DANCING IN CARDIFF BAY?

There is an old saying, he who pays the pier calls the tune? That said, it is worth remembering that it was the Labour in Wales government in Cardiff, not the Con Dems in Westminster, that chose to reduce investment its capital investment in railways from £37 million (2013) to £12 million (2014-15) – incidentally this £16 million pound saving would not even pay 10% of the provisional costs of the Heads of the Valleys road scheme let alone make a dent in the interest payments on any loans used to pay for the proposed M4 Relief Road.

Now it would be easy to suggest that Labour in Wales’s decision is literally be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul as the budget won’t stretch to paying for everything. Limited budgets aside for the moment, this was still a bad decision, one that does little to build (or rebuild) our fragmented public transport system. The underlying problem is that rail investment is not yet devolved and the real decisions about significant infrastructure investment in Wales are still being made in Westminster and Whitehall.

So obviously when looking at transport infrastructure spending and development with a London centric perspective (which no doubt continues to hold sway in some of the darker reaches of the civil service here in Wales) tends to ensure that smaller projects that could have a significant impact here in Wales tend to drop down the long list of priorities. This lack of budgetary authority is something that directly interferes with our ability to choose the most cost effective transport option.

Full budgetary authority for transport in Wales needs to be devolved to the Welsh Government because the combination of spilt budgetary authority (between Cardiff and London) and the ineffective arms length relationship between the Welsh Government and Network Rail is not addressing our countries transport needs. Now the lack of budgetary authority is only part of the problem. It is worth remembering that the Transport (Wales) Act (which was effective from February 2006) gave the National Assembly the power to plan and co-ordinate an integrated transport system.

Now this may not sit well with what appears to be an old style Welsh Office inspired civil service that may still be thinking in London centric terms having failed to grasp the concept of devolution. That aside, the real problem is the almost total lack of any vision on the part of the Labour in Wales government, which like various other Labour groups across our country is more concerned with being there than doing anything.

Even the most passive observer of the hitherto inert Labour in Wales Government in Cardiff should not be surprised to see that road has been chosen over rail in relation to transport priorities. This largely passive but not mostly harmless government has shelved several rail schemes that could make a real difference to people’s lives and deliver value for money in favour of questionable expensive road schemes that won’t deliver much to our communities let alone value for money.

Back in January (2013) the Welsh Government released figures that show that it intended to spend around £805 million pounds on finishing off the Heads of the Valleys Road (something that has been on the drawing board by my reckoning since 1958) by 2020. Now they are salivating at the prospect of additional financial powers even if part of the price may be a commitment to construct an excessively expensive M4 Relief road with dubious economic benefits and a significant price tag – I wonder whatever happened to value for money?

BATTERED AND BLUE?

No one at work should run the risk of being assaulted - yet judging by the amount of working days lost due to assault related injury our Police officers run that risk pretty regularly. Research by BBC Wales has revealed that 1,735 working days were lost over three years at three of the four Welsh Police forces as a result of assaults on officers, suggest that our police officers are well and truly in the firing line. 

The BBC figures show that as result of assaults on Police some  494 days were lost in Dyfed-Powys over three years, 568 days in Gwent and 673 days in the South Wales force. Along with the temporary loss of officers who were unavailable for duty there was a knock-on financial cost, which the BBC has estimated to be around £189,800.

This is not good news, as our Welsh Police forces are also under continuing pressure to reduce costs, as part of Con Dem Westminster government's public spending review (which began in 2010) which include an intention to reduce or cut central police funding by 20% by 2015. What this means more locally is that collectively the Welsh Police forces will have to make total savings of £ 96 million – which will mean a loss of jobs (amongst both Police officers and support staff) and a reduction in the service offered to the public.  

At least as far as the law is concerned attacking or assaulting a police officer is still seen as an aggravated offence in the eyes of the law, and could carry a custodial sentence of up to six months. Speaking as an ex journalist, who in a previous life spent more than enough time covering Pontypool and Cwmbran magistrates court in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, that was not the case then, and I suspect that it is mostly certainly not the case now.

Now I am not and have never been one of the hang them and flog them brigade (I leave that sort of posturing to lightweight Tories), I and no doubt many people consider it unacceptable when public servants (whether Police Officers, Ambulance service staff and Doctors and Nurses in casualty) are attacked or assaulted while doing their job. What’s needed is a balance be achieved between deterrence and the consequences of an assault and restorative justice?

That said the news that some 10,160 incidents of serious violence were informally dealt with last year (that is almost 12 times the figure from five years ago) has raised more than a few eyebrows. This is apparently contrary to existing Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) guidelines, which recommend that such resolutions should only be used for low-level crime.

