---

Monday 27th August 2007

CITY'S FAIRTRADE GUEST DEVASTATED BY HURRICANE DEAN

Hurricane Dean's battering of the Caribbean has damaged 90% of banana farms on the Caribbean island of St Lucia. Winds up to 140 mph buffeted St Lucia during the early hours of Friday morning before moving on to the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jamaica and other islands. Meredith Cochrane , the Fairtrade Foundation Campaigns Manager, was caught on St Lucia in the middle of the hurricane on Friday morning. He described the scene after the storm: "Going around the island's banana farms, the damage is shocking. The industry is absolutely devastated. Driving across the island, field after field has bananas trees lying snapped on the ground with bananas that will never grow. The heavier the bananas were and the closer the farmers were to harvesting, the less chance there was of the plants' survival." Banana farmers will not be able to harvest for up to six months until the replanted crops bear fruit.

St Lucia banana farmer Conrad James, was the guest of the City Council earlier this year during Fairtrade Fortnight. Conrad spoke at the 28th February one-day Citizenship & Fairtrade conference for teachers and students from North Staffordshire High Schools , organised by Cllr Peter Kent-Baguley, who said: "Conrad has lost the whole of his banana crop but he intends to keep on growing bananas."

Conrad pictured with two of the students at the one-day Conference

Speaking from St Lucia, Conrad made this appeal: "Just please keep buying Fairtrade bananas. That's the best way to help us through this crisis"

Conrad and his wife lost everything once before in the hurricane storms of 2004. Like so many of his neighbours, he had to replant after the storms. This current disaster will mean he will not have an income until his crop grows back in around six months.

Fairtrade has turned around the fortunes of the islands' small-scale banana farmers. Facing an uphill struggle against falling supermarket prices, competition from industrial plantations and changing EU trade rules, Fairtrade has proved a lifeline for banana growers, transforming their fortunes and enabling them to invest in social and educational community projects. The recent groundbreaking announcement by Sainsbury's to switch 100% of their bananas to Fairtrade has provided further grounds for hope for producers in the Caribbean and Latin America .

Friday 27th July 2007

BURSLEM BONHOMIE

I was almost feeling guilty by mid-afternoon having spent such an enjoyable morning and very long lunch time catching up with congenial contacts around the mother town of the Potteries, Burslem. It is the birthplace of the world-famous pottery industry of Stoke-on-Trent (albeit much reduced in size compared with even thirty years ago).  

There is an intimacy imbued in its streets, squares and passageways, peppered as they are with outstandingly striking buildings such as the Wedgwood Institute, the Town Hall, the Burslem School of Art, the old Central Hotel (still sadly defaced with garishly red window fascia and shutters, despite the Council's persistent enforcement action) and the Art Deco Co-operative building fronting Swan Square. And many of the intervening buildings, with their somewhat higgledy-piggledy Georgian and Victorian facades weave a warmth and welcome that makes walking from one contact to the next such an utter delight. 

Although vastly different in origin and architectural style, walking around Burslem town centre invariably reminds me of the delights of walking the streets of Valletta, the little capital of Malta, that positively oozes history and mystery every pace of the way. There I would often spend the best part of a day walking from one cafe meeting to another with lunch at the exclusive Casino Maltese at midday with fellow members. 

Today my meetings took me from Ceramica, at the Old Town Hall to Urban Vision at the School of Art, to the Leopard Hotel on matters concerning the annual Arnold Bennett conference which will be held on Saturday 7th June next year at the Forum Theatre, Hanley. Lunch with a couple of friends, one still a practising politico, the other a worthy wordsmith and prolific journalist. Both ignite lots of laughter, anecdote and gossip. Its my most treasured threesome.  

Above, the heavy portico of the Old Town Hall, home to the millennium project, Ceramica, and below the Wedgwood Institute with the former Central Hotel on the other side Brickhouse Street.

Thursday 26th July 2007

PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST...SLOWLY

At the beginning of July several rear gardens along the western edge of the Wedgwood Farm Estate, Fegg Hayes, were flooded, not directly because of excessive rainfall but because of thoughtless behaviour of nearby residents and the Council's neglect of the drainage system. The short length of surface stream in a deep, steep-sided ditch (where it emerges from a conduit before disappearing into the housing estate conduit at the boundary of the adjacent Council-owned open countryside) had become severely clogged with debris, dumped by local residents. Drainage systems are designed to drain; they are not designed to be land-fill sites! 

Three tractor trailer loads of debris were removed yesterday along with undergrowth. The picture shows a pile of limestone chippings in the bed of the stream which is flowing through the pile from right to left and into the housing estate conduit; a tiny bit of the concrete entrance is seen at the top left hand side of the picture. Work on site continues tomorrow. A letter will be sent to all residents in the area asking them not to dump int the stream but to go the extra mile (literally in this case) and dump at the recycling centre.

The effective response to this urgent task by the Neighbourhood Management system took two weeks, but, lessons have been learned and I feel it is a promising example of how the new management system will become increasingly both effective and efficient.    

Wednesday 25th 2007

 A WINDOW OF DEMOCRATIC DEBATE

The controversial school closure programme proposed by the government-imposed private firm now running the City's schools has created widespread anger and frustration amongst thousands of parents, teachers and pupils across the City. So that the public has the opportunity to see that not all councillors are totally dormant and meekly accepting yet another government diktat, I have tabled a motion for debate at the next meeting of the Full Council, which takes place on Thursday 2nd August 2007 at Stoke Town Hall.

Members regret SERCO's proposals and process for the reorganaizaton of secondary school education in Stoke-on-Trent.

The motion, seconded by the deputy leader of the Independent Group, Cllr Brian Ward (Blurton ward) will provide the perfect platform for councillors to participate in the decision making process instead of everything being determined by privatised bureaucrats. The government constantly talks about giving more (some would be welcome!) democracy to local communities. Well that's the rhetoric. Interestingly, as well all know only too well from our everyday experience, the reality, is a little different. Real local democracy would mean SERCO packing their bags and a democratic City Council making the decisions. What do you think?

