Objections start rolling in

A couple of weeks ago, Bedford Borough Council published the planning applications for change of use and conversion of the Civic Theatre to a "Council One Stop Shop".  The Theatres Trust has objected in the strongest possible terms:

"The Trust objects to the change of use of the Bedford Civic Theatre to a new borough council ‘One-Stop-Shop’ facility because a valuable theatre facility will be lost and there is no replacement provision provided within the catchment area. We were disappointed to receive this application, which proposes the demolition of all the theatrical facilities, despite our objections at the pre-application stage. Although we are pleased that the applicants will retain the existing theatre shell, and we appreciate the gesture to retain the proscenium arch and first floor gallery within the new design, we cannot support the loss of the stage and associated wings without a clear understanding of theatrical needs of Bedford, nor any reasoned justification for the loss of the theatre as a cultural asset."

The document goes on to say:

"In your Development Plan Document, Core Strategy and Rural Issues Plan dated April 2008 one of the Plan Objectives 14 (page14) is to ‘Protect and enhance the Borough’s built, cultural and community assets’ as a ‘destination for cultural tourism’. Policy CP2, Sustainable Development Principles, states that the development and use of land will ensure that (vi) ‘important cultural features are protected’. Furthermore, we note that objective (6) of the Milton Keynes & South Midlands Sub-Regional Strategy aims to ‘create sustainable communities by ensuring that economic, environmental, social and cultural infrastructure needs are met’ and that a key priority for Bedford is to ‘Revitalise the town centre of Bedford and enhancing retail, cultural and leisure facilities.’ We therefore fail to see how the loss of the Bedford Civic Theatre without alternative provision in the catchment area can be justified or meet the aspirations and ambitions within your Core Strategy."

A pretty damning vindication of what the Campaign to Save the Civic Theatre has been saying all along.  The full document will soon be available on the Theatres Trust Website in due course.

Its not often I come over all Daily Mail but .....

Watching the events of the last three evenings has left me sickened and totally disgusted with the behaviour of a minority of thugs.


Witness the young masked yob interviewed on Sky News who took great delight in swearing live on air, and when asked why he was engaging in the violence replied "because I can".  He admitted that he had gone into the City Centre of Manchester just to take part in the "riot" and thuggery.


What has annoyed me even more has been the reaction of some of the bleeding heart woolly liberals who are trying to make excuses for this lawlessness by trying to put the blame onto government cuts.  Trying to claim that it is all down to the fact that these poor lambs have nothing to do because youth centres and what have you are having to close down because funding is apparently being cut.


Complete and utter nonsense.  There is no excuse at all for smashing up a shop and making off with a 50" plasma TV under your arm.  There is no excuse at all for torching somebody's business premises, robbing them of their livelihood.  My heart went out to the family in Croydon who's furniture business - in existence for 140 years - which had survived two World Wars, the Great Depression of the 1930s and the recession in the 80s only to be totally destroyed by mindless arsonist criminals.


To quote my buddy Scott: "I left School with ZERO exams; I done alright for myself but I dont go looting and blaming the 'system' for the things I aint got.. I just work harder..."


At a guess I would say that the majority of the young scrotes are the offspring of parents who were at school when the rot began to set in in the mid 80s - I refer of course to the time when thanks to the interference of Brussels and the efforts of a load of bleeding heart liberals teachers lost the main tool of keeping discipline in school - namely the cane.


From that point on, kids knew that teachers couldn't touch them - without running the risk of being done for assault.  We are now reaping the seeds of that whirlwind where we have a breed of feral youths who think they can do what they like, where they like and when they like


The Police need to have their hands untied - all too often when they appear to be standing around watching trouble kick off, they are bound by the damned "Health and Safety Rules" and having to carry out umpteen risk assessments - time to get rid and let the Police get on and do their job without them being hidebound by ridiculous red tape.


We also need to get rid of the attitude that we don't carry out our Policing in a certain way.  The Police should have access to the fullest possible range of tools to assist them and if that means baton rounds, plastic/rubber bullets, water cannon and so on then so be it.


Time as well for more effective penalties - particularly against the feral kids.  ASBOs were a waste of space, more often than not they were seen as a "badge of honour", with young thugs competing against each other to collect as many as they could.  Fines, tagging, Police Cautions and whatever are ineffective.


Our Magistrates and Judiciary need to be able to deliver a short, sharp shock to these feral thugs.  Obviously, nobody is going to have the balls to stick two fingers up to the ECHR and bring back the birch but I think it needs to happen.  Before the Isle of Man was forced to give up the punishment in 1983, nobody ever went back for a second dose or reoffended as an adult.


Borstal Training submitted young offenders to a strict disciplinary regime - which is exactly what most of these feral young thugs need.


