Norwich Conservatives Launch New Website

It's been a while in the making but we're quite proud - take a look here. Any suggestions welcome!

Unitary: How do Labour (and the LibDems) expect to get away with this?

Typical Labour Government - they can't even announce a decision without making a ham fist of it. Let me tell you the story of Unitary.

As regular readers will no doubt remember the story goes something like this.

Norwich Labour decide they want Unitary because they thought that those horrible Tories (you know, the ones who run the excellent four-star County Council) ignored Norwich and their out-of-touch cabinet members who know little about the City (you know, the ones who represent faraway places like Cringleford or live in Eaton) shouldn't be allowed to spread practice (you know, the acclaimed service provision) to Norwich (you know, the council with the zero-star Housing Department). So they applied for unitary status.

Unfortunately the then-Labour Secretary of State said that the plans were unaffordable, so they put in 2 bids (against the rules at the time I think) which contained plans for a small unitary based on existing boundaries and an enlarged unitary based upon taking in surrounding villages. Labour Ministers never killed this off...

Then people in South Norfolk and Broadland went bananas at the thought of this and protested against the plans. Still the then-Labour Secretary of State thought it was a bad idea.

Then the County Council launched their own bid for one large Unitary based upon the whole of Norfolk, which upset an awful lot of people including the district councils.

So given the County bid met the 5 criteria set down by the government but the City bid didn't, the then-Labour Secretary of State sent the decision off to the Independent Boundary Commission for a decision. Still Labour Ministers didn't kill this off...

The Independent Boundary Commission worked very hard and fought off various legal challenges and the whole thing dragged on-and-on whilst taxpayers continued to foot the bills.

Then the Independent Boundary Commission stunned everyone by saying only the Norfolk Unitary met all the criteria and that the Norwich bid was risky, unaffordable, poor value for money and the government should avoid it at all costs.

So the decision goes off to the Labour Secretary of State for a decision. Should he go with the County Unitary, scrap the whole thing (despite telling everyone status quo wasn't an option all along) or do something else?

You got it - do something else.

So a written statement was sent out and the Secretary of State avoided questions in the Commons because his decision was to implement the original City Council bid (you know, the one which the Independent Boundary Commission warned against as did two former Labour Secretaries of State).

And now - thanks to the Guardian for the story - it turns out the Civil Servants are so worried about the decision backfiring that they asked the Secretary of State to "order" them to do this and thus clearing them of responsibility.

And how does the Secretary of State justify this? By changing the goal posts and applying some very muddled thinking to this. So still Labour don't kill it ...

If you think I'm being partisan about this, think again - this decision sees me unable to stand for council and will have to give up my seat and does nothing to help the Tory position (an extended boundary unitary would have, for example). The position I have taken has always been in the best interest of the City (and taxpayers) of Norwich

If you think I'm being flippant, you're right, I am. Only because like a lot of people I want this whole thing sorted one way or another. And given the potential hold ups in the Commons and the Lords, and the Conservative pledge to overturn this in office, could the whole game be for nothing? This has dragged on too long and cost too much - for all councils and all council tax payers.

Unitary has been cursed since the day that Labour, and their LibDem / Green poodle allies, popped corks on the steps of City Hall. So where has this announcement leave us? Not much further forward I'd say; still in the air.

UPDATE: LibDems are pretty much at war over this now - Norman Lamb was uncompromising in his attack on the plans in the EDP today and tonight Brian Watkins, City LibDem Leader, told me he still passionately backed the bid. Words from LibDem circles is that of daggers drawn.

Conservatives beat Labour AND LibDems in Norwich Euro Election!

I have just got back from the most amazing count.

The results of the European Election in Norwich have been declared, with the senational news that the Conservatives have defeated both the Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

The top line results were:
Conservative 6329
Labour 6045
LibDem 5409
UKIP 4449
Greens 9039

This is a fantastic result and shows that our hard work and campaigning locally, and the work of David Cameron and the European Conservative candidates, has really paid off. The Conservatives have beaten both Labour and the LibDems and puts us in a really good position to challenge Charles Clarke at the next general election. This is real votes being cast locally and it puts the Conservatives as real challengers. Obviously the Greens topped the poll - again - but I believe that will be different come a General Election. This news should worry Charles Clarke, but it should worry the 4th place LibDems a lot more!