Tuesday 24th July 2007

2007 BIENNIAL CERAMICS FESTIVAL LAUNCHED

I photographed Ray Elks, organiser of the City's Ceramics Festival, which was launched today at the Gladstone Pottery Museum, Longton. The three-day event takes place on the 5th, 6th & 7th October this year.

Uniting designers, manufacturers and artists, this third Ceramics Festival is an inclusive three day event seeking to celebrate and challenge the impact of ceramics on Stoke-on-Trent and the wider world. The city-wide festival presents a vibrant, accessible and ambitious programme open to all, combining unique ceramic showcases, crossing time and cultures; expert lectures and presentations, guided gallery tours, opportunities to purchase pots from around the UK and particularly from Staffordshire, and various pottery demonstrations, competitions and workshops.

The 2007 Ceramics Festival is the third in a sequence of events designed to confirm Stoke-on-Trent as the Ceramics Centre of the Western World. The ambition is to host a major bi-annual international festival featuring an International Ceramics Biennale from 2009. Last year's event attracted over 5,000 additional visitors and the feedback received has been extremely positive and generated comments such as "Well done Stoke-on-Trent" and "made me feel proud to be from Stoke-on-Trent".

Monday 23rd July 2007

DEMOCRACY COMMISSION now called GOVERNANCE COMMISSION!

Professor Michael Clarke of the university of Birmingham has been appointed Chair of the Governance Commission. At the next meeting of the Full Council on Thursday 2nd July concillors are expected to formally agree to the establishment of the Commission, six months after it all but unanimously rejected my proposal to establish such a Commission. The difference now is that the government is TELLING, er ADVISING the Council! How that will rankle those local Labour diehards bitterly opposed to such a Commission! The Commission, probably composed of five pople, will receive views and evidence from individuals and groups from all sections of the community. A prime objective of the Commission "would have regard to...neighbourhood renewal and creating community cohesion across the whole area of Stoke-on-Trent."  The Commission will be charged with producing a report for consideration by Full Council, not with specific recommendations but with "reasoned options based on evidence it receives." The proposed time-table is:- September '07 to March '08: collect evidence; June '08 Report to the Council; June - October '08 debate findings and publicise potential options; October '08: Referendum. May 2009: Local Elections based on the model adoptyed via the Referendum. The debate on Thursday 2nd July at Full Council promises to be fascinating!

Sunday 22nd July 2007

SOCIAL COHESION - A ONE WAY TICKET?

How much more blatant anti-social behaviour must we tolerate in the name of social cohesion? No sooner had the roads and sewers been laid out at the Chatterley Valley site off the John Rhodes Way than the site, awaiting development, wainvaded by two dozen or so travellers' caravans, vehicles and all the detritus we have come to associate with these lawless nomads. Approach the area and one is confronted with verbal abuse and intimidating behaviour. Time and time again, throughout Stoke-on-Trent, site after site, whether in development areas such as this or in well established residential or commercial areas, we are forced to endure this gross anti-social behaviour. Thousands of unncessary ratepayers' £s are spent on eviction processes and massive cleaning-up opertions. These travellers care nothing for the host society, leaving their extensive piles of rubbish, scrap and often even excrement of the bowels. At the very least, these people, via the courts, should be obliged to pay for the clearing up operation and all other costs associated with their removal from the site. Quite a few people agree with this view because they have been telling me on the 'phone. What do you think? 

Saturday 21st July 2007

COFFEE MORNING

After a busy, chatty session at the fortnightly Packmoor Methodists' coffee morning I drove to Leek for, yes you've gussed, a coffee at the Trinity Methodist Church in Derby Street, to support TRAIDCRAFT. Met Traidcraft's Fair Trader, Mary Bates, and congratulated her and Leek's Fairtrade Steering Group on gaining FAIRTRADE TOWN status last month from the FAIRTRADE FOUNDATION. There are now 272 Faitrade towns throughout the UK. Stoke-on-Trent was awarded the accolade in March 2004, becoming the 50th to be declared. The Leek Group is looking into having Fairtrade promotional shopping bags similar to the ones we have in Stoke-on-Trent.

 

  

Friday 20th July 2007

DIZZY HEIGHTS at the AIRSPACE GALLERY NO 4 BROAD STREET HANLEY

On Friday evening I was delighted to be a speaker at the opening of DIZZY HEIGHTS, a two-man exhibition at the airspace gallery, No 4 Broad Street, Hanley. The two contrasting installations by artists Matthew Robinson and Peter Smith will prove to be fascinating and challenging but interesting talking points. There was a really friendly, lively atmospshere at Friday evening's opening. The show received full page coverage in the local daily, The Sentinel, and an entry in The Guardian's GUIDE. 

Thursday 19th July 2007

STOKE-ON-TRENT TAKES GOLD & BEST IN SHOW

Celebrated art deco ceramic designs by Stoke-on-Trent-born CLARICE CLIFF inspired the City council's landscape team to echo her innovative design and bright colour in the Council's entry for the National Flowerbed competition at the Royal Horticultural Society's Flower Show at Tatton Park. 

Congratulations to all the council staff involved. Not only have they won GOLD but also BEST IN SHOW! House and Bridge, (produced 1931-35) was one of Clarice Cliff's designs particularly influencing the garden design. Marigolds, black grass, coleus, angelonia and lobelia were planted to achieve the vibrant colour.    

Last week, the national press indulged its so-called silly summer season with front page SMOKE-ON-TRENT stories because there was a last minute administrative hiccup over the smoking ban. Congleton along with countless other councils escaped such easy headline word play.

What's the betting the Daily Mirror will give a miss to BEST-ON-TRENT? 

