A £50,000 Election Bribe (and a waste of money)

As promised – a blog post about the £50,000 which is going to be spent on a Village Make Over.

Prior to the article appearing in the Bolton News on Thursday 27^th February, there had been no hint or mention of this proposal. It hadn’t even been worthy of a mention at the Area Forum on the 3^rd February although all three Labour Councillors knew all about it.

This is the text of the Bolton News article:-

A VILLAGE high street is to get a £50,000 makeover.

Bolton Council bosses will spend the money supporting schemes in Little Lever as part of this year’s action plan.

New block paving, costing £33,200, will be installed in Market Street, on the precinct side of the road.

It will match the repaving, which was carried out between Haywood Street and the library just over four years ago.

An £11,500 traffic island will be installed in Stopes Road to make the road easier for pedestrians to cross. It will mean the road will be made narrower to improve safety by encouraging motorists to drive my slowly.

In addition, £3,912 will be spent on replacing the benches in the town’s precinct with new, more durable seats, and £1,000 will be spent on the refurbishment of cast iron bins.

Cllr Maureen Connell said: “We are always trying to make the centre pleasant for the people who live in Little Lever.

“Stopes Road is such a wide crossing that people don’t like using it very much, so I think the traffic island will make a big difference to the safety of our residents.

“When I’m out and about in Little Lever, people have said to me ‘We could use some new benches’ and I agree with them, which is why we’re bringing these new benches in.”

Cllr Anthony Connell added: “Stopes Road is quite a dangerous place. There are cars racing through and it needed to be made narrower. As for Market Street, the resurfacing of the pavement will improve the safety of the public, as block paving is less slippery.

“We have had funding for years to enhance the centre of Little Lever. Hopefully this is a long-term investment and we have spent the money as best as we can.”

Other projects being included in the Little Lever plan are the installation of drainpipes in the Market Street precinct, a general clean-up of the precinct and small scale improvements, such as replacing drainpipes.

The area gets the cash every other year from Bolton Council’s District Centre Improvement Fund — Horwich, Westhoughton and Farnworth also get a share of the money.

Other work that has recently taken place in recent years includes installation of the Little Lever Manufacturing Arch at the Memorial Gardens and some new bins and bollards.

Little Lever is the smallest town or village centre in the borough, with a population of 12,799.

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Alongside this article were comments from shopkeepers.

Michael Howarth (Managing Director of Howarth’s Jewellers) – “I think the money should go towards regenerating the shops in Little Lever. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the pavement in my opinion”

Liam Barber (of Village Barbers) :- I don’t think it’s needed. Where’s the money to do up places for children instead of them hanging around outside here all night?”

Luke Brabin: - I’d give the money to people who really need it – the council areas like council estates need doing up”

Christine Fitzsimmons (Manager of Bolton Windows store):- It’s just a waste of money. It will probab;y look more aesthetically pleasing, but more money should be spent on keeping the whole of Little Lever clean. Business rates should go down as well. The rents are too high”

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The article prompted me to write the following letter to the Bolton News which they duly printed with minor editing.

Dear Sir,

With a sleight of hand worthy of a conjurer, Councillors Mr and Mrs Connell produce £50,000 from our cash strapped Council to spend on tarting up the Village Centre and some traffic management on Stopes Rd.

This District Centre Improvement fund last saw the light of day in 2009 but the tranche due in 2011 was axed due to economies.

In 2009 there was much debate in community forums about how the money should be spent resulting in a Presentation at the Area Forum. The decision however had already been made and 63% of the money available was spent on ripping up a perfectly serviceable tarmac pavement and replacing it with block paving.

At that time Councillor Connell stated it would cost in excess of £70,000 to do the same on the Precinct side of the road.

This time round there has been no consultation and no debate. The subject didn’t even warrant a mention at the Area Forum a mere three weeks ago. As with other Forum expenditure it is apparently all done behind closed doors nowadays.

Half the width of the pavement as well as the drainpipes are private property, so I assume that after years of stating that the Council can’t spend money on private property they have now changed their minds.

In any event, it’s a waste of money at a time when so many other useful things could be done with it.

It could perhaps have been better spent on supporting the Little Lever Playgroup on Victory Rd which is now closing down. This is on parkland owned by the Council and they want it back.

A cynic might say this is so they can sell it to Tesco as the location for their much mooted petrol station.

Another cynic might say that the Local Elections are only twelve weeks away and Labour are running scared.

Paul Richardson

Ripon Close

Little Lever.

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I was still puzzled as to where this money had come from since as far as I knew the District Centres Improvement fund had been scrapped in 2010 as part of the cuts. Consequently I e-mailed the Finance Director.

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Dear Mr Arnfield

Please forgive my impertinence in bringing the following to you attention and seeking some clarification.

The Bolton News this week carried a large article on the sum of £50,000 to be spent on Little Lever Village Centre and some traffic calming on Stopes Rd.

The Bolton News identified the source of this money as been the District Centre Improvement Fund.

Little Lever last received monies from this fund in 2009 but I was under the impression that for reason of economies this fund was scrapped after the 2010 allocations.

Try as I might I can find no trace of a Report regarding the re-institution of this Fund on the Council website.

In any event, if the money is actually from a re-instituted DCIF, since such monies can only be spent within the Village Centre Boundaries, it could not be spent on Stopes Rd.

If the money is not from DCIF then the question arises ‘Where is it from?’ since under the present budget constraints I cannot envisage such an amount being budgeted for such a low priority purpose.

There is a possibility of course that this is Section 106 money. If so, it cannot be from a Little Lever development since the Cricketers View £90,000 has been spent on the Meccano Bridge and the Tesco £30,000 isn’t yet due to be paid.

The question would then arise upon whose authority was Sec 106 money diverted from its source area to be spent in Little Lever and why.

Perhaps you could clarify this.

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I then got this reply.

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Dear Mr Richardson

Thank you for your email.  Mr Arnfield has now left Bolton Council therefore your email has been passed to the Borough Treasurer, Sue Johnson.

On the 24^th February 2014 a report titled Little Lever  Town Centre action plan was approved by Executive Cabinet Member - Leader's Portfolio.  I have attached a link to the report for your ease:

http://www.democracy.bolton.gov.uk/cmis5/Meetings/tabid/73/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/410/Meeting/12371/Committee/3154/Default.aspx

The funding for this particular scheme was part of a separate allocation approved as part of the budget 2013/14.  I can confirm that DCIF has not been reintroduced and that the scheme has not been funded using S106 monies.

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I can only conclude that this money has been spirited up as an Election bribe by the Labour Councillors after 4 yrs of doing nothing for the Village.

The problems remain as follows:-

• That part of the pavement which lies under the Precinct canopies is private land and not adopted as a highway.

• Since the Council cannot spend money on private property, I assume that this part of the pavement will not be block paved.

• This is the part of the pavement that is actually in disrepair.

• The public highway part of the pavement which I assume is that which is going to be blockpaved  is in good condition and doesn’t need replacing.

• Since it cost £31,000 in 2009 to block pave a smaller area of pavement across the road, it is difficult to see how this much larger area can be block paved for £33,000.

• As with most things emanating from the Council, it just hasn’t been thought through. 

Promoted by Edith D Sexton, 69 Chester Ave, BL3 1XE on behalf of  Paul Richardson, 24 Ripon Close BL3 1EQ