASB trying to get a parking space?

And a fortune is spent on pedestrianisation for an ageing population many of whom cant walk  to see it

How sad, but according to Labour its someone else fault

just in case you think otherwise these photo's were all taken Mon-Sat at approx 1.00pm 

Yes Lunch time

Labour's Plan could lose Sandwell Pensioners £234

Under Labour's proposed welfare plans, Sandwell pensioners could lose out again, this time to the tune of £234.

following our posting on Labour's plan to cut the winter fuel payments

Sandwell Conservative LINK

and Sandwell Labour and the 25% council tax rate 

Sandwell Conservative LINK 

Sandwell Labour then went on to lower the capital cut off limit for Council tax reduction from £16,000 to £6,000 , If you have saved for your funeral, Labour want your funeral money 

 Sandwell Conservative LINK

For years it seems Sandwell charged bereaved families VAT for headstone work for cremated remains, then Sandwell found out some VAT should not have been charged ?

A number of people assumed they would get some over payment money back!

NO was the answer

Sandwell Conservative LINK

Is Labour ending the Council Tax discount?

Daily Mail. LINK

Sandwell Tory said

The last Labour governments policies helped bring this country into the mess its in and still their only solution is hit the people who have paid into the system the longest, the pensioners.

What is going on with Labour, why should pensioners pay for Labour's mess ?

Labour say they would cut welfare, Labour tell us why hit the pensioners? 

Come on Labour where will you cut?

We introduced the triple pension lock,  

The basic state pension rises by the highest of

Inflation

Earnings

or 2.5%

Labour are you going to cut pensions ????

 Remember This ??

Labour's last housing improvement plan

A blog reader who used to visit relatives down by the old Bush public house saw our photo in the
24th January 2012 posting (LINK)  and e-mailed over a picture taken approximately 2005-6 of what the houses looked like on the grassed area before they were demolished

 

As can be seen these were well made 3 bedroom homes

most of them had been modernised with central heating and double glazing 

a number of them were owned outright and private homes 

Reference

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/the-demolition-explosion/6518821.article

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/jury-still-out-on-new-deal 

Then along came a Labour Plan and a bulldozer and left this   

Mysteriously homes one side of the road were demolished,
but identical homes the other side of the road were classed as OK ??
Perhaps a Labour Councillor would care to tell us why ?

 Sandwells population was rising and Labour was turning Homes into grass fields

100's of good solid homes with off road parking, GONE

  

Sadly a well known and very liked gentleman passed away in the house on the right above

RIP