THE CUTZ: this week in Bristol and beyond ...
Michele Di Piedi | 15.01.2011 11:22
All the cuts; all the crap
15 January 2011
"The bullet and the ballot box"
[most links removed - subscribe for the full story]
P R O T E S T
#UKUNCUT STROUD
29 January 2011. Meet Stratford Park Car Park 10.00 am. Rally outside Subrooms in town centre at 11.30 am. Contact stroudagainstthecuts@yahoo.co.uk
#UKUNCUT BRISTOL
This Saturday 15 January demo outside Barclays meet Castle Park 1pm.
LATEST STUDENT PROTESTS
The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts have called two more days of action for late January 2011. On Wednesday 26 January student walkouts and protests will take place across the UK. On Saturday 29 January a national demo will be held in London. This will be the first of their protests to be held on a Saturday and they are encouraging workers to join them on the streets.
EMA
MPs will vote on the abolition of the education maintenance allowance (EMA) in parliament on Wednesday 19 January. Student organisations, such as the Education Activists Network, the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts and the National Union of Students are calling for protests across the country on Tuesday 18 January, the night before the vote. On Wednesday 19 January students are encouraged to march from Trafalgar Square.
EMA PROTEST
Students protested on the Centre in Bristol on Tuesday in support of the EMA, which is currently paid to about 4,000 teenagers a year in Bristol.
CO-MUNITY
Want to organise an action-based period of days in Bristol? Were you involved in 2009 Co-Mutiny? Maybe you've done similar gatherings elswhere? There's no email set up yet but if you're interested, the Smiling Chair, 40 Stokes Croft, has confirmed a meeting space. Sunday 23 January, 4pm-6pm is the suggested first meeting.
BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL CABINET BUDGET MEETING
Students, staff, trade unionists and anti-cuts activists will be targeting the yellow Tory budget meeting of Bristol City Council's cabinet. An anti-cuts activist says, "it's about time these yellow Tories running Bristol saw the whites of our eyes". The meeting is at the Council House, College Green on 27 January at 6.00pm. All welcome.
ADVICE
Join advice agencies for a demonstration outside the South-West offices of the Legal Services Commission: Queens Square, Bristol, 7 February 2011 from 12noon.
North Bristol Advice Centre are asking the people of Bristol to help them defend free legal advice services before it is too late. The government says that the rest of the voluntary sector will be able to pick up the pieces but it isn’t true. Thousands of voluntary sector agencies, like Citizens Advice Bureaux and law centres are funded from legal aid so will have to reduce services at a time when they are most needed.
Citizens Advice research has established that:
For every £1 of legal aid spent on housing advice, the state saves up-to £2.34
For every £1 of legal aid spent on debt advice, the state up-to saves £2.98
For every £1 of legal aid spent on benefits advice, the state up-to saves £8.80
For every £1 of legal aid spent on employment advice, the state up-to saves £7.13
How can people help to make a difference?
Write to your MP and or local councillor, sample letters are available from your local advice centre or on www.advicewest.org.uk
Comment on the government’s proposals by February 14th 2011: www.justice.gov.uk/consultations/legal-aid-reform-151110.htm – suggested responses are available on the Advicewest website.
Join the Facebook campaign: ‘Say No to Legal Aid Cuts in the South West’
MEET AND GREET LIAM
The Bristol Chamber of Commerce are having their annual dinner with guest speaker Tory Secretary of State for Defence and MP for North Somerset Liam Fox on 24 March 2011 from 7.15pm at the Bristol Marriott Hotel.
U N I O N S
BRISTOL BENEFIT STRIKE
PCS union members at Lodge House in Fishponds, Bristol have voted to take strike action on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 January. This is against a DWP proposal to remove benefit processing from Lodge House and convert it to a 'telephony centre'.
The PCS say this will lead to the further deterioration in the quality of the benefit service to the unemployed, sick and disabled in Bristol. It is also preparation for the privatisation of DWP telephone services and the closure of Lodge House altogether when a private contractor 'rationalises' or 'off-shores' the service to maximise profits.
There will be picket lines on both days and the PCS strikers would appreciate visits or messages of support.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE STRIKE?
Staff at Gloucester City Council will vote on strike action. Council staff at the city council are facing a possible five per cent pay cut, as well as a loss of other benefits as the council tries to reduce its spending.