Wednesday 18th July 2007

ALL AT C

When it comes to implementing the government's DECENT HOMES STANDARDS (DHS) in local authority housing, it's absolutely essential that:

i)     criteria for whether a kitchen and/or bathroom should be renewed, are ABSOLUTELY CLEAR and KNOWN to the residents.

ii)    craftmanship needs to be of the highest standards - there should be no place for a slap-dash approach.

iii)    communication - written and verbal, needs to be clear, open and honest.   

Stoke-on-Trent City Council's tenants voted overwhelmingly several years ago in favour of the housing stock remaining with the council. This was in the face of huge government financial incentives to persuade tenants and councillors to hive off council houses to the private sector or housing associations. The City council has so far upgraded some 8,000 of its 20,000 or so properties in the current DHS 2002-2010 improvement programme.

This evening I attended an estate meeting with some 30 or so unhappy tenants, cataloguing a wide range of grievances for the benefit of the three housing officers concerned with managing the programme. It was a well conducted meeting and everyone had their say and what they said was listened to carefully, noted and action will follow. I would say some 90% of the problems would never have arisen had the communication between the council and tenants been clearer, more open and more honest...and of course had some of the workmen not been satisfied with second best. I have arrnaged to meet with the officers next week to evaluate responses to the particular issues raised by tenants and to discuss ways to improve communication.

Tuesday 17th July 2007

MAKING HERITAGE PROTECTION MORE DEMOCRATIC

As the City Council's Historic Environment Champion I attended the English Heritage conference at Birmingham today. Similar events were held in Leeds and Bristol and the fourth is in London on Thursday. Twenty one champions along with ten English Heritage officers attended to be updated on the progress of the Government's White Paper, Heritage Protection in the 21st Century, published this year on 8th March. Civil servant, Harry Reeves, Head of Architecture and Historic Environment Division at the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS)made it clear that the Minister, Margaret Hodge MP, would need to be convinced that change is worth the cost involved. There have been over 350 responses to the White Paper consultation, overwhelmingly supportive of the proposed changes to the heritage protection system. The responses are still being analysed and collated and will be published at the end of the year. He also said that lawyers had started drafting the Bill which will be a substantial piece of legislation with over 100 clauses.  

The major responsibility for heritage protection, listing buildings and sites, will rest with local authorities. The government recognise that this will involve a significant cost and that "the DCMS is committed to provide for the additional burden." That's good news...provided the government's calculation of the burden equates with the actual cost experienced by local councils! We shall soon find out.

It seemed a pity not to capture the two K6s at the top of New Street with the £35m refurbished Birmingham Town Hall in the background. Works continue inside for a while longer and the grand reopening is planned for October. 

Monday 16th 2007

PLANNING SUMMER PLAY

The Primary Schools break up on Wednesday for the six week summer holiday. That can seem an awful long time for a lot of parents, particularly those who may be lone parents, those who are not going away for a break and those who have not much spare income for constant trips out to occupy the children. It can seem an awful long time for many children too. School provides a regular shape and support to their lives, and suddenly a vast unstructured expanse of time can be a challenge.

The City Council's Play service budget is much reduced this year so the Council's Summer Play Scheme has, not surprisingly, been reduced. CAFAG, acronym for Chell Area Family Action Group (no not the snappiest of names!). CAFAG is a voluntary community group, a registered charity, committed to community development in the Chell Heath and Fegg Hayes areas. I have been the Chair of the Trustees for the past eighteen months or so and as such meet with the co-ordinator at CAFAG's community centre in Fegg Hayes Road, Fegg Hayes, on Monday mornings to discuss issues and plan developments.

Most of our time to day was devoted to finalising the structure and staffing for our six-week Summer Play Scheme, to be based at the nearby Whitfield Valley Primary School. The Scheme will run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 11am - 1pm. The main restriction governing the times is the availablility of the school caretaker. Coach trips to places of interest, educational value and fun are being planned for the Fridays and parents will be able to climb aboard the fun coaches too.

Sunday 15th July 2007

JOAN WALLEY MP  -  20 years in the House celebrated 

I was delighted to accept Joan's invitation to be amongst the 200 or more guests marking her 20 years in the House of Commons. The celebration was held this afternoon at the Port Vale (where else?) F.C.'s conference centre at Burslem. The Stoke-on-Trent Lord Mayor, Cllr Bagh Ali, delivered a warm introductory tribute to Joan's commitment and hard work, captured with the phrase the lady that can move mountains. 

Guest speaker, David Kidney MP for Stafford eased his way into his valedictory speech with the confession that he too was a Port Vale supporter! He summed up Joan briefly but surely accurately as "the busiest MP I know."

Speeches were interspersed with dance performances by groups of pupils from three schools in Joan's Stoke North constituency: St Margaret Ward R.C. High School, Holden Lane High School and Burnwood Primary School.

Joan's younger son, Tom, made a surprise speech (a surprise to Joan) and he too illustrated Joan's unstinting work for others. It was refreshing to hear the constant refrain, my mum, and experience the  admiration, respect and love Tom has for his mum, our MP.

Joan rounded off the contributions with a brief speech, the essence of which, was how much stronger and better we are working together in partnerships. How true, and how well you practise your philosophy Joan. Congratulations and thank you for your first 20 years in parliament.

Saturday 14th July 2007

MADE IN ENGLAND

I had the privilege this afternoon to publicly thank Emma Biggs, artist, teacher, author and founder of Mosaic Workshop, the UK's largest mosaic studio, for her inspirational mosaic of ceramic backstamps, now strategically mounted in the foyer of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Bethesda Street, Hanley. In my role as the City Council's Heritage & Design Champion, I was the compere at the official launch of this permanent visual delight that I am sure will bring joy and inspiration to countless people in the years to come. It is a roll-call of the dozens of pottery maunfacturers, some relatively transient, others more enduring, and a few, like the 5th generation Dudson family firm, still producing.

The mosaic is a creative celebration of our ceramic heritage. It is also a challenge, to spur our creative capacities to develop and deliver design for the contemporary world.

