Paul Crossley

Last autumn I was very fortunate to be invited by Taipei City to attend their Healthy City conference to participate in their Leader Round Table, present a paper on Sport and Health (Get Active Campaign) and participate in a 3-way debate (Bath, Taipei, Marshall Islands) on tourism and the economy.

It came as a surprise in early July to be invited to this year's Round Table. This year I was asked to give a presentation on Civic Pride and to participate in a dialogue on the issues around regeneration and heritage in cities with Taipei and Dublin. Dublin's problems are very similar to those of Bath with its Georgian Built heritage. Taipei's problem has been one of adjusting to very rapid growth and transition over the last 40 years and how to preserve its remaining traditional areas.

The Taipei City Government and its people are generous, helpful and friendly. The conference was organised and coordinated very well. Arrangements for debates, seminars and round-table were all first class.

The heritage dialogue, in addition to built heritage, strayed into cultural heritage. The toughest questioning came from journalists who wished to explore in depth how the three cities were ensuring that culture was not ‘elite' but worked its way to all sections of the community and broke through ‘hard to reach barriers'.

This is a very difficult issue and one we have not solved in Bath and NE Somerset. Over the last two years we have been remodelling our approach to festivals so that the Festival Trust covers all festivals and has clearer targets and objectives. We will be looking closely at where tickets are subsidised, the range of events, the location and also outreach and educational aspects.

I also think that street events need more encouragement such as the successful ‘Widcombe Rising' earlier this year. Our excellent theatre has opened its ‘Egg' Theatre which is aimed exclusively at young people and, as part of its mission, has a clear commitment to engage all sections of our community.

The Leaders Round Table covered three sessions and debated Governance, Civic Pride and Infrastructure. The 28 City Leaders came approximately 50:50 from Taiwan and the rest of the world. It gave a good mix and interesting set of presentations. When you debate and interact at city level the fundamental problems we face as citizens around the globe are very similar. Caveat though - at this conference there were no cities from countries in crises and so we were all from developed or successfully developing countries. The shared problems include community safety, transport, housing, health and creating a pleasant environment. The solutions to these issues vary dramatically.

Taipei had a congestion problem 20 years ago. The solution involved new roads but also importantly a new Mass Rapid Transit system. It is now up, clean, efficient, safe, well organised and expanding in terms of ridership and destinations. It also makes an operating profit. Why? In my view the difference between the Taipei MRT experience and the difficulties faced by the Channel Tunnel, tram and rail systems in the UK is clear. In Taipei, the state and the city partnered to build and provide the infrastructure and the private operator runs the operating side without being saddled with covering the interest payments on the huge building cost. Now that gives CIVIC PRIDE. Cheap mass transit that makes the city live and breathe more easily.

I also noticed that there was no chewing gum'blobs' anywhere. I know Singapore has made it illegal to chew gum. I presume in Taipei it's the threat of fines. Cleaning up the streets of chewing gum costs a lot of money so maybe this is an issue that needs raising in parliament.

The whole Round Table was hosted by Mayor Ma of Taipei. He is a very popular mayor not only in Taipei but around the island. Taiwan is now a successful multi-party democracy that has several parties with two main ones, KMT and DPP. It has open and fair elections whose results are respected. Mayor Ma is KMT and the current President is DPP. During my holiday visit there was a large protest against the president - not organised by the opposition but by factions within his own party. The lesson from British politics over the last 20 years is that the public do not vote for parties that are in a state of internal revolt.

This internal problem for the DPP leaves a clear opportunity for Mayor Ma, who is widely expected in Taiwan to be his party's nomination in the next presidential elections in 2008. He steps down as Mayor at the end of this year as the constitution limits Mayors to two terms. This is something we should consider here as our government encourages powerful elected Mayors in our cities.

The highlight of the conference for me was the evening visit to Shilin night market with Mayor Ma and the other city leaders. At the Round Table (actually three tables laid out as a U) Mayor Ma was at the centre of the top table and mayors were then in alphabetical order starting with Bath on his right and going round to Yokohama on his left. Therefore the collected media of Taiwan got used to seeing Mayor Ma flanked by myself and the Mayor of Yokohama. Consequently when we got to the night market and were invited to try a plate of food at one of the stalls the media again dragged the two of us out to flank Mayor Ma in the small restaurant. Taiwan has several TV channels and a variety of radio and print so there was a real media scrum recording the event and interviewing the Mayor and then asking me and the mayor of Yokohama what we thought of the market, the Mayor, the food etc. It was clear from the market that Mayor Ma's popularity in Taipei is very real and very affectionate.

