Cllr. Cooke's Blog.

Yesterday was a day of meetings. First was with City West and the Police to address problems with crime on parts of the Valley. We’ve got a commitment for the police to provide more useful information to housing, and for housing to carry out more targeted tenancy inspections in the area to make growing cannabis in homes more difficult (in the past some residents have been coerced into growing it). We also looked at the progress in getting the CCTV camera installed to monitor the worst hotspot, and the change of location for the Valley Resource Centre to a spot that should make dealing nearby more difficult. City West have also agreed to investigate whether there are funds to redesign the street-scene to make it less inviting for gangs to congregate in the area. All good stuff.

Later I went to the Friends of Victoria Park meeting, which is a great group of dedicated residents who have worked with the neighbourhood team and ranger service to help deliver some wonderful improvements to the park. They are the people who deliver the wonderful band concerts in the park throughout the year, and the Christmas Carol concert. Currently the group are fighting to get improved lighting in the park – a project that’s been a bit of long slog, despite being really needed. The group welcomes new members – so if you’re interested in getting involved in the running of the park then drop me an email and I’ll pass your details on to the secretary.

Finally, I finished off the day with a local Lib Dem executive meeting before making it home to catch the last ten minutes of the United match and answer a few casework and candidacy related emails.

Apparently there’s a story in the paper about cllr. O’Neill pulling out of the General Election campaign.  I’m told that he says he’s received a load of hate mail, which has forced him out. It’s an interesting accusation, and one that he apparently hasn’t been willing to back up with any evidence. I’ll have to have a read when I get home.

That he’s given unsubstantiated accusations as his reason for standing down is very surprising, because, I and many others,  have known for ages that he was planning on pulling out. O’Neill supposedly told a number of people weeks ago that he’d only stood to upset Norman Owen and he’d never intended to go through with standing. I have a little file of election predictions for Salford on my computer just as a bit of fun for myself: created and last edited 25th Jan 2010  not long after I got the first call telling me Joe was not going to stand – here’s a part of my General Election section:

Election predictions - O'Neill drops out.

Now I know Joe is pretty disgruntled after not getting any support in his campaign to lead the group, but this bizarre silliness and dishonesty really is something he should reflect upon. Is it really right to use the public, and the electoral process to play out a personal vendetta?

Me and the rest of the team are going to get on with our work serving the people of Salford and Swinton, and hope the selfish pettiness fades away into obscurity.

Readers will recall that I posted the experiences of one of my constituents with Alpha Builders (contracted by the city council). At the time I was very unhappy with them as they’d left a family with a very cold house on a night and over a weekend with sub-zero temperatures after not turning up for a job. I rang them that weekend and left a message – but they never got back. I, and representatives of the family, were so concerned that we got social services to offer them emergency temporary accommodation until the job was done.

Well tonight, I’m pleased to say that Alpha Builders have been in touch to put their side of the story (apparently a ‘concerned customer’ wrote to them after reading my blog – power of the Internet). In the interests of fairness I think it right that I publish their response so people can make up their own mind.

Alpha Builders say they’ve done an excellent job with what they were tasked to do (and from what I have seen, the finished product does look of a good standard). They say that they had a choice between two jobs that Friday – and that not doing the other job would have left a resident with no toilet over the weekend. They say that they explained this to my constituent – I’ll have to take their word as this is not something the constituent mentioned to me. They also tell me that they have, for free, repaired faulty heating and plumbing in the property after a previous builder made a botched job. This sort of thing is fantastic to hear, and I commend them for this. Alpha builders do seem very proud of the work they’ve done – and they say that they’ve pulled out all the stops to do a good job. They also say that not finishing the job on that Friday was unavoidable. Personally, I think it sounds like they’re trying to do too many jobs at once – but then I’m guilty of that myself.

Of course – if they’d rung me when I left a message for them they could have avoided any bad publicity. As I’ve explained – it’s my job to represent my residents, and if they tell me they’ve had a bad service and the evidence I have to hand agrees – then I’ll use every means at my disposal to fight the residents’ corner. In this instance it sounds like Alpha Builders could have communicated better, and should have been in contact with either me or that resident when they were rung, but are otherwise a firm that is proud of their work.

There you have it – I’m glad at least that I can put two sides of a story.

First, independent Labour supporting cllr. Joe O’Neill used his blog to liken a Coventry socialist councillor to a Nazi. Now he’s responded to a comment from truly excellent Salford Lib Dem councillor Mary Ferrer by deleting her comment and labelling her ‘Mad Mary’.  So much for showing respect.  This behaviour, and his contempt for the people who elected him to get rid of the Labour party he now supports (although has apparently been rejected from rejoining) , really demonstrate how badly O’Neill has lost the plot. O’Neill has repeatedly shown why he’s unfit for office – this latest childish and offensive ranting just make it even clearer.

Time to go Joe – you may have tossed away your dignity by behaving the way you do, but there’s no need to make it worse.

I recently asked for for an assessment for housing adaptations to be carried out for a lady who is in her eighties and has had a knee operation.  She’s facing real problems getting up and down her stairs and told me that it’s so bad that she will have to move home if she doesn’t get help. The assessment has been arranged but the lady has been told that she will have to wait several months. Just to get an assessment done – never mind be put on the incredibly long waiting list for the work to be carried out – will take months. Appalling. All she wants is to live independently for as long as possible. And yet Labour and the Independents voted against a Lib Dem proposal to target extra resources at reducing those waiting times. Who really cares for the people of Salford?

Well, it looks like the building adaptations work I was so happy to see begin was not as successful as I first blogged. The private building firm contracted to carry out the adaptations began work, but on Friday failed to turn up, and did not contact the home owner.

So -

Alpha Builders, of 3 Berry Street, Eccles, Manchester M30 7DZ

- I hope your proud of the fact that left an elderly and infirm resident with one working tap, almost no heating, and a window shaped hole between her kitchen and conservatory. Her house is freezing and she and her four sons are having to sleep in one room to keep warm.

I’m currently trying to find out if the council can provide accommodation for her over the weekend, but I’m struggling. There are some problems that a councillor really cannot solve.

Note:

If you’ve reached this post directly, then you should probably also read the response from Alpha Builders here: http://www.stevecooke.org/2010/03/02/alpha-builders-respond-to-criticism/