The 11th Hour

I was very honoured to be able to represent the Norwich Conservatives at the recent Memorial Day Service in the City; firstly at the ceremony at the War Memorial outside City Hall and then at the service in the Cathedral. It was a very moving day; and with fewer and fewer veterans being present, it made me think about how we are losing touch with this incredible generation. The arrangements were spot on and the ceremony hit the right note of thanks and pride. We should never forget their sacrifice.

Lord Mayor's Celebration Success

The Lord Mayor's Procession is always a fantastic event, but this year it seemed bigger and more colourful than ever. Standing outside Debenham's watching the floats and dancers go by, it made me think what a vibrant city Norwich is and with so many community groups and businesses wishing to back the City. The girls loved all of the dragon's and I was impressed by the sight of the MD of First Bus, Peter Iddon, leading their collection teams! Good on him, along with other businesses such as Radio Norwich and Asda leading the charge. But the best floats were those from schools or community groups where clearly decorating a full size lorry was a challenge in itself! There is a lot of talent too in the City - from the dancers to the runners, although my favourite was a certain young lady in a purple dress and red hat on a motorised scooter have huge amounts of fun! After that we went to the Civic Reception where everybody seemed to be in party mood; whatever you might say about Jeremy Hooke's tenure as Lord Mayor, he's certainly bought a lot of fun to the role and put a lot of smiles on faces! The massive climax was the fireworks display being launched from the Castle and wonderfully put to music. Norwich doesn't have a great track record on such set-piece events but this was flawless and wonderful to watch.

Today, we all went along to the Sewell Park 100 Years celebration and again the team there put on a great event - from play stuff to a grafitti wall and dancing to ice cream they had it all covered. And over 40 stalls displaying the best of the local community.

It's times like this that we are glad to have raised our kids in Norwich; a fantastic City with such civic pride. Thank you to everyone involved!

Getting Around

On Saturday morning I went to see the Sewell Toy Library, which operates out of the Christ Church Center in Magdalen Road. It was a pleasure to see in action - though my eldest did walk away with a deeply irritating piano - and there was a steady stream of people in and out. For a minimal cost, you can hire out toys and even play with a lot there and then. Knowing how fast my girls favourites come and go, this is a great way of ensuring they have something new to engage in every week. It is run with the help of 2 of the local - Labour - ward councillors and they and their team deserve a huge amount of praise for running a fantastic community initiative.

That afternoon we went on a fmily trip to try and collect as many "elephants" as we could around Norwich. One of the things you could never criticise Norwich City Council for is not putting on, or facilitating, enough free events for familiies in the City. We saw - at my count - roughly 27 of them. Emily enjoyed any with stripes on, although I was quite taken with the conceptual elephant on Millenium Plain outside of the BBC building. Emily literally kissed and hugged every elephant; a great afternoon in the sun.

Sunday morning we went out delivering leaflets in Eaton for our newly re-selected local candidate Niall Baxter. Niall ran one of the most amazing campaigns I have ever witnessed and no candidate could have worked harder. Niall is really well known around the ward now and I am thrilled he is to carry on working for local people; he added 4% to the Tory vote and made Eaton a real fight for the first time in years.

Yesterday and this evening we've spent the time putting the finishing touches to my parliamentary campaign team and writing our next leaflet and survey. Later in the week I am visiting a community group and meeting with the organisers of a youth football team. Busy, but enjoyable; so the hour I got asleep in the garden this afternoon because I was locked out was total pleasure!

A 4 party solution for Norwich?

For those out of the loop the current situation on Norwich City Council is:
Labour 15 (n/c)
Green 13 (+3)
LibDem 6 (-5)
Cons 5 (+2)

Hence nobody has anywhere near a majority and with a coalition not functioning, the Green Party has finally spoken about the elephant in the room - who will now run the council - saying they want an executive "of all the talents" with a 4 party administration. This idea has been shot down in flames - certainly by 2 of the parties involved - amongst a big debate about the future of the council now.

Does Labour have the strenght amongst their 15 strong group to support a talented 8 man Exec plus fill 3 key committee chairmanships? How far will the opposition Councillors fill jobs within the political system? I don't know (for once!) but I do think it's odd that we're almost a week after the poll and we haven't yet really thrashed this through.

Norwich people have voted for a patchwork quilt of political parties in the City, we now have to make it work. How we do that is vitally important and we ought to get down to working out how sooner rather than later.

LibDem Leader to stand down

The news that Hereward Cooke, the LibDem Leader in Norwich, is to stand down next year and move to North Norfolk, is a blow to debate in the chamber if nothing else. Yet the response to this news was different from inside and outside of his group.

