Mercury News
Mosborough Mercury, Tuesday, November 18, 2009
www.mosborough-news.co.uk
Battle of the budgets Councillors warn ‘people power’ finance plan will cause community quarrels
By Alex Campbell
A CITY council shake-up designed to take power from the Town Hall to local communities has left councillors baffled and sparked fears of heated disputes over how money will be spent. The scheme will see area panels replaced by community assemblies of local councillors who, together with the public, will decide how part of an area’s budget is spent. But a trial of the new structure has prompted apathy and confusion. Many area panels - including South East Sheffield - have avoided making any changes at all to their spending. Panels were told they could spend £50,000 on projects of their choice as a chance to demonstrate the new powers. The money is usually earmarked for parks and libraries, which some councillors say is a waste of funds. The south east panel decided to do nothing because councillors were confused by the system and not enough members of the public were consulted. “In this case we’ve decided that it’s probably for the best to just do nothing,” said Counsellor David Barker (Lab), chair of the panel. “We only spoke to 17 people from the area and this isn’t enough to justify making a decision over what is really quite a lot of money.” Several councillors have criticised the scheme, saying the public will continue to be marginalised. There are fears that budget meetings will be reduced to councillors arguing to prevent money being taken away from their area. “I’m not sure many of us fully understand this,” said Cllr Bryan Lodge (Lab) “We’re confused, and I’m personally not impressed by it. “It is going to come down to a case of community versus community, with everybody fighting tooth and nail for their own corner.” The new system will see 12 councillors
The plots, on Orchard Lane, have been attacked by vandals who have tried to break into padlocked sheds where mowers and cultivators are stored.
‘The public will become the masters’
Power change: Town Hall (above) cabinet will delegate several powers greater good for everyone, so personally I wouldn’t fight tooth and nail for my patch,” he said. “I would vote for the areas that most need the money, but that’s not what other people will do. “I am, of course, prepared to give it a try because it’s a decision that goes well above my head.” “I don’t see how it will work in practice, and I think David Baker talks rubbish.” Staffing of the new assemblies and decisions on new ward boundaries are yet to be finalised. It is expected that most of the community assemblies will take on the same areas as the current panels, but border areas may be moved. The changes, which are the biggest of their kind since 1995, will be introduced fully in May 2009.
Community Assemblies aAssemblies, made up of a team of
local councillors, will take control from May 2009.
WORRIED residents have slammed council officials for ignoring their appeal against an alcohol license for a village shop. Woodhouse and Beighton residents say their protests have been buried in “bureaucratic hell” and fear the area will become a meeting point for drinkers and vandals. The Costcutter store on Beighton Road, near Woodhouse, has been given a license to sell alcohol until 11pm. A group of residents sent licensing officers a rejection to the license, but their appeal was ignored because it was made 24 hours after a deadline. Residents who want to appeal again may now have to serve the shop’s owner with a written objection notice in person – giving him their address and personal details. New government rules give residents 28 days to appeal after a license application is made, but if they miss the deadline their objection is useless. Catherine Taylor, 51, wrote her
complaint on the 29th day. “Nobody around here thinks this is a good idea, but we didn’t know they had applied for a license until it was just too late,” she said. “They put up small letters on a lamp post, but who stops to read a lamp post on their way to the shops? “It’s a bureaucratic hell. I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do next except wait and see what happens.” Steve Lonnia, a licensing officer at the city council, said the residents have almost no chance of getting the license fully revoked. “Submitting a full review is very difficult for individuals to be honest,” he said. “It involves serving the license holder with a notice in person, which I wouldn’t fancy doing, or by recorded delivery. “They have to fill out a lot of paperwork and send copies to a number of different people, who all have to get their copy on the same day.” Mr Lonnia said he does not think the license will cause problems in the area. “An alcohol license doesn’t necessarily mean trouble, and in fact
for a lot of people it will be nothing more than a useful local shop for them to use.” He said the licensing board understands the residents’ frustrations and will consider adding conditions to the license - but only if the shop attracts trouble. “We can always impose conditions where necessary but we still think it’s better if these things can be sorted out with a quiet word. “Sometimes that’s all it needs to get the solution everybody wants.” Resident Elsie Smith, 77, said allowing alcohol to be sold at night is inviting trouble to the village. “I know from walking around there at night that this is not the place for a late night off license,” she said. “As well as the young people drinking in the streets there are the young people who hang around outside causing trouble, waiting for someone to buy the booze for them.” The local Safer Neighbourhoods team said it will increase patrols in the area. The manager of the shop did not want to comment. a.campbell@mosborough-news.co.uk
Intruders have also torn down fences surrounding the plots, allowing youngsters to trample across them as a shortcut to football pitches on Eckington Road. Allotment keepers have submitted a petition to the city council for secure gates and new fencing to keep troublemakers off the property. Chris Fisher, the allotment keeper who organised the petition, said it is the council’s duty to help stop the damage. “We pay an annual fee and give up a lot of time to doing something that we love to do,” he said. “It takes a lot of hard work to grow fresh fruit and vegetables, and we sometimes see months of hard work done away with by kids trampling over everything. “We’re sick of paying for the damage ourselves - we need the council to save our allotments.”
