Greenspace

I can understand people opposing development near to them and as part of the Council's consultation exercise on the allocation of 1.2% of Salford's greenbelt for employment uses those people will be able to put their arguments forward.
What I fail to understand is the irrational fantasy being conjured up which transforms Salford Council's promise not to reduce the overall greenbelt into a threat to "suffocate" our citizens.
It is even more irrational when the self-same people tell us to build at Little Hulton instead - in other words, do not take a little bit from the area richest in greenbelt to give to one of the most deprived areas in Salford!
Far from allowing "suffocating" development, Salford is a champion of greenspace.
- When we consulted on the options for our core strategy, powerful voices put forward an option which would cut the greenbelt by 75 hectares. Labour councillors have resisted that and are proposing an option which involves no overall loss of greenbelt
- Our planning proposals increase the protection for Chat Moss and encourages the enhancement of biodiversity through the restoration of rare bogland habitat
- Irwell River Park is the probably the biggest 'greenspace' initiative in the region with plans to restore a green lung to the heart of the conurbation
- Salford has embarked on its biggest creation of new parks since Victorian times. New greenspaces lie at the heart of the massive regeneration schemes at Mediacity and Greengate
- Blackleach and Clifton country parks are a proud achievement of a Labour run council which pioneered the use of the river valley as a major green recreational resource for its citizens
- old railway lines have been reclaimed as green walkways and cycleways to link different part of the city and we continue to invest in making them accessible
- Salford is a partner in and funder of the Bridgewater Way project which intends to make the canalside more open and accessible to different groups
- Residents in Salford have benfited from the greenstreets initiative which has seen tree planting on streets throughout the city. We have carried out a tree audit with Red Rose Forest - only the second council in the region to do so - to help us decide where future planting can make most impact
And I could go on and on...
I joined the Labour Party because I saw that there was a decent environment for the few - and the many were excluded from its benefits. That is why I have been a keen advocate of country parks, green walkways and cycleways, tree planting and so on. We ARE increasing and opening up our greenspaces for the many rather than protecting the privileges of a few.

Councillor Derek Antrobus
Lead Member for Planning
Salford City Council

Adjudicator statement from today's full Council meeting

I want to start by saying, as Lead Member for Children’s Services how incredulous and angry I am at both the decision, the process and feedback we have had from Canon Linley, the schools adjudicator. I will explain why in a moment but first we need to remind ourselves of the background and vision we have for our children, young people and families in this city.

We may have different political views about the how and what but I know we are agreed on the why. We have seen remarkable, in fact nationally leading improvements in our education outcomes across the city. Where children do not reach their potential we work with governing bodies and school leaders to ensure that every child matters across our school system. We support and challenge and this robust relationship means we can look to the future, where all our children can aspire to learn in world class buildings, with world class resources and learning and teaching. This is their right, it is our moral purpose to ensure this and our duty as elected members to be the custodians
of this system. Now, more than ever, we must develop a world class education system to take us into the second decade of the C21st and beyond. I am talking legacy – a legacy that future generations can inherit and develop. There can be no greater responsibility and current opportunity for us as a city council.

It is this that makes me angry about the adjudicators decision, as it flies in the face of ensuring all our children have the opportunity to learn in world class buildings – that are assets to all families in the community, that underpin the social cohesion of our communities through giving purpose and structure for our young people. In fact he, in a single act has potentially doomed the children and young people in St George’s with little hope for the future – a small school, with no capital investment, with plateauing results, not working with others- this is not sustainable. We are city of rich diversity – this school has positioned itself as an island, against the wishes of the diocese. It makes me angry that the adjudicator sees fit to rule to keep this island, effectively giving up a once in a lifetime opportunity.

But this is only half of the issue. The adjudicator has seen fit, without any consultation and I believe advice, to include Harrop Fold High school in his ruling. I cannot and do not accept the premise that we should shut a rapidly improving school and take away the choice of a non faith education from the community. It is interesting to note that nearly half the children in St George’s are not catholic and many of our catholic primary school children in this community still leave the city for secondary education. Despite the divisive and offensive media campaign that the school head teacher has waged the council and schools have not got embroiled. I am therefore incredulous that based on only a partial analysis of our city and this community the adjudicator has ruled as he has.

So what does this mean for our children, young people and their families? My responsibility as Lead member is to all our children – whatever faith they have.

I am clear that we, as a council need to reflect, re engage and re work the future options with our schools, the diocese, government and our officers.