B R I S T O L
EDUCATION
The budget for Bristol City Council's Children's and Young People's Services (CYPS) department, responsible for education, is to be cut by £3.7 million next year. However councillors say the authority “is not being realistic” about their ability to save money. Tory Councillor Alastair Watson says, "There's a lot of hope in this budget. Next year we'll be here with a £1.8m overspend. I think we know that already.”
HARBOUR FESTIVAL
Bristol City Council has announced the demise of its annual free Harbour Festival. From 2012 it will be replaced by a series of events spread throughout the year according to the council's planning boss David Bishop, who is cutting £150,000 a year from the his arts, festivals and events budget by firing staff and 'outsourcing' their work. Bishop admits his arts cuts are an "untested hypothesis" but says friendly 'outside organisations' are willing to help him - presumably for a fat fee - and therefore the city won't suffer.
ARTS
Bristol City Council's arts project support grants have been scrapped by Bishop too. This means no money is available to small arts projects or cultural 'start-ups'. Instead all the council's arts cash is going to the well-established money guzzling 'big-beasts' such as Watershed and the Old Vic.
MORE CUTS
Bristol City Council have now announced £22m of their cuts for the 2011 - 2012, even if no-one's sure what they are. They therefore have a further £6million worth still to announce - equivalent to 200 full time jobs. THE CUTZ learns the council are planning to announce these on 25 January at 6pm, presumably to the media. More details when we get them.
HIV
A project supporting HIV victims in Bristol will close because of a funding cut by Bristol City Council. The Brigstowe Project has been told its annual council grant of £124,000 will be stopped at the end of March.
SOCIAL HOUSING
A South West housing association, Sovereign, has spent £9 million on 71 serviced luxury flats for the use of business and leisure travellers at the new Broad Quay development on the Centre in Bristol. They claim they're doing it to raise money for social housing projects.
SOCIAL SERVICES PRIVATISATION
Social workers working with young people who are currently employed by Bristol City Council are setting up their own private practice with cash from the government. Yellow Tory Clare Campion-Smith, Bristol's Cabinet Member for Young People "anticipates" this privatisation will cut bureaucracy and allow social workers to spend more time working with children. No evidence is provided to back up her claim, however.
PUBWATCH
The Star and Dove in Totterdown has closed again after the latest tenants left after just 18 months. Owners Enterprise Inns promise new tenants will be taking over soon.
B A T H
FOSTER
Having successfully reneged on his election promise not to support a rise in student tuition fees, Bath's Yellow Tory MP, Don Foster, has been made a Privy Councillor.
EDUCATION
Bath's Culverhay School had the top contextual value added score in Bath and North East Somerset in last summer’s GCSE results. The secondary school is earmarked for closure later this year.
CHILDREN'S SERVICES
A council report revealing £3.75 million cuts to children's services in BANES this year suggests that these cuts could lead to more youngsters being placed in care.
S O U T H G L O U C E S T E R S H I R E
PENSIONS
Yellow Tory Pensions Minister, Steve Webb, the MP for Thornbury and Yate, has told people to save for their old age so they have a 'nest egg' to maintain their standard of living during retirement. With average income at around just £25,000 a year, VAT up, no pay rises in 3 years, inflation at 4 per cent and jobs everywhere under threat, Webb appears to have a limited grasp of reality.
N O R T H S O M E R S E T
ACADEMIES
A Weston-super-Mare school has been handed a £14 million sweetener to become North Somerset's first academy. Education Secretary Michael Gove has provided the cash to turn Wyvern Community School into the Hans Price Academy, which will open on May 1. Despite the taxpayer spending the money, the academy will be 'sponsored' by arms dealer, Rolls Royce.
NORTH SOMERSET MUSEUM
Residents in Weston-super-Mare may see their council tax bills rise to pay for the North Somerset Museum. Weston Town Council agreed back in October to take the museum over from cash-strapped North Somerset Council. However the town council need £140,000 to run the museum next year and currently have no funds to do so.
S O M E R S E T
EXMOOR NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY
The Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is cutting its grant to the Exmoor National Park Authority by 28.5 per cent over the next four years. Dr Nigel Stone, the authority's Chief Executive, says job losses are "inevitable".
INDEPENDENTS FOR FROME
Independents for Frome (IFF) will be standing in the town council elections in May. They want to see more involvement and openness around big decisions that are made in the town. The seven founders include former town and district councillors and they hope there will be enough interest to ensure that all 17 seats can be contested by independents on May 6 and get a new town council elected.
