Councillor Graham Stokes Cabinet Member for Corporate Services

APRIL 2005

Should great minds think alike?

Group think is the death knell of creativity. What we need is…Inquisitiveness
A perspective on complex situations
An ability to influence (powerful, intelligent and engaging communicators)
To be at ease in a range of environments, comfortable with the unfamiliar
To engage with difference – different ideas, new ways of thinking, challenging experiences
To find turbulence and change refreshing
Common Purpose

KNOTTINGLEY OPERATION LEADS TO DROP IN CRIME
At the end of February a total of seventeen arrests were made following an operation to crackdown on crime in parts of Knottingley. The nine-day operation by the Five Towns Community Policing team in January and February was launched as a result of concerns from the local community that there had been a rise in car crime and anti social behaviour in the Racca Green, Broomhill and Springfield areas. Officers made a total of 17 arrests during the operation for a range of offences, with a further six arrests at other times. £12,000 worth of goods, £300 worth of heroin and three uninsured vehicles were also seized from houses in the areas. As a result a number have been charged, and officers are confident more will follow.

An 18-year-old Kellington man was charged with theft from a motor vehicle during this time and has since appeared at Pontefract Magistrates Court. He was convicted and handed a five year Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO), with the main condition banning him from entering the Knottingley and Ferrybridge areas.

Sergeant Dick Jones, from Pontefract Police Station, who led the operation said: "We are extremely pleased with the results of this operation. We have already noted a significant decrease in crime in the targeted area and we will continue to work towards tackling the problems. Anyone in the local community who wants to pass us information about crime and disorder in this area, can do so, safe in the knowledge that we will take action against those involved."

THE GROVE NURSING HOME
I was recently invited to The Grove Nursing Home to talk to residents about my role as a councillor and as the ‘Older Peoples Champion’ on Wakefield MDC. It was a visit I was very pleased to do and I welcomed the invite. I found when I arrived that I already knew some of the residents like Mary and Lillian who I have either previously worked with or met within the community. The Staff are also very friendly and the building has a homely community feel to it, so I felt comfortable being there talking to residents, both about what I do as a councillor, and sharing their experiences of life and their reminisces, I spent an enjoyable afternoon there. We were also able to discuss the problems they face in mobility, the lack of dropped kerbs and the difficulty of getting around in a wheelchair, which is a problem for many older people within the community, hopefully we will see some dropped kerbs installed as a result.

THE QUEENS VISIT TO WAKEFIELD
I have previously mentioned that the queen was to visit Wakefield to distribute Maundy Money on Maundy Thursday, but I was pleasantly surprised when my wife and I received an invitation to the ceremony and to have lunch with the Queen at Wakefield Town Hall following the service.

HEARTBEAT
Emmerdale Farm, A Touch of Frost, and Heartbeat often film part of their episodes in County Hall or Wakefield Town Hall. In March they filmed part of an episode of Heartbeat in my office (not with me in it) in County Hall using it as a Solicitors Office - I spotted David from the garage there. My office has a real 1960’s feel to it as it used to be the Mayor’s Parlour in the County Council days and has not been altered much since, so it was an ideal location to use. Another room they often use for filming is the Courtroom in the Town Hall, which no longer functions as a courtroom, it is used as a meeting room nowadays, but it still has the look of a Victorian courtroom.

A1 UPDATE
The new A1 section is now 17 weeks behind programme on the northern section but is 2 weeks ahead of programme on the southern section. The Brotherton to Hook Moor section was opened in February for south bound traffic and for Northbound traffic at Easter. The Brotherton to Ferrybridge section should be complete by September / October. Contractors are now working on the design and landscape details for the de-trunked sections of the old A1.

There were 9 entries for the competition to design an art feature for the new interchange. A booklet on the historical finds that were made during construction is to be produced.

The Environment Agency are currently carrying out a survey on the Wash Dyke which causes us many problems at Ferrybridge. The water from the A1/M62 is held in a balancing pond and released slowly which should help to control some of the flow, but there are still major problems to resolve with the Wash Dyke. The Wash Dyke is now classified as a river and as such responsibility for it was transferred from the council to the Environment Agency. It needs a new culvert under the road at Ferrybridge, which is something I have been complaining about for years especially as water creates considerable nuisance and flooding to properties in Ferrybridge.

SIMPSONS LANE SCHOOL
Not many of you will know but I am Deputy Chair of the Governing Body of Simpsons Lane School and I have recently received letters from all the children in year 6 inviting me to spend a day with them at the school. They wish to show me their interactive whiteboard which is a modern computerised equivalent of the blackboard. I am impressed with the quality of their letters, good neat writing and not bad at spelling either. I have agreed to attend on the 11th April and I am looking forward to going back to school; it is along time since I spent some time in a classroom.

MPUMALANGA, SOUTH AFRICA
I must admit that up until last year I had never heard of Mpumalanga, but in celebration of South Africa’s National Women’s Day on 9th August 2004, the South African High Commissioner to the UK and laACTsa (Local Authority Action for Southern Africa), developed a joint pilot programme to assist women Councillors representing rural areas of the poorest provinces of South Africa. Ten African female Councillors participated in the programme. Wakefield was one of only five UK Councils approached to participate in the programme and mentor two of them

Councillors Makgabo Regina Mhawule and Kate Mahlangu from Mpumalanga visited Wakefield for a week and had a very intensive and varied programme including:

• A welcome by Cllr Peter Box, Leader of the Council
• Discussion on Equalities and Gender Issues and Corporate Performance and Management Issues in Wakefield
• A visit to Wakefield’s Sunshine Library, the St George’s and Healthy Living Centre
• A briefing on how Local Authorities are funded in this country

A day of site visits to view two of the District’s regeneration initiatives at Havercroft and Hemsworth.

