The Labour Party and the government

It is increasingly obvious that the actions of some members of the government, particularly the prime minister, Tony Blair, have little if anything to do with the basic values and traditions of the Labour Party.

There is, of course, a huge amount that is good in the record of the government, especially in increasing employment, the minmum wage, implementing the EU social chapter, family tax credits, the Sure Start programme.

But the prime minister's obsession with the market is damaging the education system, with city academies and trust schools handing power without accountability to private entrepreneurs and so-called faith groups. The NHS has had a massive injection of public funds but the private sector is increasing its role, and profits, in the health service.

Then there is foreign policy. Not only the disastrous intervention in Iraq, but the PM's absurd posturing in the middle east. Having blatantly supported Israel's aggression in Lebanon and Gaza, he cannot expect to be taken seriously as a 'peacemaker' in resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict.

And back at home, the 'cash for honours' scandal is, at best, an affront to the democratic traditions of the Labour Party, while the dropping of the corruption investigation into alleged British Aerospace-Saudi bribery is a breach of the principles of the rule of law.

Blair's arrogant and self-serving attempt to secure a personal 'legacy' is damaging to the Labour Party and the country. The sooner he goes, the better.

Pinochet - good riddance

There should be no sympathy for the death of Pinochet, the former Chilean military dictator. He took power in an American-backed military coup on 'the other' 11 September, in 1973. He was responsible for the documented deaths of more than 3000 people, and the 'disappearance', torture, imprisonment and exile of tens of thousands more.


It is a matter of shame to Britain that the Thatcher government chose to hold Pinochet in high esteem and, even now, in her dotage, Thatcher declares her sadness at the dictator's death.

Perhaps it is more appropriate to recall with sadness and respect the democratically elected President of Chile overthrown in the bloody coup, Salvador Allende (pictured left), who died when Pinochet's aircraft bombed the presidential residence.

He led a democratic socialist government which was instituting reforms that were improving the lives of the ordinary people. It is Allende who should be remembered as the person who set a standard for Chilean democracy, not the evil and corrupt Pinochet.

'Site 44' and the environment

‘Site 44’ is an piece of land close to Stainton Way in the Marton / Coulby Newham area. It has been designated for housing in the Coulby Newham master plan for more than twenty years, but until recently had been ‘sterilised’ because of electricity pylons crossing the land. Now that they have been removed, the land is available for development.

However, there has been a campaign by some residents of Marton to ‘save’ this land for so-called environmental reasons. They claim that the potential loss of trees and wildlife including, allegedly but improbably, deer, means that there should be no development on the site.

This is a classic example of how ‘the environment’ as an issue can be captured for essentially conservative and selfish reasons by those with a personal vested interest.

Creating and implementing an ‘environmentally-friendly’ policy in an urban setting like Middlesbrough emphatically does not mean refusing to build on developable land simply to protect the dog-walking arrangements of the comfortably-off.

It means balancing the whole range of environmental obligations with the necessity of expanding employment opportunities, improving transport links, renewing the fabric of the town and improving accessibility to better quality housing.

In fact, Middlesbrough Council, far from ignoring the environment, has an excellent record. Despite our reputation as an industrial town (‘smoggies’), air quality is better than most other parts of the UK. We have well-accepted policies on green spaces and climate change. We are moving forward on our recycling policies. Government Office North East has just commended the council for the environmental element of the draft Local Area Agreement, particularly its policies on biodiversity.

The decision to appoint a developer for site 44 has been ‘called-in’ for reconsideration at a meeting on 7 December. I cannot participate in the review because of my membership of the Erimus Housing board. But I hope that the decision to go ahead with improving and expanding the range of housing in the town is supported. ‘Environmentalism’ shouldn’t be allowed to become a cover for narrow self-interest.

Alcohol free zone

An ‘alcohol-free zone’ sign was first introduced at the Broughton Avenue shopping area several years ago, but the sign went missing during the regeneration of the community building and shops. It has now been recovered and replaced.

The situation is now much improved compared to the not-too-distant past. There is now less open drinking and harassment. The police have been effective in moving on the youngsters who congregate there; the shop has a more restrictive sales policy; and the Pod provides a welcome alternative for some of the estate’s young people.

The reappearance of the sign is therefore appropriate and symbolic of the new circumstances. It is the responsibility of all concerned to see that this improvement is now sustained and extended.

Middlesbrough's historic buildings

There has been a great deal of comment about the demolition of the old North Riding Infirmary. The sad fact is that it was - quite literally - neither use nor ornament:

> there was no realistic economic use for the building as it stood - it was a warren of rooms and corridors which had outlived its usefulness as a hospital and which could not effectively be adapted to another use

> despite claims to the contrary, it was an architecturally undistinguished building which was refused listed status.


Having said that, Middlesbrough does not have a very happy record in protecting and retaining its historic buildings:

> in the 60s and 70s a number of town centre buildings were cleared to make way for the Cleveland Centre and other retail developments:

> in the 80s, the Royal Exchange was demolished by Cleveland county council to make way for the A66:

> this year, the Cleveland Scientific Institute disappeared overnight, apparently legitimately.

But there is still at least one important historical building in Middlesbrough that deserves not only to be protected, but to be restored - the old Town Hall in St Hilda’s (pictured right in L S Lowry's 1950s painting). The old Town Hall was built in the early days of Middlesbrough’s development as an industrial town, in 1846, and was the scene of Gladstone’s description of the town as ‘an infant Hercules’. In more recent times, it has been used as a library, health clinic and community centre.