The Police it reveals regularly use "community resolutions", which may include an apology or compensation to the victim, instead of prosecutions and cautions, despite ACPO guidelines. Now there are times when for lower level offences the use of "community resolutions" is entirely justified and entirely good sense. What this may suggest is that the criminal justice system is creaking and that any crime statistics produced should be looked at with more than a serious degree of caution if not a serious dose of incredulity.

Now I have had my suspicions about crime statistics (whether UK wide or more local) for a while, I am aware that there is a level of anecdotal dissatisfaction particularly with the police response to what they may perceive as lower level anti social behaviour related crime. The perception rightly or wrongly is that while this type of crime may be less important to our hard pressed police officers it remains important to the residents of various parts of Gwent (and no doubt elsewhere). More than a few times it has been related to me personally that when called they (the Police) just don’t come.

I think that taken as whole our creaking criminal justice system may be reaching the point where it is failing to function, it is nether providing restorative justice or dealing with cranial behaviour, let along providing an adequate degree of protection to public servants going about their work. I think that the sooner criminal justice and policing are devolved to Wales the better, that way we can at least try to ensure that our communities are properly protected and the interests of justice are served.

NEWPORT CUTS DEMONSTRATION

A demonstration is planned for Saturday April 20th at 11am outside the Museum in John Frost Square to protest against this decision to shut Newport Art Gallery's TEP and against the destruction of heritage and culture by Newport City Council. While Newport Council voted to close Temporary Exhibitions on February 26th, the ultimate aim is to close and then "relocate" the entire Museum, Library and Art Gallery to make a saving of £700,000 but putting 60 jobs at risk.

THE PRICE OF LABOUR IN NEWPORT'S CUTS...

Stow Hill Library - the closure notice (Photo credit: JD Briggs)

The harsh reality of Labour in Newport's savings cuts programme (driven through by Debbie Wilcox, the Labour Cabinet member for Leisure and Culture) the much loved but now closed Stow Hill Library. While desperate to save money it is worth noting that Labour in Newport, once in control increased member’s allowances. One wonders what’s next?

Stow Hill Library - boxed up books (Photo credit: JD Briggs)

THE FUTURE OF THE ARTS IN NEWPORT?

There will be a public meeting to look at the future of the arts in Newport taking in the main theatre in the Riverfront in Newport on Wednesday 27th March at 6pm -8pm:

‘The Open Arts Meeting is a forum where people can discuss recent changes to the arts within Newport and consider the development of the Cultural Strategy within the city.

At a recent meeting The Arts Council stressed that there is a strong commitment to support the arts and development of the arts in Newport.

This meeting would be an opportunity for the arts community in Newport to discuss a way forward for the arts within the city and will hopefully strategise some clear actions that can inform the Council, as well as The Arts Council, of the future focus of the arts within Newport from the arts community itself.’

http://www.newport.gov.uk/theRiverfront/index.cfm/whatson/225880/?utm_source=supporter_message&utm_medium=email

WE DON’T DO CULTURE?

The ongoing budget cuts being made by the Labour in Newport run City Council run the risk of doing some pretty long term damage across the city, with potential loss of jobs at the council, the loss of the in schools music programme, the reduction in sports facilities and the loss of the popular superdragons programme to name but a few. This is only the beginning as a result of Labour in Newport City Councils latest budget cuts - the Newport Art Gallery Temporary Exhibitions Programme has been scrapped. The latest budget cuts as approved by Labour Cabinet members will see the gallery lose the programme in its entirety as a public service with an approximate cost saving of around £40,000 per year.

The Temporary Exhibitions Programme offered the Council long term strategic potential, high profile and high quality public programmes. It should be a showcase for cultural programming that benefits the city and brought in significant additional Arts Council of Wales funding and investment. Had the programme survived then it would have greatly enhanced the development of a new Newport County Council cultural strategy. The decision to cut the programme appears to have been based on a simple cost saving rather than strategic thought.

This was the only artistic programme in the art gallery (which still has fixed displays of objects and art from the museum collection). Back in August the newly refurbished spaces launched an exhibition of paintings by Geraint Evans, as late as October the Llew Smith radical Christmas card exhibition (no doubt this was Labour in Newport approved culture) was opened. These exhibitions brought in new and repeat visitors to the art gallery, and museum and generated positive publicity and public interest. The plan (such as it is) is for the Temporary Exhibitions Programme to be replaced with a single static exhibition drawn from the permanent collections (and no further programming thereafter).

The Temporary Exhibitions Programme was a city centre attraction (they even ran an exhibition on the Newport County’s 100th anniversary) which brought much needed visitors to the centre of Newport. It enjoyed sustained success and maintained visitor levels in recent years – and it also tapped into funding from Arts Council of Wales. Ironically 2013, was planned (pre-cut) to be a very high profile year with 14 planned exhibitions (double the previous number despite a smaller budget).

