Merry Christmas Everyone

As is always the case life is more mundane than TV. I have pottered around the Civic Hall today and am just about to head off. The lights are on and the building has a skeleton staffing but the Council shut down several days ago and a few people seem bewildered to see a Councillor in the building. I'm off to do a bit of last minute shopping ( Sainsbury's Local is open till 11pm believe it or not) and then perhaps a crib service. The closest I came to West Wing style heroism was reporting a broken street light and failing to get a funding update for a community Group I will bump into tonight.

So after months of preparation, and with people still panic buying I would just like to wish my readers a Very Merry and Peaceful Christmas.

Bleak Christmas

I have come to the conclusion that the demographic imbalances in Leeds 6 will never be taken seriously by the powers that be. Why need not detain us now but the walk to the Nine and Lessons and Carols service at St Michael's was as ever sobering. Street after Street in complete darkness with not a Christmas decoration in sight. I've never really bought the "Ghost Town" view of Leeds 6 during University vacations but its true for about 7 days a year as the mid Winter pull of family ties seems to strong even for the most transient of Communities.

Not that I'm really complaining. I enjoy the peace and quiet wearing my residents hat. Leeds deserved reputation as a party City will see many students flock back for New Years Eve and normal service will be resumed very shortly.

Nine lessons and carols was very English. Combined Choir and Congregation came to about 100 with lots of posh new winter coats amongst the seasonally inflated congregation. Betjamen poetry readout with out irony and much Winter sniffling throughout the Choristers Songs. We must all have infected each other. The inflated numbers meant there was a queue at the votive stall to light candles. Who knows what was on every body's mind as they offered perhaps an annual prayer?

The walk home seemed equally dark despite a crystal clear sky and a Full Moon. I noticed a fresh rash of "For Sale" Signs on many of the flat developments along Cardigan Road and wondered if it was a harbinger of things to come in 2008. As if on Que for a modern Christmas fable i passed a Homeless person sitting alone and in complete silence outside the 24 hour Coop. The trading laws meant it was briefly shut but the security lighting made the scene much harsher than the Moon Light would have done.

The Deal of the Decade

Or indeed for considerably longer but the cheap alliteration is to appealing. After a very Long fight Leeds City Council has agreed to transfer the former Headingley Primary School site ( on a 125 year lease) to a local residents cooperative. This is about as exciting an experiment in mutualism. The Headingley Development Trust ( HDT) will refurbish it as HEART ( Headingley Enterprise and Arts centre.) This blog could be accused of many things but it isn't partisan. However on this occasion its a distinctively liberal achievement and I'm particularly grateful to Greg Mulholland MP for all his support while others have abandoned hope. Of course HDT have actually done all the hard work we've just done what politicians do, spend other peoples money. However over coming very powerful opposition within the Development Department and a cultural aversion to community ownership from some people that should know betters has been a tough gig.

Its a qualified triumph. Headingley Community Centre will be shut and sold off and subsumed into a revised HEART. The existing Community Centre users have been offered a "triple lock". The same or better quality of rooms available. The trust will have to adhere to the Councils lettings pricing policy. The trust has to offer the Council a 25 year service level agreement. To stop it closing the new facilities the day the lease is signed.

Its a deal where everyone wins a bit. The Councils capital budget gets its pound of flesh from the sale of the centre and savings from non provision of the care taking function. The HDT gets a massive "Town Centre" site with enormous development and borrowing potential. The debate has focused on the school building but the play ground has potential. Affordable Housing? the public square that Headingley doesn't have?

I'm often melancholy about local politics but this is the culmination of nearly 4 years work and has delivered a massive shift of power and assets from the Council to the Community. A Central performance space, decent community cafe, affordable office accommodation and now community centre functions. All in a land mark building, the Civic Building that Headingley has never had. Local Councillors don't get memoirs so my particular role in the "laws and sausages" struggles behind the scene will have to wait. However if I have done a honest days work in my 8 years its chairing the Working Group on this issue this year. Nudging the trust and Council officers towards the perhaps inevitable compromise was rewarding but difficult.