Sponsorship for this mosaic came from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England, Stoke-on-Trent City Council and the Friends of the Potteries' Museums. This backstamp mosaic is the first of a three-phase ten year project. The second scheme will be sited in one of London Underground's new stations, to be built for the Olympic Games.

The third part of the MADE IN ENGLAND project will be made in England but will be sited in China; an interesting twist to the current pattern of ceramic production!

I introduced in turn, retired director of the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Peter Vigurs, now Chair of the Friends of the Potteries Museum, Matthew Collings, artist, art critic, writer, broadcaster, and Emma's husband and Pam Mallalieu, manager of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery each of whom spoke highly of the mosaic and its significant contribution to our artistic store.

Emma herself said that the project had been a delight to work on and thanked a number of people who had been particularly supportive, including Stoke-on-Trent artist, Philp Hardaker (pictured right with Emma Biggs and myself) who has himself created a number of ceramic mosaics in the City and Pam Mallalieu, not least for ensuring she ate during the long working days!

I concluded by urging people not to be subdued by the defeatists who preach that the pottery industry is all in the past; the self same people who appear ashamed of what is in fact the City's proud ceramic heritage. Let us celebrate that rich, creative heritage, draw from it and design our way into a creative and prosperous future. This backstamp mosaic will become - indeed has already become - a focus of attention and discussion nationally. It will quickly become a major tourist attraction, and in no small way, an iconic emblem of the potteries. It underlines, as I am constantly emphasising in Council, the importance of investment in the arts as a major driver for regeneration. Countless towns and cities around the country, indeed around the world, have benefited from major investment in the arts. This is not the time to be cutting budgets for the arts; on the contrary, we should be doing everything we can to increase investment from all possible sources.

I hope you will soon be able to visit the Museum and Art Gallery and see for yourself this extraordinarily attractive and stimulatingly educational mosaic. Why not have another look at the backstamps you have around the house. What story do they tell? The one shown here must be the most extraordinary one I have at home, on a blue and white fluted square bowl, decorated with the Confucian Dragon by James Kent, Fenton, England.

Friday 13th 2007

DAY OF COMMITTEES

 

Thursday 12th July 2007

TELEPHONING, E-MAILING, LETTER WRITING...AND FINALLY A MEETING!

By tea-time, after a day of seemingly endless admin and chasing jobs to be done, it is difficult to have a clear focus of what has been achieved after so much time and energy expended! However, tracking progress on jobs that should be in progress or making sure that they are coming on stream at the planned time, does feel a little easier since the gradual development of the recently established Neighbourhood Management structure across the City.

The City has been divided into 5 Neighbourhood Management Areas (NMA): (3 NMAs have 4 Wards, 1 has 3 Wards and 1 has 5 Wards). My Ward, Chell & Packmoor,  is part of the Northern NMA along with Tunstall, Norton & Bradeley and Burslem North. Instead of always having to trawl through the bureauacracy myself, chasing the solution to an issue, on a good day when the wind is fair and in the right direction one call to the NMA manager and the issue is processed. Since the system is still bedding in, the weather conditions are not always favourable! The outlook, I feel however, is promising.

Problems from residents included a tenant frustrated by not being given a start date for her new fence, a resident becoming understandably irritable about the delayed start on remedial work to stop a footpath being flooded and covered in mud and gravel (aggravated by the very un-sunny weather), problems arising from the construction of the Tunstall Northern By-Pass and so on.

My day also involved liaising between several voluntary groups that I am involved with and the City Council, each ending successfully...for once! As a result, a Breakfast Club will open at one of the Primary Schools in my Ward at the start of the new school year in September and a Summer Play Scheme organised by a community group will greatly add to the service offered by the City Council.

In the evening I attended the Friends of Tunstall War Memorial, held at the Sneyd Arms, Tower Square, Tunstall. I am involved in my capacity as the City Council's Heritage & Design Champion. The group of two dozen or so enthusiastic people has started fund-raising for the names of those who lost their lives in the two World Wars to be inscribed in some form within the Garden of Remembrance.  

The stone obelisk war memorial at the centre of the Garden is unusual in that no names of those who died in action are inscribed. The Friends Group voted unanimously at a recent meeting for the idea to have the names inscribed on plaques to be placed in a part of the pavillion in the garden.

So that we can develop the project in a systematic way I have initiated a strategic approach which I, along with Ward councillors who wish to be involved, can develop via the Neighbourhood Management system. We held our first meeting on the 2nd July and now await officers to produce indicative outlines of works involved along with likely costs for the pavillion proposal and for the proposal which the Chair introduced at the meeting, namely to build out the plinth of the obelisk so that the 400 or so names can be placed on the four enlarged faces.

However, that may prove a little controversial with conservationists since it involves a substantial change to the integrity of the monument.

Wednesday 11th July 2007

PARENTS' APPEAL TO GOVERNMENT:                                                                                                                                                DON'T DESTROY OUR SCHOOL

The fight to save Haywood High School is a fight to preserve all that is good in the City's comprehensive high school system. Ignoring the recent GOOD Ofsted report, the government's private company, CERCO, appointed to run the City's schools proposes to abolish the school. Teachers, parents, students, people in the local community and an increasing number of City Councillors simply cannot understand CERCO's absurd proposal.

Today I met David Dickinson (pictured) for a briefing and viewing of the campus with the three Ward councillors, Dave Conway, Jean Edwards and Joy Gardner and the Chair of Governors, Barbara Dunn. Contrary to CERCO's assertion that there is no space for new buildings on the school site , we in fact saw ample space for new buildings!

Anyone with the slightest acquaintance with education knows only too well the time and sustained commitment needed to build up a good school. No one, with the slightest hold on reality, would suggest a good school should be destroyed.

