On Thursday I went as a public observer to the City Council East Area Committee, which covers Abbey Ward, in order to see if any issues arose that might affect Abbey, and to question the Lib Dems over their plans to dump 12,000 houses on the Marshall site.
I asked the following question: "Since it is now 10 years since Liberal Democrat city councillors and Tory county councillors first got together to propose that Marshall Airport should become a housing site for 12,000 homes; since those proposals seem not to be bearing fruit; and since waiting lists for homes, and house prices in Cambridge, both continue to rise, can we be told what 'plan B' alternatives to the Marshall proposals are now being considered?"
Catherine Smart, Lib Dem Deputy Leader of the Council and Executive Councillor for Housing, was at the meeting and spoke for the Lib Dems. Her answer, was, despite attempting to duck the question, that there is NO PLAN B!! The city council's plan to meet Cambridge's housing needs is entirely predicated on Marshall moving. Since Labour's campaign to keep Marshall in Cambridge is gathering steam and looks like it could succeed, we have a situation where the Lib Dems' ill-thought out plan to provide for Cambridge's housing needs may not be practicable, and yet they have no alternative plans at all! They really are a bunch of incompetents. I would trust the Chuckle Brothers with running Cambridge City Council over these jokers.
The Greens were also conspicuous by their silence on the issue, since they also support the disastrous Marshall plan, which would dump 12,000 new homes on the Marshall site with no provision for investment in transport, thus making existing congestion problems on Newmarket Road etc far worse.
Yes, Cambridge needs more affordable housing - the Labour Government is leading the charge towards building the new affordable homes that we need. However, this does not mean that we should support a poorly thought out scheme which will be a disaster for transport, infrastructure, and the local economy and jobs. The Lib Dems need to accept that their plan is a disgrace, and start thinking about a plan b, for the sake of Abbey and Cambridge generally.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Labour listens, while Sedgwick-Jell gets his facts wrong on Abbey Meadows
I notice that this week Simon Sedgwick-Jell, Green County Councillor for Abbey, has been his usual high-handed and misleading self concerning the issue of the future of the Abbey Meadows School.
Sedgwick-Jell claims that plans to build a new primary school in Abbey have been 'shelved' and that this is a 'potential disaster' for the people of Abbey. This is a gross misrepresentation. I have spoken to the chair of governors of Abbey Meadows (I hope to speak to the headteacher as well soon), and he is extremely puzzled by Sedgwick-Jell's hyperbole.
The truth is that there are well-advanced plans to vastly expand Abbey Meadows, to almost double its capacity, in order to cope with the extra demand for school places. Sedgwick-Jell hasn't bothered to talk to governors or staff at the school about these plans, and seems to be ignorant of the truth, which is that the extra demand for school places cannot be met quickly enough if a whole new school is built from scratch. So, expansion for Abbey Meadows is probably the best short-to-medium term answer. This has been the plan for some time - there was no 'shelving' of a plan to build a second school - such a plan never existed.
Sedgwick-Jell should consult and check his facts before firing off ill-informed press releases to the Cambridge News. It might get him a few cheap headlines, but it does not constitute a sensible or constructive contribution to the debate about school provision in the Abbey area.
Labour listens on Abbey Meadows, whereas the Greens go for ignorant, cheap point-scoring
Sedgwick-Jell claims that plans to build a new primary school in Abbey have been 'shelved' and that this is a 'potential disaster' for the people of Abbey. This is a gross misrepresentation. I have spoken to the chair of governors of Abbey Meadows (I hope to speak to the headteacher as well soon), and he is extremely puzzled by Sedgwick-Jell's hyperbole.
The truth is that there are well-advanced plans to vastly expand Abbey Meadows, to almost double its capacity, in order to cope with the extra demand for school places. Sedgwick-Jell hasn't bothered to talk to governors or staff at the school about these plans, and seems to be ignorant of the truth, which is that the extra demand for school places cannot be met quickly enough if a whole new school is built from scratch. So, expansion for Abbey Meadows is probably the best short-to-medium term answer. This has been the plan for some time - there was no 'shelving' of a plan to build a second school - such a plan never existed.
Sedgwick-Jell should consult and check his facts before firing off ill-informed press releases to the Cambridge News. It might get him a few cheap headlines, but it does not constitute a sensible or constructive contribution to the debate about school provision in the Abbey area.
Labour listens on Abbey Meadows, whereas the Greens go for ignorant, cheap point-scoring
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Owers and Labour for Abbey Ward
Last week, I was selected to be the Labour city council candidate for Abbey Ward in Cambridge. This is a great privilege.
I have been knocking on doors and campaigning in Abbey since 2008, listening to the concerns of local residents on issues such as local drain blockages, local public services, the plight of Cambridge United, and anti-social behaviour.
The political context is that Abbey is a Labour-Green marginal. Currently, it has 2 Labour city councillors, 1 Green city councillor and 1 Green county councillor. Until recently a rock-solid Labour ward, the Greens have been making inroads since 2008, when the Greens beat the incumbent Labour councillor John Durrant.
Now, many on the Left may be a little sceptical, since the Greens have developed an (often undeserved) reputation as being a somewhat left-leaning alternative to the big parties. However, in Cambridge the Greens have positioned themselves in a deeply reactionary position on one of the biggest local issues. This issue is that of Marshall, the local aerospace company. Marshall provides a great deal of local skilled employment, and is crucial to the local economy.
