Week 36.10 7th Sept. 2010

Tendring Topics…….on Line

Policy Options!

Probably you have never heard of ‘Policy Exchange’. They’re one of those mysterious ‘think tanks’ that spend their time considering Government future policy. When the Prime Minister or any other member of the Cabinet comes up as, often they do, with ‘a brilliant new idea’ to solve this that or the other national problem the chances are that the idea will have originated in one such ‘think tank’. I am told that Policy Exchange is very influential and close to the present coalition government.

I hope that I’m wrong about that, because to solve the national housing problem to which I referred a few weeks ago, they have come up with two of the most outrageous ideas that I have ever heard. Should these ideas ever became official policy I would expect the collapse of the government to follow. If Nick Clegg and his Lib.Dem. colleagues were prepared to endorse them, they could surely say farewell to any remaining shred of credibility.

Britain, so Policy Exchange rightly claims, needs many more affordable homes to house those who need them and to help bring down the prices of existing housing stock. They don’t, of course, suggest the repeal of 'right to buy' legislation and the encouragement of local authorities to build homes for letting. They believe that local authority reluctance to give planning permission for new homes in their areas is a major cause of the problem.

Their report suggests that the power to grant or refuse planning permission for the building of new housing estates should be withdrawn from the local authorities. Instead, it should be decided by referendum of the community where the development will take place – a simple majority of the vote deciding yes or no. Those with knowledge of these matters may find this an astonishing suggestion. Experience suggests that village communities are much more likely to refuse planning permission for new housing estates in their area, than a borough or district council whose members have to consider the interests of the entire district.

Policy Exchange has a brilliant idea though. They believe that such local resistance could be overcome by the offer of cash incentives to local people by the developer. ‘If a village decided to increase in size from 2,000 to 3,000 households there could easily be a £10,000 cash payment to every householder in the village!’

Alex Morton, the former civil servant who prepared the ‘Policy Exchange’ report, says that such payments shouldn’t be regarded as bribes – the money might perhaps be used to provide a park or similar amenity. Yes, I suppose that it might – and pigs might fly! Who needs a park in a rural village? If villagers are to be persuaded to vote against their natural instincts, they’ll each want their own bribe, cash-in-hand, at the close of poll!

I wonder if Mr Morton has considered the possibility of leaving matters as they are and bribing the existing councillors instead. That, I think might well prove more cost effective and wouldn’t be all that much more outrageous! Yes, I know it would be illegal as things stand. It would though, be a government-backed scheme – and hasn’t the government promised to sweep away pettifogging regulations that impede progress?

But that’s only the half of it!

Modestly, Policy Exchange doesn’t suggest that that one ‘big idea’ would solve all Britain’s Housing problems. They have another one – surely a real clincher!

Such houses as Councils still have left in their ownership should not, when they become available for letting, go to those in greatest need. They, for some reason, are not considered to be quite so needy, or perhaps not so deserving, as others. Any such tenancies should, first of all go to the severely disabled. That sounds fine – except that the severely disabled housing applicants whom, as Housing Manager, I have rehoused (I wonder if Mr Morton has ever actually met any?) wouldn’t consider it much of a privilege to have first call on the tenancy of a third storey flat, or a house with an upstairs bathroom!

When the severely disabled have been satisfactorily disposed of, tenancies should be allocated to those housing applicants who have been waiting the longest or who have the greatest local connections (I hope he means 'associations' and not 'influence'). There’s no mention of the local authorities that actually own these properties, having any say in this allocation. Perhaps, as part of the ‘power to the people’ that David Cameron is so keen on, all Council owned housing would, in the future, be controlled directly by central government.

Policy Exchange clearly thinks so because they also suggest that all Housing Association stock should be handed to the government and could then be sold off to tenants who wanted to buy. New houses would be built by issuing bonds to be repaid out of rent. This would enable 100,000 extra homes to be built and the Treasury would make £2.64 billion a year from house sales.

(Just imagine the, quite justifiable, outrage there would have been if it had been suggested that a Labour government might seize all privately owned tenanted homes – and use their rent to build new Council houses! ‘Neo-Stalinist snatch of our homes’ would have been among the more moderate headlines in the popular Press)

The present financial crisis was triggered by the folly and cupidity of leading bankers, first in the USA and later in the UK and elsewhere. There is a certain irony in the fact that among the victims of the proposed act of highway robbery would be the Peabody Housing Trust, which currently provides homes for some 50,000 Londoners. The Trust was founded in 1862 by George Peabody, an American Merchant Banker who settled in England and whose philanthropy, particularly in the field of public housing, earned him a burial in St. Paul’s Cathedral. I hope that the Cathedral’s foundations are sound, because he’ll be turning in his grave!