Headteacher, David Dickinson, is furious with the briefing put out by CERCO. "It is shocking that they have issued a proposal based on so many inaccuracies. It seems that they have not bothered to investigate the facts at all." Dawn Clewes, Chair of the school's Parents, Teachers, Friends Association, appeals to parents and friends in the community to support the Association's campaign to save the school. Telephone Dawn or Jill Chadwick on 01782 853535 Ex 152 or email: jchadwick@sgfl.org.uk

Tuesday 10th July 2007

HOME & AWAY

 

To Sheffield by train as a guest of North Staffordshire RENEW for the CABE* sponsored conference: Design at the heart of market renewal, held at the large and richly furnished City centre Cutler's Hall. (A lavish version of our Federation House for the ceramic industry!) Walking out of the railway station is an extensive and excellently designed plaza, with a terraced water feature, complete with a conventional fountain as well as innovatively designed waterwfalls. Behind that is the Cutting Edge water feature, providing a barrier to the sight and sound of the traffic on the busy road and forming quite a spectacular enclosure to the plaza but above which views of the City centre beckon the visitor.   

This is a view of the Cutting Edge looking down, towards the station. The feature is emblematic of Sheffield's primary  heritage, the steel industry. The cicular end of the feature represents a rod of steel, or billet. At the far end, the fountain is almost flat, thus symbolising the rolling of steel. (The last part of our our Shelton Bar Iron and steel works to be closed down was the rolling mill.) The Cutting Edge cost £800,000 and the toal budget for the station plaza was £23m. It gives some idea of the serious investment our City centre requires to raise the quality of the public space.

The York stone for the pavement flags was quarried at Huddersfield but the principal plaza paving in black granite was imported from China. The materials themselves, the cutting and the laying are of the highest quality. It really does feel good to be in the area. 

The 110 delegates represented the nine government funded Housing Market Renewal areas, like our North Staffs RENEW. I was the only council Heritage & Design Champion present - in fact, the only councillor - and several people I asked didn't know who their Design Champions were! Hardial Bhogal, director of RENEW gave a clear and succinct presentation of the key issues of the regeneration programme in North Staffs as did representatives for the other areas. Commitment to raising design standards, both in terms of what is built and the spaces around them, appeared to be firmly on everyone's agenda. We must hope that the aspirations are translated into the built reality. Certainly, I have experienced a major shift in design expectations in the City but we all, planners and councillors, need to develop a sustained commitment to seeking from developers the very best designs.

We also need to be much more proactive, ensuring businesses play their part. The view facing people leaving Stoke railway station is a sharp contrast to the prospect from Sheffield station. A profusion of signs, screwed, swinging and standing disfigure the attractive C19th facade of the North Staffs Hotel.  Surely it is also time vehicles were banished from the hotel forecourt which should be attractively landscaped. Don't you agree?

Monday 9th July 2007

SNEYD COLLIERY DISASTER MEMORIAL  

On New Year's Day 1942, in defiance of their traditional superstition that going underground on New Year's day was unlucky, miners reported to work as usual because all the coal possible was needed for the war effort. At 7.50am that morning, a violent explosion more than 2000 feet below ground ripped through the pit. 55 men and boys were killed underground and two more died later in hospital.

Former miner and inspiration behind the Apedale Mining Museum, Keith Meeson, has campaigned for more than six years to have a monument erected to the memory of those patriots. During mid-2006 I learned that the plan was to have the memorial, a pit wheel rescued from the Silverdale colliery at Newcastle, mounted on a stone plinth installed in front of Swan bank Methodist church.

As the City Council's Heritage and Design Champion I had reservations about that site. I felt the pit memorial would clash with the existing war memorial. Each memorial, I argued, was too important to be competing with each other. I strongly believed the colliery memorial deserved the best possible location and guided Keith to Wedgwood Place. There, on the broad paved area opposite the Queen's Theatre the site enjoyed excellent sight-lines from the north and the south along the A50 as well as from the Market Place. It would stand out well and not be competing with another memorial.

On 16th August '06 the City Council planning committee approved the site and at long last as the picture shows, the rich pink Hollington stone plinth is slowly taking shape. The Old Town Hall, home to Ceramica, is in the background to the left.

Burslem Councillor, Ted Owen said: "It is in the right place , and is the right sort of memorial." Others have disagreed with us. Andy Perkin, secretary of the Potteries Heritage Society declared: "The design is not original, stimulating or innovative. It is the standard memorial for any sort of pit. Burslem is special for a reason. It doesn't copy other things. We feel this fails to recognise the dignity and importance of this memorial. It is an important story that should be told in the best possible light. An opportunity for an innovative and high quality design has been missed." 

I think the quality of the masonry, the scale of the design and the symbolism of the memorial will in fact win over most sceptics and be seen as a valued addition to the streetscape. I fervently hope so. What do you think?

Sunday 8th July 2007

WORLD CO-OP DAY

The International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) has 221 member co-ops from 85 countries representing some 800million people! Today is the 85th annual WORLD CO-OP DAY and the 13th since it was recognised by the United Nations. I must admit, I didn't know any of that before spending most of today at the Lowry Centre in Salford Quays in the company of hundreds of fellow co-operative supporters. 

I was delighted to meet Tadesse Meskela, general manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-operative Union in Ethiopia. He is the principal character in the recently released film, BLACK GOLD, which exposes the way in which the major international coffee companies make huge profits at the expense of the Third World coffee growers. Five minutes with Tadesse, and you are left in no doubt about just how important FAIRTRADE is for Third World farmers. When he pioneered the Oromia Co-operative Union six years ago, there were just 34 member co-operatives yielding a total of 126 tons of coffee. Now, there are 115 co-ops in the Union and produce some 5,000 tons of coffee.

The co-operative has given formerly isolated small farmers a collective strength, information and help to improve sustainable yields and knowledge about the world coffee market prices. Importantly, it has given them access to FAIRTRADE, although so far only a small proportion of their yield enters the FAIRTRADE market. That's why increasing FAIRTRADE sales in the developed countries is so important. When we buy more FAIRTRADE that means more of the Third World crops enter the FAIRTRADE market. 

