Stoke-on-Trent City Council Budget Meeting 27/2/14

I thought depending on circumstances that I may attend this meeting but in the end had other priorities. It is good to have the webcast to catch up from in any case. 

This was the full council meeting on the budget. Rather than being a budget in the normal sense of the word, a large focus of the council's budget is on what they can cut and close. Much of the budget discussion is political hot air with the Labour council blaming the Conservative government, although back in the days of the last Labour government, the council were cutting and closing things just the same. Labour Council Leader Mohammed Pervez stated at last year's budget council that he expects cuts until the year 2020, there was no statement about a Labour government doing anything different if they should gain power.

Despite the mundane political sniping, there were a few comments worth noting (webcast times given in brackets). Mohammed Pervez (00:13:03) referred to a consultation regarding the budget.  The number one concern was cuts to the demonstrators at Gladstone pottery museum; Mohammed Pervez reported that demonstrators will now be kept but that the museum will be closed on its quietest days, Sunday and Monday. He also reported that prosecutions are being made for litter and fly tipping. I certainly hope that prosecutions will continue and intensify as there is far too much fly tipping and littering in the city. However he also mentioned the incredible amount of money being spent in Hanley. To me this is such a waste and could be better spent. We don't need unnecessary new council buildings. If companies want to build in Hanley then fine, but it shouldn't be for the council to squander money on, they should be focusing on local services for people.

Independent Councillor Dave Conway (0:29:03) was not happy with many of the cuts suggested, especially pay and conditions for low paid council workers, spoke out against the money squandered on the central business district and press officers and 'spin' and said he won't support the budget although opposing it won't make a scrap of difference.  He is right, against a whipped Labour majority the opposition cannot change the outcome.

Independent Councillor Paul Breeze (1:08:47) welcomed the council tax freeze but aside from that had a good go at the Labour group. He was frustrated that suggestions the opposition make are totally ignored. He mentioned 'Our City' magazine which he would like to see cut. I agree wholeheartedly, it is a waste of council tax payers money on what is essentially in my view Labour propaganda. He also mentioned the new bus station being too small and market traders suffering because bus stops have moved.  A gem of a quote aimed at Labour was that "reality will bite you on the bottom"!

Conservative Councillor Abi Brown (1:14:50) raised an interesting point about the Gladstone pottery. She talked in some depth about the Sunday closing, raising the issue that although average attendance is low, when special events are on it is high. Personally I can see the point in closing on days when there is low demand, but it's easy just to close things, I think it would be better to look first at improvements that could be made that would increase visitor numbers.

An issue of particular importance in my part of the city is Trentham library. This was the number two concern in the council's own consultation. But the council are to close it completely despite a high level of popularity and usage and low running costs. There is little evidence that I can see of any detailed thought or commitment from the council's Labour group or officers to alternative provision. However, there is an active local group, the 'Trentham Centre Association' campaigning for this, helped by our two councillors. These two councillors spoke as follows.

Independent Councillor Terry Follows (1:46:38) spoke against the closure of Trentham library to save just £40,000 per year, especially when it's one of the best used in the city for the time it's open, on 3 days a week.  He raised the importance of education and pointed out that there is no library in the nearby Trentham High School. Well it seems to me it's just a land grab! I attended just the first half hour of a meeting on 3/3/14. The BBC report states that any alternative "would not involve keeping the existing building open".

Independent Councillor Peter Hayward (1:48:58) accused Labour of ignorance or arrogance because they use the ridiculous argument that the thousands of people who don't respond to their consultation are in agreement with them. 

Of course the budget and cuts were voted through (2:29:27), because of Labour's majority.

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Stoke-on-Trent City Council Meeting 30/1/14

I've only just viewed the webcast of the Stoke-on-Trent full council meeting of 30th January 2014, there were speakers for two petitions and an interesting debate on the High Speed 2 rail line plans.