No, it hasn’t happened yet, and probably won’t happen. Surely Messrs Cameron and Clegg have sufficient sense - and integrity - not to pursue that course.. It is worrying though, to know that this is the kind of poisonous drivel that is being dripped into their ears!

A New (mini) Supermarket

I was sorry to see the closure and demolition of The Black Bull in Clacton’s St Osyth Road. It was my ‘local’. I had watched it being built, I had had an occasional meal there, either alone or with a companion or companions (at one time they did a very good lunch, with an adequate menu and very competitive prices). Occasionally too, I had strolled down there in the evening for a nightcap and a friendly chat. Such conversations had sometimes been the genesis of items in Tendring Topics (in print!) that I wrote for the Coastal Express for twenty-three years.

I would have thought that, with competent management and some professional publicity, it could have continued to serve the neighbourhood in which I live for many years.

However, it was not to be. I watched its conversion into a Tesco Express mini-supermarket without enthusiasm – though I had to concede that it seemed that an imaginative and attractive conversion was in progress, and the builders were certainly getting on with the job.

Well, as those who live in my neck of the woods know, it is now open. I paid my first visit there last week and must say, a little reluctantly perhaps, that I think it is going to be an asset to the neighbourhood. It is bright and welcoming, well-laid out inside and, considering its size, carries a very wide range of stock. Not, of course, such a wide range as Morrisons where I expect I shall continue to do my main shopping – but very useful for a quick foray, perhaps after normal closing hours or for items forgotten on the shopping list!

It has a ‘self-service’ check-out that I found a little daunting. However, a friendly assistant operated it for me and promised that, if I dropped in when they were a bit less busy, he would introduce me to its mysteries.

It is not far from my home and well within what was once my ‘walking distance’. Now though, I am glad to be able to park my mobility scooter (I like to think of it as 'tethering my iron horse') immediately outside its entrance. And, of course, it is ‘open all hours’. Not quite all – but 6.00 am till 11.00 p.m. should meet most people’s needs!

‘No new thing under the sun’

A few weeks ago the Government’s Housing Minister suggested, as his own brilliant new ideas, facilitating exchanges of tenancy between council tenants in different parts of the country and encouraging – or forcing – tenants to move into less roomy accommodation when their families grew up and left home. These measures, he thought, would reduce ‘waiting lists’ for council tenancies and generally help the housing situation.

I pointed out in this blog that in Clacton, and no doubt elsewhere, both those policies were pursued in the 1970s, though without either the element of compulsion, or the extra layer of bureaucracy involved in setting up a national exchange agency. My personal experience was, of course, BC (before computers) and thoroughly out of date. My idea of advertising a desire to exchange was limited to the local press and cards in tobacconist’s windows. Now, I am told, there has for some time been a web site with no other purpose. I didn’t know that. Nor, it seems, did the Housing Minister.

Staff of Public Libraries feel particularly vulnerable to Government cuts. Most of them have experienced a marked reduction in public use in recent years. Moreover they mainly serve leisure and cultural interests. We haven’t yet quite reached the state of mind of the late Air-Marshal Hermann Göring ‘When I hear the word “culture” I reach for my revolver’, but in the brave new economic world of the 21st century, activities that aren’t ‘wealth creative’ can hardly expect generous government support. And, of course, those that are, don’t need it!

We have a Culture Minister (in George Orwell’s 1984, there was probably a Minister of Freedom!) but I suspect that Ed Vaisey’s main job is to find ‘efficiency savings’ that will reduce spending on matters as non-creative as leisure and as ephemeral as culture. Recently I understand, he has been explaining how money can be saved by improving online library services. He has also been extolling ‘the scope for savings in reducing the number of library authorities through voluntary alliances’.

It might have been imagined that he had been inspired by just such a voluntary alliance as What’s in London Libraries? (WiLL) which had been running since 2003 in the London area. Using WiLL, readers were able to search, on line, the catalogues of all 33 London Boroughs' Public Library Services. Having located the book or books they wanted to borrow, they could do so through the inter-library loan service, thus saving both time and money.

If WiLL was Mr Vaizey’s inspiration it can be so no longer. The web site is no longer available. Queries to London Libraries, the body set up to create and run WiLL produce the following message: ‘Due to financial constraints WiLL has now been discontinued. To access individual authorities’ library catalogues please visit their respective websites’. Who, one wonders, imposed the financial restraints?

