Local election results

[Duke Fame]

Stockport Council has put a extra £1m for the last two yearsover and above what government said they should spend into road repairs.
We havea brand new school going up at Rose Hill. Transport as your aware is not a local authority responsibilty. There are now places for the public to use toilets than ten years ago.

So not much innovation coming from you there.

Be careful Innovation doesnt = my hobby horse.

Did we really need that school or road improvements?

[Duke Fame]

I pay £190 per week which is around 30% of my salary

Blimey Duke, how big a mansion do you live in?   We're in a detached house and we pay £50 per week - I think you're being taken for a ride!

Whoops, £190 per month - still 30% of salary and I really object to it being wasted.

[wheels]

Stockport Council has put a extra £1m for the last two yearsover and above what government said they should spend into road repairs.
We havea brand new school going up at Rose Hill. Transport as your aware is not a local authority responsibilty. There are now places for the public to use toilets than ten years ago.

So not much innovation coming from you there.

Be careful Innovation doesnt = my hobby horse.

[Dave]

I pay £190 per week which is around 30% of my salary

Blimey Duke, how big a mansion do you live in?   We're in a detached house and we pay £50 per week - I think you're being taken for a ride!

As for this:

What services would you like to see that we don't have now?

Road and pavement repairs, improving poor-quality school buildings, improving care for the elderly and disabled, re-opening public toilets, improving public transport.  That will do for starters.

[Duke Fame]

I don't want the council tax reduced it hasnt gone up for the last two years.  Iwant to see services increased and if that means paying more thats fine by me. I am band F and pay about £225 a month which seems good value to me.

Hmmm, that is possibly because you have a relatively high wage so that £225 is a small % of your income, council tax suits two groups, the vey well paid and those who don't bother to work for a living. Council taxes and business taxes have increased above inflation for 20 years. I pay £190 per week which is around 30% of my salary, if everyone paid 30% of their salary for a load of incompetent made up jobs and answering freedom of information requests, the electorate would demand more accountability and more efficiency.

I can't see any reduction in Council tax happening now or in the future. I don't believe that anybody realistically (apart from you Duke) expects it. The politicians know that, so they won't do it. Also, no election for 2 yrs, so any pain inflicted now has longer to be forgotten about so I see an increase coming.

What services would you like to see that we don't have now?

I'd like to see some innovation from our politicians. I've given up on that nationally with this lot of amateur book-keepers that are in power but maybe we could see some locally.

On a specific point our roads and pavements are getting worse year on year they appear to be just left to total neglect. Surely something needs to be done about them.

I walked down Station Rd to the Street Party the other day it was raining heavily and the surface water was just cascading down the road. Virtually every single gulley appeared to be blocked. The answer to everything can't continually be ..."we've got no money".       

What innovation do you want? That they deliver effective efficient services? Our local council isn't great but the worry is (as you pointed out) the alternative is likely to be Labour. Labour always create expensive & wasteful councils, let's fight to keep Manchester style Labour with their wasteful ways and egotistical town clerks out of Stockport.

[simonesaffron]

I can't see any reduction in Council tax happening now or in the future. I don't believe that anybody realistically (apart from you Duke) expects it. The politicians know that, so they won't do it. Also, no election for 2 yrs, so any pain inflicted now has longer to be forgotten about so I see an increase coming.

What services would you like to see that we don't have now?

I'd like to see some innovation from our politicians. I've given up on that nationally with this lot of amateur book-keepers that are in power but maybe we could see some locally.

On a specific point our roads and pavements are getting worse year on year they appear to be just left to total neglect. Surely something needs to be done about them.

I walked down Station Rd to the Street Party the other day it was raining heavily and the surface water was just cascading down the road. Virtually every single gulley appeared to be blocked. The answer to everything can't continually be ..."we've got no money".       

[wheels]

I don't want the council tax reduced it hasnt gone up for the last two years.  Iwant to see services increased and if that means paying more thats fine by me. I am band F and pay about £225 a month which seems good value to me.

