Sir Titus saved

I am delighted to announce that the Sir Titus Salt statue in Roberts Park has now been fully restored.  Since I reported the statue graffiti to the Council, the clean-up team certainly took their time to tidy up Sir Titus, but they did a good job.  Just look at the before and after photos…
I think Sir Titus looks a lot happier now that the graffiti’s been removed!

Thanks again to the resident who reported the graffiti to me.  Thanks also to the cleaners for preserving the statue so well.

The Police will work hard to find the culprits.  In the meantime, it is vital that we continue to condemn spray painting like this, and take pride in our area.  If you see any graffiti, please contact me or report it to Bradford Council on 432000.

Read the previous Sir Titus graffiti story here.

Are you bin served?

One of Shape Shipley’s volunteers was stopped by a resident last week who needed some help.  The retired resident said that they had repeatedly asked the Council to collect their paper bin for the last three months, without any luck.

One week later,  the resident’s overflowing bin, together with 31 other retired residents’ recycling, was wheeled away and emptied by the Council.  I’ve also arranged for the bins to be collected every other week from now on.

This is what Shape Shipley is all about.  I hope that you can see from this blog that I care about transport and trade waste improvements, but I care about street lights, bins and dog dirt too!  All these things and more help to shape a better Shipley.

Thanks to everyone who’s been in touch so far.  If you would like a hand with anything, feel free to get in touch.  Alternatively, you might be able to find the information you need in the contact section, and you can take part in the community survey too.  I’ll reveal the survey results soon, so fill yours in quick!

Puzzling postal votes

The Council phoned me today to say that there’s been a printing error on the postal votes.  Some of the ‘B’ envelopes have the address for Surrey Heath Borough Council instead of Bradford Council printed on them.

Whether your postal vote has this printing error or not, you should still use it.  I have been assured that the error won’t cause any problems provided that ‘Bradford Council’ can be seen in the window of the envelope.

If you have any queries about your postal vote, please contact Bradford Council on 01274 432286.  If you vote for Kevin Armstrong (me), thanks very much!  The other candidates on the Shipley ballot paper should be Laura Beadsworth, Philip Bird, Kevin Warnes, Derek Taylor and John Hall.

Khan he fix it?

Yes he can.  Well, that’s what I’m hoping anyway.  I took today off work to raise your concerns at the Saltaire Police Surgery – hosted by Sergeant Khalid Khan.

We spent an hour discussing a range of issues that you have contacted me about during the last month.  A school burglary, anti-social behaviour, unsafe train travel, Moorhead Lane drug dealing, dog dirt and vandalism were all on the agenda.  Me and my friend were impressed by Shipley’s Sergeant, and we’re optimistic that all the issues will be acted on.  There was a surprise though…

Even though he has regular meetings with Shipley’s three Green Party Councillors, Sergeant Khan hadn’t heard about the persistent dog fouling difficulties in our area.  The Greens are barking mad to neglect that issue.  I’m sure that residents think it stinks (literally)…

Wheelie great news!

I’m pleased to announce that the Council will be improving its trade waste service in Shipley – starting next week!

I revealed the results of my trade waste survey here two weeks ago – showing that only 33% of hospitality businesses in our area recycle.  The Council contacted me yesterday to say that, in response to the survey, free paper recycling will be offered to all business clients in Shipley in the next few days!

It just shows what Shape Shipley can deliver…and what the Green Councillors can’t.  This achievement took two weeks.  The Greens have been in office for 7 years.   To give some perspective again, while things have stood still under Councillor Warnes – a turtle could have walked around the world!

That’s over 24,000 miles at under 4 mph.

Surely it’s time for change.

‘Shipley by-pass may be built after all’

That’s a direct quote from a Heaton Conservatives leaflet that was kindly passed on to me today.  In full, they said:

“There are signs that the Shipley By-pass may be built after all, thus relieving unnecessary traffic through our (Heaton’s) ward”

It’s all very odd.  No such road proposal has been discussed by Council, and we were told in the T&A last month that the tunnel bypass idea couldn’t be implemented until 2014 at the earliest – so why is it being mentioned in a 2007 Tory leaflet?

It may just be an empty election statement.  You’d hope that our MP would at least have the courtesy to consult local residents about this.  We shouldn’t simply ignore the statement though.  One of Heaton’s Conservative Councillors just so happens to be the Chair of Metro and a committee companion of Executive Councillor Anne Hawkesworth – strongly rumoured to be a bypass backer.

I sincerely hope that a deal hasn’t been done behind our backs.

Sir Titus graffiti shame

A resident contacted me yesterday to say that the Sir Titus Salt statue in Roberts Park had been vandalised.  I reported it immediately, and then went to investigate it myself.

As you can see from the photos, it was a horrible sight.  In my opinion, it was also a real insult to the community’s heritage and pride.  Graffiti appeared on his front, back, shoe and stand.  Some bits were too offensive to show on the website.

Fortunately, the park manager was very cooperative.  He agreed to deploy a clean-up team within 24 hours, so Sir Titus will soon be back to his good self.

The park is applying for National Lottery funding (as Lister park did before becoming ‘Britain’s best park’), so with a bit of luck, the statue and the park will be well protected in future.  In the meantime, if you spot any graffiti, report it as soon as possible by using the guide in the contact section.

Shining success

Following a bit of persuasion from Shape Shipley, I’m pleased to announce that nearly all of the Grosvenor Road lamps are now shining bright.  I hope that this result is a relief to local residents.

I’ve got to say though – there are other parts of Shipley that have been waiting for similar Council investment for too long.

I’ve spoken to residents near Coach Road who have had to mow the communal lawns themselves.  I’ve been told about dog dirt difficulties and anti-social problems too.  These are things that the Council should urgently address.

I’m contacting the authorities about these issues, and will post updates on this site.
To read the story of the Grosvenor Road lamp problem, click here and here.

Shaping Shipley with the Secretary of State

I just got back from a brilliant event in Bradford.  Alan Johnson - the Secretary of State for Education and Skills - came here to meet Party members, Shape Shipley volunteers, and school employees.  I grabbed a few minutes with Alan to talk about education in Shipley.
Alan was eager to know how Shipley’s schools are doing, and was excited by the changes ahead.

I finished my schooling in Shipley 5 years ago, and I’m now a Governor at Saltaire Primary (read about my latest Governor’s meeting here).  I’ve seen first-hand how our Schools have totally transformed.

Labour gave our Council £6.5 million to improve Primary School buildings recently.  Radical building improvements are also on the horizon for our Secondary Schools, such as Salts.  Whether it’s me or someone-else, I really hope that Shipley’s next Councillor works well with Alan to achieve his ambition for Shipley’s schools.

How to shun the ‘Shunnel’

How long should it take for a Shipley Councillor to react to a proposal to carve up the town centre, Saltaire, Hirst Wood and Nab Wood?  Perhaps a few hours?

Well, Councillor Warnes took precisely 11 days.  To put that in perspective, a turtle has a top speed of 4 mph.  In the time that it took Councillor Warnes to react to the Shunnel story, a turtle could have walked over 1000 miles!

When he finally came out of his shell today (here), he did at least mention most of the points that I made back on 3rd April here.  However, he missed two vital things:

(1) That the Council should consult Shipley residents.
(2) That we need to come up with a better alternative solution.

Some of you have already contacted me with better ideas.  If you have an idea on how to solve the ward’s transport troubles, don’t hesitate to get in touch.