I was also delighted to find the Fenton Co-op shop manager helping at the Co-op stall amongst a host of other stalls around the plaza in front of the Lowry Centre. Within minutes of walking in to the plaza I was obliged to lie flat out on the paving so that three erstwhile campaigners could roll their e n o r m o u  s plastic earth-ball over me while I screamed at the pain the globe was inflicting on me. An eye catcher or ear catcher (and it worked very well since everyone stopped to see what was happening!) symbolising in reverse the damage we are inflicting on the earth.

Bands, brass, steel and jazz, youth drama groups (including Stoke's very own Vic Theatre's Borderline Youth Comapny), screenings of BLACK GOLD, West African Drummers, children's painting competition display, photograpy exhibition and much more fun and entertainment abounded.

 

I attended one of three seminars to hear Tadesse describing the growth of his Co-op and Gary Cronan of the ICA outline his research project focussed on the world's 300 largest co-ops. He emphasised that co-ops had for too long been "very well kept secrets" and it was time they were made more visible and proactive. Collating basic data for analysis, evaluation and strategic developments has never before been undertaken. By the way, the United Co-op is the 62nd in the list of 300 largest in the world and Nationwide 73rd. A full, worthwhile and rewarding day.    

Saturday 7th July 2007

CITY CENTRE POST OFFICE CLOSURE PROTEST

A contingent of the North Staffs Pensioners' Convention led by chairperson Phillip Snow as Postman Pat, staged a colourful and vocal protest against the impending closure of the City Centre Crown Post Office in Tontine Street.

On my way to the midday protest, staged outside the Potteries Shopping Centre, I popped into the Post Office. All twelve customer service points were busy and a dozen or so people were queueing, ample evidence of the need for a large post office. 

Not evidence enough for the Post Office. Closure has been confirmed following the brief period of mock-consultation. The plan is to install a post office facility in W.H.Smith's at the far end of the of the first floor in the Potteries Shopping Centre: a really convenient location for the elderly, young mums with toddlers, the disabled and the infirm!

What's the betting that the post office counter will be at the far end of W.H.Smith's shop, so that customers wend their way through newspapers and magazines, books and stationery, CDs and goodness knows what other desiderata before finally reaching the counter of their first and only choice that was once so conveniently accessed immediately from the pavement.

The Post Offices are only losing money because the government has deliberately undermined their viability by diverting the bulk of the custom, the payment of benefits, to the banks, which as we all know, make enormous profits annually. Last year, for example, Barclays made a cool £700m profit! Why is it, that in France there is a post office in every village, town and city? Why is it, that once again, it is the UK that rolls over and submits to the dictatorial demands of the European Community? The destruction of the public sector service industry has been pursued just as enthusiastically by the Labour government for the past decade as it had been by Thatcher's Tory government.

 As I said in my speech, the protest was organised by the pensioners but the closure of the City Centre Post office affects everyone. Yet again, the wishes of the people are ignored. So much for the new listening prime minister! But, just as dozens of red balloons were released carrying forth our message of protest, I appealed to people to send a card or short letter or 'phone call to their MP so that they cannot ever say, we didn't realise so many people were angry at being ignored.

Friday 6th July 2007

CONSULTATION or SPIN, DOUBLE-SPEAK, DECEPTION...

We have an Elected Mayor who, apparently, thinks it a good idea, to close down, lock, stock and barrel, all 17 of the City's High Schools. Wholesale closure is not only necessary so that we can reduce our high school provision in line with the declining teenage population, but according to the Elected Mayor's perception (I hesitate to say, understanding) of the situation, such wholesale destruction of the existing high school provision means: "The changes we're proposing are going to ensure all schools are high quality and will get a fresh start." 

Pol Pot pursued iconclastic, year zero policies in Cambodia, not that I am suggesting we shall end up with mass slaughter such as he unleashed. But to extol the virtue of total demolition to make way for a fresh start does seem to resemble that perverted approach to social progress.  

The reality is, of course, quite different from the spin, double-speak, deception or whatever of the scenario with which we are presented, supposedly for consultation.

In fact, the presentation fails lamentably to sustain its own rhetoric. There is no intention to close all 17 high schools! For a start, it is clear that the faith schools remain intact! Like the polictians of the nineteenth century, CERCO, acting for the government, are afraid to confront organised religion. On the contrary, the C of E St Peter's aspires to City Academy status - not much demolition envisaged there then.

And the Roman catholic high schools? They too will remain intact.

What, one wonders, has happened to the "fresh start" so early in the consultation process? The faith schools are not the only ones that should escape destruction. What about the state schools which have good records of academic achievement, commendable social ethos and not inconsiderable financial investment? Of course it is self-evident we need fewer school places, fewer schools and schools in appropriate locations but does the Elected Mayor, does CERCO, does the government seriously expect us to believe closing down all 17 schools is the only way to achieve a reduction and redistribution in provision?  

Thursday 5th July 2007

CERAMICA EQUALS BLENHEIM PALACE

Burslem's Ceramica Visitor Attraction has won the Sandford Award in recognition of the quality educational visits it delivers. The Sandford Awards for Heritage Education are awarded annually by the Heritage Education Trust. Entrants are assessed by a panel of independent judges drawn from professional educationalists, Ofsted inspectors, former head teachers and education consultants. The awards recognise excellence in the educational services and facilities at sites within the historical and cultural environments of the United Kingdom and Ireland including historic houses, museums, galleries, cathedrals, gardens and historic artefacts. The independent awards are regarded as a Quality Assured Assessment of Heritage Education. The assessment found that  at Ceramica:

"The staff are knowledgeable, enthusiastic and able to talk to the children in an informative, non patronising way to make the visit useful interactive and fun. The service provides meaningful visits incorporating  different aspects of the time periods on study, both in terms of content and skills employed.

The team go out of their way to make school visits welcoming and to ensure that the day is stimulating, memorable and fun whilst being safe and secure. They talk with passion and enthusiasm."

That assessment of the Heritage Education Trust's judges is echoed in countless letters of thanks Karen Burgess, Ceramica's Education and Attraction Manger, receives from visiting school parties. 