So much for encouraging voluntary alliances and on line services!

Week 22.10

Tendring Topics…….on Line

Beyond belief! ……..well, almost.

Britain is in the midst of a financial crisis. The one thing that can be predicted with absolute certainty is that there will be savage cuts in the public services. There is to be a total pay freeze in the public sector, and an investigation into the mammoth salaries and bonuses paid to those at the top in both the Civil Service and the Local Government Service. The Government itself has set a good example by cutting (not just freezing) the salaries of its own members and urging them to use public transport instead of official chauffeur-driven cars. Quite right too!

Staff of Essex County Council are bracing themselves for cuts in their numbers and changes in their conditions of service. Their trade union UNISON claims to have seen a document that suggests the axing of 85 jobs, a two year pay freeze, reduction in working hours by one or two hours a week, and stopping sick pay for the first three days of absence from work.

Surely, you will probably have been thinking, County Council members must be planning to introduce a similar regime of austerity for themselves. Their subsidised canteen, for example, has been criticised by at least one of their own members, and they have become well known for sending their members and top officials on expensive jaunts abroad. Their former Leader is alleged to have fiddled his expenses as a member of the House of Lords. He is, of course, presumed innocent until proved guilty. It will be to everyone’s advantage when the matter is settled in court. It might though have been expected that his colleagues would have wished to demonstrate their own integrity and devotion to the public service by reducing their cash allowances.

Essex Councillors Cut Own Pay before Cutting Services! would have made a refreshing and inspiring headline in the local press. In your dreams! What actually appeared (Daily Gazette 21.5.10) was Councillors vote to increase their own allowances.

The allowances of ordinary County Councillors, with no special extra responsibilities, are to rise by 6.1 percent to £11,500 a year. The County Council Leader gets £53,500 and his eight ‘County Cabinet’ members around £27,000 each. County Councillors also get the use of a Blackberry mobile phone and are paid generous allowances for meals and overnight accommodation when travelling on Council business.

There are, I am sure, still a great many public-spirited councillors at every level of local government whose motivation is a genuine desire to serve the communities in which they live.

However, generous ‘allowances’, and rule by a well-paid Leader and his ‘Cabinet’, open the door to a new breed of professional local politician. Soon ‘seeking a career in local government’ won’t necessarily mean getting a humble job at the Town Hall and laboriously working your way up. It could mean being a political activist and getting elected to a (preferably large) local council. That route to the top won’t demand the possession of any particular qualifications, skills or experience. It would help though to have sharp elbows and a thick skin.

It would also mean that you could keep your day job, and you wouldn’t have to get your hands dirty – at least, not in a literal sense.

Who suffers from the cuts?

There is to be a seven percent cut in local government spending. A good job too, you may think, if it’s going to cut some of those top executive salaries and curb the ‘allowances and expenses’ of self-serving councillors.

I’d be wholeheartedly in support if I really though that those would be the main victims of the cuts. I fear that they won’t be. During the Thatcher/Blair years (I now find it difficult to tell them apart!) local authorities were compelled to disband their ‘direct labour teams’ and put most of their front-line public services out to competitive tender. Thus, there’s really no such thing these days as a ‘council dustman’, ‘a council street sweeper’, or a ‘council gardener’. These services, together with office cleaning, catering, building maintenance and, in some areas social care, are contracted out to private firms that naturally enough, expect to make a profit from them.

Also, of course, there are the really big local authority contracts with private firms for – for instance – building or renovating schools, road construction and maintenance, old people’s homes, municipal swimming pools, car parks, adult education facilities, sports and recreation centres, and other public buildings. Essex County Council recently congratulated itself on cutting down its own staff by completing a multi-million pound contract with an international IT firm. Local authorities provide most of the services that make the difference between civilisation and barbarism, and they employ scores of private firms to carry out these responsibilities.

I have recently heard economic ‘experts’ on tv, discussing whether or not the ‘private sector’ would be able to find employment for the many people likely to lose their public sector jobs because of enforced economies. Cuts in local government spending, as well as reducing or eliminating vital services to the general public and, in particular, to the old, the poor and the otherwise disadvantaged, will probably result in many more job losses in ‘the private sector’ than among actual council staff.

Some Depressing Headlines

Quite apart from the political and economic situation (in which I hope I can see a few glimmers of light), two news stories of the past week have made particularly depressing reading. The first was the revelation by the News of the World, that for a substantial fee, the Duchess of York had been prepared to ‘open doors’ to give someone she believed was a businessman, access to her estranged husband the Duke, who holds an influential post in the field of exports. What’s more, she was revealed as a pretty ruthless businesswoman herself, driving a hard bargain and demanding a sum of money that, to most of us, seemed astronomical.