Whilst Tory and Labour Councillor seemed genuinely sorry to hear that the council will lose one its better orators (if politically misguided), LibDem wags were less kind. One said (within my earshot) that it was "better to retire than be beaten" - a reference to the fact that Labour have won his Lakenham Ward for the previous two years and Hereward would have the fight of his life to win again. The swing that saw Keith Driver and Mary Cannell win would see Hereward lose the ultra-marginal seat.

However, now the attention will move to the leadership contest. As it was explained to me, the LibDems couldn't go into an election with a Leader who wasn't even standing in that contest. So if Hereward wanted to give his successor a chance to get established, he's have to stand down around Christmas or early in the new year. When he won the leadership last year, a few councillors referred to Cllr Cooke as the Ming Campbell of Norwich ... a safe pair of hands to guide the ship. Whilst Campbell fell by the layside, Hereward continues. But for how much longer? And who'll be in the frame to take over?

Anyway Hereward, you have long been the butt of the political jousting on this blog and in the council chamber, but you are a committed and hard working councillor with Norwich at heart. A real treasure in the council, and I'll certainly miss our political battles. Good luck for the future!

Was the Lila Cooper story a decade old political deception?

The Evening News ran an intersting story on Saturday regarding the so-called switch of the Conservative position on Unitary from being pro-home rule in 1993 to anti-unitary now. It included quotes from former Councillor Lila Cooper, then Tory group leader, advocating unitary. I liked the media coverage because, apart from producing another mug shot of myself in the press even when out of the country, it gave us another chance to state that:

"The Conservative County Council gives us a 4-star service, whilst the Labour-LibDem City Council is inadequate"

For those that know and care about this, that line has been the narrative at the heart of the Conservative response to Unitary. This story allowed us to put that point again, without the rebuttle of Morph, Cooke or Ramsay. Thank you, Evening News!

Trouble is, behind the headline, the story isn't quite true. I recieved a phone call this morning completely out-of-the-blue from a very long standing member who attended a Conservative Policy meeting in 1993 at which the Unuaty issue was discussed and voted upon. He claims to have evidence that, in fact, the position of the two-woman Conservative Group at the time was anti-Unitary - although the minutes do not state by what majority it was defeated. Cllr Cooper's group member was absolutely against Unitary and remains against it to this day. So on what authority did Cllr Cooper pen her words for "Citizen" magazine? Because it certainly didn't have the backing of the Norwich Conservatives.

So something is amiss here. I am not sure what the truth is, but it certainly isn't as cut and dried as first presented. We'll never know!

City and County

After last night's excitement, and with Emily safely tucked away at Nanny and Grandad's house, Louise and I decided to enjoy some time together and go out for breakfast. Norwich at 10am on a Sunday is a strange but pleasant experience. I am a city-boy ... I need the buzz of City life and love the fact that Norwich is always busy. But this morning it was so quiet - almost disturbing but actually quite relaxing. We managed time round the shops, bumped into friends around the book shops (how did we manage without coffee shops inside book shops?!?) and ate breakfast without having cereal pinged at either of us.

After lunch, we picked up Emily (and of course, the ever-ready Auntie Katie) and headed out to the contrasting quiet of the county to travel in style, via firstly a small wooden motorised boat (yes... it did just cope with my weight) and then miniture steam railways. Emily, of course, loved it and thought it was Thomas the Tank Engine. Olivia ... well, just slept.

We are very lucky to live in a county like Norfolk with so much to do ... who ever said I'd be bored after the election finished? Last weekend we went to little Chloe's christening down in Kent and next weekend Lousie and I are away again! This week is the AGM of the Council, first meeting of Scrutiny, post-OFSTED party and the Notre Dame VI Form Leavers Dinner. Don't expect much blogging...

New Blogger in the City

Just a link for Maltheus who has a new blog - and judging by his first post the politico's in the City just better look out!

Dean's hat goes back in the ring

I like Gordon Dean - which is now probably the kiss of death - and I think he made an excellent contribution to Norwich civic life. It is therefore good news that I am told he is to re-stand for Council. However it is bad news that I hear it is for Lakenham Ward. Mr Dean will attempt to overturn Labour's wafer-thin 15 vote majority here - tougher than it sounds because Labour's candidate is the equally well known Keith Driver. Whatever happens it'll be a close and tough fight and whoever loses, then the council will have lost a good person. Why don't the LibDems bury the 2004 hatchett and give Gordon Dean the seat he deserves ... assuming they have any safe seats left in the City? ;-)

Parish Councils slaughter Unitary

Tonight I attended a very well attended consultation meeting between the Clerks and Chairs of the parish councils which could be swallowed up by the Norwich Unitary bid. It was well organised and Council Leader Steve Morphew gave a very professional report on the current bid.