It is currently simply decaying.

The old Town Hall - along with another building of significant historical importance, the Custom House in North Street - is located in one of the later phases of the Middlehaven development and presumably it is intended that it should be somehow be incorporated in the long term redevelopment of the area.

However, my concern is that the scale of disrepair is such that, unless there is some fairly immediate remedial action, it will be irrecoverable and the old Town Hall will join the long list of other lost buildings in Middlesbrough.

I raised this issue within the council almost a year ago. It is now time for some clear indication that action will be taken to secure the future of this most important feature of Middlesbrough’s heritage.

Middlehaven launch - again!

"More visions than Mother Theresa - more launches than the Royal Navy!"

The many and varied plans for Middlehaven have always had a lot in common - a mixture of business, residential and leisure uses, taking advantage of the waterfront of the dock and closeness to Mbro town centre. The difficulty has always been getting significant private sector involvement, creating an access across the A66 and the railway, and preparing the land.

Despite some suggestions to the contrary, it isn't true that nothing has happened over the years - the Riverside stadium has been on site for more than ten years, the land ownership has been consolidated, the land has been remediated, a major road access has opened up the area from the A66 - and the rest of the site is now ready to develop.

I have welcomed the new proposals in a Tyne Tees interview. But, apart from the Middlesbrough College building which is now under construction, work on the new scheme will not start until September 2007. Let's hope it's worth the wait...

Building Schools for the Future

The main business of the Executive Board on 21 November was to agree to submit the council’s ‘Strategic Business Case’ for the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. BSF is one of the Labour government’s lesser-known policies, but it is enabling local authorities to make massive physical improvements in secondary schools.

Some government policies on secondary education are dubious, to say the least - particularly the policy of handing over vast amounts of public money to private companies and so-called ‘faith’ groups to run academies with no democratic accountability.

Nevertheless, BSF is enabling Middlesbrough Council to develop a vision for integrated community education across the town. The current proposals are:-
> Acklam Grange - a new build school on the existing site
> Hall Garth / Kings Manor - a new build school on the existing site
> a new RC school on an existing site
> Ormesby - a remodelling of the existing school
> Priory Woods - a remodelling and extension of the existing school
> Tollesby - a remodelling and extension of the existing school
> Beverley - a remodelling and extension of the existing school
> Ashdale - a new facility adjacent to Parkwood

The total investment is currently calculated as around £90 million, but it is hoped that additional resources might be released for some projects from land sales and other sources. A more detailed submission to the government will be made in March 2007 which will be scrutinised by councillors.

As a local councillor, I welcome this huge investment in Middlesbrough's education, particularly as it will be of direct benefit to many pupils from Easterside, Marton Manor and elsewhere in Ladgate ward who will be moving into community secondary schools in the coming years.

Town centre renewal

There has been a lot of controversy about the council's policy of improving and renewing older housing in the town centre. Some 'independents' seem to be making a career of exploiting understandable concerns about the process of change, particularly in the areas of potential demolition.

What isn't emphasised enough is the amount of money and effort the council is putting into improving the quality of existing housing. My colleague, David Budd, has just approved expenditure of £1.5 million to give a major facelift to 270 properties in Woodlands Road, Ayresome Street and Princes Road.

If Middlesbrough is to grow and renew itself as a town, rather than simply decline, then this policy of building sustainable communities should gain support from everyone with the interests of Middlesbrough people at heart.

Damaged verges

A problem on many estates built in the 1950s and 1960s is that there is lots of green space, but only relatively narrow roads. As car ownership and the volume of traffic has grown, many of the green areas, especially road verges, have become badly damaged.

Several areas of Easterside are badly affected in this way, particularly Broadwell Road (pictured). Dave Budd and I, as local councillors, and the Easterside Partnership have now secured £20,000 from Middlesbrough Council to make improvements to parking provision on the estate. Negotiations are taking place with Erimus Housing to add to this amount from their environmental improvement budget.

The aim will be to create parking bays where possible and to repair and strengthen verges, so that parking will be less damaging and the area will be more attractive.

However, there is still a responsibility on drivers to park sensibly and to take care when moving around the estate so as not to damage the environment for others.

Health service review

Earlier this year, councillors from Middlesbrough and surrounding authorities conducted a joint review of proposals to reorganise some parts hospital provision in the Teesside area. While they agreed with some parts of the review, there were others which were considered unacceptable for the needs of patients:

> the proposal to move maternity provision from North Tees to Hartlepool: this not only disadvantaged mothers-to-be who would have to travel from Stockton to Hartlepool, but it was likely to put a strain on services at James Cook hospital, as patients from some areas of Stockton would come to Middlesbrough rather than travel to Hartlepool

> the proposal to move certain types of surgery from James Cook hospital to North Tees: councillors believed that this was likely to put lives at risk, particularly as it would reduce the numbers of general surgeons at the Middlesbrough hospital.

Fortunately, because of the arguments of the councillors’ scrutiny committee, the surgery proposals were withdrawn. However, the maternity proposals were not withdrawn. As a result, the councillors insisted that the decision was called-in for review by the Secretary of State.

Further discussions are now taking place, with the visit of the snappily-titled Independent Reconfiguration Panel to the area. The Secretary of State’s final decision will be based on the advice of this panel.

Hopefully, the efforts of councillors from all authorities and parties will prevail in the interests of patients.