G L O U C E S T E R S H I R E
LIBRARIES
4,600 residents in Bishop's Cleeve have signed a petition to keep their library open. The village has a population of just 10,000.
STROUD CUTS
Stroud District Council is facing the largest cut in government grant in the country – a reduction of 28 per cent over two years. The council's cabinet announced this week that its spending will be cut from £6.546 million to £4.673 million in the next two years. A reduction in staff numbers by 10 per cent was also announced.
STROUD RENT RISE
Council tenants will be hit with a rent rise of over £16 a month. The rise, agreed by Stroud District Council last week at their annual budget setting meeting, is an increase of six per cent.
T H E D E A N
SAVE OUR FORESTS
The Save Our Forests petition is growing fast. 135,000 people have signed so far. But a lot of people still haven't heard about the government's plan to sell off our publicly-owned woodlands. The Forest of Dean, the New Forest, Grizedale, Thetford, and Alice Holt are national treasures. Once they’re gone they're lost forever. If there's enough signatures on the petition, there's a bigger chance of making sure they are protected for future generations. Please help them get past 150,000 signatures and ask your friends to sign as well:
R E G I O N A L / N A T I O N A L
TAX REMAINS AS SERVICE CUT
Despite a 20 per cent cut in the service over the next four years, the Avon and Somerset Police Authority are likely to freeze the council tax precept for 2011/12. The finances of the constabulary will be "ironed out in the next month" we're told.
LEGAL AID
500,000 people a year in the South West will be denied legal aid after government cuts. Equality South West (ESW) say a quarter of the people currently getting help from the legal aid system will no longer be able to do so. The government are seeking to reduce the number of civil law cases by around 500,000.
BIG SOCIETY BASHED BY BISHOP
The Bishop of Bath & Wells, Peter Price told his congregation at Wells Cathedral that they are right to be sceptical about Mr Cameron's 'Big Society'.
DEFENCE
Defence thinktank, the Royal United Services Institute says the £4.7 billion of defence cuts proposed by the ConDems over the next four years will not be enough. They say further savings of between £1 billion and £2 billion a year will be needed by 2015 because rising costs will outstrip the MoD’s planned savings.
B U S I N E S S
LEP
Wessex Water chairman and chief executive Colin Skellett has been appointed as chair of the newly-formed West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). This is the new unelected and unaccountable body replacing the old unelected and unaccountable South West Regional Development Agency, which was one of the first quangos to go in the ConDems much publicised 'bonfire of the quangos'.
Multi-millionaire Skellett, a Merchant Venturer, was on the board of the SWRDA for many years and has a 'colourful' history. He originally made his cash from Thatcher's water privatisation scam and from Azurix - a European subsidary of corporate fraudsters Enron - where he was an Executive Director working alongside Enron super-crooks Jeffery Skilling and Kenneth Lay.
In 2002 Skellett was arrested when £1m was discovered in his personal bank account, placed there by Malaysian Company YTL who had purchased Wessex Water from Azurix/Enron that year. We were later told that Skellett's £1m was in fact a consultancy fee paid in advance for five years.
ROK
Gloucestershire building firm Mears has bought the Bristol arm of bankrupt building firm ROK for £1.5 million. ROK went into administration in November with the loss of around 3,000 jobs and a big question mark was left over its contracts with Bristol City Council. ROK, which had offices in St Werburgh's and Pill, was halfway through major contracts with Bristol City Council and Merlin Housing Society in South Gloucestershire.
E C O N O M Y
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK?
"Ireland stands as a shining example of the art of the possible in long-term economic policymaking."
George Osborne, 2006
CONSTRUCTION
Bankrupticies for 2010 in the construction industry are up 15 per cent on 2008.
INSOLVENCIES
Corporate insolvencies in the South West were up in 2010 according to corporate accountants PwC. Insolvencies in the South West increased by almost six per cent to 258 during 2010 say the beancounters.
E V E N T S
BRISTOL AND DISTRICT ANTI-CUTS ALLIANCE (BADACA)
Badaca have a number of meetings coming up this month. If you work in any of these areas or you are in any way interested or involved, please make every effort to attend whoever you are. These are not exclusively trade union or left wing political meetings.