Jill Pearce of Berkswich Primary School near Stafford brought her year three class only last week. She wrote: "Thank you for providing us with an excellent school trip. The workshops were interesting and engaging. The subject matter developed our learning and reinforced the curriculum covered in the classroom. Thank you for your care and attention to us; all the children and staff had a lovely day."

On receiving the news of the award, Karen Burgess said: "It is appropriate that we gained this award in the 150th year of the Old Town Hall where the exhibition is housed. To achieve the standard required to qualify for the Sanford Award is very rewarding and testament to the hard work and enthusiasm of the staff at Ceramica."

I would add, that it is a magnificent tribute to Karen's enthusiasm, optimism and commitment to the Ceramica project in the face of severe funding restraints, adverse publicity and frequent negative publicity, suggesting Ceramica has closed. The award is proof enough that Ceramica is not only open, but openly offering the very highest standards of heritage education.

I know from my involvement with the Heritage Education Trust (I was at the Trust's awards ceremony at Glamis Castle, Scotland, in 1996 when Ford Green Hall first received the Sandford Award) of the exceedingly high standards set. Some years the quota of awards is not made when insufficient entrants reach the required standards.

So, well done Ceramica. You are now on a level playing field with Blenheim Palace, which first gained the Award in 1982 and successfully retained it at subsequent five-yearly reviews. Here's to your continued success...in 2012.

Wednesday 3rd July 2007

REORGANIZATION OF CITY HIGH SCHOOLS

At last, CERCO, the private company sent in by the government to run the City's education and young people's services, have briefed me on the draft proposals for reorganising the City's high schools. The proposals are made public on Friday! CERCO claim they have held consultations with a range of people, such as headteachers, parents and young people but, strangely, not with Councillors! The proposed changes - reduction in the number of schools - to match the falling pupil numbers are likely to cause considerable debate.

Such is the entrenched position of the faith schools (ie Roman Catholic and C of E) that one may be certain they will escape closure. CERCO claim that the criteria for deciding the viability of a school are: i) pupil roll - ideally to be in the range 900-1200; ii) size of the school site to allow for any necessary additional buildings and sports facilities; iii) location - schools must be sited to match the distribution of the population.

But as I said in my Sunday Sentinel article (see entry for 1st July) "before such seemingly straight-forward details can be worked out, the kind of high schools to be built must be agreed."

Separatist schools, whatever criteria for selection is used, undermine both the principle and practice of equality of educational opportunity. Furthermore, and crucially, dividing young people is hardly likely to be the best recipe for adult social cohesion. Selection not only perpetuates division, it has all the potential for intensifying divisions. Oddly, for all the government's obesession with social cohesion (admittedly usually little more than code for multi-ethnic harmony) it dogmatically promotes city academies, run by organizations more concerned with an ideological axe to grind than the promotion of social cohesion.

Because, post-Thatcher, it has become unfashionable to talk of social class, the reality of class thrives unrecognised. The comprehensive system was conceived to provide the best educational opportunity for all, not the privileged tiny minority. Now, more than ever, we need an open debate about the ideological underpinnings of our education system. Without that, we will be side-tracked into serving the vested interests of powerful cliques. Let the debate begin and may the battle lines be drawn.   

Tuesday 3rd July 2007

MITCHELL MEMORIAL YOUTH THEATRE

As Chair of the City Council's Mitchell Memorial Committee I attended one of a series of planning meetings preparing for the golden anniversary of the Mitchell later this year in October. A full programme of performances covring a block of 4 weeks is being planned so that there will be something for everyone's tastes.

The public appeal for funds, launched by the then Lord Mayor in 1943, to mark the huge contribution Reginald Mitchell's SPITFIRE fighter plane made to the success of the Battle of Britain, led to the building of the Mitchell Memorial Youth Centre, to give it its official legal name.

Opened in 1957 by air ace Squadron Leader Douglas Bader, the "Mitch"  as it soon became  affectionately known, has been the venue for hundreds of productions for scores of local drama groups during the past 50 years.  

Looking towards the stage, the picture shows the engineering beneath the auditorium floor being constructed. Unfortunately, the mechanics which raised and lowered the auditorium floor broke down years ago and the local authority in whom the Mitchell registered charity is vested has not, to date, found the will or the oney to have it restored to full workimg order. 

Quite soon, an in-house smartly designed A5 publicity brochure highlighting the calendar of  festival performances will be available and widely distributed. We also plan to publish a special golden jubilee booklet, providing an historical overview of the Mitchell, its origins, its building and the people associated with it over the years. If you, of if you know someone who was involved with the Mitchell at the start do please let us know. We hope to make contact with as many of the original Mitch  people as possible.  

Monday 2nd July 2007

CHIMNEY POT PRESERVATION & PROTECTION SOCIETY

An architectural feature well and truly consigned to history is the chimney pot. The Clean Air Acts of a few decades ago merely modified the kind of fuels burnt in the domestic grates whereas the modified life-styles leave no room for the open hearth. Central heating, instant, clean and constant, replace the dirt and draughts of open fires but for me, destroy the delight that an open fire offers, in both the hearth and atop the roof. I have been fascinated for decades by the sheer variety of shapes and sizes of chimney pots.

Just as fascinating is the mystery of how chimney pot makers came to the conclusion that a particular size and shape was necessary. I'm no expert (though I would dearly love to become one) on the dynamics of chimney pots but I suspect the function determined the form. Why else, would someone dream up the size and shape of the one pictured here? The scale is well illustrated by the pint milk bottle at its base. What kind of building did it once adorn? House or factory or institution of some kind, who knows?

Perhaps you do. If you do, please drop me a line. And although, of course, ideally it would have been better remaining in its historical architectural environment, since it has been rudley removed for whatever reason, at least it remains an architectural delight in itself and something a studio potter would never in a life time have dreamt of producing.  

I am delighted to be helping a friend, Roger, who is absolutely potty over chimney pots, to establish a registered charity, the Chimney Pot Preservation & Protection Society.