[Duke Fame]

I see every point of attending Area Committee meetings.   We must remember that two recently re elected councillors got their seats back due to their claim of opposing a supermarket on Hibbert Lane, remember the pictures, posters ? I remember them well, so I will be watching along with a lot of the community to see if our councillors do what they were elected to do, that is to speak on behalf  the community, not to speak for with out consultation.
For years our councillors have had a free hand, but not anymore   MARPLE has woken up and now demands representatives who are  transparent and we will settle for nothing less.   

I don't think the supermarket is much of an issue as pretty much all candidates agreed. It's not am issue until Asda make a move, until then, the council should get on with reducing our council tax

[simonesaffron]

I see every point of attending Area Committee meetings.   We must remember that two recently re elected councillors got their seats back due to their claim of opposing a supermarket on Hibbert Lane, remember the pictures, posters ? I remember them well, so I will be watching along with a lot of the community to see if our councillors do what they were elected to do, that is to speak on behalf  the community, not to speak for with out consultation.
For years our councillors have had a free hand, but not anymore   MARPLE has woken up and now demands representatives who are  transparent and we will settle for nothing less.   

I don't think that they think they were re-elected purely on the basis of the supermarket issue. There is not much to learn at Wednesday's meeting about Chadwick Street and even less about Hibbert Lane. Councillors are not going to have any regard for your bluster they'll just make platitudes and move on. It's your choice of course to attend but don't be disappointed when you know little more at the end of the meeting than you did at the beginning. Also, let us not forget that there are no elections now until May 2014, by which time the supermarket issue will be probably be all over.   

[wheels]

I think you totally misunderstand the item on the adgenda if you think that Wednesday is in any way a significant part of the process. You will learn nothing there that would not in other ways be freely available. There is no value in whipping people into a fever pitch at the wrong time. Follow the process and make yourcomments at the right time.

[Miss Marple]

I see every point of attending Area Committee meetings.   We must remember that two recently re elected councillors got their seats back due to their claim of opposing a supermarket on Hibbert Lane, remember the pictures, posters ? I remember them well, so I will be watching along with a lot of the community to see if our councillors do what they were elected to do, that is to speak on behalf  the community, not to speak for with out consultation.
For years our councillors have had a free hand, but not anymore   MARPLE has woken up and now demands representatives who are  transparent and we will settle for nothing less.   

[simonesaffron]

I see no point in attending Area Committee, you won't learn much. Perhaps the name of the preferred developer and you can get that from other sources the day after.  The 6 Councillors obviously, already have their plan very much mapped out and nothing anybody says at the AC will change that.

In point of fact all credit to them. They didn't just stand by and protest as Asda marched into town as many other Councillors would have done. They thought about and they came up with a plan an innovative one in fact. Who would have thought to build a supermarket on Chadwick Street?

Neither do they consult...they often appear to, it is very cleverly done but what they do in reality is "inform" after the event. They probably have to do it this way or nothing would be implemented. 

It also looks as if it is going to happen. The only fly in the ointment I can see is if it's actually Asda that buy Chadwick Street. Now that would be interesting.

Like most on here I will wait until I see some plan/structure before hareing off to area committee and giving forth about something that I have no detail on. 

[simonesaffron]

The point i make Simon is that you continually contend that whatever happens in Offerton will be a loss for the Lib Dems it wont. Therefore you cannot build it into any calcualtion. At the best for Lab they will gain the seat from the Tories and that will not increase in any way the opposition numbers.
I suspect and you might disagree that we will see a Lib Dem gain there together with a LD gain in Cale Green increasing theirnumbers by 2.

Labour have never controlled Stockport and cannot do it on their current ward base.

The only points I make Wheels about JS's Offerton seat is that Labour will win it thus giving them one more seat and that gradually the numbers are stacking up in favour of Labour. Any way Victor is probably right ..."nuff said on the subject".

[Heritage]

I agree...just follow a due process and allow for a structured approach to this and other issues. Otherwise [and the Tesco/ASDA thread seems to have thankfully withered on this basis] all that becomes 'debated' is speculative hot air and rhetoric.

[wheels]

But why you were told last November what the perfered option for the site was all you can be told now is that there is a prefered biddered. You can have your input when there is an actually planning application. I have better things to do next Wednesday. Let the process take its course.

A development is a good idea just lets get the actual planning application detail right.

Until then don't get all excited.