SOCIAL SERVICES GROUP MEETING
TUESDAY 18 JANUARY, 7.30pm
BRISTOL COUNTY SPORTS CLUB
COLSTON STREET, BRISTOL
(up the road from the Colston Hall, opposite the Griffin pub)
HEALTH GROUP MEETING
TUESDAY 18 JANUARY, 5.30pm
THE ROBIN HOOD
ST. MICHAEL'S HILL, BRISTOL
FILTON AREA GROUP MEETING
WEDNESDAY 19 JANUARY, 7.00pm
FILTON HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL
BLENHEIM RD, FILTON, BS34 7AX
Meeting sponsored by South Gloucestershire Division National Union of Teachers
BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL GROUP MEETING
MONDAY 24 JANUARY, 7.30pm
BRISTOL COUNTY SPORTS CLUB
COLSTON STREET, BRISTOL
PUBLIC TRANSPORT GROUP MEETING
WEDNESDAY 26 JANUARY, 7.00pm
BRISTOL COUNTY SPORTS CLUB
COLSTON STREET, BRISTOL
BLACK ACTIVISTS AGAINST THE CUTS MEETING
THURSDAY 27 JANUARY, 7.00pm
MALCOLM X CENTRE
ASHLEY ROAD, ST PAULS, BRISTOL
This meeting is called by the Black Development Agency to set up a Bristol branch of Black Activists Against the Cuts. Speakers include:
* Lee Jasper (London black activist)
* Nigel Costley (Secretary, South West TUC)
* spokesperson from Bristol & District Anti-Cuts Alliance
***NEW***
EASTON GROUP MEETINGS
THURSDAY 27 JANUARY, 8.00pm
THURSDAY 10 FEBRUARY, 2.00pm
EASTON COMMUNITY CENTRE
KILBURN ST., BRISTOL, BS5 6AW
These meetings called by Bristol IWW
EDUCATION WORKERS GROUP MEETING
MONDAY 31 JANUARY, 7.00pm
BRISTOL COUNTY SPORTS CLUB
COLSTON STREET, BRISTOL
***NEW***
EAST BRISTOL AREA GROUP MEETING
MONDAY 7 FEBRUARY 2010, 7.30pm
CROSSKEYS PUB, 627 FISHPONDS ROAD BS16 3BA
***NEW***
BRISTOL & DISTRICT ANTI-CUTS ALLIANCE
BRISTOL NORTH MEETING
FRIDAY 11 MARCH, 7.30pm
HORFIELD UNITED REFORMED CHURCH
MULLER ROAD, BRISTOL
(on the junction with Downend Road)
"Are the cuts necessary?"
A debate between Huw Williams (Bristol North Anti-Cuts Alliance) and Charlotte Leslie (Conservative MP, Bristol North West)
SWINDON ANTI-CUTS
This week saw the birth of Swindon-Anti-Cuts Campaign. They already have several events in the pipeline:
*Saturday 22 January and 29 Saturday at 11pm by the water feature where Canal walk meets Bridge street - leafleting to advertise demos and the campaign.
*Wednesday 26 January, 7.30pm, Alexander House, Fleming Way, Swindon - next organising meeting for the Swindon Anti-Cuts Campaign
*Early Feb, date TBC, Council Buildings, Euclid Street, Swindon - evening demo to protest the next full council meeting. The last one got 75 people out, which ain't bad for Swindon, but we want to make the next one bigger, noisier and angrier!
*Saturday March 5, midday, Wharf Green, Swindon - protest against the cuts.
*Tuesday March 8 (provisional date) - Pilgrim Centre, Swindon - public meeting against the cuts.
They will also be running transport from Swindon to the big March 26 TUC demo in London. To get involved in the campaign drop an email to swindonagainstcuts@yahoo.co.uk
CUT CAMERON FESTIVAL
The anti-cuts benefit punk all-dayer at the Winchester Arms, Taunton.
Saturday 29 January 2011.
Tickets £5 advance/£6 on the door
BRISTOL ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR 2011
7 May 2011, 10.30am to 6.30pm
Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3QY
'In The Tradition Of May Day…Resistance and Alternatives To Cuts'
Details on stalls and holding workshops here: www.bristolanarchistbookfair.org
BRISTOL & DISTRICT ANTI-CUTS ALLIANCE SOCIAL
Saturday 5 March, 8.00pm, Granary Barge, Mardyke Warf, Hotwells, Bristol. To raise money for the Anti-Cuts Alliance and to get people to go on the TUC demonstration in London on 26 March. Theme is Pirates. Tickets £5 from Anne Lemon, 4 Maycliffe Park, Ashley Hill, Bristol, BS6 5JH or annelemon198@btinternet.com .Cheques to Bristol NUT Campaign Fund please.