Despite this, the Lib Dem city council and Tory county council in collaboration have developed a plan to force Marshall out of Cambridge and use the site currently occupied by Marshall to build 12, 000 houses in its place. They have done this with the full backing of the local Green Party.
The problems with this plan are numerous. Firstly, it will involve a huge loss of skilled jobs in Cambridge, many of which provide valuable employment to local working class people. Secondly, the development is unsustainable. It will involve placing a huge strain on the local infrastructure with no investment to back it up. Local traffic problems, which are already acute, will be exacerbated even further. For example, traffic on Coldham’s Lane and Newmarket Road, already terrible, will draw to a standstill. The effects on the carbon footprint of Cambridge would be extremely detrimental.
Green Party support for this despicable plan is unfathomable. It is indefensible on the grounds that it is a betrayal of local working people, on the grounds that it will exacerbate climate change, and on the grounds that it will be disastrous for the local economy. In my campaign, I will incessantly point out the Green hypocrisy and cant on this issue.
Furthermore, the point is that the Green vote is a protest vote that cannot be afforded in the context of the next General Election, which will fall on the same day as the city council election. I have my problems with the government and am very much on the Labour Left, but voting for fringe parties like the Greens rather than Labour candidates, especially progressive, dare I say it socialist, Labour candidates, will lead to nothing but the election of a dangerously reactionary Tory government, or in Cambridge a Lib Dem MP who will fall in line with Nick Clegg’s neoliberal, quasi-Tory agenda.
I am a socialist. I believe that the purpose of politics is to tackle the underlying inequalities and injustices faced by people disadvantaged by social circumstances so that their full potential can be realised. However, I am also a pragmatist, and I realise that the only vehicle for actually effecting progressive changes in this country, rather than talking about them, is, both nationally and locally, the Labour Party, and has been since its creation. In this election, it is the practical concerns and real action of ordinary residents that I and my Labour team will focus on. In this election, we will be fighting the corner of the working people of Abbey, whatever their class. We will be fighting to defend their local Sure Start centre, to take up their local housing issues, to defend their jobs, to tackle local anti-social behaviour and to fight for investment in their local football club. We will also be fighting on the behalf of their ethical and environmental concerns. In short, we will show that the true socialist force in Cambridge and British politics is, and can only be, the Labour Party.
I have been knocking on doors and campaigning in Abbey since 2008, listening to the concerns of local residents on issues such as local drain blockages, local public services, the plight of Cambridge United, and anti-social behaviour.
The political context is that Abbey is a Labour-Green marginal. Currently, it has 2 Labour city councillors, 1 Green city councillor and 1 Green county councillor. Until recently a rock-solid Labour ward, the Greens have been making inroads since 2008, when the Greens beat the incumbent Labour councillor John Durrant.
Now, many on the Left may be a little sceptical, since the Greens have developed an (often undeserved) reputation as being a somewhat left-leaning alternative to the big parties. However, in Cambridge the Greens have positioned themselves in a deeply reactionary position on one of the biggest local issues. This issue is that of Marshall, the local aerospace company. Marshall provides a great deal of local skilled employment, and is crucial to the local economy.
Despite this, the Lib Dem city council and Tory county council in collaboration have developed a plan to force Marshall out of Cambridge and use the site currently occupied by Marshall to build 12, 000 houses in its place. They have done this with the full backing of the local Green Party.
The problems with this plan are numerous. Firstly, it will involve a huge loss of skilled jobs in Cambridge, many of which provide valuable employment to local working class people. Secondly, the development is unsustainable. It will involve placing a huge strain on the local infrastructure with no investment to back it up. Local traffic problems, which are already acute, will be exacerbated even further. For example, traffic on Coldham’s Lane and Newmarket Road, already terrible, will draw to a standstill. The effects on the carbon footprint of Cambridge would be extremely detrimental.
Green Party support for this despicable plan is unfathomable. It is indefensible on the grounds that it is a betrayal of local working people, on the grounds that it will exacerbate climate change, and on the grounds that it will be disastrous for the local economy. In my campaign, I will incessantly point out the Green hypocrisy and cant on this issue.
Furthermore, the point is that the Green vote is a protest vote that cannot be afforded in the context of the next General Election, which will fall on the same day as the city council election. I have my problems with the government and am very much on the Labour Left, but voting for fringe parties like the Greens rather than Labour candidates, especially progressive, dare I say it socialist, Labour candidates, will lead to nothing but the election of a dangerously reactionary Tory government, or in Cambridge a Lib Dem MP who will fall in line with Nick Clegg’s neoliberal, quasi-Tory agenda.
I am a socialist. I believe that the purpose of politics is to tackle the underlying inequalities and injustices faced by people disadvantaged by social circumstances so that their full potential can be realised. However, I am also a pragmatist, and I realise that the only vehicle for actually effecting progressive changes in this country, rather than talking about them, is, both nationally and locally, the Labour Party, and has been since its creation. In this election, it is the practical concerns and real action of ordinary residents that I and my Labour team will focus on. In this election, we will be fighting the corner of the working people of Abbey, whatever their class. We will be fighting to defend their local Sure Start centre, to take up their local housing issues, to defend their jobs, to tackle local anti-social behaviour and to fight for investment in their local football club. We will also be fighting on the behalf of their ethical and environmental concerns. In short, we will show that the true socialist force in Cambridge and British politics is, and can only be, the Labour Party.
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