aDecisions on funding for local services, including parks, libraries, and street cleaning, will be decided by local councillors instead of the Town Hall.
aThe assemblies will be expected to
vote with the public’s feedback in mind, and the councillors will be completely accountable for their area.
aEach assembly will use public feed-
back to produce a plan of action that will be judged at the end of each year.
aIt
will take up to nine months to complete the switchover.
Residents face ‘hell’ in fight to block village booze license By Alex Campbell
Gardeners urge council to ‘save the allotments’ A PATCH of allotments in Beighton is being regularly targeted by vandals and would-be thieves, keepers say.
put in charge of an assembly governing a Sheffield neighbourhood, taking votes on how movable parts of the budget are spent on each area. It will be left to the assemblies to determine where each ward’s money is spent, meaning that councillors will have to vote for money to be taken away from their area and spent elsewhere if decisions are to be made. Cllr David Baker (Lib Dem), who has been involved in designing the new structure, said he is confident that people power will resolve the teething problems. “This is a major change and I am excited and passionate about it,” he told the meeting. “We are not just moving deck chairs, we are taking power away from a cabinet in the Town Hall and bringing it to the heart of the communities themselves.
“The public will become the masters, instead of the one’s carrying the begging bowl.” Pressed about the council’s faith in increased public contribution, Cllr Baker said there is a struggle ahead but new plans are in place to help. “We don’t get enough local people involved and we can’t force anybody else to get involved, we just hope they will. “There will be things like an internet forum that people who don’t want to come to the meetings can write to. And councillors will respond in a two week process.” Cllr Baker dismissed critics who claim that assemblies will divide communities because of issues over funding. “It can only be positive that things are happening locally,” he said. Labour councillor Mick Rooney said that “selfish” councillors will ruin the system for those who want to see Sheffield improve. “I’m a socialist. I believe in greater
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Attack: Beighton Allotments The allotments currently have open access and no security lighting, but Dave Luck, council officer for the area, said there is no guarantee of a quick fix. “We will definitely be looking into it, but generally this is not the sort of thing we can just nod our heads and dip into our pockets for,” he said. Richard Oxley, a Safer Neighbourhoods officer, said this is not the first time allotments have been the target of vandalism in Sheffield. “For some reason, and it’s a reason I’ve never understood, allotments have always been tempting to youths,” he said. “It’s a citywide problem, and I’d support any improvements that make the area more secure and keep troublemakers out.” Beighton’s allotments have been a popular feature of the local area for over a hundred years, beginning as supplier to a small food market in the 1890s. Several allotment keepers at the site sell on crops, fertilisers and compost to residents.
Kids dig in for Halfway
License: Costcutter near Beighton (top) and booze aisle
Green-fingered children at a Halfway primary school have dug deep to help plant new trees in the local area. Children from Halfway Junior School, aged between five and eight, helped a community gardener to plant six new trees. The project, organised by Sheffield Homes, is aimed at giving children reasons to be proud of the area they live in, as well as making Sheffield a greener city. “The aim is to bring young people in the south east together. They’ll learn about the environment and they’ll see the trees grow with them” Sheffield Homes local manager Shaun Nolan said.