Entries from August 2009 ↓

The Evening Star have come up with a really good idea about the problem with the heart services and the fact that Chris Mole won’t get Ipswich the funding that Ian Gibson got for Norwich.  They’ve asked everyone in Ipswich to donate £1 – with 350,000 people in the catchment area of the hospital then this will pay the salary for three surgeons 

There may be some worries about sustainability, but Ipswich – like everywhere else – has to accept that we will have to find some solutions that aren’t dependent on more and more spending.  Eleven years of spending like teenagers who’ve come into an inheritance has left the country broke.  The cupboard is bare.  Relying on government largesse as the sole source of funding is one of the least sustainable routes.

When talking about Ipswich Hospital’s future there are legitimate questions as to whether we are getting our fair share in funding, but as a town we’re going to have to supplement this with other solutions.

Here’s a picture of the route 66 bus, taken today.

Sadly there are no passengers as although many of them park at Bourne Bridge as they can’t park at the station.

What a waste, if they could only stop on a couple of these journeys life would be easy.  After all over the last couple of years by providing a good service First Eastern Counties created a market for their services on Wherstead Road. 

One of my abiding faults is that I type too fast, and my brain sometimes doesn’t have time to catch up.  Spell checks are, I find, a wonderful invention and my grammar usually looks after itself.  One thing that doesn’t stop is how I make up places so thanks to Will from Formerly Ipswich for pointing out my impromptu town planning with Maidenhall Road (Maidenhall Approach) and Station Road (Station Street).

The last had no excuse as it is literally down the (Rectory) road from me.

The Ipswich Conservatives run a fantastic summer Garden Party.  You don’t have to be an activist or member, they’re just glad to take your money (unlike Chris Mole they have to raise their own money).

It’s at Tudor House, in Stone Lodge Lane – a bit further up Belstead Road from Bridge – about five minutes by car or fifteen-twenty minutes walk (depending where you start from).

It’s on Sunday 16 August and starts from 2 pm.  The tickets are £12 each – no taxpayer subsidy.

For further details phone Kathy Kenna on 688516.

On Wednesday 5th I helped to arrange a meeting between Wherstead Road residents and Malcolm Robson, managing director of Ipswich Buses, and Tanya De Hoedt, the new portfolio holder for transport.

One unexpected product is that we had a better understanding of what constraints the bus operators have.  For example, under European Union law they are not allowed to talk to each other to regulate service unless there’s an “independent third party” constantly monitoring it.  This means that you can have four buses within twenty minutes while later in the day you don’t have a bus for two hours during prime commuter time.  And the European Union wonders why people think it meddles where it doesn’t belong.

We have asked Suffolk County Council, Ipswich buses and the other bus operators to look at the following issues:

1.  The two hour early evening gap.  This starts with the Ipswich station service 98 that leaves at 19.14 and ends with the 202 service that leaves Ipswich station at 21.14.  As it is peak commuter time (6 O’Clock to 8 O’Clock services from Liverpool Street) then it’s badly joined up transport policy.

2.  Generally a more regular service through better spacing of buses.

3.  We would be interested in how to approach the county to ask them to subsidise any service that can’t be co-ordinated.

4.  We would like to know whether some of the First Great Eastern buses that go to Bourne Bridge could stop at some of the more sparsely served times.

5.  Bus numbers not showing is particularly annoying to Wherstead Road residents with the variety and of routes.

6.  The diference in departure times between school and non-school buses causes confusion.

There are a couple of things that Wherstead Road residents need to do, and that will come in later posts.

I would be very interested if someone could help me find some television footage of Councillor Phil Smart on the local news on Tuesday 4th August.  He was interviewed outside Ipswich Station (it was nice of him to make it so far from his house) in which he talked about the train strike.

This self described transport guru was saying how easy he found to get to work, without making it clear that he was commuting into northern Essex rather than London, like so many of his constituents.  Why he was making light of this appalling treatment of the far left rail unions by this councillor elected in 1983 is a mystery that I find it hard to resolve.

Now why would a 1980s era Labour councillor make light of the plight of his constituents in a way that covers up the actions of Marxist led trade union? 

Yes it was back last night.  I wandered around to hear, it was quiet (although present) at the bottom of Rectory Road and I couldn’t hear it at all in Stoke Street.  However when I walked into Austin Street it was quite intrusive.  The same was the case at the top Wherstead Road (up to Purplett Street) and also down Tyler Street.  Vernon Street had it, but it was largely drowned out by the road traffic (it must get worse after abot 11) and it was clear and strong down Felaw Maltings, Great Whip Street and New Cut West.

The Noise Action Group would like to run a walkabout of the area the next time the cement ship comes, so please let me know if you would like to help.

The website of Chris Mole was paid (at double the going rate) for by you and me, as taxpayers.

http://mpsallowances.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/hocallowances/allowances-by-mp/chris-mole/Chris_Mole_0506_IEP.pdf

If you’re a Labour loyalist then this is a good deal, if you’re not then you’ve been robbed.

When one of the most prominent links on their website is to a scaremongering Labour website you can almost hear the refund cheque being written.  The office expenses are not for party political activity after all.

You then get some of the frankly bizarre poll questions that make you wonder if the author hasn’t been hired from the Chinese Communist Party Department of Very Fair One Sided Poll Questions.  Take this example:

“Do you agree that getting a university campus in Ipswich is a major triumph for the Labour Party in Ipswich”

How do you parody that question?  Remeber that you, not the Labour Party paid for that.

From beyond parody to the screaming subtext, how about this poll question:

“Do you think that local Tories and Liberals were vindictive to sack Labour councillor Phil Smart from the chair of Ipswich Buses for revealing cuts plans”

Now what would the publicly funded Chris Mole website, Ipswich Buses and Councillor Phil Smart all have in common?

My post on the Ipswich underground railway seems to be one of the biggest attractions for Google searchers.

In the hope that I can actually provide some genuine history to my readers, including those through Google, there were some rails through Bridge once, in the tram system, including Wherstead Road and Vernon Street.  (This is a Google cache, so please let me know if it stops being fresh).

I don’t know Ipswich Labour Party leader David Ellesmere, although he represents the next door Gipping ward.  He does have the reputation of being highly partisan, and so it’s good to see some sense coming through.

Councillor Ellesmere has attacked Ipswich council for an “unnecesary” meeting that cost £400.  And he’s got a point.  £400 to confirm a couple of appointments does seem a bit much.  And it’s good to see a Labour councillor, who supports a Labour government who believe in public waste as an economic policy to support some Tory type “cuts”. 

So in this bipartisanship, will we see him condemning Chris Mole for spending £5,227.95 on re-election propaganda?  Or how about funnelling £500 a month to the Labour Party?  Or would he be upset with spending £2,400 on a partisan Labour website?  Call me cynical but I think that Councillor Ellesmere’s only problem is that the taxpayer is not wasting enough money on the Ipswich Labour Party.

I’m all for politicans condemning public waste and as a good Catholic boy I know all about prodical sons so Labour politicians are particularly welcome on this crusade.  However let’s hold back on the praise until he holds his own side to account.