S T U F F
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15 January 2011
"The bullet and the ballot box"
[most links removed - subscribe for the full story]
P R O T E S T
#UKUNCUT STROUD
29 January 2011. Meet Stratford Park Car Park 10.00 am. Rally outside Subrooms in town centre at 11.30 am. Contact stroudagainstthecuts@yahoo.co.uk
#UKUNCUT BRISTOL
This Saturday 15 January demo outside Barclays meet Castle Park 1pm.
LATEST STUDENT PROTESTS
The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts have called two more days of action for late January 2011. On Wednesday 26 January student walkouts and protests will take place across the UK. On Saturday 29 January a national demo will be held in London. This will be the first of their protests to be held on a Saturday and they are encouraging workers to join them on the streets.
EMA
MPs will vote on the abolition of the education maintenance allowance (EMA) in parliament on Wednesday 19 January. Student organisations, such as the Education Activists Network, the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts and the National Union of Students are calling for protests across the country on Tuesday 18 January, the night before the vote. On Wednesday 19 January students are encouraged to march from Trafalgar Square.
EMA PROTEST
Students protested on the Centre in Bristol on Tuesday in support of the EMA, which is currently paid to about 4,000 teenagers a year in Bristol.
CO-MUNITY
Want to organise an action-based period of days in Bristol? Were you involved in 2009 Co-Mutiny? Maybe you've done similar gatherings elswhere? There's no email set up yet but if you're interested, the Smiling Chair, 40 Stokes Croft, has confirmed a meeting space. Sunday 23 January, 4pm-6pm is the suggested first meeting.
BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL CABINET BUDGET MEETING
Students, staff, trade unionists and anti-cuts activists will be targeting the yellow Tory budget meeting of Bristol City Council's cabinet. An anti-cuts activist says, "it's about time these yellow Tories running Bristol saw the whites of our eyes". The meeting is at the Council House, College Green on 27 January at 6.00pm. All welcome.
ADVICE
Join advice agencies for a demonstration outside the South-West offices of the Legal Services Commission: Queens Square, Bristol, 7 February 2011 from 12noon.
North Bristol Advice Centre are asking the people of Bristol to help them defend free legal advice services before it is too late. The government says that the rest of the voluntary sector will be able to pick up the pieces but it isn’t true. Thousands of voluntary sector agencies, like Citizens Advice Bureaux and law centres are funded from legal aid so will have to reduce services at a time when they are most needed.
Citizens Advice research has established that:
For every £1 of legal aid spent on housing advice, the state saves up-to £2.34
For every £1 of legal aid spent on debt advice, the state up-to saves £2.98
For every £1 of legal aid spent on benefits advice, the state up-to saves £8.80
For every £1 of legal aid spent on employment advice, the state up-to saves £7.13
How can people help to make a difference?
Write to your MP and or local councillor, sample letters are available from your local advice centre or on www.advicewest.org.uk
Comment on the government’s proposals by February 14th 2011: www.justice.gov.uk/consultations/legal-aid-reform-151110.htm – suggested responses are available on the Advicewest website.
Join the Facebook campaign: ‘Say No to Legal Aid Cuts in the South West’
MEET AND GREET LIAM
The Bristol Chamber of Commerce are having their annual dinner with guest speaker Tory Secretary of State for Defence and MP for North Somerset Liam Fox on 24 March 2011 from 7.15pm at the Bristol Marriott Hotel.
U N I O N S
BRISTOL BENEFIT STRIKE
PCS union members at Lodge House in Fishponds, Bristol have voted to take strike action on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 January. This is against a DWP proposal to remove benefit processing from Lodge House and convert it to a 'telephony centre'.
The PCS say this will lead to the further deterioration in the quality of the benefit service to the unemployed, sick and disabled in Bristol. It is also preparation for the privatisation of DWP telephone services and the closure of Lodge House altogether when a private contractor 'rationalises' or 'off-shores' the service to maximise profits.
There will be picket lines on both days and the PCS strikers would appreciate visits or messages of support.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE STRIKE?
Staff at Gloucester City Council will vote on strike action. Council staff at the city council are facing a possible five per cent pay cut, as well as a loss of other benefits as the council tries to reduce its spending.
B R I S T O L
EDUCATION
The budget for Bristol City Council's Children's and Young People's Services (CYPS) department, responsible for education, is to be cut by £3.7 million next year. However councillors say the authority “is not being realistic” about their ability to save money. Tory Councillor Alastair Watson says, "There's a lot of hope in this budget. Next year we'll be here with a £1.8m overspend. I think we know that already.”
