Shepton Mallet Library

 For your information, here is the text of a letter that I have written to Somerset County Council Library Service setting out the reasons as I see them why the Library should be preserved.

(Picture of John Parham and Jeanette Marsh discussing Shepton Mallet Library with Ken Maddock leader of Somerset County Council in Shepton Mallet Market Place)

I write as District Councillor for Shepton Mallet West Ward and Chairman of the Shepton Mallet Townscape Heritage Initiative.

The proposed closure of Shepton Mallet Library is in my view going to be extremely detrimental to the viability of Shepton Mallet town centre in both commercial and public service terms.

To provide a little background, in 2003 the administration at Mendip District Council recognised that Shepton Mallet was a special case that needed priority action. A great deal of work was put in to get a 5 year Heritage Regeneration Scheme off the ground that over the period succeeded to attracting approximately £1.3 million of investment into the town centre area. The HERS scheme was replaced by the current Townscape Heritage Initiative in 2008 and despite the recession, we have succeeded in attracting further investment taking the total over the last 8 years to a figure in excess of £2milllion. The current THi will continue until 2013 with a phase three application to be submitted later this year.

This is obviously a huge success story, however, in effect we have merely halted over 30 years of decline to the High Street and Market place area; there are encouraging signs with a number of new businesses operating and more on the way, the raised profile for the town as a result of the “Turn Back Time” TV series has also helped, however the regeneration of Shepton Mallet is a fragile child, and a serious shock at this time could put it back by years or kill it off entirely.

It must also be pointed out that Shepton Mallet East ward, the ward in which the Library is located, has been identified as an area of multiple deprivation and falls within the top 10% of deprived areas nationally.

The library is often the focus of activity in our market place area. It attracts significant numbers of visitors, in the region of 300 per day I believe, and this footfall translates into a significant proportion of the footfall traffic that the town centre businesses rely on. If the library is closed entirely or is moved out of the market place to another location, this footfall will be lost and the knock on effect could well be devastating. The people who use the library are drawn from our deprived community, it is convenient for them and has easy access especially for those who are elderly or disabled.

If the library were to be moved or closed, a significant proportion of the clientele would be unable to access library services due to the unaffordable cost of public transport travel to Wells or Frome and the inaccessibility of a location away from the town centre.

I fully appreciate and by appreciate I mean understand, the budgetary position that you find yourself in, however in my view Shepton Mallet should be treated as a special case because of the factors that I have outlined, and I would urge you to find a solution that does not involve closure of our well used library facility.  There are a number of other town centre properties that are empty, that could accommodate the library, and where the rent would be less than a third of the current lease charge that you are paying.

I would also ask you to explore sharing facilities with the Shepton Mallet Tourist Information Centre, the Post Office parcel collection office, Job Centre plus and the Citizens Advice Bureau, who are all facing reductions in funding and where combining facilities could see an improved service for all at the same time as achieving the budget savings you seek.

I believe that due to the terms of the current lease, Shepton Library will continue to operate until November 2012, I urge you to retain the current funding stream for the next two financial years while negotiations are taking place, my fear is that if funding is withdrawn immediately, there will be no opportunity to instigate a compromise when one is identified.

I am, as always available to act as an intermediary at any time should you require one.

Best regards

Cllr John Parham

Portfolio Holder:- Access to Services

Chairman Shepton Mallet Townscape Heritage Initiative.

Ward Member:- Shepton Mallet West

Conservatives thwart Lib Dem/Labour attempt to increase taxes again!

Firstly, can I take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy and prosperous New Year, look I know it's a little late, but in common with what seems to be 60% of the population, I've had the wretched flu bug that is going around and the last thing you can do if you get it is to sit in front of a computer putting your thoughts into any sort of order. I think I'm on the mend now, so if you see me in the street, you don't need to walk down the other side muttering "unclean" under your breath!

Quite a lot has happened since my last blog, the most controversial event probably was the announcement that there would be a public consultation regarding the possible closure of the library in Shepton Mallet. I have made the point repeatedly that cuts to public spending are inevitable due to the dire state of the country's finances. Somerset County Council for example has to find annual savings of £70 million in order to balance the books, and when you consider they will have to pay some £36 million next year to service the huge debt left behind by the Lib Dems, you can see the problems they face.

