Station access

Whilst all the sitting and hopeful candidates were busy at Ponds Forge watching the count another very important meeting was taking place in Sheffield. Here is a brief report of what went on. If you are concerned about the issue of gating the station please put June 3rd in your diary and come along to the Area Panel meeting at Victoria Methodist Church, Stafford Road, 6.30pm where it will be discussed, and you will have an opportunity to question a representative of East Midlands trains.

Report of a meeting at Sheffield Station
about access through the station: Held at 11.00 am 2 May 2008

Who?
The meeting was called by Jake Kelly, Customer Services Director of East Midlands Trains (EMT). Jake appears to have responsibility for implementing the plan to make Sheffield a “gated” station.

About 20 people were present, including:

1. Richard Caborn, MP
2. Representatives of a range of Disability Access groups
3. Chair of Transport of All
4. Chair of Friends of Sheaf Valley Park
5. Chair of Sheffield Civic Trust
6. Secretary and Convenor of Victoria Environment Group
7. Member of the petition group
8. Rep of British Transport Police responsible for the policing of the station
9. Sheffield City Council Officers responsible for Highways, Planning and Regeneration
10. Several station employees with a range of responsibilities

Why?
Jake Kelly explained the rationale for considering restricting access. It is to reduce fare dodging but also to reduce crime within the station and on trains.

MP Richard Caborn pointed out that the huge financial investments involved in Park Hill and the e-campus, are reliant on good access through the station. He requires the Director to provide detailed figures on how much would be saved in fare dodging if the station were closed. When available, a cost benefit analysis would need to be carried out and considered in the wider context of
·the huge sums already committed and
·the possibility of future income to be generated by communities which could be cut out.
The MP also required the police representative to give figures on crimes and arrests over the last 6months, 12 months, 18 months and two years, so that a similar analysis could be carried out. This was agreed.

Towards the end of the meeting another train employee said that the Dept for Transport included a requirement to gate 5 stations on their network, was a condition of awarding the franchise to East Midlands Trains. Other stations such as Chesterfield could be considered. Jake confirmed that the reason that Sheffield is being considered at the moment, is that it is the station with the highest income.

It is clear that the main motivation for this proposal is financial and currently EMT does not perceive that the wider issues of the city and the communities around the station are it’s concern.

How?
A Design Consultancy has been commissioned to draw up plans for gating the station.
The needs of train users with disabilities will be one of the design criteria but there is no commitment to include the needs of people “in transit” through the station, rather than catching trains. The impression is that EMT plans to divert “none-travelling “ public via other bridges and routes. A couple of routes suggested were a “goods” bridge which is used by station staff and could be upgraded for use by the public, or the old south bridge. The view of the meeting was that the latter is an unacceptable alternative - it has no lifts and it lands on a back street. This will merely displace any of the alleged theft, begging and mugging that the British Transport Police spokesperson was concerned about. There was some discussion about allowing none travelling people with disabilities to have access through the station, but the representatives felt that separate arrangements for them would be divisive.

When?
The Director anticipates that any gating would take place around May 2009.

Jake plans some consultation and said that the views of today’s meeting would be passed through to the consultants.

Outcomes
· EMT will be in no doubt that there is strong and vocal opposition to gating the station and that it is a coalition of national politicians, local councillors and officers, representative disability groups, city wide groups concerned with access and local residents.

· As Director of Customer Services Jake Kelly is looking for a solution to “mitigate the effects of the gates in the interim” period before a public bridge makes the connection across the valley - however there is no current , proposal for a bridge, with identified funding .

We Want:
· A copy of the brief given to the design consultants

· Opportunities to meet the consultants at a convenient place and time, before they start serious work on the plans.

· a further consultation meeting at a convenient date and time. (Mid morning on a week day excluded many.)

· to see any plans as they emerge

· genuine consultation, which is structured rather than ad hoc and as part of this Jake Kelly was informed that the station issue will be a key item on the next Area Panel meeting at 6.30 pm on Tuesday 3rd June…( venue to be confirmed) After the meeting he confirmed that although he personally cannot be there a senior member of EMT will attend the Area Panel.


Jake Kelly appeared to agree on further consultation and was prepared to look at ways of enabling us to meet the designers when they come to look at the station.

