Sitrep for the bank holiday

Out and about today, it was heartening to see all our work coming together - seeing so many people coming out on their bank holiday to bring all our work for the last few years together. Word on the street is anecdotally encouraging for us, with people of an informed opinion saying that Greenwich Council has been dominated by Labour for too long. Of course there are still a great many of both undecided and disengaged voters who are still wary of political overtures: no doubt events at a national level play their part in this.

To those who may read this blog to find out what Greenwich Conservatives want to do to take the borough forward, our manifesto can be viewed here. I've copied out our 5 headline policy pledges below, because I believe they summarise not just the most important things that need to change in Greenwich, but also how we propose to going about changing them. I believe our policies to be the most detailed and necessary steps that need to be taken urgently to change transform the council into one that we can all be proud of. I hope you do too.

Our 5 Headline Policies (see our manifesto for all our policies in detail)

• First, requiring all senior Council Officers to submit their departmental budgets to an independent, outside auditor to assess how efficiently Greenwich Council has handled your money over the last few years. We intend to reverse Labour’s automatic assumption that the public has an insatiable appetite to be taxed.

• Second, inviting outside contractors to tender via open competition for the business of sweeping our streets. It is a sad fact that Greenwich is often referred to as “one of the dirtiest London Boroughs” – for a Borough often in the centre of our nation’s history (and as a major tourist attraction as a result) this is unacceptable.

• Third, undertaking a complete review of education provision within the borough with a view to increasing the number of schools and ensuring that Greenwich schools rise from the bottom of the league tables in London at GCSE. A Conservative Council would pledge to raise results in this borough to ensure our children have a better opportunity in life.

• Fourth, abolishing Greenwich Time. This weekly propaganda paper paid for by the taxpayers of this borough is a waste of money as it uses public money to push the Labour Council’s point of view down the throats of Greenwich residents. Abolishing Greenwich Time is both cost effective and the right thing to do.

• Fifth, introducing funding for additional town centre police teams in Greenwich and Eltham within our first year. We believe that the Violent and Organised Crime Unit in Woolwich has been a success and would continue to fund that group for the next four years (a pledge the Labour Council has yet to make).
Respecting the judgment of our fellow residents as we seek their mandate for reform, we hereby pledge our names to this “Contract with Greenwich”.

My two favourites: GT and CS

Taking a quick break from my lunchtime emails and plate of toast swimming in hot butter (mmm), I noticed GT's special feature on Cleansweep's "Sweeping Success" since taking on 250 local people out of work to help. This is undoubtedly great news - as I've said before, seeing investment (albeit "old" money already agreed to some time ago and marketed as "new") in essential front line services is something I hope everyone can get behind - but it doesn't address the problem of the culture of working to rule at the expense of actually keeping the borough clean and tidy. There are a number of constructive ways this can be addressed - performance related pay, customer feedback (ie us), or even just a gentle reminder from supervisors that even if you are unable to remove something (I'm thinking of the flytipping along the railway embankments along Troughton Road) then report it to somebody who can follow up with the landowners and get it sorted.

And on the subject of Greenwich Time, a check on the online edition provoked an idea. Greenwich Conservatives are committed to abolishing GT, thereby sparing everybody a regular dose of propaganda and saving local people £3 million a year, but until the day comes where we are able to realise this, could the Council show some commitment to sustainability and affordability by giving residents the opportunity to subscribe to the online version and stop receiving dead trees through their doors? All thoughts are welcome...