I guess everyone goes into politics dreaming of leaving a golden legacy of success. But you can only achieve success with power. This was brought home to me last night. I was having a beer with my ex boss. He shocked us all by announcing that he had been considering standing as a candidate for Reform in Colchester. He has always been a Conservative, but I never had him down as a reformer. He explained that he was very tempted as he believed that they have an excellent chance of winning Colchester Council and he fancied the opportuinity to run it and sort the problems in the Council out. It was nothing to do with their politics, it was access to power. What disturbed me most though, is that I know he is excellent at whatever he does, a superb boss, and I'd have put money on him doing a brilliant job running the finances. The conversation turned to Barnet. Another friend at the booze up is a Barnet resident and a Labour supporter. He was waxing lyrical about the achievements of Barnet Labour. I had to disagree, but he was claiming Barnet Council had been turned around and more potholes than ever had been fixed.
The sad truth is that Labour have not fixed the council and as far as I am concerned, their reign has been northing short of a disaster. On the night they won, Leader Barry Rawlings invited me to help formulate a culture strategy. Within a month I'd drafted one and circulated it to councillors and officers. I don't think any read it. Their vision was different. They believed the route to success was to employ expensive consutants, rather than follow my model of building a council of local arts organisations and building a collaborative network. My solution was almost zero cost and would have exploited all of the energy and efforts of people already doing good work. The abject failure of their efforts is best demonstrated by the failure to stage the Borough's biggest festival, The East Barnet Festival in an election year. My focus is always on arts, but across the Borough there is discontent. A terrible scheme in Edgware, albiet a legacy of the Tory regime, but one mired in failure. Labour promised to address the mess that is the Railway Hotel in Edgware. There was talk of a compulsory purchase order. Nothing has been done. Council taxes have gone up, services have not improved. I've not seen a leaflet from Labour in Mill Hill to see what they think they've done well. They do however have a website. Here is there manifesto
Labour launches ‘Ambitious for Barnet’ Manifesto
Barnet Labour have launched their manifesto for the local elections: ‘Ambitious for Barnet’ which sets out our programme to continue to improve services, our roads, pavements and green spaces, back the environment and support those struggling with the cost of living.
Council Leader, Labour’s Councillor Barry Rawlings said:
“The Conservatives ran Barnet on the snooze button for 20 years, with no real vision for the borough, and left a legacy of cuts, depleted reserves and run-down services.
“Labour has been ambitious for Barnet, delivering a far-reaching programme.
“That’s why we’ve filled over 16,500 potholes – 61 per cent more than the Conservatives managed when they were in power, upgraded and expanded a CCTV system that was broken more than half the time when the Conservatives were in charge, planted nearly 5,000 trees, improved or re-built 20 playgrounds and secured 1,000 new council homes.
“We have delivered this and much more, while keeping council tax lower than all our neighbours.
“We will continue to be ambitious in a second term, campaigning for our high streets, continuing to clamp down on crime and anti-social behaviour and building new affordable homes.”
As part of the Barnet Labour’s Manifesto, we are making six key pledges.
1) Keep Barnet Moving: We will aim to cut roadworks times by 20 percent by charging extra penalties to dawdling utility companies for working too slowly.
2) Keep Barnet Green: We will protect our green spaces, plant 4,000 more trees and create a ‘Regional Park’, making even more green space accessible.
3) Keep Barnet Safe and Clean: We will continue to crack down on crime, anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping and litter to keep Barnet safe and clean by using our upgraded CCTV system with tougher enforcement and higher fines, whilst protecting the free community skips service.
4) A More Affordable Barnet: We will secure a further 1,000 social rent homes, having already secured the delivery of 1,000 new council homes in our first term.
5) A Healthier Barnet: We will campaign for greater powers to stop the increase of gambling arcades and fast-food shops.
6) Keep Delivering Value for Money: We will always prioritise finding efficiencies and savings to keep costs down, ensuring council tax increases are minimised.
Councillor Rawlings added:
“These are difficult financial times and, unlike the Conservatives, who cut half of Barnet’s funding, we have worked with the Government to secure £37million more for local services.
“We have a roadmap to financial sustainability that invests in prevention to reduce demand for high-cost services.
“The Conservatives first priority is to propose raising council tax by 50 per cent over the next five years before doing the hard work to keep costs down.
“That’s the choice at this election.
“With a lot already done by a Labour council, and a lot more to be ambitious about, there’s a lot at risk under any other Party but Labour.”
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