I do however think that closing our library is a step too far, and I will be making representations in the strongest possible terms that we need to find a solution that does not include the closure of our facilities. I am reassured to learn that the consultation process is genuine and that no final decisions have been made so far, the next few weeks will be crucial for everyone involved to ensure that they get their representations in so that they can be taken into account.

Our Town Council meeting on Tuesday evening was an interesting excercise. It was encouraging to see a larger than usual contingent of members of the public in attendance, some even made valuable contributions to the discusssions, what was enlightening however, was the fact that some of our Labour, Lib Dem and Independent councillors tried to get together to force an increase to the council tax.

The majority Conservative group on the council has been very prudent with tax payers money during the recession, to try to ensure as far as possible that there is no need to increase taxes during times of hardship. The Conservative groups at Mendip and Somerset Councils have acted similarly and as a result have ensured there have been no significant increase in tax during the period. Shepton Town Council has built up its reserves to protect itself against a rainy day, and now as the rain is pouring on our heads, we can afford all of our commitments without any increase in tax.

Our opponents however, took the view that no matter how tough things are, it is always the right time to squeeze even more taxes out of the hard pressed public. They didn't even have a coherent plan as to where the extra money was to be spent, merely that we should increase our reserves even further, just in case we want to spend even more of your money for you in the future.

It is just like trying to cure an alcoholic by giving him a bottle of scotch, our Labour and Lib Dem opponents are addicted to debt and tax and the only cure for both in their view is more debt and tax. Sometimes I despair.

Fortunately the Conservative group stood firm against this assault on your finances and there will be no increase in the town precept next year, I'll leave it to our opponents to try to justify their position, I am comfortable with ours.

Debt and Deficit

To say that we had to make some difficult decisions this week would be the understatement of the century, after Eric Pickles announced on Monday afternoon the final settlement for Local Authorities for the next two years, the full horror of the scale of the cuts that have to be made started to sink in.

We had prepared ourselves for what we thought was the worst case scenario, and though extremely difficult, we had managed to put together a budget that would meet the 28% reduction in Government Grant over four years as highlighted by George Osborne in the Comprehensive Spending Review in October. We had not however contemplated that the settlement would be even worse, and as it turns out we will be getting a reduction of very nearly 28% over the next two years. So even though we had a very traumatic Cabinet meeting on Wednesday night where we agreed on a plan to save just over £2 million, we have to go back to work over the next 6 weeks and find another £250,000 for next year, followed by another £1.1 million the year after.

There is no way that savings of that level can be made without radically changing the shape of the council, and that is exactly what we will have to do, it certainly is not going to be easy.

I made the point during cabinet that whoever caused the country’s debt problem, we all knew that cuts were coming and that it would be very difficult. It would require all councillors to respond to the challenge and we would have to work together with the officers of the council to achieve some sort of solution. I did say at the meeting that the country was massively in debt, that the situation could not be allowed to continue and that everyone was going to have to share some of the pain.

Well that was Wednesday and gosh how fast things change. By Thursday morning I found out that we are all saved, Alleluia, the country isn’t in debt at all, we just have a bit of a deficit problem, and the purveyor of this wonderful news, none other than our new Lib Dem councillor in Shepton. He proudly announced on his website, (well he used to say it’s not his, but finally admitted in public on Wednesday night that he shares in the organisation of it!!!), that I was wrong to say the country is in debt, and that we merely have a deficit.

Well being the product of a progressive education in the 60’s and 70’s, and not being a University drop out like my illustrious adversary, I thought I’d better check. After all,  If the country is not in debt, why are we worrying, it’ll all be fine, if we just ignore it it’ll go away, so I did a bit of research.

UK National Debt Clock - DebtBombshell

There is a very useful website http://www.debtbombshell.com/, this site looks at all the government data that is available and even provides a debt counter to keep tabs on the National Debt. (See above) As I write this the clock reads £982,350,000,000 and is going up at a rate of about £8,000 per second, yes that’s right £8,000 per second, £540,000 per minute or £32.4 million per hour. It is forecasted that National debt will increase by £167 billion this year and reach £1.1 trillion next year while it is being brought under control. A trillion is a thousand billion and it would take about 31600 years to count to a trillion at normal counting speed.

So the country has massive debts, the highest in our history, and even higher than at the end of the Second World War, the previous record. As a matter of interest, we only paid off the debts from WW2 less than 10 years ago, so the current debt mountain will not disappear quickly.

