Well here we are the saga goes on and the Minister confirms that there is to an Eco Town from Leeds City Region on the shortlist. Leeds City Region is a government construct that brings the City, County and Metropolitan District Councils together to look at a number of strategic issues for Yorkshire. Who LEEDS well there is a clue in the title.
In this case LCR has three eco-towns on the table. I am hearing from colleagues that Micklefield may be deselected, leaving Darringfield and Willow Green, either of which will have a significant impact on the five towns and this eastern part of the WMDC area. Real impact will be felt in Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley as people commute from their 20 or 40,000 spiffy new eco homes to shop or to work.
Our resources are scarcely able to cope with existing demands. The new Pontefract General Infirmary henceforth known as the cottage hospital is reducing from 450 plus beds at its peak to a little over 100 when the new hospital comes on stream in 2010.
(Incidentally I have just heard of an initial proposal to build a first phase of 150 new homes on the parts of the hospital that will surplus to requirements.
If either or both get selected we have the makings of huge problems and that at a time when we are about to be consulted on a further nearly 2000 homes to be built in and around the Pontefract area.
More to follow as the picture gets clearer.
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Sunday, 30 March 2008
Keep our post offices open ..petition day
Visitors to Pontefract Market place today would have witnessed Walsh clipboard in hand collecting signatures from local inhabitants and visitors to help in our campaign to keep our local post offices open.
Thank you to all those souls who signed up today another 160 on a cold, windy and wet day.
An interesting aspect of the whole process was the number of people who I approached who did the automatic "No thanks or In a hurry" defensive comment who stopped in their tracks and came back and signed when the words keep our local post offices open sank in.
I have noticed over recent years a number of Chuggers - paid street fundraisers who encourage people to sign up for direct debit donations. I think that chugging is starting to become such a problem in my neck of the woods that people see a clipboard and panic.
Anyway thanks to all that signed, I really appreciate your commitment to our community. Lets see what the government and Post Office think.
Thank you to all those souls who signed up today another 160 on a cold, windy and wet day.
An interesting aspect of the whole process was the number of people who I approached who did the automatic "No thanks or In a hurry" defensive comment who stopped in their tracks and came back and signed when the words keep our local post offices open sank in.
I have noticed over recent years a number of Chuggers - paid street fundraisers who encourage people to sign up for direct debit donations. I think that chugging is starting to become such a problem in my neck of the woods that people see a clipboard and panic.
Anyway thanks to all that signed, I really appreciate your commitment to our community. Lets see what the government and Post Office think.
Eat my Hat continued...
Later Friday afternoon our MP the Minister arranged an open session for people to drop in to explain their concerns about traffic and transport in Pontefract.
I have previously commented that this is something that happens every couple of years and then everything goes quiet and not much happens.
Well a number of people were invited, they were each given a questionnaire and allowed to talk with people from a number of agencies. However most were hoping that they would start to hear about ways forward as opposed to the same thing that happened in 2002,2004,2006 and now apparently 2008.
Very helpful from my point of view as I had the chance to catch up with a number of people who would be delighted to see me eat my hat in response to delivery of solutions. A number of people told me my hat is still safe...sorry to hear that really.
I have previously commented that this is something that happens every couple of years and then everything goes quiet and not much happens.
Well a number of people were invited, they were each given a questionnaire and allowed to talk with people from a number of agencies. However most were hoping that they would start to hear about ways forward as opposed to the same thing that happened in 2002,2004,2006 and now apparently 2008.
Very helpful from my point of view as I had the chance to catch up with a number of people who would be delighted to see me eat my hat in response to delivery of solutions. A number of people told me my hat is still safe...sorry to hear that really.
Pontefract Live at Home scheme...
Friday lunchtime was an absolute pleasure, the Live at Home Scheme is a really worthwhile initiative operated by a number of people from across the district who work to support the quality of life for older people still living in their own homes who may become isolated or lonely. The range of services include friendship/social groups, trips, befriending, phone links and other types of social activities and they rely heavily on volunteers.