This report was compiled from notes made at the meeting by
Doug Bell, Terry Gallagher, Simon Gedye and Geraldine Roberts
5th May 2008

Fly tipping fruit and veg

On the Victoria Environment Group litter pick today we went to the the little triangle of land at the junction of Granville Road and Fitzwalter Road. It was a terrible mess again, and it seems that a fruit and veg trader has taken to regularly dumping rotten fruit there.If you have any information about who is doing this please let me know and I will report him to the authorities. The ironic thing is we haven't got a local fruit and veg shop- a few years ago there was a lovely greengrocers on City Road, just near Skye Edge Avenue, but it had to close and the local shops there have never been the same since. All we seem to get now is take away shops! So whoever it is is driving into our area especially to dump their waste. I hope we catch him! We didn't manage to shift all the fly tipping, but have reported it to the council.

Results

This was the result in Manor Castle Ward.

Pat Midgeley (Labour) 1621 53%
David Croft (Lib Dem) 687 22%
Christina Stark (Con) 400 13%
Graham Wroe (Green) 357 12%

Thank you to those of you who supported me in any way- leafleting- putting up posters, and especially voting. I was very disappointed to come last- but my vote didn't go down very much (I was 13% last time)but the other two parties managed to take votes from Labour. What's most upsetting is that the Conservative candidate beat me without doing anything- there wasn't even a poster in her window! So the Conservative vote was purely on media coverage- the "David Cameron" effect. The Lib Dem vote again increased and their leaflet wrongly insinuated that the Greens always support Labour.

It was very clear that the postal vote was not Green. Postal votes favour the 3 main parties as people often vote before the election leaflets are distributed and are much more influenced by the national media. Despite our excellent election broadcast the Greens have struggled to get a fair representation in the national media. The Question Time debate not giving the Green mayoral candidate, Sian Berry, a platform is a a prime example of this.

In Central Ward our hard work paid dividends and we now have a third Councillor, Rob Murphy. Result

Rob Murphy Green Party 1611 40%
Mohammad Maroof Labour 1563 39%
Mohammad Azam Lib Dem 522 13%
June Ledbury Conservative 311 8%

It was nail bitingly close, but we have now managed to complete the team of 3 councillors in Central.

Throughout the city Lib Dems swept to power and how have 45 seats, Labour 36 and Green 3. The Independent lost in Stocksbridge and Anne Smith lost the only Tory seat in Dore & Totley. We now have an important role to play as the third council group with a clear alternative agenda to Labour and the Lib Dems. Other noteable Green results include

Rob Cole came second in Broomhill, 756 votes 27%
Gareth Roberts beat the Tories in Gleadless Valley 781 15%
Chris Sissons beat the Tories in Burngreave 638, 14%
Julian Briggs beat Labour in Crookes 698, 14%
Mervyn Smith came 3rd beating Con/UKIP in Nether Edge 780 13%
James Wilson came 3rd in Walkley beating Cons.540 12%
Jason Leman beat Labour in Ecclesall 615 9%

The full results are on the Council website

http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/your-city-council/elections/election-results/election-results-2008

Skye Edge field

I had a letter today from a future voter. It said

Dear Mr Wroe
I am hoping you will help my friends and me.
I would like you to put more youth clubs for us 12 years olds.
The older kids are mixed in with the younger ones so there is a little bullying so to keep the ages separate we need a bigger place.
We also need Skye Edge field cleaning up as there is glass and rubbish there and spray paint.
We would like a bigger place as well for skate boarding and biking. Our neighbours get annoyed if we play in the road. So we need better lighting and better security. Skye Edge field would be ok.
A future voter
...........

Skye Edge field is definitely a problem. I am asking the council to pay a visit and do a clean up, but what the area really needs is some local people who will take real care of it- like the Friends of Norfolk Park and the Friends of Sheaf Valley Park. And people need to feel safe there. I have been intimidated there before with youngsters on motorbikes driving at crazy speeds across the field and on the footpaths. The next Victoria Environment Group litter pick is this Saturday-meet at Victoria Methodist at 10am. If enough people come who are concerned about Skye Edge we could send a team in that direction.