The deficit that everyone talks about is the difference between tax income and government spending, and this year we will spend £167 billion more than we take in tax, and that money only goes to increase the overall debt mountain. The interest payments to service the debt for the next financial year amount to over £42 billion, this is a the third biggest individual bill that the government face, behind the NHS and Education but ahead of defence for example.

So our local Lib Dem economist appears to be talking out of his hat, he has already be branded “unpleasant, distasteful and unprofessional” (MDC Standards Board October 2010), and now this rubbish.

He has contributed nothing, nada, zero to the budget setting process despite being given full access to the figures and having been invited to joint cabinet and shadow cabinet meetings, he continues to hide behind his USA based website, sniping from the sidelines, spreading misinformation and innuendo whilst trying to stir up public unrest. He offers no alternative, follows the Lib Dem negative campaigning rulebook to the letter, and supports his beloved Tessa to the hilt.

Oh and while we are on the subject of debt, the Lib Dems know all about that particular matter, they had to conduct a fire sale of the council house stock in Mendip to clear £16 million debt the last time they were in power here and they left Somerset County Council shackled with £400 million of debt, after years of profligate spending. The County Council now have to make much deeper cuts due to the fact that they have to service this huge debt making the situation much worse than it would have been if the authority had been debt free. At Mendip, the Conservative run council has zero debt,  no interest charges to pay, so even though deep cuts have to be made, we don’t have to pay interest to the banks as well!!

Is Clegg finished as Lib Dem leader?

So another interesting week for the coalition comes to an end. As I predicted last week, the four headed Lib Dem snake reverted to type and went off in all directions at once. Clegg just about managed to get his ministers to vote alongside the government; however I suspect the votes in favour had more to do with fears of loss of the ministerial limousine than it did with any conviction that they were doing the right thing.

The Munter from Mark as predicted got splinters in her arse by sitting on the fence to the very end and abstaining. What it is to have a conviction MP capable of making up her mind and then seeing it through to the bitter end. The Lib Dems are really the most spineless bunch, and their lack of intestinal fortitude is there for all to see the first time that the chips are down and a tough decision has to be made. God help us if we have to face a threat against the country with Clegg at the helm, that lot would still be fighting each other about the issue when the enemy tanks come rolling down Whitehall.

The mutterings of the Guardian readership classes are starting to heap pressure on poor old Clegg, the beard loving, sandal wearing,  yoghurt knitters are starting to revolt, (they’ve always been very revolting), and it appears old Cleggovers’ days may be numbered. With Lib Dem support dwindling away, down to 8% according to a recent poll, it may not be long before we see the usual me, me, me clamour for the top job. If Clegg is unable to command more than a quarter of his troops in the first big skirmish of what is likely to be a long war against Gordon Brown’s debt mountain, the coalition is unlikely to survive 12 months, leave alone the 5 years that is planned. The only solace that Clegg must have is to look around and see what the opposition looks like. I mean the Lib Dems have such a huge raft of talent at their disposal don’t they!

Charlie Kennedy’s battle with the bottle has ruled him out, poor old Vince Cable and Ming Campbell are past their sell by date, Simon Hughes is wetter than a wet thing and far too left wing to be taken seriously, David Laws could have been a contender until he was caught paying his parliamentary rent money to his boyfriend,  and Chris Huhne is struggling to hang on to his seat while flying thousands of miles back and forth to Cancun in Mexico, causing tons of Carbon Dioxide into the bargain, just  to attend the climate change conference!!! Still perhaps a bit of extra Carbon in the atmosphere might stave off this cold weather we are having! I suppose there is always the possibility that Munter from Mark could step into the breach, now that really would be entertainment worth seeing. Can’t you just imagine Deputy PMQ’s  with madam at the dispatch box?

No, come to think of it nor can I!!

The protests against the tuition fee increase provided yet again, an opportunity for rent-a-mob and every anarchist group in the country to go on the rampage causing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage, injuries to dozens of police officers, and threatening the safety of the heir to the throne.