However, the assembled masses (who currently reside in Broadland or South Norfolk District) certainly didn't hold back in their vehment criticism of the plans. We were told - on more than one occasion - that not a single member of their council backs these plans. There were worries about the lack of consultation, the shabby state of the polls, the concerns on council tax, the current level of services offered by City Hall and the political direction of unitary. Cllr Morphew and his team of officers did well on some of these points - normally falling back on a catch-all excuse of "ignore the failings of the current Norwich City Council, this will be a NEW council"! Even at one point the meeting was told not to worry because any new council would have lots more conservatives on it and we normally sort most things out. That was nice.

It was a good meeting but I cannot express the strong feelings against this plan - particularly from places like Taverham, Trowse, Drayton, Horsford and Old Catton. These people are happy with the current settup and don't see a reason to change. A lot of the flimsy reasons for unitary were torn to shreds and Steve Morphew did have a bit of a rough time tonight (apparently a similar meeting yesterday went better).

Unitary doesn't need to have unamimous support but it does need to have broad ranging support. The MORI poll won't hide the fact that outside of the City itself, support for Unitary is very, very low. The government will see that and if they go on with the unitary idea still, it will certainly be a political decision being taken where we were promised an economic one.

Do the LibDems know where Norwich South is?

Apparently not.

Now, before I go into this I should say that I did pledge to put less obvious point-scoring posts on my blog and focus more on the work of the council and national politics generally. I have failed miserably on this, and will continue to do so today.

The LibDems appear to have been delivering a newspaper - an awful one to boot - around the place and a neighbour kindly put one through my door this afternoon. Attached was a note which says:

"They don't know North from South and clearly their arse from their elbow."

And ringed on the front of the newspaper, amongst the places this was delivered to (which include Eaton, Bowthorpe, New Costessey etc.) was two words ... Mile Cross.

Oh, dear. Now for the uninitiated, Mile Cross falls into Norwich North, not Norwich South. You might have thought that this was a City wide newspaper then? Well, if that was the case then Catton, Sewell and Crome were mysteriously missing. Only Mile Cross made it into the wrong constituency.

As my laughter drew to a close, after some minutes, I am ready to draw one of two conclusions.

Either the LibDems don't know where the constituency boundary is or the LibDems are as fixated on Mile Cross as Steve Morphew is meant to be. We wonder why ...

Cheap party political point scoring over, begin the angry LibDem posts...

She likes the thought but not the reality

Rather like socialism to many people, my daughter Emily has decided that she likes the thought of Father Christmas more than the actual reality.

Today we were up early to queue with the multitudes in Jarrolds to meet the man himself. Emily was happy, looking forward to it and very talkative. She pointed at him through the window, she loved the balloons and the decorations. She grinned manically as we walked through the door. She took one look and ... burst into hysterical wailing and tears. Poor old Santa, I thought. How embarrassing for us all.

By the time we had left and shopped around Norwich, Emily was back to liking Father Christmas and had forgotten all about that nasty moment when her greatest hope become a reality and turned into her greatest fear.

Steve Morphew accused of being bias in favour of Mile Cross

City Council Leader Steve Morphew had an uncomfortable time on Tuesday night as a combination of the public, the Greens and the LibDems heaped pressure on him for allegedly being bias in favour of improvements in Mile Cross as opposed to the rest of the City.

It started when a member of the public, one Brenda Lock, said that the council didn't care about Heathgate Community Centre because it wasn't in Mile Cross and that's where all the money went. A startled reaction from Councillors and the public. Although Steve strongly denied this, it led to some further exchanges later in the evening. Green Leader Adrian Ramsay concurred that a lot of money was spent in Mile Cross, because it was a tough Lib-Lab battleground seat, and LibDem Councillor for Mile Cross Carl Mayhew was also stirring the pot.

At the end of it I feel Steve looked a bit startled by all of this - more from the public than Councillor.

I wonder if it is true - a breakdown of total spending ward by ward would be interesting. Another member of the public told me afterwards that ift felt like all the money went to Eaton. An interesting perspective also.

It is natural to want the best for your ward. We all do it - fighting hard for our communities, sometimes knowing that other areas may suffer as a result. Although I believe Steve hasn't abused his position as Leader of the Council in favour of his ward, I think this line of attack may well come back time and time again.