HARBOUR FESTIVAL
Bristol City Council has announced the demise of its annual free Harbour Festival. From 2012 it will be replaced by a series of events spread throughout the year according to the council's planning boss David Bishop, who is cutting £150,000 a year from the his arts, festivals and events budget by firing staff and 'outsourcing' their work. Bishop admits his arts cuts are an "untested hypothesis" but says friendly 'outside organisations' are willing to help him - presumably for a fat fee - and therefore the city won't suffer.
ARTS
Bristol City Council's arts project support grants have been scrapped by Bishop too. This means no money is available to small arts projects or cultural 'start-ups'. Instead all the council's arts cash is going to the well-established money guzzling 'big-beasts' such as Watershed and the Old Vic.
MORE CUTS
Bristol City Council have now announced £22m of their cuts for the 2011 - 2012, even if no-one's sure what they are. They therefore have a further £6million worth still to announce - equivalent to 200 full time jobs. THE CUTZ learns the council are planning to announce these on 25 January at 6pm, presumably to the media. More details when we get them.
HIV
A project supporting HIV victims in Bristol will close because of a funding cut by Bristol City Council. The Brigstowe Project has been told its annual council grant of £124,000 will be stopped at the end of March.
SOCIAL HOUSING
A South West housing association, Sovereign, has spent £9 million on 71 serviced luxury flats for the use of business and leisure travellers at the new Broad Quay development on the Centre in Bristol. They claim they're doing it to raise money for social housing projects.
SOCIAL SERVICES PRIVATISATION
Social workers working with young people who are currently employed by Bristol City Council are setting up their own private practice with cash from the government. Yellow Tory Clare Campion-Smith, Bristol's Cabinet Member for Young People "anticipates" this privatisation will cut bureaucracy and allow social workers to spend more time working with children. No evidence is provided to back up her claim, however.
PUBWATCH
The Star and Dove in Totterdown has closed again after the latest tenants left after just 18 months. Owners Enterprise Inns promise new tenants will be taking over soon.
B A T H
FOSTER
Having successfully reneged on his election promise not to support a rise in student tuition fees, Bath's Yellow Tory MP, Don Foster, has been made a Privy Councillor.
EDUCATION
Bath's Culverhay School had the top contextual value added score in Bath and North East Somerset in last summer’s GCSE results. The secondary school is earmarked for closure later this year.
CHILDREN'S SERVICES
A council report revealing £3.75 million cuts to children's services in BANES this year suggests that these cuts could lead to more youngsters being placed in care.
S O U T H G L O U C E S T E R S H I R E
PENSIONS
Yellow Tory Pensions Minister, Steve Webb, the MP for Thornbury and Yate, has told people to save for their old age so they have a 'nest egg' to maintain their standard of living during retirement. With average income at around just £25,000 a year, VAT up, no pay rises in 3 years, inflation at 4 per cent and jobs everywhere under threat, Webb appears to have a limited grasp of reality.
N O R T H S O M E R S E T
ACADEMIES
A Weston-super-Mare school has been handed a £14 million sweetener to become North Somerset's first academy. Education Secretary Michael Gove has provided the cash to turn Wyvern Community School into the Hans Price Academy, which will open on May 1. Despite the taxpayer spending the money, the academy will be 'sponsored' by arms dealer, Rolls Royce.
NORTH SOMERSET MUSEUM
Residents in Weston-super-Mare may see their council tax bills rise to pay for the North Somerset Museum. Weston Town Council agreed back in October to take the museum over from cash-strapped North Somerset Council. However the town council need £140,000 to run the museum next year and currently have no funds to do so.
S O M E R S E T
EXMOOR NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY
The Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is cutting its grant to the Exmoor National Park Authority by 28.5 per cent over the next four years. Dr Nigel Stone, the authority's Chief Executive, says job losses are "inevitable".
INDEPENDENTS FOR FROME
Independents for Frome (IFF) will be standing in the town council elections in May. They want to see more involvement and openness around big decisions that are made in the town. The seven founders include former town and district councillors and they hope there will be enough interest to ensure that all 17 seats can be contested by independents on May 6 and get a new town council elected.
G L O U C E S T E R S H I R E
LIBRARIES
4,600 residents in Bishop's Cleeve have signed a petition to keep their library open. The village has a population of just 10,000.
