Bridge to democracy

This photo is of Mint Walk showing the council offices being demolished to make way for the Tories grand plan for a luxury HQ to replace Taberner House. It is 1/3rd smaller than Taberner so you can guess what the plan is for the hard working staff...

It is perhaps fitting that the first piece to be demolished is the bridge that linked the Town Hall with the main Council offices. A majority of the electorate voted for Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens. None of those political parties backed building a luxury HQ, especially when Croydon is full of empty offices available at super cheap prices. 

The majority of people voted for better public services and sensible finances. Is this a strong enough argument for PR? currently I think it is. When consensus about major developments in towns and cities are sought, you must surely get better decisions? 

The luxury HQ is just one example. Driven by various motives from leading Conservative councillors and officers, but not loved by most Conservatives that I speak to. I think the HQ is symbolic of the 1960s disease that Croydon councillors fell prey to. That of grand projects that are started with excitement but with little or no thought about where those projects lead. The half finished by pass around Croydon or the rush to build large office blocks as far apart as Whitehorse Road, London Road and Brighton Road.

What has happened to municipal vision? Croydon once had a proud record of introducing gas, clean water, sewerage or in modern times building a civic concert hall (Fairfield). 

Why does Croydon attract councillors and council officers only interested in building a luxury Council HQ?

Appointed to Board of Fairfield Halls

I am really pleased to have been appointed by Croydon Council Labour Group to be their nomination on the board of the Fairfield Halls - the Fairfield is a large concert hall with separate theatre (Ashcroft), galleries and exhibition space.

The Council withdrew its annual grant many years ago and the current Conservative administration has refused to grant aid it with a decent sized revenue grant, it has agreed to fund £200,000 but with many strings attached. Public subsidy of the Arts is vital to provide innovation, stability and an exciting programme. I have often wondered why Croydon Council is so keen on applying for City Status, when it wont support the Arts on its own doorstep? Surely it should value what it has on its own doorstep before wishing to promote itself as a City?

The Fairfield is an independent charity that has a lease on the Fairfield Halls from Croydon Council. I believe that being independent has protected the Fairfield over recent years, but being independent must not be an excuse for the local Council not supporting it properly.

This appointment sees me return as a Director of a Croydon Arts organisation, as I stepped down from the board of the Warehouse Theatre a year ago.

Post Script (28/5/10): I understand that if the grant was re instated at previous levels, with inflation it  would be worth at least £2.2million Bravo to the Fairfield for managing so well on no grant for such a long period of time.

Runway issues

So the new government has cancelled Heathrow and Stansted expansion.

I'm not convinced about the economic case for more flights, but that is a completely different issue to building more runways.

The recent air pollution studies carried out during the 'no fly' period show significant reductions in pollution caused by aircraft.

Why is this important? well it shows that we need cleaner aircraft and we need to regulate the total number of aircraft using our airspace and our airports.

That is quite a different issue to runway capacity. All the aircraft noise in Croydon is down to aircraft circling London to land at Heathrow. Build a new runway at Heathrow and suddenly aircraft land quicker, pollution and noise over London is reduced and everyone is happier!

Two issues which should have two separate debates

Debate 1) how many aircraft should we allow to land and take off and during which hours
Debate 2) how many runways should we have to serve our economic needs

That would then put into play issues like proper high speed rail to be followed by a ban on commercial flights on routes served by viable high speed rail.

Reasons to blog

Having been super extra busy in the run up to the Croydon Council elections I suddenly feel the urge to share my thoughts on politics, both Croydon and National.

My main political interests are Environment, Culture, Travel, Education and community empowerment. So you may find blogs on these topics dominating.

I have vowed to read more this summer - both newspapers and books - in an attempt to climb out of the bubble of political organisation or indeed party politics!