The Wakefield programme was held as an example of good practice to all other participating authorities. Regina and Kate were immensely grateful to Wakefield and wished to implement some of the learning back in their respective workplaces. They expressed a strong desire to maintain sustainable links with Wakefield to assist them in the development of their country. Since then Wakefield Council and Regina and Kate have been in contact to see how we can assist them with the many problems that exist in their country. They specifically requested books that children can read and we have now developed a scheme to collect books and 10p (to pay for shipping costs and container). We are to send out information to all schools and libraries asking them to participate in the scheme. I think it is an excellent example of how two countries can help each other and at very little cost.

I recently watched a television programme during red nose week where Billy Connolly spent some time in South Africa. The programme was really explicit in detailing the problems faced in everyday life and the hardships that people face just to exist, with poor or non-existent health care and education; it makes you realise we are really privileged to live in such a rich country.

GORDON BROWN’S BUDGET SPEECH
The Budget in March I believe was a good one and was very well received - I hope most people found something in it of benefit to them. The key areas were:-

Taxation
Stamp Duty – New starting threshold doubled to £120k.

Inheritance Tax – Starting points raised to £275k from April 2005, rising to £285k next year and then £300k in subsequent years. "94% of estates will pay no inheritance tax", the Chancellor claimed.

Petrol Duty – Inflation rise will be frozen until September 1st due to high oil prices (as per previous commitments to this effect).

Car Taxes – rates frozen on medium sized and small ‘less polluting’ vehicles. Owners of the ‘dirtiest’ cars - in the most cases those over 1550cc – would face a £5 rise in vehicle excise duty from 1 April 2005, taking the top rate to £165.

VAT – The flat rate scheme to be extended.

Sin Taxes – 1p on a pint of beer, 4p on a bottle of wine, 7p on a pack of cigarettes. Duty was frozen on cider, sparkling wine and spirits.

Personal Allowance – Personal income tax allowance to be raised in line with inflation.

ISAs – ISA maximum raised to £7k a year. Tax breaks extended until 2010.

Income Tax – Unchanged.

National Insurance – Unchanged.

Pensioners:
Council Tax Refund – Households with a person over the age of 65 will receive a £200 payment towards the cost of council tax. The payments will be made at the same time as the 2005 Winter Fuel Payment and is a one off payment.

Transport – Free local bus transport for anybody over the age of 60 or for disabled people.

Winter Fuel Payment – Increased from £200 to £300 for the over 80s.

Pension Credit – To rise by 13% by 2008, in line with earnings.

Employment:
Benefits – Providing extra support for people on incapacity benefits who want to return to work.

Young People – Young people aged 16-19 in full-time education or training to be given £75 per week in allowances and benefits. Also a new initiative targeting young people at risk of committing crime.

Parents:
Child Tax Credit – To rise by 13%, in three years, going up to £63 per week for first child and £111 for two children. Effective income threshold for family with two children receiving Child Tax Credit will start at £22k.

Maternity Leave – Maternity leave increased to 1 year.

Spending:

Public Sector Spending – Increases for 2007/08 in the following areas: police £3.5bn, Transport £2.4bn, Defence £2.6bn, Education £12bn, and health £23bn.

VAT Refund – The Government will refund local authorities all of the VAT that they incur in the provision of welfare services, such as Childcare and Children’s Centres. This ensures that VAT refund rules should not provide any constraint to local authority delivery of childcare services. The Government will legislate for this, subject to reviewing how the measures work in practice, but in the interim will use existing powers to operate this administratively.

Housing & Council Tax Benefit Administration – A new package of measures to simplify and improve Housing and Council Tax Benefit administration including improved IT links for faster and more accurate benefit processing.

New Build Primaries – A range of measures to invest in education, children and young people, overall spending per pupil will rise to £1k per annum:

Additional funding of £150m will be available in 2008/09, rising to £350m for the capital strategy for primary schools. A further £25m per annum will be available in 2006/07 and 2007/08 for schools in deprived areas to invest in home access to ICT for their neediest pupils.

Training – Apprenticeships and college training to be encouraged with time off for employees. £1.5bn for the renovation and renewal programme for further education.

Sports Foundation – A £27m national sports foundation will be set up with public and private sector involvement, with an eye to helping the 2012 London Olympic Bid.

Defence:
Cash Boost – Extra £400m.

Compensation – Wounded soldiers to be exempt for tax on compensation payments if they remain in the armed forces.

Volunteering:
Community Service – New national community service for young people to be created.

Overseas Aid:
Debt – New debt reduction deals to be signed with 19 of the world's poorest countries by July.

BEAT CRIME
Thursday, 24 February saw the launch of the new crime website, www.beatcrime.info developed by West Yorkshire Police Authority using crime data supplied by the Force. The site will allow anyone to enter their postcode or click on a map to see what crime is being committed in any of the 258 police beats in West Yorkshire.

On the maps visitors can see crime locations which appear as dots, giving people an immediate picture of the scale of the problem (which is often far less than they imagine) and how near it is to their property or neighbourhood. The idea is that, once informed about crime levels, users can follow the links on the site to learn how to prevent themselves and others from becoming a crime victim.

The Police are extremely excited about the site, which they see as making a major contribution towards public awareness about crime and stimulating genuine community involvement. In their view, it goes a long way towards satisfying the legitimate public demand for information about police performance and will significantly strengthen local accountability.

Graham Stokes
Cabinet Member for Corporate Services

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