I want to be able to give all our communities clarity and the opportunity to benefit from a world class education opportunity – this adjudication has made that really difficult, but we in the labour group are clear that we will not stop in our endeavour. I look across the floor to colleague councillors to work with us to ensure that this once in a lifetime investment is not lost – it is our duty and purpose as elected members.

THE GREEN FIELDS OF FRANCE

Well, how do you do, Private William McBride, Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside? And rest for awhile in the warm summer sun, I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done. And I see by your gravestone you were only 19 When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916, Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Did they Beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly? Did the rifles fir o'er you as they lowered you down? Did the bugles sound The Last Post in chorus? Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined? And, though you died back in 1916, To that loyal heart are you forever 19? Or are you a stranger without even a name, Forever enshrined behind some glass pane, In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained, And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?

The sun's shining down on these green fields of France; The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance. The trenches have vanished long under the plow; No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now. But here in this graveyard that's still No Man's Land The countless white crosses in mute witness stand To man's blind indifference to his fellow man. And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.

And I can't help but wonder, no Willie McBride, Do all those who lie here know why they died? Did you really believe them when they told you "The Cause?" Did you really believe that this war would end wars? Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain, For Willie McBride, it all happened again, And again, and again, and again, and again.

"Save our school"

This business of "Save our school", essentially " Save our building". The notion that community is built entirely around its buildings, rather than around " The Faith" is somewhat unrealistic.

RC Bishop O'Donaghue of Lancaster.

BSF impact.

“I cannot describe how disappointed I am by the adjudicator’s decision today which will have a devastating impact on the Building Schools for the Future programme for our Catholic school in Salford.

“This was a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Salford’s children and young people and at a stroke the adjudicator has thrown it all into doubt. The city council is taking legal advice about how we challenge this decision.

“Our BSF programme covers every high school in the city, the whole point of which is to improve the life chances of every young person in Salford.

“Our education results to date prove that we are going in the right direction and our BSF programme was to be the next huge leap forward.

“The Adjudicator clearly agrees we have too many school places in that part of the city but I am outraged that his solution is to shut Harrop Fold and give their building to St George’s. I am sure many parents will agree with me.

“We have never said St. George’s is not a good school and we have never engaged in any negative comments about the teaching and learning standards there.

“However, the city council will absolutely stand by the pupils, parents, teachers and governors of Harrop Fold who have put an outstanding effort into their new school – with great results for them and their community.

“Some considerable time ago in an attempt to find the best possible solution for everybody involved, we and Harrop Fold made a proposal to the diocese that St George’s join them in their new building to become a joint school site with the right pastoral care for each community. The diocese said no.

“The adjudicator’s decision today has far-reaching consequences for every child in Salford but I can reassure them and their parents that we remain committed to working with our partners and stakeholders and won’t allow the opportunity of Building Schools for the Future to be thrown away if at all possible.”

Adjudicator decision

I am writing to inform you of the decision of the Schools Adjudicator regarding the linked proposals to discontinue St George’s RC High School and to enlarge St Ambrose Barlow RC High School.
The Office of the Schools Adjudicator has today [November 6] published a decision on the council’s proposals to create a 6th Form and enlarge St Ambrose Barlow Catholic High School and to discontinue St George’s Catholic High School.

The adjudicator, Canon Richard Lindley, approved the proposal to create a 6th form at St Ambrose Barlow School but has modified the implementation date to 1 September 2012. However, he has not approved either of the proposals to enlarge St Ambrose Barlow School from 1 September 2012 or to discontinue St George’s High School from 31 August 2012.

Canon Lindley said he was mindful that his decision could impact on Salford’s Building Schools for the Future programme and expressed a view that not all of the alternative options may have been fully considered.

The proposal which the adjudicator wished the council to consider as an alternative was to close Harrop Fold School and move St George’s High School into Harrop Fold premises as a Catholic VA school.

The council has confirmed that under no circumstances would this option be considered.

The adjudicator has acknowledged that this decision could cause some significant complication for the BSF programme but the Leader of the Council and the Lead Member have assured me that they remain committed to working with our partners and stakeholders and that they will not allow the opportunity of BSF to become lost if at all possible.

The council’s Cabinet last month approved the final business case for the Building Schools for the Future programme, agreeing that Phase 1 (involving the rebuilding of Walkden High and Irlam & Cadishead Community High Schools) can proceed with both schools opening in September 2011.