Petitions

Alan Barrett (00:26:48) presented a petition arguing against council expenditure on the central business district (CBD) and high pay and allowances for councillors and staff.  I would agree that the CBD spending is ill thought out, if businesses want to come to Hanley then fine, but sparse council tax payers money should not be wasted there.  I wouldn't agree with Alan's proposed 30% cut in expenses.  If expenses are what is meant, then actual expenditure should be reimbursed, as even Alan says.  Salaries and allowances were also mentioned and whilst some of these are ridiculously high, I would prefer a solution of curbing pay rises for the higher paid and not taking on staff at crazily high salaries.  Alan highlighted that pay rises for some low paid staff are poor but for some already highly paid staff are high.

Cllr Terry Follows (00:30:24) presented a petition to make Hanford Park an Alcohol Restriction Zone due to the culture of late night drinking and the damage caused to children’s play equipment.  Terry talked about the problems of not only under age drinking but those old enough to drink causing problems by damaging play equipment, leaving broken bottles, bad language and drug taking.  Terry thought that ideally there would be a blanket ban on drinking in all parks in the city, but clearly this park is in his ward (the same ward I live in also).  I wholeheartedly agree, but then I choose not to drink alcohol - so I would say that wouldn't I?  One of the many reasons I choose not to drink, alongside horrible feelings in the head, reduced sensitivity and enjoyment of life, adverse health implications and consuming unnecessary calories, is the damaging effects I see it causing in society.  So I vote with my feet and avoid it myself.  The counter argument that people will make is that responsible drinking in moderation does virtually no harm to anyone so why shouldn't responsible people be allowed to drink in parks?  It's a reasonable point if I accept that others get some pleasure from alcohol, but the facts are that out there on the ground, the sort of drinking that goes on in parks is rarely responsible.  So I hope the Alcohol Restriction Zone goes ahead.

High Speed 2

I'm pushed for time for blogging, so won't refer to individual contributions in detail, but the discussion, commencing at (00:35:05) is worth viewing.  Of course there is a bit of councillor waffle, but there are some decent points made as well. The discussion and vote was on an alternative to the draft HS2 plans, which would include a station in Stoke-on-Trent.  It seems that all councillors agree with this, as I do.  There are disagreements about whether HS2 is a good idea or not.  I'm one of those who can't see a reasonable case for the amount of expenditure on this.  However given the constraint that government and opposition nationally support HS2, so we will get it anyway, the alternative detailed seems a good idea.  I haven''t been able to find a map which would have been helpful.  Points made by councillors included that the council's alternative proposal allows better access to HS2 from our area, improvements to the city that would arise, a better route both environmentally and politically, cheaper and with a sooner completion date.  It was stated that Newcastle Borough Council approves Stoke-on-Trent's alternative proposal but Stone Town Council does not.  There wasn't much clarity presented on Staffordshire County Council's view.

Trentham Library Under Threat Of Closure?

On 9th December 2013 I attended and took minutes for a public meeting, held at Trentham High School, about concerns that Trentham Library may be closed as a result of Stoke-on-Trent City Council cuts to be made in the 27th February 2014 budget.  This has been reported and commented on in The Sentinel.  The library building appears in a list under review.

Anyone wishing to comment on the council's budget proposals should do so by 20^th December 2013, by:

• post to - Budget 2014, Freepost Our City (no stamp needed)
• email to budget2014@stoke.gov.uk
• web site at

http://webapps.stoke.gov.uk/snapsurveys/BlueBookBudget/budget2013_14.htm

Councillors Peter Hayward and Terry Follows introduced the topic.

Dr Rowena Blencowe, head teacher at Trentham High, was introduced. She had provided the venue and said that school governors had decided there would be no charge for use of the school facilities for residents' meetings.

Marilyn Vigars had produced a Powerpoint presentation detailing key facts.

Ann and Maureen distributed sign-in sheets for those present.

67 residents attended the meeting! 10 had sent apologies for absence.

Cllr Hayward presented the Powerpoint.

Due to council cuts Trentham library is under medium threat of closure.