Is this a done deal? No several things can still go wrong. 1. we can fail to find the refurbishment costs however I suspect that there is such political momentum behind the scheme now that this won't be allowed to happen. 2. The existing Community Centre users can reject the proposed deal over alternative facilities in HEART. Given sensitivity and robust safeguards i think they can be kept on board. 3. We can fail to slot in the final piece of the jigsaw, a replacement for the community coffee bar currently in the centre.

However I remain convinced that this is the single biggest event in Headingley politics for over 10 years. The hardest asset any community land trust ever achieves is its first one. I Shall be paying visits over the next few years and see what they achieve but my hopes are high.

West Wing Monday ?

I watch far to many West Wing repeats for my own or anyone Else's good. So on Monday, Christmas Eve, I shall spend a few hours recreating one of my favourite episodes. I'll be in , what I imagine will be a largely deserted Civic Hall, with a couple of intractable local problems on my desk. I will ring bewildered Council officers asking for some action and trying to get a bit of Christmas spirit out of them. As the Council bureaucracy seemed to have shut down by Wednesday anyway I don't fancy my chances. Intoxicated by the Christmas Spirit I wondered if it worth trying to launch a kind of Community Politics version of " Random Acts of Kindness ". If every Liberal Democrat activist in Britain got there respective arm of government to do one thing differently on Christmas Eve....

I've probably had to much mulled wine but I'll let you know how it goes.

Area Committee

Last night we had Inner North West Area Committee. (Is there any institution other than a Council that would call a community "Inner North West" ? ) Its the first time - for a few hours- that I have regretted standing down next year. Despite the bickering and powerlessness of Area Committees much good local government is done. As there was only one spending request on the agenda much of the meeting was spent in Cathartic moaning. Non existing reports from Street scene managers, Litter bins not installed 2 years after we paid for them, the councils continued failure to schedule a round table meeting about the Girls High School Site etc etc. We took some good decisions.

- blocked an officer attempt to sand bag us with a late funding request for a highly dubious employment scheme.

- over turned a recommendation on the boundaries of the proposed Hyde Park DPPO

- agreed a special meeting to do justice to the recent Area management review about further devolution.

However the structure of the meeting showed the cracks in the system. It last nearly three hours and we still had to defer an item for lack of time and not really do justice to several others. How on earth are we to take on extra responsibilities if we spend most of most meetings moaning about the ones we have got?

There was a reasonable public turnout because the Tinshill Recreation Ground Fence saga was on the agenda. However the lengthy public spat on the subject may have been cathartic but what did it achieve? As is always the case I had worked out a "game plan" about points I wanted to raise and things to get agreed. As the meeting was in grumpy mood and I'm a grumpy person I got 10/10 , an unusually high score. However that's part of the problem. The things in life that get scores are games.

Full Council

When you are in the middle of a speech in the Council Chamber and you look up to see all around you looking confused, save for the 3 strong Green Group, who were bouncing up and down in enthusiastic agreement, you begin to wonder if something has gone wrong. But I ploughed on on Wednesday when we had a meeting of Full Council. It had an unusual format leading to unusually high quality of debates. We had to meet for 5 minutes before the end of the year to formally ratify the new Licensing Statement for the City. ( which includes a strengthened Cumalitive Impact Policy for Headingley which I will blog on seperately. Inevitabley once a meeting of 99 busy people was in the diary people tacked on other business. We ended up debating 3 motions on 1. the Labour Groups desire to devolve £33m of of the Leeds/Bradford airport proceeds to individual wards 2. a Lib Dem attempt to reject national ID cards. 3. A Conservative desire to moan about Central Government housing building targets. Usually these sorts of debates take place after a tea break and hours into the meeting when we have gone through Council minutes. It was interesting to see that when we came to things fresh the debates were consistantly better quality and better tempered.