The Cabinet reflected on the options open to the Schools Adjudicator and further decided that Phase 2 of the programme would involve the closure and replacement of The Swinton and Moorside High Schools with one new school opening in September 2012, and the move of the Oasis Academy to a new site at the Quays during the second quarter of 2012.
The next steps for the council will be to review the plans for the remainder of the schools’ estate including All Hallows RC, St Ambrose Barlow RC, St George’s RC, St Patrick’s RC and Wentworth High Schools.

Hooligans disunited

As the EDL prepare to come to Manchester on Saturday, I came across this article from Searchlight.

Nick Lowles reports on the mixed relationships between football hooligan gangs and the far-right parties.
Over the past few months there have been a growing number of football hooligan-led mobilisations around the country. Luton might have captured the most headlines in recent weeks but there have been protests in Birmingham and East London, with future actions planned in west London and Manchester.
Some commentators have dismissed these gatherings as fascist events. This is inaccurate and misunderstands the relationship between football hooligans, nationalism and fascism.
As reported in last month’s Searchlight there are a number of organisations currently active that derive from the hooligan world. The English Defence League (which was originally the English and Welsh Defence League), Casuals United, March for England and the SIOE.
While there are undoubtedly fascists involved in these protests they owe more to the racist and nationalist mentality of hooligans than to any real fascist undertones.
The British fascist right had its strongest influence on the hooligan scene during the mid-to-late 1970s. Racism was rife on the terraces and the revival of skinhead fashion and the birth of racist Oi music gave young violent working-class men a racist and political identity.
By the early 1980s, this was on the wane, certainly within many of the gangs associated with larger city clubs. Changing football culture, the emergence of black players and probably most significantly the growing prominence of black football hooligans pushed the hardcore fascists out.
Most gangs linked to London clubs, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester City and United, Leicester, Derby and the Sheffield clubs saw sizeable numbers of black hooligans emerge during the 1980s.
There were of course exceptions. Leeds and Newcastle both had strong National Front influence within their mobs, as did many of the gangs linked to smaller clubs, where either there was little non-white population or there were deeply segregated communities and little Asian interest in professional football.
Chelsea was an enigma. No club has had such a long link to the far right – from the NF and British Movement of the 1970s to Combat 18 in the 1990s. And yet, despite this, they also had black hooligans and they were generally accepted. In fact, the one falling out that the Chelsea Headhunters had with Combat 18 was when the nazi activist Mark Atkinson left a threatening message on the windscreen of Big Willy, a leading black hooligan.
The relationship between hooligans and fascists was even more fraught at Millwall, which will surprise many given that this was where the British National party had its first electoral breakthrough in a council by-election in 1993. Millwall has always had black hooligans. Even back in 1977 when Panorama documented the infamous Millwall “F-troop”, one of the central characters was a huge black hooligan called “Tiny”.
In 1993, shortly after Derek Beackon’s election victory, Combat 18 went round some of the Millwall pubs trying to recruit. They were given short shrift by the Millwall hooligans. To Millwall Combat 18 was too associated with Chelsea and they were also willing to accept anyone within their ranks as long as their loyalty was to southeast London and the club.
A bigger clash between hooligans and fascists occurred in April 1994 when England was set to play a “friendly” in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on the anniversary of Hitler’s birth. British and German fascists hoped to join together to attack a Turkish demonstration in the city the day before. Tony Covelle, the leader of the Chelsea Headhunters and seen by many as the most important hooligan on the England scene at the time, would not consider the idea. He was English and the Germans were their key enemy.
Fortunately, the game was eventually cancelled after a campaign led by Searchlight and our German friends.
Loyalism has always been a bigger unifier for British football hooligans. During the late 1980s and more importantly during the early 1990s loyalism became central to hooligan nationalist identity. The IRA was bringing its campaign to the British mainland and English hooligans heavily adopted the loyalist cause.
In January 1993 over 600 people, including hooligans drawn from 22 gangs around Britain, met to disrupt the annual Bloody Sunday march in central London. Their intention was later to travel to Kilburn, an area with a large Irish community, in an attempt to kick off trouble with local people. Only the intervention of police and the arrest of 396 hooligans and loyalists prevented this from occurring.
The far right has never enjoyed this level of support. Hooligan gangs linked with Aston Villa, Oldham, Charlton, Swansea and Mansfield all had rightwing connections but they were easily the exception than the rule.
In more recent years the rise of the BNP has been mirrored by a growth in political hooliganism. The Oldham riots stemmed from weeks of hooligan incursions into the predominantly Asian areas of the town. The first was when 450 Stoke City hooligans rampaged through Westwood a few days after the pensioner Walter Chamberlain had been attacked by four youths.
