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.

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.

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/

I’ve just received word that, after a lot of work acting as a go-between and negotiating on behalf of one of my residents, her housing adaptations are finally being delivered. This elderly lady desperately needed adaptations to her property so that she could live a normal life – go to the loo, wash, get up and down stairs etc. And yet, despite being put top of the waiting list it’s still taken around a year and a half for the work to begin.

Fighting for residents like this lady is one of the reasons I sought to become a councillor, and it’s a wonderful feeling when you’re able to make a difference (and now I’ve just taken on the case of one of her neighbours as a result). It’s just a pity you can’t always win these fights.

The really sad thing though, is that it takes so much time and effort to get work done: work that is absolutely necessary if residents are to maintain their dignity and independence. These are thing everybody has a basic human right to – and yet the council would rather prioritise ice rinks and advertising.

Last year the council did not manage to spend £900,000 of its Supporting People grant. Meanwhile the housing adaptations team struggled with a lack of staff and a lack of resources. This week the Labour and Independent groups on the council voted to oppose a Lib Dem budget which targeted resources at reducing the extraordinarily long waiting times for housing adaptations. This too is why I am fighting to get Labour out of office.

Just after Christmas a Nigerian family who live on the Valley Estate in Swinton were forced out of their homes by racist thugs. A mother and her young children were subjected to a sustained period of abuse and vandalism.  Windows were smashed, BNP graffiti appeared, and abuse was hurled. It got so bad that the police and housing team moved them out of the area for their own safety. At a meeting last night the neighbourhood police inspector told of how people on the street jeered as the family moved their belongings out of the home whilst a PCSO stood guard. I can see the tinned-up windows of their former home from my own garden. Heartbreaking.

Racist thugs sprayed BNP grafitti and smashed the windows of a local black family.

Meanwhile, not far from the estate, but in a slightly richer part of the ward, a young man was recently attacked by four youths, who broke into his house at night and stabbed him in the arm – simply because he is gay. He too has had to be moved out of his home.

Credit it to the police, who reacted swiftly when I spoke to them about the problems. There have been a number of arrests, and two men have been charged after the racist incidents. (C)ASBOs are also being sought against them.  And credit to the brave residents who spoke to me about how sickened they were by the racism they saw around them. Sadly, I learned last night that the abuse had been occurring for as long as two years without decisive action being taken.

It’s clear that the city and the council needs to take a stand against hate crime – and I hope it does so loudly and publicly. And I hope those involved in these two attacks end up behind bars. I for one am sickened and ashamed to think that there are people as evil and unpleasant as those involved living on the estate I call home.

Disgraced Salford BNP candidate given senior party role.

Sadly, with the BNP sending out their hateful material, I expect that more of this sort of thing will happen. Only yesterday I learned that the BNP’s chief local organiser and agent for their general election candidate is the man who they suspended from his EU seat and promised to kick out after he was revealed in the papers as a vile racist who referred to black people as ‘wogs’ (see here and here.). The same man organised an online hate campaign against me for standing up to his bigotry.  Does Salford really need more of this?

If you live in Salford and want to report a hate crime then there are reporting centres across the city – you can find a list here: http://www.salford.gov.uk/reportingahatecrime.htm or you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.