The library is not just a hut, it is a freely accessible community asset. As a library, it of course lends books, but is more than that; there are toddler classes, story time sessions and silver surfers. The rumour in the council is that library services will be centralised in Hanley with books distributed out to other areas.

Trentham library is one of the most used in the city for its size. The annual running costs are £3,000 for the building and £24,000 for staffing. There is a real and sustained threat of closure if nothing is done.

A resident asked why the hours couldn't be cut instead of closing the library?

Cllr Hayward said the council does want comments and alternative suggestions and in discussions so far it seems they may be willing to provide librarians and database access if they can get rid of the building.

There is a 20^th December 2013 deadline for the council to decide cuts to the library service so that is also the deadline for asset rationalisation and a business plan. £3,000 would need to be raised but this could be done over a few years. Cllr Hayward said if this can be done, then the community would have the existing building and may also be able to raise money to add extra space to the building for community use.

A resident pointed out that we are rate payers so aren't we entitled to the library?

Cllr Hayward explained that the council are only obliged to provide a library service but this could be centralised in Hanley.

A resident asked if Trentham library could be relocated to the children's centre in Hanford?

Cllr Hayward said that the council had planned to close children's centres but didn't because the government would in that case claw back funds. There are considerable parking problems at the children's centre.

A resident asked if Trentham library could be relocated to Trentham High School?

Cllr Hayward said that would depend on ongoing support from the head and governors and parking would need to be considered.

There was a discussion of cutting the library hours, this can save a bit on staffing costs but not too much as there has to be two staff.

A resident reported that in the 1980s the library only opened on Tuesdays and Fridays, 3-7pm and was a third of the current size but was still very well used.

Cllr Hayward said in defence of the council, in other areas of the country other solutions such as asset transfer to communities were being used and our council is doing the same.

A resident asked, given that we are rate payers and the library is already 'ours' why do we have to buy it again?

Cllr Follows outlined 3 different options:

1. Keep the library where it is.
2. Sell 2 building plots from the grassed area by the library and use the money to keep the library going for a while.
3. Move the library to Trentham High and sell 5 building plots from that site, using the money to keep the library going longer. The head is agreeable provided there is no cost to the school.

Cllr Hayward was keen to start asset transfer to the community on account of the short deadline.

A resident commented that the council plans do not make financial sense because to centralise the library and send out ordered books, the costs must be astronomical.

A resident said things should be left as they are. Although government has reduced funding for councils, our council has no justification to close Trentham library in order to make a very small saving when he said millions of pounds are being spent on Ingestre Square, the public sector and new build.

Cllr Follows said the council think we don't need things in Trentham because they view us as having big houses and several cars.

A resident asked why the council can't bring in money from the massive debts owed to them in council tax and rent arrears?

Cllr Hayward pointed out that although he and Cllr Follows are in political opposition in the council, he admits that debt collection rates are improving.

Cllr Hayward suggested we should put forward a proposal for Trentham library that the council would be embarrassed to refuse.

A resident said a pragmatic solution is needed to force the council into a corner. He suggested the council be asked to grant ownership of the entire library plot to the community so some could then be sold to run the library for ~10 years. This could be 'too difficult' for the council, in which case they can leave the library as it is.

Cllr Follows said he had already suggested this to the council but has not received a response as yet.

A resident, drawing on experience from her work, said that Hanford and Trentham has the least number of activity groups for older people in the city.

A resident suggested that as the data show that 33,000 books are borrowed from Trentham library each year, if each person paid 10p per book, the £3,000 would easily be raised.

Cllrs Follows and Hayward said that given the huge turnout at this meeting we can surely keep Trentham library and keep it on its current site. What is needed is a working group of 4-5 people for ~12 months to arrange asset transfer. Cllr Hayward said there will be more and more cuts year on year so it is best to take the library into community ownership in order to keep it.

A resident asked how the council manage to waste so much money?

A resident said there are 30 'clowns' – Labour councillors, agreeing to every cut. He wants the lot out. We have two good independent councillors fighting them who will always be outvoted.