STROUD CUTS
Stroud District Council is facing the largest cut in government grant in the country – a reduction of 28 per cent over two years. The council's cabinet announced this week that its spending will be cut from £6.546 million to £4.673 million in the next two years. A reduction in staff numbers by 10 per cent was also announced.
STROUD RENT RISE
Council tenants will be hit with a rent rise of over £16 a month. The rise, agreed by Stroud District Council last week at their annual budget setting meeting, is an increase of six per cent.
T H E D E A N
SAVE OUR FORESTS
The Save Our Forests petition is growing fast. 135,000 people have signed so far. But a lot of people still haven't heard about the government's plan to sell off our publicly-owned woodlands. The Forest of Dean, the New Forest, Grizedale, Thetford, and Alice Holt are national treasures. Once they’re gone they're lost forever. If there's enough signatures on the petition, there's a bigger chance of making sure they are protected for future generations. Please help them get past 150,000 signatures and ask your friends to sign as well:
R E G I O N A L / N A T I O N A L
TAX REMAINS AS SERVICE CUT
Despite a 20 per cent cut in the service over the next four years, the Avon and Somerset Police Authority are likely to freeze the council tax precept for 2011/12. The finances of the constabulary will be "ironed out in the next month" we're told.
LEGAL AID
500,000 people a year in the South West will be denied legal aid after government cuts. Equality South West (ESW) say a quarter of the people currently getting help from the legal aid system will no longer be able to do so. The government are seeking to reduce the number of civil law cases by around 500,000.
BIG SOCIETY BASHED BY BISHOP
The Bishop of Bath & Wells, Peter Price told his congregation at Wells Cathedral that they are right to be sceptical about Mr Cameron's 'Big Society'.
DEFENCE
Defence thinktank, the Royal United Services Institute says the £4.7 billion of defence cuts proposed by the ConDems over the next four years will not be enough. They say further savings of between £1 billion and £2 billion a year will be needed by 2015 because rising costs will outstrip the MoD’s planned savings.
B U S I N E S S
LEP
Wessex Water chairman and chief executive Colin Skellett has been appointed as chair of the newly-formed West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). This is the new unelected and unaccountable body replacing the old unelected and unaccountable South West Regional Development Agency, which was one of the first quangos to go in the ConDems much publicised 'bonfire of the quangos'.
Multi-millionaire Skellett, a Merchant Venturer, was on the board of the SWRDA for many years and has a 'colourful' history. He originally made his cash from Thatcher's water privatisation scam and from Azurix - a European subsidary of corporate fraudsters Enron - where he was an Executive Director working alongside Enron super-crooks Jeffery Skilling and Kenneth Lay.
In 2002 Skellett was arrested when £1m was discovered in his personal bank account, placed there by Malaysian Company YTL who had purchased Wessex Water from Azurix/Enron that year. We were later told that Skellett's £1m was in fact a consultancy fee paid in advance for five years.
ROK
Gloucestershire building firm Mears has bought the Bristol arm of bankrupt building firm ROK for £1.5 million. ROK went into administration in November with the loss of around 3,000 jobs and a big question mark was left over its contracts with Bristol City Council. ROK, which had offices in St Werburgh's and Pill, was halfway through major contracts with Bristol City Council and Merlin Housing Society in South Gloucestershire.
E C O N O M Y
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK?
"Ireland stands as a shining example of the art of the possible in long-term economic policymaking."
George Osborne, 2006
CONSTRUCTION
Bankrupticies for 2010 in the construction industry are up 15 per cent on 2008.
INSOLVENCIES
Corporate insolvencies in the South West were up in 2010 according to corporate accountants PwC. Insolvencies in the South West increased by almost six per cent to 258 during 2010 say the beancounters.
E V E N T S
BRISTOL AND DISTRICT ANTI-CUTS ALLIANCE (BADACA)
Badaca have a number of meetings coming up this month. If you work in any of these areas or you are in any way interested or involved, please make every effort to attend whoever you are. These are not exclusively trade union or left wing political meetings.