Its been a long time since I spoke three times in a single meeting but I felt inspired to put my two penneth in. Anyone that was there can comment on my performance in the comments section. On the Airport I raised the issue of Carbon. I'm actually not unsympathetic to the Labour Groups desire to see some Airport proceeds devolved to communities. But a Christmas gift to every ward in Leeds of £1 million each was in fact a wrecking amendment for the entire capital budget. If I'm honest enough to admit that some of things we have cited Airport cash for have already been announced then will labour be honest enought to admit that the proposed 12500 seat arena the city lacks could never be built with Airport money? Its also intriguing that the party of Keir Hardie wanted Wetherby to recieve just as much cash as Holbeck. Like many cities Leeds has some of the most deprived wards in Britain and huge chuncks that would fit happily into the Surrey stock broker belt. Why should one area recive exactly the same ammount of money as the other? My slightly left field suggestion was we should be more bothered about the Carbon Foot Print of the Airport money. We got the cash by flogging (our 40% of) a municipal air port. When they are privatised they tend to boom. More passangers, more short haul flights and more CO2. If we are building an Arena with some of the proceeds then we ought to ensure thats its an international calibre example of low carbon building.

On ID cards I was a little riskier. As, rather embarrisingly, Coun John Bale ( Con , Guisley and Rawdon) had made the liberal argument against ID cards better than i was going to I went onto the politics of Fear. Who actually benefits from this constant paranoia that we are all about to be blown up? I see to recall less angst in the 1980's when we gfaced a realistic prospect of nuclear anilahation. The reality of mass casuality terrorism like 9/11 or 7/7 is frightening but as frightening as some would have us believe? ID cards apart from being expensive, useless and illiberal feed into this creeping culture of fear.

Finally on Housing targets I ignored the actual motion and spoke about the need to building political support for more Houses. I'm sure the Conservatives didn't mean it but they might have sounded to an untrained ear like a NIMBY unpleasent rump not wanting more concrete near there leafy subsurbs. I agree with them as far as the onslaught of badly designed, shoe box type 1 and 2 bedroom flat developments go. Investment products for the buy to let industry. If we are to achieve political support for more homes then they have to be just that. Homes for families in communities that people ant to live in. I couldn't possibly comment on why I chose the Leeds Girls High School site as an example of how planning should work in a debate started by Cllr Andrew Carter.

I've never felt that talking is the important part of a Councillors role but there is a place for these big set piece ocassions. Others can judge what I contributed if anything but I did at least for once have a go.

Leeds says No to ID Cards

I don't usually put much stock in this kind of point scoring but I thought Wednesdays meeting of Full Council extraordinary in one respect. First the Good news. Leeds City Council voted by 53 votes to 0 to reject Labours plans for compulsory ID cards. With 44 members Leeds must have one of the biggest Labour Council Groups is Britain. Yet not one of them wanted to go on record as supporting there own Government over this issue. Now in many ways "good on them". I'd much rather have mass abstentions and thus send a sort of message rather than have them troop through the lobbies ( well actually you press a button) according to national policy.

Still I just think its extraordinary that 44 of the most committed and politically aware Labour members in Britain think the policy is indefensible. The Labour speeches against our motion were lacklustre and seemed to consist of nothing more than complaints that we shouldn't be discussing the issue in the first place. Yet the outrage didn't seem enough to get people to vote against the motion. How odd. Lets just hope that the silver lining of the recent "Slipped Discs" fiasco is this monument to waste and state control never sees the light of day.

Leeds City Council is to build 5000 Council Houses. The First in the city for 30 Years

Bloody Hell. This is simply amazing. Now as even the official press coverage admits the details need a little work but the Lib Dem/Conservative minority administration has announced firm plans, starting next financial year, to build the first new Council homes in the City for 30 years. A clear target of 5000 new properties has been set.