Cllr Hayward said that a business plan for asset transfer does not generally have to go to a council vote, if it did we would be in dire straits.

Cllr Follows said the council have experience of Trentham residents and how much they are capable of fighting, because we fought to save Trentham High School and won.

Cllr Hayward said Trentham is not seen as a 'soft touch'.

A resident asked how we can present our plans to the council by 20^th December?

Cllr Hayward said we need ~6 residents to help with the plan, especially those with business experience. Cllr Hayward said he can then collate a general package by 20^th December. Then there can be more meetings to sort out the details.

A resident said it is important to initiate a plan in order to avoid falling under the 'savings' for this year's budget.

A resident said the solution seems to be to have residents volunteer to maintain the building, rather than volunteer in the library, as the council would provide the staff.

A resident said there are sources of grant money that can be obtained.

A resident asked for the land to be kept as well as the building.

A resident said the older generation could have difficulty going to a library elsewhere. He didn't think the council motivation in closing Trentham library is to save money, he thought they want to make money by selling the land.

A resident said very young children use the library as well and like to browse physical books rather than just view them on the computer.

Cllr Hayward said a local girl had used the library and won a prize for a Christmas card design.

A resident said we have skills, ability and a good mix of people in our area, so have the power to save the library.

Cllr Follows said if we can't keep the library where it is, It has been agreed it can come to Trentham High School. The head said they only have a very small library.

A resident said the library needs both books and computers.

A resident said that some people use the computers at the library to develop their skills.

A resident was concerned that although the current head is agreeable to the library being in the school, without any offence, the situation may change some years later.

A resident said Trentham library is our last community building and we need to keep it.

Cllr Hayward said that only 40% of people communicate with the council via computer.

A resident said that the value of the library to the community, from toddlers to life long learning, should be mentioned in the business plan.

Ann would take a note of residents willing to help with the business plan. Cllrs Follows and Hayward assured residents that they would lead the plan and liaise with the council but the substance of it needs to come from the community.

A resident said that the library staff had told him it was 'done and dusted' that Trentham library would close.

Cllrs Hayward and Follows said it certainly wasn't a done deal. They also said that amongst the libraries in the city, Trentham has only medium threat because the saving would be such a small amount.

A resident asked for publicity in The Sentinel.

A resident said if we have a good community facility we can put on more events for older people.

A resident said there are always people using the 3 computers in the library and that David Cameron wants everyone to have computer access and skills. The library could be expanded to help this and we should certainly make the point that computer access should not be cut off.

A resident said other areas have good facilities and there are funding sources we could use.

A resident referred to reports on the elderly and an emphasis on loneliness, the library is really helpful to combat this.

Cllr Hayward said the top two reasons why people like Trentham library are the parking available and the friendliness of the staff.

Cllr Hayward encouraged people to submit letters to the council for their budget consultation, protesting any planned closure of Trentham library. Last year there were only ~800 letters from the whole city, so a large number from Trentham would be helpful.

Two types of volunteers were requested:

• business plan working party
• ongoing library volunteers maybe needed in the future.

It was unanimously agreed that the business plan should focus on keeping the library building on its current site.

When asked how people had found out about the meeting, very many had found out from the poster in Trentham library!

A vote of thanks was given to Marilyn Vigars for producing the posters and Powerpoint presentation.

13 people volunteered for the business plan working party and there were plenty of ongoing volunteers also.

The meeting closed at 8.30pm.

Michelle Chow from The Sentinel talked to residents after the meeting.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council Meeting 12/12/13

I've been viewing the webcast of the Stoke-on-Trent full council meeting of 12th December 2013, in particular the petitions and public questions.

Petitions

Tracy Forrester (00:27:50) presented a petition on a common theme, dangerous and illegal parking outside schools, in this case Packmoor Primary School.  She reported that her two children had been nearly run over, all children are vulnerable and a child had been run over in 2011.  She listed all the usual problems and said that traffic wardens to not arrive at the relevant times.