Roger has written a delightful little book for children (that means anyone up to 99) called Town Spires & Chimney Pots: Sentinels of Time. I will talk more of that another time.

Sunday 1st July 2007

SUNDAY SENTINEL  -  SUNDAY THOUGHT

The following is my article published in today's SUNDAY SENTINEL:

ON entering Downing Street, Gordon Brown emphasized the need for change. One major change would be for the new Prime Minister to come to our region to see at first hand the consequences of a decade of Blairism for ordinary people. After all, Tony Blair himself never bothered to visit Stoke-on-Trent, one of Labour's heartlands. Had he done so, he would have seen how his so-called "Third Way" had done little to restore the heart-beat of a City once economically vibrant with the coal industry, iron and steel, Michelin and of course, our world-famous potteries.

Most people agree that during the past decade we've had more than enough spin, quangos, consultants and promised programmes for recovery and yet the regeneration of our City has still not reached a critical take-off point.

We need changes based on principle not on perceived short term political gain. Labour has drifted from its historical commitment to equality. Instead of policies geared for the common good we've been deluged by policies that have fuelled the worst kind of self-interested individualism: what I call the me, me, me approach.

Both the Labour and Conservative parties are obsessed with the "middle ground". No wonder we have a Conservative-Labour coalition running the City Council! What is the middle ground? It's the me, me, me crowd, fixated on their rights, oblivious of their responsibilities.

Modernization and marketization (both spin for privatization and profit) have been imposed throughout the public sector. The PR mantra of choice is designed to make us feel good while profit is squeezed out of our need for, and right to health care, education, housing, welfare and so on.

Of course we all want the best for our families but must it be at the expense of others having much less than the best?

Labour has presided over a decade of a widening gap between the rich and the poor. Massive inequality breeds resentment and disaffection. Millions of people either no longer bother to vote or have turned to nationalist parties in England, Wales and Scotland.

Not so long ago politicians more dependent on trendy slogans than solid principle talked a great deal about he need for "joined up thinking." Like all spin it was superficial. The only joined up thinking that will help is thinking which joins up principles and policies.

For example, our High Schools are a major issue Gordon Brown should address. The teenage population has declined and the trend is for further decline so we need fewer High School places. Issues such as the size, number and location of high schools needed have to be agreed before the new school building programme can be launched. But before such seemingly straight-forward factual details can be worked out the kind of high schools to be built must be agreed.

In other words, is Gordon Brown committed to a state system of comprehensive schools based on the principle of equality of educational opportunity? Translated into practical terms, that means all young people, irrespective of parental background and wealth, are offered the same quality of education. Or does Gordon Brown intend to continue Tony Blair's commitment to unequal provision of quality by forcing some school Academies into the network of comprehensives? By definition, Academies receive extra resources compared with comprehensives. That doesn't sound like equality and in fact it isn't! Will you be happy for your child to go to a less well resourced school?

Our City is crying out for skilled people to regenerate its fortunes. We need every single individual to develop their skills to the maximum. The best possible way to achieve that is to make sure everyone has the best possible chance: the best possible equal chance.

But there is more to schools than examination grades, important though they are. Without an equivalent stress on the socialization of fundamental values schools will contribute to the self-seeking, me, me, me society. Inter-personal relationships based on mutual respect ought to be a prerequisite; without courtesy and good manners, what kind of society will we have?  

This is where real change, real joined up thinking is vital. Get the tone of the school right, and the teenage pregnancy rate WILL decline; inculcate mutual respect and anti-social behaviour WILL decline; emphasise responsibilities as much as rights and CRIME will decline.

This change in thinking will produce benefits across the board. Clear analysis, clear principle, clear purpose - and I do think that unlike Tony Blair, Gordon Brown could lead a government based on such change.

Gordon Brown needs to bring some good news for the elderly in Stoke-on-Trent. All the talk about modernising the elderly care services was nothing more than a smokescreen for reducing the cost to the state of caring for our frail elderly people.

The City Council's funding bid to build five extra-care residential facilities across the City was rejected by the government several weeks ago. Does that mean there is not in fact a need for such facilities? Of course not!  Gordon Brown needs to get rid of this insane lottery of funding bids.

On the issue of housing, the trendy thing at the moment is affordable housing. But it is time to sit down and say what does that mean in reality? Is it just dodging the need for more social housing? The council has a waiting list that lengthens and lengthens, but central Government says we can't build more council housing. Disconcertingly, a high proportion of new build housing is being bought by people involved in buy-to-let. Much of it, however, is not let but bought like stocks and shares, to be sold neat and new when the price rises! Change is vital if social housing needs are to be met since clearly marketization fails those in real housing need.

Economic regeneration needs a massive change. Gordon Brown should recognize the scale of the task and fund a substantial increase in experts in regeneration so that we can generate a momentum on a broad front. Gordon Brown should come to Stoke-on-Trent and see for himself the need for a significant public transport system along the spine of Potteries with branches to key areas. Capital funding for some sort of metro system would be a major boost to regeneration and a sustainable transport policy.

Sustained funding, not funding dependent upon the lottery of bids, is vital for a sustained strategic policy of commitment to developing arts and cultural activities right across the city. This is imperative for the continued growth of the City's Cultural Quarter but also to ensure that arts and cultural activity reach all communities, and are not seen to be the preserve of only the priviledged few.

Developing and delivering this range of services is best done by a democratic council which reflects the views of all who live and work and play in the City. We want a council with a clear mandate, a clear structure and a clear commitment to the will of the people. That means a change to the present undemocratic Elected mayor and Council Manager system where all the executive decision making power rests with the unelected council Mananger (the Elected Mayor's recently appointed Conservative-Labour coalition pseudo-cabinet is an attempt to pretend that isn't the case! But of course it is!)

The last thing we want is more rhetoric. We've had enough of that over the years. We need serious analysis, serious commitment, serious investment. In short, we want change, and now.