Now our Art Gallery, if rumours are to be believed, may close entirely within a year – Labour in Newport’s self justifying logic may run along the lines of there is no point in maintaining a Temporary Exhibition Programme if there won’t be a galley! Yet artistic programming, in theatres, arts centres, galleries and museums can play an important part in developing a healthy and sustainable culture.

More recent budget cuts along with the proposed new budget cut have been developed without any consultation, being entirely a local management decision. As a result of two recent Museums and Heritage restructures the city’s museums and heritage service has been left with a vastly reduced portfolio - Tredegar House is now run by the National Trust (this was a sensible decision as to avoid a well loved asset being run into the ground) and our transporter bridge has become a seasonal project. Staff reductions at both the Museum and Art Gallery and The Medieval Ship Project have taken place with the loss of a number of non-managerial jobs.

The Labour in Newport City Council never put this and countless other proposals for budget cuts out for consultation as it is writ the Labour in Newport ruling group rubber stamp will follow on the 26th February 2013. The Labour in Newport ruling group has almost entirely without any public knowledge (save for the valiant efforts of the South Wales Argus and campaigners) or consultation rolled through a series of severe budget cuts.

Little more than lip service to any real form of public consultation has been paid; as while asking on-line for comments on the budget no details of the actually budget can actually be obtained. It’s pretty clear that Labour in Newport don’t do culture or consultation...but they definitely do cuts. Quite how the cuts will be spun to the public by a certain ambitious Labour City Cabinet member seeking to replace Paul Flynn as MP (for Newport West) next time remains to be seen.

TOUCHING A RAW NERVE

The fractious dispute over free parking continues in Newport between representatives of the Labour Party in Newport who want to abolish free parking and campaigners who want to retain it (because it brings people into the city) is ongoing. At present there is a parking scheme which allows up to two hours free parking. Newport City Council faces a funding shortfall next year of around £ 8 million pounds, so cutting the free parking scheme which comes in at around £ 1 million pounds looks like an easy win (to those looking to make savings / cuts).

In reality the timing in the run up to Christmas and the post Christmas sales, with half the high street and the back of the market dug up or closed off has not gone down well at all with traders or shoppers in Newport.  The South Wales Argus has clearly touched a raw nerve within the Labour Party in Newport.  A petition, which urges the council to reverse their decision to scrap free parking for the first two hours in council owned car parks has attracted over 3,700 signatures from traders and shoppers across the city and continues to grow.

Now some of the fresh intake of Labour Councillors who have become frustrated with the Cabinet’s behaviour and the lack of communication over the parking issue are talking about absenting themselves from the vote on free parking. Some of them are according to the South Wales Argus even talking up the possibility of even voting against their own party on the issue (I personally won’t hold my breath).

The party formerly known as new Labour in Newport has a history of never being big on communication, either with the electorate or its own membership. The fact that the ruling Labour council’s cabinet did not consult traders or shoppers about axing free parking within the city will come as no surprise to those of us who know how the Labour Party behaves in power or opposition.

HERE WE GO...

So there we have it, the devil is in the detail, the Welsh budget has been cut in real terms by 11.4%, with capital spending, money to be invested in new roads, hospitals and schools, being cut by 41%. This works out at around £4.8 billion over the next four years.interestingly enough, the previous New Labour Government, planned, this time over three years to cut Wales' budget by £3 billion. The Con Dem government now also plan cuts of approximately £3 billion over next 3 years which works out at about the same. While the ConDem cuts are a heavy blow, so would the proposed New Labour cuts have been. One thing is true, both the former New Labour Government and the current ConDem Government have no interest in making sure that Wales has a fair funding formula.

The Welsh budget, this year, is some £1.4 billion less than it would have been if we had kept pace with spending increases in England under New Labour. It's also worth noting that Spending Review also announced a further £7 billion cut from the welfare budget, on top of £11 billion previously announced over the Summer. There is a significant degree of geographical unfairness (for want of a better phrase) in this Spending Review on a number of levels. Wales, amongst the devolved nations, is worst off, and is taking a bigger hit than Scotland and Northern Ireland. There are significant if not huge differences between Wales and the south-east of England.

The ConDems are carrying on with the Crossrail, a multi-billion pound infrastructure project in London, not to mention three major science projects all of which are located in the south-east of England, not to mention continued spending on museums, galleries and culture in London.These cuts are far too deep and far too fast, they threaten Wales’s economic recovery and could expose us to the risk of a ‘double-dip’ recession. I (and no doubt many other people would expect this from a Consevative Government, but, their super keen Lib Dem little helpers should really know better.