Bob Lockett (00:32:06) presented a petition opposing the sale of land by Power Grove in Longton for use as a traveller site.  He cited  reasons of rare wildlife in this area of natural beauty and difficulties of access.  He also complained that money was meant to be spent on play facilities in this area but was spent in another ward.  He appealed for this land to remain a public open space.

Angela Cardall (00:34:04) presented another petition on parking, this time outside St. John's Primary School in Springfield.  Again the usual problems were listed with parent parking but also with hospital related parking.  She asked for the issue to be referred to city renewal overview and scrutiny committee but no councillor responded to this.  

It's bizarre that many parents city wide quite happily indulge in dangerous and illegal parking outside schools, whilst many others are aghast at this behaviour.  Honestly, those parents parking illegally need to think about what they are doing and park properly a bit further away, for the safety of all concerned.

Public questions

There was just one supplementary question asked, by Mike Barnes (00:39:21).  He had requested information on consultants/agency staff covering senior management position on the council and been told there were 3; Director – Place, Assistant Director – Green Enterprises and Section 151 Officer & Assistant Director – Financial Services.  His supplementary question asked for the individual costs.

Council Leader Mohammed Pervez (00:40:13) reported that the average monthly costs paid to the recruitment agency for these posts are £17,903, £15,907 and £11,900, totalling £45,710.  He said if these were filled internally permanently, on all inclusive basis the total would be £44,820.

By-election result

Cllr Anthony Munday who had won the Baddeley, Milton and Norton by-election on 15th November was welcomed (00:44:18).  That's good, another city independent councillor.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council Meeting 17/10/13

Life is busy and fun but I've just had time to catch up with the Stoke-on-Trent full council meeting and watched the webcast.  I present my personally selected 'highlights' with webcast times given in brackets.

Petition against coal bed methane extraction

Emanuel Blondel (00:16:00)  from 'Gas Free Stoke' presented a petition against coal bed methane extraction.  He expressed concerns about potential safety issues with the mine shafts and the effect on the water table.  He did not think drilling was needed as we have existing methane vents.  He said coal bed methane extraction would be contracted to large companies providing only poorly paid short term jobs.  He expressed a preference for energy from biomass and industrial heat and he wanted a more local focus.

Update on capital spending plans

Cllr Andy Platt (00:26:53) talked about the green enterprise programme and mentioned some of the issues raised in the petition.  He said a biomass boiler would be commissioned by the end of the month in Longton and a wood fuel processing hub should be operational by next summer although a site has yet to be selected.  He said they were looking at organic waste treatment but gave no details.  He also said they were considering geothermal sources including mine water although current investigations are inconclusive as to whether this is viable or not.  He mentioned that the ceramics industry uses gas but measures 800 ^oC on the roof where heat escapes.  He wants to find ways to use this to heat homes but didn't give further detail.  He said coal bed methane shouldn't be confused with shale gas and it would be useful to collect and use the coal bed methane readily available.

CllrJack Brereton (00:32:52) criticised the council's move of the civic centre and the risky debt involved.   He rightly pointed out that leaving out interior costs for the new building was misleading and verges on negligence.

Cllr Paul Breeze (00:44:09) also criticised the debt, lack of openness and lack of public support.  He said they were holding back the Potteries Shopping Centre from opening a business.  He accused the council leaders of recklessness and said he could not support the proposal.

Cllr Ann James (0:45:33) said she and the city independents had voted against the capital programme in February because they weren't happy with the risk assessment and costings, they are not allowed to debate this and at the last cabinet they were not allowed to call in the issue for scrutiny!  She criticised the accuracy of the figures because an extra £30million is now required including 7.5million for the central business district.  She questioned how many times it would come back requiring more money and said she would not support the proposal.

Cllr Adrian Knapper (0:52:19) talked about other cities and their shopping centre developments.  He seems to want another shopping centre, but we've got the Potteries shopping centre.  In my view it would be all very well having another one if there were any businesses or customers wanting it, but there doesn't appear to be much evidence of this.  