Final Note: All costs for my attendance were met by Taipei and there was no cost to residents of Bath & NE Somerset. In addition the time was taken from my annual leave allowance. The same is true for last year's conference as well

Well this is the day we have all been waiting for. I was at the Spa from 7 in the morning till 7 at night. 3 TV interviews, 4 radio interviews and 6 newspaper interviews. Plus talking to lots of users, visitors and others about the Spa.

Make no mistake about it - IT IS FABULOUS.

I did not have the opportunity to try it out on the opening day but will be going back as a customer soon. I talked to users from Bath, Radstock, Wellow, Keynsham and Whitchurch from our authority area. I talked to visitors from London, Glasgow, Frome, Trowbridge and Yate. Both Couples from London had come down for a birthday treat. The lady from Glasgow simply wanted to be one of the first. I talked to tourists from USA (6), Canada, Japan and Thailand. They were all thrilled.

Every one of them was having a great time. The next 3 months will be crucial in establishing this facility as a long term success so there is still a lot of work to be done. We have been a long time getting to today. There has been much dispute and disagreement along the way. Those of us who have always supported this vision are delighted with the outcome.  Across the way the old Gainsborough building has been purchased and will be converted into a 5star Spa hotel. This would not have happened without the Spa. So instead of a derelict area with expensive ruins to maintain and an empty ex college building we will have a thriving Spa related zone. Securing jobs for taxi drivers, shop workers, pubs and restaurants as well as those directly employed. It is estimated that by simply attracting 5% of our visitors to stay one extra night in Bath and NE Somerset it will generate an extra £20M each and every year into our economy. And for local residents there is a 15% discount on the entry fees. 

More pictures on my photo blog. This one is of me and Don Foster MP on the roof top pool.

Well had a quiet weeks holiday last week stayed in Bath. A great town for a holiday. Got re-acquainted with my garden and did several odd jobs round the house.

The Spa is opening next week and so the publicity and level of controversy is rising. The regular Dan and Don show is hitting the screens. Our 2 MPs take completely opposite views on the Spa project. Dan Norris (Lab) is against it and Don Foster (LD) is for it. It is undoubdtedly late and at £38M is twice the final ‘no turning back decision' estimate of £19M. There have been a variety of arguments and disagreements about blame, responsibility and reason. Notwithstanding all that tourism is a major contributor to our economic wellbeing and a successful Spa will be a massive boost to our local economy at a time when our print based industry is in decline with the loss of factories in Paulton and now Radstock.

Picture above is the Minerva Pool. There have been lots of tours for various groups around the Spa this week including one small reception where we were entertained by Tenors Incognito. Fabulous group.

During the week went out talking to residents with my colleague in Peasedown St John. Met one small businessman setting up  walking aids for people with MS and other conditions that impair walking. A very simple solution and well worth a visit to the MUSMate website.

Talking of Paulton a developer came to see me with outline ideas for a mixed housing and small business designs for the site. They are doing a similar scheme in Watford. It looks very interesting and I urged them to talk to the Community and local Councillors at an early stage in their concept thinking. Too often we seem to get planning battles which could be avoided if there was better dialogue at the first stage rather than trying to tinker with solutions that appear to be set in stone.

Another festival we have, based at Bath Spa University, is the International Guitar Festival. This is one of the biggest in Europe. Has an excellent range of styles and has a big workshop element. Met with the organisers this week and it is good to see such enthusiasm and success. We listened to two young players - Classical guitar stars of the future.

Finally met with the Chair and vice-chair of our local Race Equality Council (REC). I meet with them every 3 months (in addition to board meetings etc) privately to ensure that we keep good links between the Council and the REC. One of my key roles of being a Leader is having a series of regular meetings with the various stakeholder groups that make up a community. We have a small but very diverse ethnic minority community