This Friday to mark the Methodist Homes charity's 65th birthday anniversary celebrations and the 10th anniversary of the Live at Home scheme and its launch linked to Micklegate Methodist Churchthere was a Tea Dance in the assembly rooms at Pontefract Town Hall, something in the order of one hundred and twenty people gathered for a bite to eat, some tea, cake and a chance to catch up with friends old and new and dance. They also used the event to acknowledge the contributions of a number of volunteers and the applause rolled around the room.
Last year we put a small amount of support cash in to this charity to help them fund their monthly tea dances and this is the first time I have been able to go along and join them.
IT WAS GREAT FUN and incredibly worthwhile. Well done and keep it going, I know lots of people who need this.
This Friday to mark the Methodist Homes charity's 65th birthday anniversary celebrations and the 10th anniversary of the Live at Home scheme and its launch linked to Micklegate Methodist Churchthere was a Tea Dance in the assembly rooms at Pontefract Town Hall, something in the order of one hundred and twenty people gathered for a bite to eat, some tea, cake and a chance to catch up with friends old and new and dance. They also used the event to acknowledge the contributions of a number of volunteers and the applause rolled around the room.
Last year we put a small amount of support cash in to this charity to help them fund their monthly tea dances and this is the first time I have been able to go along and join them.
IT WAS GREAT FUN and incredibly worthwhile. Well done and keep it going, I know lots of people who need this.
Friday, 21 March 2008
Save our Post Offices continued
The motion to Council was amended but in such a way that we could support the amendment. Separately in Parliament there was a debate and a vote to stop the closures and a number of Labour MPs voted in favour of that motion. Sadly 20 votes short but the closest to a government defeat on a motion of this nature.
Our local radio station asked me to give an interview and one of our local newspapers printed an item and a contact point and I received an email with an alternative view.
I replied and the correspondence follows (with some blanking to protect the identity of the individual concerned).
Dear XXXXXXXXXX,
First of all thanks for getting in touch.
You are perfectly entitled to your point of view but I suspect you already
know I don't share it in this case.
The thing is that the £4million that you talk of is as a result of the government under funding what is a critical public service for many. The actual per capita cost of this service equates to just under 7 pence per week or just over £33 pounds pa for a public point of contact that can be used for the provision of government services and could also be used as a public access point for council services.
This is a small sum to consider when compared with some of the other ways that our money is used. I do not begrudge the tax I pay being used for positive purposes and I see the public service provided by local post offices a price worth paying.
The government decided in May 2007 that to continue to receive funds the Post Office will close 2500 local post offices and if you research the progress so far you will see that this prescriptive approach has resulted in closures that have led to communities urban and rural being threatened. The 500 mobile access points (many of which are vehicles that appear for short periods of time) are a pathetic sticking plaster and the actual hours of opening typically two periods of two hours a week are little or no use to many.
Many of the post offices selected are admittedly marginal but not loss making and their withdrawal often dooms other aspects of service provided to the communities in which they are based. (please have a look at this link and look at some of the existing closure reviews carried out http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/content1?catId=57600693&mediaId=57600697)
With regard to service, I do not know if you use a local post office, they are typically set up on a more human scale than the Crown offices which you find in some Town and most City centres and the people that work in them often provide added levels of service to their communities.
With regard to accessibility, the elderly and vulnerable members of the community that you scorn who perhaps do not have your level of computer literacy or perhaps your level of health, ( I realise that as I believe we have not met I may be making possibly an equally unfair assumption about your age and health which you are quite at liberty to correct). once upon a time for some they may have been more nimble, able or adept at coping with change but we have a duty to support them whilst they are in need and perhaps less able to cope.
I agree that there are a number of options that people can use as alternatives but some of these are just not available to some of the members of the community that you criticise and will lead to real hardship for many, I would seek to try to find alternatives to help them but as a start wish to try to stop this now.
Where the Post Office consultation process is invoked and takes place a small number of reversals have resulted, where a post office is saved another from the area will close, the much vaunted consultation process that the Post Office offers seems to be an empty gesture and therefore as a first point we need to get the process frozen so that we can look at alternatives and that is the purpose of the petition that we are raising..
I believe that you have done some research on this situation but believe that you should do some more, there are at least 90 Labour MPs and Ministers who are fighting to keep their local post offices open and the number is growing as more closures are confirmed, I ask you to consider why are they opposing this?