And while we're at it, maybe a stint of proper National Service wouldn't do them any harm either.


Like I said, its not often I come over all Daily Mail but .....

Another Election Over

And although nationally it was a good day for the Conservatives and a very bad one for the LibDems, for some reason Bedford saw fit to reverse that trend with the Mayoral Election.  In Bedford the Conservatives gained 5 seats and the three main parties are now on an equal split of 12 Councillors each with 4 Independents.

To my utter surprise - and horror - Dave Hodgson managed to get himself re-elected Mayor of Bedford.  When we thought that the Civic Theatre would be safe, it isn't so now the battle has to start afresh.

Now wouldn't it be great if the Conservative and Labour Groups on the Council could come to some sort of arrangement to provide some proper opposition to Hodgson?  Somehow I don't think that's going to happen, do you?

Another Year Older

..... with the added distraction of being as close to 50 now as I was to 40 two years ago ..... Oh sod it, I think I'm just going to grow old disgracefully! Jake Kwan I hope you've got plenty of Guinness in for tomorrow night at The barley mow! Oh, and by the way, Birthday Fairy, or Birthday Returning Officer or whatever you are calling yourself these days, I demand a recount!!

A ringing endorsement!

I was absolutely delighted to read on Thursday that John Guthrie has been endorsed in his Candidacy for Mayor of Bedford by Cllr Apu Bagchi who is one of my two Independent Councillors here in Castle Ward in Bedford. I have only got to know Apu in the last year, but I regard him as one of Bedford's Elder Statesmen, if he won't mind me using that description. Apu has been a pillar of support for the Save Our Civic Campaign, and I have found him to be an absolutely solid and top class gentleman. I've only got to know him in the last year or so, but some people make an immediate impression. Thank you Apu.

Oh Dear ...

I shouldn't need to of course, but it looks as though I am going to have to make it crystal clear for the benefit of anybody who starts getting any silly ideas about the content of my blog and any local activities I take part in.

The opinions and thoughts expressed in and published on this blog site are my own, personal opinions and thoughts and have nothing whatsoever to do with any organisation or body with which I may be involved or associated, neither do they seek to represent the opinion of any such organisation or body or its members.

There we go. Clear enough?

Bedford Needs a New Mayor

My somewhat scathing comments about the 2009 Mayoral By-Election and how it was torpedoed and then scuttled by a disgruntled "Conservative" Mayoral hopeful have been noted on both ConHome and this blog.

Whilst in certain circumstances I have to be nice to the person concerned for professional and non-partisan reasons, the truth of the matter is that I still blame her for Parvez losing the election, Bedford Conservatives ending up with egg all over their faces, the feeling of "why am I bothering" when I looked at the Times & Citizen that fateful morning and us ending up with the eejit who is now in control of Borough Hall. I'm reminded in many ways of Geoffrey Howe's resignation speech.

However, I am a firm believer in the old adage that everything happens for a reason. In that case, the reason being that everybody can now see what a complete waste of space the current Mayor is, and how lucky we are to have a professional businessman - not a professional politician and snake oil salesman - as our Conservative Candidate. I refer of course to none other than John Guthrie.

Since I first met John to talk about the Save Our Civic Campaign last year, I could not but be struck by his no nonsense, business-like attitude. At the end of the day, being in charge of a Unitary Authority is no different to being in charge of a multi-million pound business.

I say no different. There is one big difference. Those in charge of a Unitary Authority too often seem to be in it to get themselves re-elected. Performance and delivery don't matter so long as the spin doctors can get it sorted come election time.

Those in charge of a multi-million pound business are in it to generate value for their shareholders, a profitable return to ensure the future growth of the business but above all they realise that they are accountable and can be removed and replaced either by the Directors or the Shareholders having no confidence in them.

Sorry, can I make that two big differences. In the case of the Unitary Authority, the Shareholders are also the Customers. In business, the shareholders probably aren't the customers, but might be. And you can't always be guaranteed of a majority or three-line whip on the board of directors.

In business, you never take your customers, or your board of directors for granted. You don't treat them like fools. You don't feed them spin because somewhere down the line, it'll come back to bite you.

Like going on the radio and saying that you've got to make £24 million of savings in your time of office but then committing yourself to spending

• £50,000 on choosing a "preferred developer" for the Riverside North Development without consulting the Full Council
• An undisclosed sum on demolishing the Town Hall building, without consulting the Full Council
• Another undisclosed sum on destroying the Civic Theatre and converting it into a "one-stop-shop" without consulting the Full Council
• £563,000 on a hair-brained scheme for installing Archimedes' Screws in the River Ouse to generate power - again without consulting the Full Council
  

What sensible businessman does that?