Council Finance...                                                            

Good letter by R Hopkins in The Shuttle...

WITH the annual hand-wringing and wails of anguish ceremony that precedes the customary cuts in services and a rise in Council Tax still several months away, I have been wondering, perhaps a little misguidedly, if our councillors could publish an interim report on the progress (if any) they are making towards avoiding these situations in the coming year.

R HOPKINS

Cllr Mike Oborski replies and maybe they'll print it...

R. Hopkins is right to be worried about Council finances (“Finance update please” - letters 28.11.03).

The last three meetings of the Council’s Budget Overview and Scrutiny Committee spread over the last four months have, thanks to a lack of any direction from a Conservative Chairman and the constant provision, contrary to repeated demands from members, of totally impenetrable figures from Officers, processed and delivered no investigations and produced few comments and no serious recommendations or reports.

Absolutely nothing has been achieved!

Happy Christmas it's Question Time at Council...       

As the Leader of the Council in his new role as Scrooge will not allow us to send Christmas Cards through the Council’s internal post for the first time in 30 years will he:-

(a)           hereby accept my warmest (low cost, non infringement of his control freak, politically correct or whatever, no cheer running of the Council) Christmas greetings and

(b)            accept a copy of “A Christmas Present….And Past” by Paul Revere & The Raiders Featuring Mark Lindsay  which by repeated playing throughout Christmas Day will truly give him the Christmas he really deserves?

Question 2 to the Portfolio Holder for Cultural Life at the Wednesday 3 December 2003 Meeting of the Wyre Forest District Council from a very angry Cllr Mike Oborski...

Very, very, very belatedly and after endless evasion, on 25^th June 2003 Haswells told the District Council that turfing was scheduled to be "completed" by early August, "shrub planting will be undertaken in late September / early October and tree planting in December" on the land torn up on behalf of Severn Trent earlier in the year for major drainage work at the junction of Wordsworth Crescent and Offmore Lane by Offmore First School in Kidderminster.

By 30th September they were writing to the Council that "the work will be undertaken as soon as we have had a reasonable amount of rain" and that "with rain promised it should be possible to proceed by mid October".

Even more recently we were promised by Haswells that work would start within a week!

Nevertheless, nothing has happened despite our repeated queries and complaints to your Officers and to everyone else concerned.

Would our Portfolio Holder now like to get something done without any further delay or are local people suppose to put up with continued delay?

Question three...                                                              

For the portfolio holder for leisure...

Given the brilliant launch of the mobile skateboard park at Wyre Forest glades does he:-

(a) Agree with me that there is clearly a need for permanent skateboard facilities locally and

(b) Agree that it is his responsibility to secure provision of permanent skateboard facilities locally.

Questions for Council...                                                 

Yup, I'm very, very fed up about this!

Would you agree with me that given that as across its last three meetings over the last four months the budget overview and scrutiny committee has achieved absolutely and totally nothing whatsoever, its Tory Chairman should resign in shame and that there should be a total rethink of the whole fiasco?

Let's Meet (No.1)...                                                          

Cllr Mike Oborski...

A Worcestershire County Councillor for 30 years and Wyre Forest District Councillor for 27 years (and past Leader and Chairman) Liberal Mike Oborski is also Polish Consul for the West Midlands.

When and why did you first become interested in politics?

As a child in Kenya in the 1950s seeing discrimination at first hand.

What inspired you to become a councillor?

A belief in public service and community politics.

What is your greatest fear?

Unreasoning prejudice.

And your greatest hope?

That one day a Government will give local Councils the freedom to get on with the job!

What is the first thing you would do if you became prime minister?

A law regulating the design and height of letter boxes – to make “Focus” delivery easier!

What single thing would most improve your local area?

Restoring vital services, particularly A&E, to Kidderminster Hospital.

For which cause would you die?

“That which is not yet lost” (ie. Poland).

Which fictional character do you identify with and why?

The feline hero of  Terry Pratchett’s “The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents”. That cat knows his politics!

What do you consider to be your greatest political triumph?

Getting Kidderminster Town Centre redevelopment back on track after Labour stalled it.

What was your most embarrassing moment?

That, alas, is still to come!

What is the biggest problem with local government today?

Constant central government tinkering reducing the local accountability of Councils.

How would you solve it?

Introduce the type of transparent and accountable local government launched in post Communist Poland – largely, and ironically, with British help and advice!!!

Who is your political hero and why?

Pre-war Polish Leader Marshal Jozef Pilsudski who taught “To be defeated and not submit, that is victory; to be victorious and rest on one's laurels, that is defeat."

When and where are you most happy?

At home with friends eating herrings in sour cream and drinking ice cold Polish vodka.