Stoke-on-Trent City Council Meeting 5/9/13

Because of school governor duties I couldn't attend the meeting in person but watched the start of the webcast live and the rest later.  I present my personally selected 'highlights' with webcast times given in brackets.

Petitions

There were two speakers.  Jean Edwards (00:14:28) wanted more forthright action regarding what they call the 'bedroom tax' (which is actually a housing benefit cut).  She wanted better use of the funds allocated for tenants struggling to pay the portion of rent required.  This was referred to scrutiny for further consideration.  Gwendoline Peake (00:22:59) raised the issue of traffic problems near The Willows primary school.  She suggested alternative routes and drop off points as solutions, particularly in light of the school expansion.  Cllr Randy Conteh (00:26:50) made the important point that this is actually a widespread problem outside many schools in the city and highlighted how pupil numbers are increasing across the city (something I am always banging on about and is hitting national media).  I (@Nicky_Davis_) said on twitter "#sotcc Well said Cllr Randy Conteh - pupil numbers rising across #Stoke-on-Trent, need to look at traffic problems across city." A reply from @ExBlurtonCllr said "@Nicky_Davis_ as long as Randy didn't chair it. He Chaired match Day parking review. Nothing happened." This issue was also referred to scrutiny.

Public questions

Personally I have had very little luck getting sensible answers out of the council via public questions.  Gabrielle Hoban regularly holds the council to account in this forum and asked two questions.  She had asked Council Leader Mohammed Pervez about learning lessons from history, which he had claimed they do.  Gabrielle asked a supplementary question (0:33:54) about why the council is making our city a laughing stock. Mohammed Pervez (0:34:31) clearly disagreed but just came out with the usual meaningless guff.  Gabrielle had asked Cllr Ruth Rosenau about the route and speed of waste disposal lorries in Burslem, she had replied that they have no control over vehicles which aren't theirs but they can monitor possible speeding.  Gabrielle asked a supplementary question (0:35:51) about why the council spends money it doesn't have on road alterations when it doesn't have jurisdiction.  Ruth Rosenau wasn't at the meeting at the time so a written response was suggested.  To be somewhat fair to Mohammed Pervez  though, he did try to answer.  He said (0:36:25) the council will change road layout to try to solve problems but they cannot totally dictate routes vehicles take. If there is a specific company or environmental impact the council will try to act if it is given this information.

Police and Crime Commissioner's plan

Cllr Janine Bridges made a statement (0:45:35) that the Police and Crime Commissioner's plan isn't fit for purpose and proposed a motion including the council's disappointment about the plan. A debate ensued. I said on twitter "Oh dear #sotcc - party (petty) political shenanigans because @SoTCityCouncil is #Labour and @MatthewEllis is #Conservative" @MatthewEllis responded "@Nicky_Davis_ @SoTCityCouncil Not bothered in politcal opportunists. One of biggest public responses to consult ever in Staffs +80% positive"  Cllr Adrian Knapper can be amusing to watch (0:52:28) chewing pens and sellotape, grinning, yawning and what did he do to his nose at (0:54:50)? The motion was carried.  However since then, from listening to BBC Radio Stoke, it seems that Mohammed Pervez and Matthew Ellis have 'kissed and made up' a bit on this issue.

Partnering Arrangements for Energy Extraction (Hydrocarbon Options) – Decision

The public were excluded from this discussion. Councillors discussed the exclusion, I don't report all of them but among them Cllr Paul Breeze pointed out (1:08:08) that this doesn't do much for openness and transparency.  Cllr Tom Reynolds (1:08:26) supported excluding the public but seemed to promise a public open debate on the principles of the scheme.  Fine, bring it on, I expect the public / campaigners just want to know 'what the frack' it involves and what environmental impact it will have 'on the ground'.  Cllr Ann James (1:10:17), so often the voice of reason, pointed out that too much goes under closed agenda and the public should know the costs.