SOCIAL SERVICES GROUP MEETING
TUESDAY 18 JANUARY, 7.30pm
BRISTOL COUNTY SPORTS CLUB
COLSTON STREET, BRISTOL
(up the road from the Colston Hall, opposite the Griffin pub)
HEALTH GROUP MEETING
TUESDAY 18 JANUARY, 5.30pm
THE ROBIN HOOD
ST. MICHAEL'S HILL, BRISTOL
FILTON AREA GROUP MEETING
WEDNESDAY 19 JANUARY, 7.00pm
FILTON HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL
BLENHEIM RD, FILTON, BS34 7AX
Meeting sponsored by South Gloucestershire Division National Union of Teachers
BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL GROUP MEETING
MONDAY 24 JANUARY, 7.30pm
BRISTOL COUNTY SPORTS CLUB
COLSTON STREET, BRISTOL
PUBLIC TRANSPORT GROUP MEETING
WEDNESDAY 26 JANUARY, 7.00pm
BRISTOL COUNTY SPORTS CLUB
COLSTON STREET, BRISTOL
BLACK ACTIVISTS AGAINST THE CUTS MEETING
THURSDAY 27 JANUARY, 7.00pm
MALCOLM X CENTRE
ASHLEY ROAD, ST PAULS, BRISTOL
This meeting is called by the Black Development Agency to set up a Bristol branch of Black Activists Against the Cuts. Speakers include:
* Lee Jasper (London black activist)
* Nigel Costley (Secretary, South West TUC)
* spokesperson from Bristol & District Anti-Cuts Alliance
***NEW***
EASTON GROUP MEETINGS
THURSDAY 27 JANUARY, 8.00pm
THURSDAY 10 FEBRUARY, 2.00pm
EASTON COMMUNITY CENTRE
KILBURN ST., BRISTOL, BS5 6AW
These meetings called by Bristol IWW
EDUCATION WORKERS GROUP MEETING
MONDAY 31 JANUARY, 7.00pm
BRISTOL COUNTY SPORTS CLUB
COLSTON STREET, BRISTOL
***NEW***
EAST BRISTOL AREA GROUP MEETING
MONDAY 7 FEBRUARY 2010, 7.30pm
CROSSKEYS PUB, 627 FISHPONDS ROAD BS16 3BA
***NEW***
BRISTOL & DISTRICT ANTI-CUTS ALLIANCE
BRISTOL NORTH MEETING
FRIDAY 11 MARCH, 7.30pm
HORFIELD UNITED REFORMED CHURCH
MULLER ROAD, BRISTOL
(on the junction with Downend Road)
"Are the cuts necessary?"
A debate between Huw Williams (Bristol North Anti-Cuts Alliance) and Charlotte Leslie (Conservative MP, Bristol North West)
SWINDON ANTI-CUTS
This week saw the birth of Swindon-Anti-Cuts Campaign. They already have several events in the pipeline:
*Saturday 22 January and 29 Saturday at 11pm by the water feature where Canal walk meets Bridge street - leafleting to advertise demos and the campaign.
*Wednesday 26 January, 7.30pm, Alexander House, Fleming Way, Swindon - next organising meeting for the Swindon Anti-Cuts Campaign
*Early Feb, date TBC, Council Buildings, Euclid Street, Swindon - evening demo to protest the next full council meeting. The last one got 75 people out, which ain't bad for Swindon, but we want to make the next one bigger, noisier and angrier!
*Saturday March 5, midday, Wharf Green, Swindon - protest against the cuts.
*Tuesday March 8 (provisional date) - Pilgrim Centre, Swindon - public meeting against the cuts.
They will also be running transport from Swindon to the big March 26 TUC demo in London. To get involved in the campaign drop an email to swindonagainstcuts@yahoo.co.uk
CUT CAMERON FESTIVAL
The anti-cuts benefit punk all-dayer at the Winchester Arms, Taunton.
Saturday 29 January 2011.
Tickets £5 advance/£6 on the door
BRISTOL ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR 2011
7 May 2011, 10.30am to 6.30pm
Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3QY
'In The Tradition Of May Day…Resistance and Alternatives To Cuts'
Details on stalls and holding workshops here: www.bristolanarchistbookfair.org
BRISTOL & DISTRICT ANTI-CUTS ALLIANCE SOCIAL
Saturday 5 March, 8.00pm, Granary Barge, Mardyke Warf, Hotwells, Bristol. To raise money for the Anti-Cuts Alliance and to get people to go on the TUC demonstration in London on 26 March. Theme is Pirates. Tickets £5 from Anne Lemon, 4 Maycliffe Park, Ashley Hill, Bristol, BS6 5JH or annelemon198@btinternet.com .Cheques to Bristol NUT Campaign Fund please.
S T U F F
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Michele Di Piedi
Original article on IMC Bristol:
http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/702862