What’s your theme song and why?

The Liberal “Land Song” of the early 20^th Century and “The First Brigade” sung by the Polish Legions in World War I. Both are passionately about roots and freedom.

Your house is on fire. What possession do you grab first?

The cats – but they are friends not possessions. 

Student loans...                                                                

"We will not introduce ‘top-up’ fees and have legislated to prevent them."

- Labour Party Manifesto 2001

Friday again...                                                                  

Big Conversation or empty prattle?                             

Go to the Labour Party "Big Conversation" site and use the "Have Your Say" and "Your Stories" features to tell them why services at Kidderminster Hospital must be restored!

Comberton Hill mess...                                                  

That land by the advertising hoarding below the junction with George Street is getting messy again! We will push to get it sorted - again!

Money down the drain?                                                 

Costs of adapting the Duke Place offices to house the District Council's Planning and Finance Departments are rumoured to be running out of control and are well on the way to doubling the original estimate of £250,000.

That is in addition to the other capital costs of the move namely £170,000 for IT adaptations and £350,000 to surrender the lease on the present Vicar Street offices.

In short capital costs look set to rocket from £770,000 to best part of £1 million! 

This all seems rather steep for an investment in a building with just a 5 year lease and a further 2 year option!

None of this includes planned extra revenue costs of £100,000 in the first year and then £27,000 in subsequent years and a rental of £50,000 for each of the first two years and £110,000 for each remaining year.

Looks like Health Concern have got the Council into another fine mess!

M/S Pilsudski...                                                                

In the early hours of 26th November 1939 - exactly 64 years ago today - M/S Pilsudski hit German mines and sank.

R.I.P. Captain Mamert Stankiewicz.

We're happy!                                                                   

The latest official Police figures show nuisance and disorder DOWN by a staggering 69% in the Offmore & Comberton area of Kidderminster, burglary DOWN by 57% and the overall level of Crime reported DOWN 37% compared with October and November last year.

Just a year ago the centre of Comberton was almost running riot! Today it is one of the quietest areas in the District!

How come the turnaround? Well:-

- high quality and energetic Policing;

- a determined lead from the Offmore and Comberton Action Group;

- first rate support from our local Street Wardens and

- the firm stand taken by local residents.

Everybody has now got to rally round and really build on the progress already made. This is a good area in which to live and we want to keep it like that!

Another day, another Focus...                                       

Latest Offmore & Comberton FOCUS online here in pdf format!

Tonight's Budget Overview and Scrutiny Committee was the end!              

It was not as if it was the beginning. The one before last went off the rails because there was nothing anyone could get their teeth into. The last one broke up because it hadn't been given the papers it wanted and was reduced to spelling out yet again what it wanted.

This one was even worse.

Agendas had been issued without papers and so Agendas were then issued with papers and then e-mails were sent with differently laid out papers - which some members never received - so on the night new papers were made available after the meeting started which members refused to look at.

The figures and explanations in front of members were utterly incomprehensible and the excuse was that this was due to the way in which statistics and financial figures have to be presented to Central Government. Apparently it is no longer the responsibility of the Council's Cultural, Leisure and Commercial Services Department to explain its actions to members of the Council or, presumably, the public.

Attempts to look at Property, Waste Collection, Sports and Physical Recreation and Parks and Open Spaces budgets just dissolved fruitlessly and aimlessly. 

Before walking out in protest Cllr Mike Oborski pointed out that the meeting had achieved nothing, had not been given material in a format that anyone could handle, had no process for identifying and investigating concerns, had no way of reaching concensus and had no means of furthering business or presenting any report on anything to anyone.

Afterwards he described it as "the most disgraceful and shameful evening in the history of local government in Wyre Forest".

Wordsworth Crescent at junction with Offmore Lane...               

So the turfing was scheduled to be "completed" by early August, "shrub planting will be undertaken in late September /early October and tree planting in December". Well that is what Haswells were writing to the District Council on June 25th. By 30th September they were writing that "the work will be undertaken as soon as we have had a reasonable amount of rain" and that "with rain promised it should be possible to proceed by mid October".

So it is now the end of November and nothing has happened! Haswells told us today that work will start next week. Please, please, please let it happen!

Camera...                                                                          

By the way the photos above were taken with a digital Fuji Slim Shot - the same size as a credit card!

Harriers lost 2:1 to Torquay on Saturday...                  

Doh!

Well exactly! That is precisely what Rachel told the Council in the first place!                  

Right at the very, very beginning when the switch to recycling and fortnightly, instead of weekly, wheelie bin collection was first mooted Cllr Rachel Lewis warned the Council that there would be problems with nappies and incontitence pads!