There is no greater failure by the political class over the last 30 years than the failure to see the Housing crisis coming and do anything about it. At least recently we have started to talk about it but, in Leeds at any rate, in terms of affordable Housing. In my cynical experience of the planning process this means slightly-less-unaffordable housing. I'm light years from being a command and control Socialist but we have a chronic shortage of social rented units in Leeds. Any Councillor of any Ward of any Party will tell of the sheer human misery of people stuck on waiting lists and the market in its current shape will never deliver for them. I hope in due course some of the 5000 eventual new Council houses will be "Right to Buy" ed. As long as we can build some more. I think ownership of the family home is a perfectly reasonable aspiration. However the current asset bubble has made ownership a fetish and one that is beyond a frightening number of people.

This is the most exciting political development in the City for years. Before anyone points out that press releases don't achieve anything I know. Making this work will be a huge political challenge. However this isn't a "wiggle room" announcement. Its clear, there's a firm target and a timescale.

Now we have to deliver.

Blogging Break

November was not prolific on this Blog. On a personal level Chez Morton has had better times. On a political level there were two events that were the Equivalent of being bottled off stage while being slow hand clapped. This raises two blogging dilemmas ( Is it pompous to think Blogging an Art Form and therefore has dilemmas?)

Firstly given that Blogs thrive on regular readership, should you just plough on regardless, even when times are tough? Secondly given that Blogs are about Topicality can you write retrospectives weeks after an events?

I suspect the answers is "Yes" and " No in that order. If an on line journal is to be human it has to reflect the dark times. Although a sitting politician has to be careful how frank to be. I also suspect that a decent Blog has to be a little bit about shared experience. Part of reading about someones life and experiences is about real time. Who wants to read about Christmas in February?

I shall break my own rule and am about to post a few "Filler" items about events in November and lets see what people think. But I have made a resolution to be disciplined for the final few months before this blog ends.

The Natural Food Store

One Piece of Uncomplicated Good news for the area is the Community Buy out of the Natural Food Store on North Lane, Headingley. ( Its number 23 opposite the Green Grocers ) The story is a familiar one. A Small and Independent shop was under threat of closure. The existing leaseholders wanted to retire and in that location it would have been a very lucrative takeaway or letting agency. However an off shoot of the Headingley Development Trust decided to attempt a Community buy out - and it worked. I'm told the financing was a bit touch and go but through a share issue and a bank Loan they have purchased the remainder of the Lease. The current stock is eclectic and will perhaps be reviewed by the new cooperative but I find it useful as it sells locally produced bread ( Bondgate in Otley and the Beth Din Jewish one on Stonegate road) and Milk. The obvious link up would be with the Monthly farmers market. A Chiller Cabinet full of produce from that wold be a commercial winner me thinks. I always like it when little guys win one and the odds were really stacked in favour of another " Night Time Economy " development. If you have a £100 to spare and are feeling philanthropic you can become a shareholder ( www.headingleydevelopmenttrust.org.uk ) and have a vote in decision making. However most readers of this blog can help best by putting pounds, shillings and pence across the counter. Its not the cheapest shop in Headingley but my visits are around a few niche products that I was going to buy anyway ( milk) or are luxuries ( The Bondgate Bread makes you wonder what super markets put in theres. Take a look if you have never been.

Paul Moxon

I was very sad to hear today that one of my Labour predecessors as a Headingley Councillor, Paul Moxon, has died. Paul was a Local GP for over 20 Years, a local resident for a good while and a decent Councillor. I didn't know him well but three things always struck me as a measure of the man. Firstly when he lost his seat and clearly wasn't trying to get it back he kept on loads of unpaid and unglamourous roles in the community. Secondly he attracted the ultimate accolade in Local Politics, the personal vote. This doesn't happen without hard work. I met many supporters of other parties who would say "But I'll be voting for Paul". Thirdly his name Lingered on after he left. Its hard enough to get people's attention when you are there in politics. If they mention you affectionately after you've gone then you got something right. Politics is a rough old trade but its worth reflecting for a moment when someone like Paul goes that most of us just try to do our best.