Stoke-on-Trent Dear Leader's Spin Blog

On 25th June 2015, our council leader in Stoke-on-Trent, Cllr Mohammed Pervez, decided to publish a blog.  Good idea I thought.  I'm no fan of Labour, but I do like the idea of our councillors communicating with us.  What a shame that communication is only one way!  To begin with he did the decent thing and had the blog open to comments.  Several us commented on his first blog and there was a good selection of decent and sensible comments on issues of importance to us.  This was a chance for the council to take some notice.

"It’s all too easy to lose touch with the people" he had said. "I’m going to be using this blog to reach out to local people and engage with you" he had said.  So we started to engage by making useful comments.  These were published online.  This was very useful so everyone could gain from each other's thoughts.  It didn't last long though!  He soon closed down the comment facility.  I kept a note of my comment on Cllr Pervez's first blog and I reproduce it below.  The shame though is the loss then and the continued loss of other people's input.

So alas, Cllr Pervez's blog is yet another arm of the mighty Labour spin machine and Labour continue to fail to listen!

As for his promise to "also be engaging in more online debates; building on the success of past web chats and holding twitter Q&A sessions", have there been any that I've missed or how do I find out about them?  
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My comment is below:

I agree with Pervez... on this comment anyway "it’s all too easy to lose touch with the people". But surely to goodness he can't have missed that people don't want many millions squandered moving the civic centre back to Hanley again. Pervez, if you personally read this, take note! I'll tell you what will happen with all this 'listening' he says he will do, because he's done it before and it will be the same as what is done right across the Labour party, their standard mantra will be that we need it explained better to us. They won't accept what we really want, they will insist they know better, they are doing it for our good and we should be so very grateful for them. Pervez may start talking down to us like he did to Ann James at a council meeting, saying it doesn't matter about the money because it's just a loan and he can't possibly know how much it will really cost because he doesn't know the interest rate. If he truly believes this is a valid point, which he seemed to at the time, it is very scary. When you're strapped for cash you don't rush out and buy something new if the old one is suitable do you? Would you really take out a loan if you didn't have to? I wouldn't. He doesn't have to take out the loan because we already have a perfectly good civic centre in Stoke. And if you must take out a loan you wouldn't do it without some inkling of what the interest was going to be and be pretty certain you could afford the repayments and have a plan as to how to pay them. I wouldn't take out this loan and I don't want my taxes used paying interest to banks. I don't have a problem with the concept of taxation, I don't mind paying tax, but I don't want it squandered, I'd rather pay it to provide good services.

Onto my next topic, schools. Education is so vitally important for the young people of the city. But under BSF, the previous Labour government's BSF, the council planned to provide fewer high school places then their own figures projected!

http://nickydavis.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/lack-of-high-school-places-in-stoke-on.html

This really made me wonder how numerate people in the council actually are. The current problem is our primary schools are full to bursting. Pervez, you really cannot let these developers keep building more and more housing without building more schools as well. I started to wonder about the council's pupil projections and how they are worked out. They used to be published on the council's website but more recently not, I had to resort to FOI to get them.

This is a general point and not just about schools. With all this talk about transparency, the council is actually becoming less open, with less on the web and forever having to resort to FOI. It's not easy just to ask a simple question and get a straightforward answer either. What you get back is no end of flannel. If I were a conspiracy theorist I might think that the council don't actually like the public being interested in what goes on or scrutinising what is being done. Hence it publishes less in the public domain and deploys super waffle missiles in response to genuine questions.