Her concerns were airly dismissed both by exalted Health Concern Council grandees and our supremely all knowing Council Officers.

So read the front page lead story from today's "Kidderminster Times & Shuttle" which starts...

Health fear sparks talks

FEARS festering incontinence pads will pose a health hazard following cuts in bin collections have triggered urgent high level talks.

A summit is planned to decide whether they should be classed as "clinical waste" following complaints about the controversial introduction of fortnightly refuse collections in Wyre Forest.

Just marvellous isn't it!

So now read the rest of the story in The Shuttle...

Our Prime Minister and our distinguished American guest...                  

Doh! So O.K. I pinched the whole idea from Tom Watson (Labour MP for West Bromwich East) Nobody's perfect! Incidentally, isn't "West Bromwich East" a strange name for a Constituency? Think about it!

Sad times...                                                                      

The attack on the British Consulate General in Istanbul (see BBC report) with at least fourteen reported dead is extremely sad and depressing. Our thoughts are with the families.

Lea Street First School campaign report...                  

The Express & Star carries this story tonight...

Pupils' CD anthem bid to save school...
By Lynne Masters
Nov 20, 2003, 11:54

Children at a threatened Kidderminster school hope a specially-written campaign song will help persuade education chiefs to save it from the axe.

Award-winning Lea Street First School has sent CD copies of the Lea Street Anthem to Worcestershire County Council as part of its response to the Wyre Forest Schools Review consultation document, along with testimonials from pupils, parents, staff and governors - and even a copy of a letter of praise from education director Julien Kramer.

The school, which gained a hat-trick of achievement awards from the Department for Education and Employment in 2001, 2002, and 2003, plus an award for good practice in primary education from the University of Wolverhampton, is threatened with a merger with St George's CE First School and St Mary's CE First School to form two schools.

Lea Street's response said it seemed incongruous that a non-denominational school had been identified for merger with two Church of England schools.

It added: "St Mary's and St George's are situated close together but some considerable distance from Lea Street, so it seems more appropriate to merge the two CE schools to form a larger church school and leave Lea Street as the alternative for parents who don't wish their children to attend a church school."

It added 84 per cent of pupils walked to school, and if Lea Street closed, children would need to travel further on dangerous main roads.

Lea Street headteacher Jan Willetts said copies of the school's response and the CD had been sent to councillors and senior council officers.

The consultation period ends this month.

Indoor Market well and truly killed off...                       

According to the Express & Star today the Market Traders are being given the boot and there's nowhere for them to go. Suprise, suprise! Over the last couple of years the Council hasn't really bothered to look for an alternative. They've just been going through the motions so as to not look too bad when the inevitable happens! Another happy outcome!

That land again!                                                               

That's it! We are getting really, really furious! The land (junction of Offmore Lane and Wordsworth Crescent) by Offmore First School - dug up by contractors for Severn Trent - still hasn't been sorted. Come Monday we're on the war path!

Outdoor Christmas Lights...                                                             

If you are planning to put up outdoor Christmas lights on the outside of your house for Christmas then please, please, please make sure that you do use lights intended for outdoor use. Don't use lights intended just for indoor use. It's dangerous!

Future of special schools...                                           

Public consultation on the reorganisation of County Special Schools is likely in the New Year.

Friday already?! Oh well...                                                                 

Less nuisance...                                                              

Good Offmore & Comberton Action Group Meeting last night. Plans moving ahead for improvements and crime and nuisance is down.

Scrutiny at work...                                                           

The Overview & Scrutiny Committee chaired by Fran did a pretty fine job last night collecting information and taking evidence on:-

1. "Sustainable transport" - which means all forms of local transport and how they fit together;

2. The possibility of sponsored traffic islands - to keep them tidier and better planted.

The final reports should be interesting.

1:0 Win against Rochdale...                                           

Looking better for Kidderminster Harriers - now 19th and off the bottom!

Lea Street...                                                                       

Get your POSTER and CAR STICKER here. Read the full Lea Street Response to the County Council Consultative document and get up to speed on the "We Love Lea Street" dossier!

Latest Broadwaters Focus...                                          

...now on line in pdf format. Catch up on the local news.

David Short...                                                                   

This is not a full obituary for David Short. Look for that elsewhere.

This is only a brief recollection about the David Short that I admired and could never hope to emulate.

I met David maybe 32 years ago or perhaps even earlier but it was when we both arrived on the then newly born mistake that was Hereford & Worcester County Council in 1973 that we really got to know each other.

Diane Rayner, David Short and I were the unholy and extremely disruptive trio of the Council and of the then Liberal Group. From the moment we met we just “clicked” togther!