Why I have voted for Chris Huhne

Why have I voted for Chris Huhne to be Leader of the Liberal Democrats? And why, es hewing national politics on this blog because my Journalism isn't up to it , am I telling you now?
I suppose the most direct answer is because there are hints it might be a closer election than many thought and perhaps one or two last minute waverers might look at this and think about my argument. More importantly though is the reason for my decision. I haven't decided who I think the best Leader will be but what I want the Leader to be.

To the extent that any of us can look into the Crystal Ball this is going to be a very Difficult Century. Perhaps humanity's hardest to date. I'm not a scientist but my horrible gut feeling is the earths cooling feedback mechanisms are closer to the tipping point than we hope. If gaia wants her revenge and feed back mechanisms start heating the Earth rather than cooling then we are in for a bumpy ride. We will soon hit the Hubbard peak if we haven't already. In the long run we are all dead but it looks likely that in about 2050 China will pass America as a Hegemonic power. When advancing and declining empires pass each other there is usually global trouble. In this context the advent of mass casualty terrorism from groups with no real negotiable demands seems like a second order consideration. Finally the building of nuclear bombs will succumb to the same technological processes as the DVD or the iPOd. In human History technology always gets cheaper and knowledge is always democratised. We are going to have to build a worlds where people don't want to use such weapons as opposed to pretending we can put the lid back on Pandora's box.

Many readers may ask what the third party of a small north European island has to do with this sweep of history. In any case as we don't all live on the moon and commute to work by jet pack we should remember that futurology has a poor record.

That's where I come to the " Bully Pulpit". Britain's Third party may have no national power but it gives its leader a soap box, a mega phone and local and regional clout to show how we would do things differently. My judgement is that on balance I'd rather hand the bully pulpit to Chris Huhne as we start this turbulent Century. In the best traditions of Focus I will give three reasons.

Firstly because I'd rather shout about " Green Switch" than " Life should mean Life". This reference will be obscure to anyone who isn't a Lib Dem activist. In positive terms the Work that Chris has done on carbon trading, Green Switch tax proposals and the Huhne Commission on Public service reform is exemplary. I want to put an intellect in the bully pulpit.

Secondly because scrapping trident is brave and right. I'm well aware its also designed to appeal to people exactly like me in an internal election. But the colossal expenditure of Trident epitomises the out dated militarism than we need to challenge if we want real security. I know what the right wing press will do to us in southern marginals. Ships are safe in harbour but its not what they are built for.

Thirdly I want some one who with in the next 10 years be a Cabinet Minister or Prime Minister. The old cosy two party consensus isn't going to morph into a cosy three party one. We are entering a pluralistic phase where coalition building will be the norm and I trust Chris just that little bit more with the Bully pulpit to maintain our distinctiveness that breeds successful coalitions.

So without a word of criticism of Nick Clegg that's why I have voted for Chris Huhne. For the handful of undecided voters posting last minute ballot papers please mull it over.

Leeds No to ID Cards ?

In another very welcome example of a new broom sweeping clean , next Wednesday Leeds City Council will debate a motion opposing the illiberal and impractical National ID card scheme. I'm delighted to say that the motion will be proposed by the new Liberal Democrat Group Leader on the Council , Cllr Richard Brett ( Burmantofts and Richmond Hill ). In a bizarre final act of the Ancien Regime our out going Group Leader Cllr Mark Harris launched a public attack on Nick Clegg MP for saying he would rather go to jail than have an ID card. The Job of politicians is to work within the laws as set apparently even if they fundamentally oppose them. Thankfully the sufferagettes and the Chartists took a different view.

Is debating national policy in Council Meetings " Gesture Politics" ? Yes but only in the same way that an AIDS ribbon or signing a petition is gesture politics. Progressive change is often generational and about winning arguments in advance of legislation or in this case blocking legislation. While I'm not pretending that the Labour Government will be shaking in its boots about a Leeds City Council resolution, hopefully Britains third biggest Council making a statemnt will be another small piece of moral authority. If we win the vote.

