Poor Journalism

Normally this part of the website is for news but, as The Newport Advertiser last week saw fit to print errors about the four Borough Councillors, this item states the facts of the situation concerning the extra housing which Newport is compelled to accept.

1)The target of 1000 new houses was the result of central Government direction to Telford and Wrekin, and most other councils, to build a Government selected number of houses. The then Labour controlled Borough Council allocated 1000 to Newport, and presumably communicated their decision to Westminster.

2) The Government Inspector, who oversees these schemes, recently made two important decisions, firstly that the requirement for Newport should be reduced to 600, and that houses built from April 2006 should all qualify as part of the 600. Thus the Civic Society was correct in the first figure of 600, although forgot to mention that the original 1,000 had been the level laid down by the old (Labour) administration at Telford, and also forgot that something approaching 300 dwellings since 2006 would count towards the 600.

3) The decision on the number is the prerogative of the Inspector, and is not open to challenge. (The advertiser front page article, quoting the Borough Chief Planning Officer, implicitly accepted this, although still condemning the councillors for neglecting Newport.)

4) Councillors are instructed to maintain a silence on such matters until the Council has fully considered it, partly because they could be gagged by the Standards Board regulation which discourages comments before decisions are made.

We thus have the Advertiser swallowing the assertions of the Civic Society, although the editor knew that the Inspector's decision was not open to debate. If either had stopped to ask why councillors were happy at the Inspector's report, among other things that "affordable housing" would figure largely and that the Town is required to accept no more than an average of about 35 new houses per year, - regarded as manageable. Most of all councillors were happy that a Government/Labour imposed burden of 1,000 houses had been reduced to about 300 over the next few years.

What motivated the Civic Society we may never know - but their information was at best partial. The Advertiser sank to a new low, in many people's judgement, and seems to have been motivated by exasperation that the councillors would divulge nothing before the Council meeting. The editor had only to wait a few days at most, when the situation would have been clear. Everything is now in the public domain.

Achievements and a slight delay

Cllr. Carter, with Cllr. Scammell, have responded promptly to the request by residents living in the Roddam Court/Sandiford Crescent district, and who reported problems with the road surfacing. The Borough Council were notified, and the repairs were completed within 2 to 3 days.

Mr. Carter reports that the recent agreement on the siting of the skateboard park at Norbroom will be slightly disappointed by a marginal delay in implementation. The delay, caused by errors in the application for funds, should not be extensive. The fund application has been resubmitted, and all is again back on course.

Messages from Councillor Stanton and others

Newport’s Proposed Canal Development

For those who attended the Newport Town Council meeting on November 14^th and heard Councillors debate the initial development appraisal for the restoration of Newport’s Canal, the complete appraisal is available for viewing at the Guildhall. Please remember that this is just an ‘initial development appraisal’ and is not a definitive guide as to the future of our canal. All decisions will be put out for consultation as, like our election manifesto stated, we are looking to build a Newport for the majority and not the few.

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Road Safety Success in Newport

I have two success stories to announce this week regarding road safety in and around Newport. Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to announce that, with the support of my local town councillors, we have finally managed to convince Telford & Wrekin to extend the 30mph zone on Longford Road beyond the Longford Hall entrance. This will help to ensure the safety of all Adams’ Grammar School pupils on their long walk up to Games. In fact, we have even managed to extend the zone beyond the entrance to the Longford Park development, which is home to many young families.

Secondly, you will notice on the High Street that the town centre roundabout, the cause of numerous hold-ups due to the grounding of buses, has been halved in height. This eliminates the chances of such incidents reoccurring and will help to maintain the constant flow of traffic in and around the town.

I now look forward to early next year when Newport’s bus build-out will be closely examined by Telford & Wrekin Council’s Scrutiny Commission. This will hopefully lead to a similar success story for the town!

Cllr. Adam Stanton

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The Future of OUR Swimming Pool

Councillor Irene Evan’s letter on behalf of the Newport Liberal Democrats in the Newport Advertiser dated November 9^th is both incorrect and premature.

Her letter states many ‘potential’ drawbacks about swimming pool provision in Newport but has made no mention of the many benefits that might arise if the innovative proposals go ahead.

As yet, no decisions have been made and no such decision will be made until there is a full and comprehensive public consultation exercise. As a group, the Newport Conservatives will ensure that there are plenty of opportunities to debate differing opinions before the final decision is made.

For too long Newport’s swimming pool provision has been left to languish. The Conservatives believe in swimming for all – but this means improving the existing facilities and making a new and significant leisure investment in the town.

Newport’s swimming future is now secure - but how and where swimming is provided is what is currently being considered.

Your Elected Newport Conservatives

A.Stanton, E.Carter, A. Meredith, D.Ashley, R.Scammel, T.Nelson

Skittles Evening

Our thanks to all who helped to organise or lead the recent Skitles Evening at Sheriffhales, and especially to those who supported it with gifts or other contributions. It seems that a "good time was had by all".

In total approaching £190 was raised, net of costs, which will be used with other monies in the near future to purchase a copier, to make our paper-born contacts with electors more efficient.

We give sincere thanks to all concerned.

Update - swimming pool

(With apologies for the delay, caused by illness.)

I have been speaking to one of the councillors, who like all the others is bound not to say anything about the proposals until they have gone to full Council.

I asked him for his own best guess as to how much longer the process will continue. He guessed that the cabinet committee considering the proposals could have finished its work by the end of the year and that their report will go before the full council early in the New Year, possibly even in January. This is his own guess, and it could be wrong in the end for all sorts of reasons. We know from the message in the recent "Insight"from Andrew Eade, council leader, that the controlling group is committed to a full presentation and consultation with the people on all the large projects, before the absolutely final decision is made.

SO, TENTATIVELY, WE MAY HOPE TO HAVE FULL KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THE BOROUGH COUNCIL IS PROPOSING BY SPRING 2008.

If you are convinced that you know already the main features of the proposals, or feel you can guess them, you have a democratic right to express your views. You also run the risk of having prematurely expressed them, when the details are fully known.

In the meantime, I am assured that the council committee has carefully considered needs of all sorts of groups. I am confident that my own concerns about access and control will be met, although I know no more of the details than any other member of the public.

Newport Swimming Pool

21st November 2007

There has been some discussion about the advisability of erecting a new public swimming pool at a local school. Some of us will have reservations - about the control, and the continued availability of daytime slots for the public, among others. We would want the latter to be maintained, even when the school may want to override the availability because of timetable difficulties or because other schools are asking for "slots".

Little can be said at this stage, except that the finance which should be available for this and other schemes is considerably more than Newport has enjoyed for some time, and the schemes will be impressive and worthy of the town.

Meanwhile various possibilities are being evaluated, with a full consideration of difficulties and disadvantages which attend each option. At the conclusion of this lengthy process proposals will made for public comment.

It is almost inevitable that some groups of pool users may not be able to enjoy their traditional time slots. There will be winners and losers, but every effort will be made by our four Borough Councillors to monitor what is going on. They will seek to avoid any features of the final decision which most of us would find detrimental.

This need not stop electors sending messages or making comments in the meantime. Please contact them, either by commenting on this message or by contacting them direct.

Congratulations to Tim Nelson

Local Conservatives are delighted at the election of Tim to the Town Council on 8th November. We have a high opinion of him and we are sure that he will make a positive contribution to discussions and decisions within the Council.

We offer Tim our congratulations and our best wishes.

We also thank the electors of the South Ward for putting their trust in him. We are sure that they will not be disappointed.