In the last round of local closures there were a number of photo opportunities for our MP where she was pictured with groups of members of the public who were to be affected. In all she looks glum and talks of her determination to save them but it was her government that triggered the closures and in this case I predict she will will be pictured in the same circumstances again looking glum and saying the same things, you may wish to look at her voting record on this issue.
http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/index.php
Finally "Doom and Gloom Britain" well there are a number of positive initiatives rolling out across the UK but for many there are huge challenges that we face and our existing governments "tick box and spin mentality" linked to a tendency to average down and cut away levels of support rather proves the point for me.
I will continue to fight to protect the interests of people in our community regardless of their politics.
Should you wish to discuss this further I would be happy to hear from you.
But in any case I wish you well.
Regards
Geoff
Geoff Walsh
On 20/03/2008, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX> wrote:
>
> Mr Walsh,
>
> I am writing in response to your letter and article published in this
> weeks Pontefract & Castleford Express.
>
> Firstly, let me express my appreciation of your concerns about closures
> hitting the elderly and vulnerable. However, I feel strongly that your
> concerns are representative more of your own agenda to emphasise the 'Doom
> and Gloom Britain' as seen by your party leader Mr Cameron.
>
> In your recent public statements you fail to appreciate the following
> valid points;
>
> - These Post Offices are losing £4 Million every week.
> - Why should tax payers subsidise a minority of people who refuse to
> open bank accounts and have their benefits paid into them?
> - The post office has confirmed that they will still provide mobile
> services in areas of Post Office closures.
> - Most of these Post Offices offer very little or poor service when
> compared to today's lifestyle.
> - Every service provided by the Post Office is available elsewhere.
>
> Of course you will get people signing your petitions. I suspect a vast
> majority will be Tory pensioners who won't open bank accounts to get their
> pension or who will have to walk another 2 minutes to buy a stamp.
>
> In reality, as the world moves on, you should take a realistic view of
> these outdated establishments that are losing millions every week instead of
> spreading your doom and gloom stories.
>
> Regards,
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Our local radio station asked me to give an interview and one of our local newspapers printed an item and a contact point and I received an email with an alternative view.
I replied and the correspondence follows (with some blanking to protect the identity of the individual concerned).
Dear XXXXXXXXXX,
First of all thanks for getting in touch.
You are perfectly entitled to your point of view but I suspect you already
know I don't share it in this case.
The thing is that the £4million that you talk of is as a result of the government under funding what is a critical public service for many. The actual per capita cost of this service equates to just under 7 pence per week or just over £33 pounds pa for a public point of contact that can be used for the provision of government services and could also be used as a public access point for council services.
This is a small sum to consider when compared with some of the other ways that our money is used. I do not begrudge the tax I pay being used for positive purposes and I see the public service provided by local post offices a price worth paying.
The government decided in May 2007 that to continue to receive funds the Post Office will close 2500 local post offices and if you research the progress so far you will see that this prescriptive approach has resulted in closures that have led to communities urban and rural being threatened. The 500 mobile access points (many of which are vehicles that appear for short periods of time) are a pathetic sticking plaster and the actual hours of opening typically two periods of two hours a week are little or no use to many.
Many of the post offices selected are admittedly marginal but not loss making and their withdrawal often dooms other aspects of service provided to the communities in which they are based. (please have a look at this link and look at some of the existing closure reviews carried out http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/content1?catId=57600693&mediaId=57600697)
With regard to service, I do not know if you use a local post office, they are typically set up on a more human scale than the Crown offices which you find in some Town and most City centres and the people that work in them often provide added levels of service to their communities.
With regard to accessibility, the elderly and vulnerable members of the community that you scorn who perhaps do not have your level of computer literacy or perhaps your level of health, ( I realise that as I believe we have not met I may be making possibly an equally unfair assumption about your age and health which you are quite at liberty to correct). once upon a time for some they may have been more nimble, able or adept at coping with change but we have a duty to support them whilst they are in need and perhaps less able to cope.