Council Agenda for Tuesday

Council Agenda for Tuesday, 7.30pm in the Council Chamber at City Hall

Presentation on Peak Oil
Lord Mayor’s Announcements
Presentation of Long Service Awards
Declarations of Interes
Public Questions
Petitions
Minutes
Questions to Exec Members
Proposed Vision Strategy for Norwich and the Council’s short term objectives (these focus on CCTV, wardens and the environment)
Budget Update
Capital Programme changes
Gambling Act response
Motion – Cllr Morphew on First Buses
Motion – Cllr Holmes on Climate Change
Motion – Cllr Morphew on Growth Point Status.

Enquiries, question and thought (as ever) appreciated.

What should I ask at the next Full Council meeting?

Every month each Councillor gets the chance to pose a single question which the Executive Member or Committee Chair responsible must answer. To this point each month I have had an obvious question to ask because of various issues that have arisen around the ward. The question could be about a specific issue which the council had so far not answered (e.g. parking on Bishey Barnabee Way) or about general strategic council wide issues (e.g. time spent to improve run down council housing stock).

I believe in avoiding nasty political point scoring (unlike some Labour and LibDem Councillors) and as this really is the "nuclear option" for finding out information I also think the question should be something you couldn't find out easily any other way.

So, with the deadline looming on Wednesday I'd like to know what you would like answered from the City Council. I can't guarantee I'll choose a question from this blog, but it would be good to ask something suggested by a blog reader.

You can, of course, ask your own question at council by e-mailing it to andy.emms@norwich.gov.uk - you'll even get a supplementary question too! You need to be a resident of Norwich to do so and you'll have to turn up at the Council Meeting on the last Tuesday of the month to ask it. It is however your way of getting an answer straight from the horse's mouth!

Are the LibDems going to drop their opposition to Tesco ... or are they going to play it both ways again?

One of the big issues that dominated the campaign in Town Close last year was that of the proposed Tesco Express being built on the site of the Arlington petrol station on Unthank Road. The Greens, naturally took against the plans. So too, with little impact, did the LibDems. The Greens subsequently snatched the formerly rock solid LibDem ward and left local activists reeling.

Today a LibDem Focus leaflet graces my letterbox - not a particularly good one and now rather irregularly delivered but one story stood out for me. An update on Tesco.

Chris Thomas, the sitting Councillor who faces the fight of his life next year, claims to be pleased that the application was rejected before adding:

I have had letters from residents who are not car owners and who would welcome an opportunity to shop daily at a small supermarket which they feel with complement the specialist shops.

So that's clear then ... not. Are the Town Close LibDems therefore in favour or opposed and, in particular, is Chris Thomas in favour or not? Or, like on so many issues, are they planning to play this one both ways depending on which doorstep they are standing on?

Or is there a more wholesale change on the way? The LibDems have lost voters hand-over-fist to the Greens in the Golden Triangle and many of these residents are unlikely to return to the fold anytime soon. So if the LibDems detect a significant minority in favour of the Unthank Tesco (but who don't like to shout about their opinions) could they switch policies in time for next May and hoover up those votes?

I don't know, but I do know that the Town Close LibDems are desperate.

They may think that the votes of the anti-Tesco lobby are lost to the Greens and political pragmatism draws them to a pro-Tesco position as the only way of holding their seat?

Door Knocking & Bond

Today was a mixed bag with a relative lie-in (well up at 7.30 and back into bed by 9) followed by a trip with the UEA Conservatives to offer some mutual aid to the Norwich North Conservatives. We went door knocking on one of the new housing developments in the area and two things struck me - firstly the sheer volume of property turnover in such areas, much worse than it ever was in Bowthorpe in my humble opinion. And the second was how many people are now willing to stop and talk politics on the doorsteps on a freezing November afternoon. Overall very good for the Conservatives but with a noticeable number of Green voters too - on today's canvass they beat the LibDems for third. Interestingly we had Iraq re-appear as an issue (it had died down) but also the state of local parks, housing and anti-social behaviour are consistently topping the list.

This evening Lou & I managed to get out and see the new (well, re-made) Bond film. We both think that Craig made an excellent Bond and it was a great film. Much less formulaeic than other Bond films with loads of twists and turns - plus a bevvy of beauties and gun fights galore. Obviously I loved every moment, but the fact that Lou enjoyed it too (and she doesn't "do" Bond films) says a lot for how well it was made. Plus you get to hear Dame Judy Dench's opinion of backbench committee MPs...