And why am I so against ID cards? Well after Wednesday I will tell you what I said in my speech.

Gun Boat Diplomacy

I was recently reminded of Lord Palmerston's maxim about Britain having no permanent allies, only permanent interests. It was a complete accident ( promise) that I ended up in front of the City Development Scrutiny Board of Leeds City Council recently along side Cllr Jane Dowson ( Lab, Chapel Allerton). As a Labour Councillor Jane is the enemy. However I couldn't help but reflect that we were both urbane, liberal, progressive politicians with remarkably similar and neighbouring wards in North Leeds. It also helped that we were both at Scrutiny to Moan about the same thing. How the Council Consults when it is disposing of redundant School buildings ( or indeed doesn't consult more often)

What prompted my attendance was the Former Royal Park Primary School Building in Hyde Park. Coun Dowson wanted to talk about Miles Hill Primary in Meanwood. We finally have a deal on Royal Park which has gone public on a private sector scheme with substantial community benefits included. I will blog about this seperately but at Scrutiny I was asking two broad categories of questions. Firstly did the ( very deprived) area around the School get the best deal possible from the Councils sale of the building? Specifically given the policy decision in 2003 to seek continued community use of the site? Secondly has the decision making process ( now four years long) and the way things have been handled diluted the community benefits on offer?

For non Council hacks a Scrutiny Board is a panel of Councillors who hold "watch Dog" functions and investigate Council policies and procedures. The most Obvious parallel would be a Parliamentary Select Committee like you see on TV.

For the record I though I had a very fair hearing from the Board and they have very graciously included an Inquiry into an already crowded work programme. My only quibble was that our presentation time was limited but Council Officers could speak at length. I would certainly have liked to rebut somethings I heard.My Lord Palmerston quote from the slightly arctic vibes I picked up from at least one of the Tory members of the Board. As a coalition ally should I really be turning up asking for scrutiny of my own administration? But then what is Scrutiny for? I certainly shouldn't be turning up in the company of Labour Councillors. But do I really have anything more in common Philosophically with a Tory than with Jane Dowson? My permanent interest is the area I represent and getting the best deal for it. My Allies, Jane Dowson or the Tories are temporary and the only way of judging them is if it serves my areas interests. Or At least that's the way it should be. But Tribalism in politics is another matter entirely.

Christmas Lights Switch On

Yesterday afternoon we switched on the Headingley Christmas* Lights. Such is the humdrum of life as a Local Councillor that I was pleased to have gotten rid of the tacky old snowmen we were palmed off with last year. I know that's really quite sad but some times its the petty victories that sustain you in the dark times. Even in the Season of Good Will.

As its my last year I tied to put on a decent show. As ever Student Volunteers from Leeds Metropolitan University did us proud and put on a great party for local older folk in the Parish Hall. I'm grateful to the Lord Mayor for attending and working the tables and people loved him. I'm also grateful to Headingley Churches Together for singing some Carols by the War Memorial just before the switch on. The public reaction looked really good to me and next year we should make it into a proper carol concert and advertise it properly.

The main problems with the switch on event are (a) we can't afford a push button event. So they pop on on a timer (b) there's no where really big enough for people to stand and get a decent view as they are along Otley Rd. That's why we have always emphasised the community party bit of things.

In February 2008 I will be putting a bid to Area Committee to begin the process of replacing the current set of lights and secure there long term future. We are 6 years into there 10 year life span but the fun part is the design. Because Leeds is the only Council in Britain to make its own Lights we can allow the community to design new ones. Two of the existing set are unique and designed by residents of the former St Michael's Lane Hostel. I'm keen that if the new 5 lights are approved to work again with some marginalised groups on the art work.

I did feel a bit sad at it being my last year but that's what progressive politics is about. You build an institution and then hand it on for others to do with as they wish.

* look what I have done! Leeds City Council doesn't do Christmas Lights, they are "Festive" Lights. Call the thought Police!