I agree that there are a number of options that people can use as alternatives but some of these are just not available to some of the members of the community that you criticise and will lead to real hardship for many, I would seek to try to find alternatives to help them but as a start wish to try to stop this now.
Where the Post Office consultation process is invoked and takes place a small number of reversals have resulted, where a post office is saved another from the area will close, the much vaunted consultation process that the Post Office offers seems to be an empty gesture and therefore as a first point we need to get the process frozen so that we can look at alternatives and that is the purpose of the petition that we are raising..
I believe that you have done some research on this situation but believe that you should do some more, there are at least 90 Labour MPs and Ministers who are fighting to keep their local post offices open and the number is growing as more closures are confirmed, I ask you to consider why are they opposing this?
In the last round of local closures there were a number of photo opportunities for our MP where she was pictured with groups of members of the public who were to be affected. In all she looks glum and talks of her determination to save them but it was her government that triggered the closures and in this case I predict she will will be pictured in the same circumstances again looking glum and saying the same things, you may wish to look at her voting record on this issue.
http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/index.php
Finally "Doom and Gloom Britain" well there are a number of positive initiatives rolling out across the UK but for many there are huge challenges that we face and our existing governments "tick box and spin mentality" linked to a tendency to average down and cut away levels of support rather proves the point for me.
I will continue to fight to protect the interests of people in our community regardless of their politics.
Should you wish to discuss this further I would be happy to hear from you.
But in any case I wish you well.
Regards
Geoff
Geoff Walsh
On 20/03/2008, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX> wrote:
>
> Mr Walsh,
>
> I am writing in response to your letter and article published in this
> weeks Pontefract & Castleford Express.
>
> Firstly, let me express my appreciation of your concerns about closures
> hitting the elderly and vulnerable. However, I feel strongly that your
> concerns are representative more of your own agenda to emphasise the 'Doom
> and Gloom Britain' as seen by your party leader Mr Cameron.
>
> In your recent public statements you fail to appreciate the following
> valid points;
>
> - These Post Offices are losing £4 Million every week.
> - Why should tax payers subsidise a minority of people who refuse to
> open bank accounts and have their benefits paid into them?
> - The post office has confirmed that they will still provide mobile
> services in areas of Post Office closures.
> - Most of these Post Offices offer very little or poor service when
> compared to today's lifestyle.
> - Every service provided by the Post Office is available elsewhere.
>
> Of course you will get people signing your petitions. I suspect a vast
> majority will be Tory pensioners who won't open bank accounts to get their
> pension or who will have to walk another 2 minutes to buy a stamp.
>
> In reality, as the world moves on, you should take a realistic view of
> these outdated establishments that are losing millions every week instead of
> spreading your doom and gloom stories.
>
> Regards,
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Monday, 17 March 2008
Motion to Council
On Wednesday I am taking a motion to Full Council:
Motion to Council from Cllr G Walsh
This council:
• Notes the invaluable service provided by the local post offices in the district to people within our local communities who rely heavily on our post office branches;
• Deplores the Government’s current programme of 2,500 closures across the country,
• Notes the strength of public opinion in favour of saving our local post offices;
• Recognises the needs of the elderly, disabled and the most disadvantaged across the WMDC district who rely on local post offices the most.
This council resolves to call on the Government:
• To stop its latest round of post office closures including the closure of local post offices in the WMDC district;
• To find sustainable ways to keep our post office network open for business including opening post offices up to be ‘One Stop Shops’ for Government services and introducing ‘Council Counters’ to deal with council services.
Should be an interesting day.
Motion to Council from Cllr G Walsh
This council:
• Notes the invaluable service provided by the local post offices in the district to people within our local communities who rely heavily on our post office branches;
• Deplores the Government’s current programme of 2,500 closures across the country,
• Notes the strength of public opinion in favour of saving our local post offices;
• Recognises the needs of the elderly, disabled and the most disadvantaged across the WMDC district who rely on local post offices the most.
This council resolves to call on the Government:
• To stop its latest round of post office closures including the closure of local post offices in the WMDC district;
• To find sustainable ways to keep our post office network open for business including opening post offices up to be ‘One Stop Shops’ for Government services and introducing ‘Council Counters’ to deal with council services.
Should be an interesting day.
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