I tried a public question, just to understand the pupil projections, not necessarily to argue with them.

http://nickydavis.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/stoke-on-trent-city-council-meeting.html

Poor cabinet member for education at the time Alan Dutton struggled with the concept of an algorithm but at least he set up a meeting for me with officers, so I was hopeful for a time. Much flannel was deployed at the meeting though and I was told there wasn't a specific formula used to calculate expected pupil losses between years 2 and 3 and 6 and 7. Now someone somewhere must know how they have calculated these numbers but it seems I'm doomed not to be told. It was disappointing that I was told that the council is not obliged to publish these projections, so it doesn't. But it has them and if we the public are interested, why isn't it nice and open and publish them rather than insisting on FOI. I was also told there were updated figures on what I had. Of course I would be delighted to receive these but again I expect it would ludicrously need FOI to extract them. I was given some hope though by the suggestion that I could be sent specific reasons for particular numbers that appear anomalous. You would expect when producing your projected figures that if you have one year a certain number of pupils across the city say in year 7, that the simplest zeroth order approximation would be that you could expect that same number of pupils to be in year 8 the following year. Of course this won't be totally accurate because amongst a variety of reasons, pupils may move in or out of the city, so a first or higher order approximation could be made. But, with the exception of the year 2 to 3 and 6 to 7 transitions, it looked like the zeroth order approximation had been made, for 55 out of the 61 such transitions anyway. But the other 6 I hoped I would be sent specific reasons for as suggested. I wasn't. So I asked about this in another public question.

http://www.moderngov.stoke.gov.uk/mgconvert2pdf.aspx?id=53380

New cabinet member for education Shaun Pender, same old flannel.

Pervez, could we please have more transparency, more information, more answers? Engaging with the public always seems such a pretense. When we are genuinely interested we forever seem to encounter a brick wall.

SOTcouncillors on Twitter:

List members

1.  

   Andy Platt ‏ @CllrAndyST4

   Personal views of the Labour Councillor for Boothen & Oak Hill
2.  

   Olwen Hamer ‏ @OlwenHamer
3.  

   Lee Wanger ‏ @LeeWanger

   Councillor Lee Wanger for the Tunstall area of Stoke-on-Trent.
4.  

   CllrRuthRosenau ‏ @CllrRuthRosenau

   Councillor at Stoke on Trent, Cabinet member for Regeneration, Planning and Transportation. Mum to my 6 beautiful children. Views are personal.
5.  

   Paul Shotton ‏ @paul_shotton
6.  

   Debra Gratton ‏ @debra_gratton

   Working Mum, Wife, Stoke on Trent City Councillor, views are my own
7.  

   Terry crowe ‏ @terry_crowe53

   cabinet member for finance and commissioning
8.  

   Shazad Hussain ‏ @shazadhussain11
9.  

   Alan Dutton ‏ @BurslemCentral

   Local Councillor for the Burslem Central Ward and Cabinet member for Education.
10.  

    Mohammed Pervez ‏ @pervezstoke

    Leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council & Senior Scientist Medicinal Research & Development
11.  

    najma ‏ @shazadhussain
12.  

    savewedgwood ‏ @Alisonwedgwood
13.  

    Matt Wilcox ‏ @mattwilcoxstoke

    Award Winning Social Entrepreneur, Company Director, lots of other stuff and of course Winner of Stoke Come dine with me 2010!
14.  

    Tom Reynolds ‏ @longtontom

    Husband and Dad to two. MRes politics student. Former trade journal editor and MP's lackey. Labour cllr, views are my own and not necessarily that of SOTCC.
15.  

    Matthew Fry ‏ @Matthewfry1
16.  

    Abi Brown ‏ @AbiBrown1

    Conservative cllr for Meir Park ward in Stoke-on-Trent. Wife to Mr B & mum of 2, juggling small business, politics & life in general. Conservative & proud.
17.  

    Joy Garner ‏ @button1001

    My husband & I, are Labour Cllrs on Stoke-on-Trent City Council. My ward is Burslem Park.
18.  

    Mark Meredith ‏ @MarkMeredith01

    Stoke Councillor. Director of Eclipse Consulting. Elected Mayor of Stoke on Trent May 2005- June2009. @LGBTLabour
19.  

    Alastair Watson ‏ @CllrActional22

    Labour Councillor for Joiners Square in Stoke-on-Trent & all round friendly chap most of the time. Views my own.
20.  

    Adrian Knapper ‏ @adrianknapper