I’m not sure which aspect of this sorry affair is the more distasteful; the behaviour of the Duchess, or the duplicity of the ‘investigative journalist’ who trapped her into revealing this behaviour, and secretly filmed her as she did so. It is surely outrageous that an employee of a newspaper should act as an agent provocateur, encouraging anyone (duchess or dish-washer) into folly and indiscretion, and recording it for all the world to see and hear.

A visitor from another planet, learning about this incident, would draw two conclusions. Firstly that all humans, even those apparently wealthy and with exalted titles, can be bought if they’re offered enough money. Secondly, that no human, however plausible, should ever be trusted.

The other story that I found extremely depressing was that of the two little boys, ten years old at the time of the incident, who were convicted of the attempted rape of an eight-year-old girl. If the three children involved had not already been robbed of their childhood innocence by the pressures of the world around them, the process will certainly have been completed by their verbal examination and cross-examination in the Old Bailey of all places.

Children can be guilty of acts of extreme cruelty and wickedness, but it is absurd to suggest that this case is comparable with the horrific murder of James Bulger or the dreadful torture of two boys near Doncaster in April last year. There has been no report of the victim in this case having suffered severe physical injury or of her running home to her mother in pain and distress. We don’t yet know what punishment will be inflicted on the two boys. Surely though they should not be stigmatised for life as ‘sex offenders’ for what may have been little more than a precocious experiment.

In my childhood and youth in the 1930s, society was much more determined to dampen the sexual precocity of the young than it is today. Most children went to ‘all girls’ or ‘all boys’ schools from the age of seven onwards. The idea of distributing contraceptives to teenagers and advising on their use would have been regarded with horror. I think though that the thought of dragging pre-adolescent children through the adult criminal courts for sexual experimentation would have been regarded with almost equal horror. Had such incidents occurred (and I suppose that they must have), those involved would have been given a good smacking by their parents and a closer eye would have been kept on their future activities. However medieval and inadequate that remedy may sound to third millennial ears I’m sure that it would have done far less long-term damage than our ‘enlightened’ twenty-first century solution.

The Changing Clacton Scene

Clacton had appeared to come fairly lightly out of the economic recession. The empty space created by the closure of Woolworth was filled by the ‘99p Store’. The closed Co-op Departmental Store in Station Road was replaced by Vergo, selling much the same range of clothing and household goods as the Co-op, and taking on the entire Co-op Staff. Our town centre was mercifully free of the gaps and the boarded-up shop premises that we saw on tv news programmes from elsewhere. Clacton had a good 2009 Holiday Season. The weather, while not the barbecue summer promised, was better than that of the previous two summers. The rising Euro and falling Pound encouraged stay-at-home holidays. Holiday camps, hotels and boarding houses were well booked and the tills of town centre retailers rang merrily throughout the summer.

It came as a blow to many disabled and elderly people when Shopmobility, a local charity that had provided electric mobility scooters to those who needed them for their shopping expeditions, closed down on 31st December. Five months later the premises are still unused. Now Vergo is closing down and the Clacton Branch of Rayner Dispensing Opticians, at the junction of Beach Road and High Street has also closed. Their nearest branch is now in Harwich. This affected me as Rayner had supported my failing eyesight for many years! Rayner and Vergo – two new unsightly gaps in Clacton’s town centre, both adding to the number of local unemployed.

There are a few more cheering signs. The service Shopmobility provided has been replaced to some extent by Marks Mobility of Holland-on-Sea opening a branch in the landward end of Pier Avenue, near to the Wellesley Road junction. Marks Mobility sells and services new and used mobility scooters and stocks a wide range of other equipment (wheelchairs, walking frames, scooter accessories, specialised footwear and so on) for the sickroom and for elderly and disabled people. A mobility scooter user myself, with increasing disability, I have found its services invaluable.

Then again, The Black Bull, a relatively recently built pub in St Osyth Road, which has stood empty and abandoned for many months is being converted into a Tesco Express store. This may not be good news for other convenience stores in the area but I have no doubt that it will sometimes prove useful for nearby residents (like myself!) Yet another new service will be a new coffee-shop, one of a nation-wide chain, that is to open shortly near the new Travelodge Hotel in Jackson Road.

Work in progress on converting the former 'Black Bull' into a Tesco Express Store.

Perhaps the positive signs are beginning to catch up with the negative ones. I certainly hope so.