Over the following few weeks Oldham hooligans, one of the most rightwing gangs in the country, were joined by small groups from Stockport, Shrewsbury and Huddersfield in a bid to whip up trouble. Eventually, on 26 May 2001, the hooligans succeeded. After a day when 80 hooligans and nazis had been frustrated by police a group of ten hooligans ran down a predominantly Asian street attacking people and property in what a judge later said was the “trigger” for the Oldham riots.
A week later the rightwing hooligans attempted to do it again, though this time they were stopped by Searchlight intelligence and police intervention.
A week after that Oldham and Everton hooligans tried to link up with Combat 18 Loyalism has always been a bigger unifier for British football hooligans. During the late 1980s and more importantly during the early 1990s loyalism became central to hooligan nationalist identity. The IRA was bringing its campaign to the British mainland and English hooligans heavily adopted the loyalist cause.
In January 1993 over 600 people, including hooligans drawn from 22 gangs around Britain, met to disrupt the annual Bloody Sunday march in central London. Their intention was later to travel to Kilburn, an area with a large Irish community, in an attempt to kick off trouble with local people. Only the intervention of police and the arrest of 396 hooligans and loyalists prevented this from occurring.
The far right has never enjoyed this level of support. Hooligan gangs linked with Aston Villa, Oldham, Charlton, Swansea and Mansfield all had rightwing connections but they were easily the exception than the rule.
In more recent years the rise of the BNP has been mirrored by a growth in political hooliganism. The Oldham riots stemmed from weeks of hooligan incursions into the predominantly Asian areas of the town. The first was when 450 Stoke City hooligans rampaged through Westwood a few days after the pensioner Walter Chamberlain had been attacked by four youths.
Over the following few weeks Oldham hooligans, one of the most rightwing gangs in the country, were joined by small groups from Stockport, Shrewsbury and Huddersfield in a bid to whip up trouble. Eventually, on 26 May 2001, the hooligans succeeded. After a day when 80 hooligans and nazis had been frustrated by police a group of ten hooligans ran down a predominantly Asian street attacking people and property in what a judge later said was the “trigger” for the Oldham riots.
A week later the rightwing hooligans attempted to do it again, though this time they were stopped by Searchlight intelligence and police intervention.
A week after that Oldham and Everton hooligans tried to link up with Combat 18 in an attempt to disrupt the England v Pakistan cricket match at Old Trafford. The plan had been for an Oldham hooligan to run onto the pitch during play and place a Combat 18 flag in the middle of the wicket. The hope, according to Combat 18, was for maximum media attention and a violent reaction from the Pakistani supporters in the crowd. Once again the 40 thugs failed because of Searchlight intelligence.
However, these incidents have been the exception. There is certainly a growing anti-Islamist feeling among many hooligans but this is probably just a reflection of attitudes in wider society. More hooligans are undoubtedly supporting the BNP but again this should not be of any great surprise given the growth of the fascist party in many parts of the country and the profile of the typical BNP voter. But this does not mean we are likely to witness an explosion of hooligan-based racial disorder.
The appalling turnout of hooligans in Birmingham in early August is testament to this. In smallish towns such as Oldham and Luton a local incident can quite easily incite a violent response from thugs and racists. However, there is no sign that hooligans will properly mix together for a political cause.
Football rivalry means that Watford hooligans, who might live only a few miles away, will never mix with their Luton counterparts and the return of the football season will refocus some hooligans on their traditional pastimes. In addition, heavy policing and the threat of arrest, football bans and possible prison will keep many away. It was interesting to witness the robust police response to an anti-Islam protest in East London in summer. Having been kettled for several hours and generally given a rough time, many of the hooligans who attended are hardly likely to come out again.
Finally, there is the very nature of hooligans themselves. They are a generally undisciplined, lazy group who prefer drinking and talking a good fight to involving themselves in a political battle. And those who do will be nervous about the role of the BNP and other fascist groups. Even at Luton, where the heart of the current hooligan mobilisation has emerged, there are growing voices of discontent about the presence of the BNP.
The organisers of the English Defence League and Casuals United have announced their intention to hold several more protests across the country, including in Manchester, Dewsbury and Bradford. Whether these go ahead remains to be seen but the dangers lie less in the big cities than in the smaller conurbations where tensions already exist.
Hooligans will not travel in large numbers across the country and they will be even more put off by the threat of arrest and football bans. However, in places like Luton, Oldham and West Yorkshire there are more than enough people to cause trouble without the need for outsiders. With the prospect of violence and communities tearing each other apart very real, HOPE not hate will be campaigning to get these events banned.