I read today that the young hooligan seen swinging from the Union Flag attached to the Cenotaph in Whitehall is none other than the son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. Gilmour junior is a history student at Cambridge, who claimed that he did not know what the monument was there for! Cambridge University are not going to take any action against him apparently, as the incident took place outside of term time. I would think they ought to take action against both him and his lecturers, if the spoilt brat is still so ignorant of the country’s history, despite a University education, that he does not know that the Cenotaph is there to commemorate the thousands of British soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice in two World Wars to ensure that he has the freedom to act in such a loutish manner.

He says that he acted in this way because he was high on LSD, I think if you check the law you will find that LSD is still illegal in this country. He is now contrite because he has been caught, however this is not the first time he has been filmed being involved in violence, and the first question I would ask him is why would you go to a march, wearing latex gloves to prevent incriminating finger prints, if you were not planning to get involved with illegality? Perhaps he's been watching too much CSI Miami instead of studying History!

Lib Dem chickens coming home to roost.

I’ve made the point often enough with regard to local politics that it is awfully easy to snipe from the sidelines without all the facts at your disposal, and to pontificate as to how you will act in this situation or that, when you have little or no chance of having to enforce your view, or little likelihood of having to make good on your manifesto promises.

Manifesto promises have often been the subject of scrutiny, as incoming governments and incoming local authorities often have to change their minds after coming in to power and realising that the dream they had in opposition, doesn’t stack up when the cold harsh light of reality kicks in, such is the position of the Lib Dems at the moment.

In a opportunistic attempt to garner the student vote at the last general election, our yellow friends decided en-masse that they would all sign their names to a pledge that no matter what, they would fight tooth and nail to prevent any increase in student fees. All of their leftie friends in colleges and universities around the country thought this was a wonderful idea, and many thousands voted in their support as a result. This policy now sees the Lib Dems in total disarray with at least four different outcomes sought depending upon which faction of the party you listen to.

My own personal view, developed over the last 13 years of campaigning against Lib Dems, is that getting into coalition with them, is rather like getting into bed with a four headed snake and then trying to avoid being bitten or crushed! They have always been the dirtiest political opponents who will unashamedly lie, cheat, deceive or prevaricate if they think there is any sort of political advantage in it for them.

A couple of years ago our slippery coalition partners produced a campaign document, Effective Opposition, produced by the Association of Liberal Democrat Councilors’, this fascinating document says on page 21 "Be wicked, act shamelessly, stir endlessly, on page 23, it says: "Don't be afraid to exaggerate. For example, responses to surveys and petitions are always 'massive'. If a council is doing something badly public expressions are always of 'outrage'."

Does any of this ring any bells when you read the local Lib Dem propaganda I ask.

On page 4, of the same tome it states, "Positive campaigning will NOT be enough to win control of the council,” on page 6, it says that "you can secure support from voters who normally vote Tory by being effectively anti-Labour and similarly in a Tory area secure Labour votes by being anti-Tory."

So no problem with principles then!!

It goes on to say: "Oppose all service cuts ... No cut is going to be popular and why court the unpopularity that goes with the responsibility of power?" and finally "You are NOT running the council. It's NOT your problem."

So you see what I mean about dirty tactics and if you translate those instructions into action it is easy to see how our favourite Lib Dem councillor got the inspiration for his hateful website.

Returning to the current issue with the Lib Dems, this week they have to decide whether they are to be taken seriously as a political force, or whether they will result to type and be against everything, and in favour of nothing. The debate on the proposed changes to university funding has been very enlightening. Vince Cable for example was the primary architect of the coalition’s new policy that will allow fees to increase to a maximum of £9000 per year. He was obviously in favour of the policy when he designed it, he was then against it when the rent-a-mob started to protest against it, he then decided to sit on the fence and abstain until he realised that as a minister of the crown he has a duty to vote in favour of government policy or otherwise resign. So as I write this, Vince is now going to vote in favour again.

Our own MP, the Munter from Mark, has pontificated long and loud on the subject, but so far remains firmly on the fence to the degree that she is likely to get splinters in her posterior. Her illustrious colleagues are going to vote in favour, or against or will abstain, or today I see a whole new bunch want to defer the vote until next year. So there you have it dear readers, the four headed snake trying to decide which head it’s going to bite you with.

We can only hope that this episode will teach the Lib Dems a lesson or two about making promises in opposition that they may have to translate into policy one day. I would hope therefore that our local Lib Dems may even become more responsible in opposition at county and district level, but with instructions from the top to the contrary, I’m not holding my breath.