As for facilities for youngsters, I must admit I am a bit out of touch on this. My kids have now all grown up, so I am not sure what is available in the area.There are sports activities at All Saints (contact Vicky Joel on (0114) 274 3529 or email v.joel@allsaintslearning.co.uk)and Green Watch organise football coaching at Park Academy on Monday evenings 5.30-6.30, for 10 to 18 year olds.(Jake Bonsall on 07769 912 872)Jake’s also looking for volunteers to work on environmental projects on the Manor and Arbourthorne estates.If readers know of other good activities for young teenagers in this area please add a comment to this article and inform everybody.

There is a list of Youth Clubs in Sheffield here-
http://www.finder.co.uk/b2b/Sheffield/Youth-Centres-And-Associations
I assume you go to the Park Centre? Have you asked the leaders there about the possibility of a group for you younger ones? What did they say? And have you told them about the bullying? If they know about it hopefully they can do something about it.

I think your idea for a skate park on Skye Edge is a good one. We will need to convince the people that hold the purse strings, as it would be expensive. Maybe you and your friends could put a petition together and present it to the Council. Ask me if you want some help with this.

Housing list problems

The news that Sheffield tops the UK waiting list league for houses is a big cause for concern. However it may not be as bad as the headlines suggest. According to Mark Hookham in the Star "The number of families registered as waiting for a council house in Sheffield is higher than any other local authority in the country. A total of 87,773 households are recorded by official government figures as waiting for social housing in the city last year. This represents almost 40 per cent of the total number of households in Sheffield.

In contrast, there are 87,565 households waiting in the whole of Greater Manchester, 40,697 in Merseyside and 24,780 in Leeds. But the figures include tens of thousands of families who have historically registered for local authority housing but who are no longer actively looking for accommodation... A Sheffield Council spokeswoman said: "Sheffield maintains a policy of having an open housing register. The housing register is not the same as a waiting list. So, whilst there are over 80,000 people registered, less than a quarter of this number are actively seeking rehousing.""

This doesn't mean we can be complacent. According to Shelter there are 287 families currently homeless in Sheffield. Since 2000 house prices have risen four times faster than wages. Nearly two thirds of Sheffield households are priced out of the market and the number of people accepted by the council as homeless is growing year on year. In the renovation of Park Hill, 80% of the properties will be turned into luxury flats which most of the people living there will not be able to afford. Meanwhile, Sheffield Homes continue to perform badly on their Decent Homes Investment Project. Owner-occupiers and leaseholders are being left out, the quality varies a great deal between different areas and some basic repairs and improvements are not included in the project.

What is the Green Party doing?

·Pushing the Council to repair leaky roofs and walls under the Decent Homes scheme.

·Calling for a full review of the council’s lettings policy to make it fairer and more transparent.

·Calling for the repair and renovation of council properties.

·Helping to develop planning guidance requiring at least 15% affordable housing in all large developments, while continuing to push for 40%.

·Lobbying to keep the current programme of tenancy support services in place, and for more sheltered accommodation for vulnerable people.

·Pushing the Council to give advice on insulation and grants to all householders.

How should Trade Unionists vote?

Tomorrow I will be on strike from my job at Sheffield College. Under the Labour Government public sector workers like teachers and lecturers continue to be offered pay deals well below the rate of inflation. At the same time Gordon Brown attacks poor people by removing the 10p band of income tax.

Unison however still think it is a good idea to spend their members contributions on a letter from Jan Wilson, telling them to vote Labour! Trade Unionists would be far better off supporting a party that wants to put an end to poverty, stop the oil wars and the creeping privatisation of our schools and health service.

SOME IMPORTANT Green Party Policies:
The Green Party:
• Opposes privatisation of public service and the Private Finance Initiative.
• Campaigns for fair pay and decent conditions for all workers.
• Opposes the sale or privatisation of council housing.
• Campaigns for an extensive programme of affordable social housing.
• Campaigns for a massive increase in investment in public transport within a publicly controlled integrated transport system that makes car use less necessary.
• Campaigns for healthy public services such as health, education and transport, funded through adequate taxation, in which the well-off pay their fair share.
• Campaigns for fair trade that promotes concrete improvements in the conditions of workers in developing countries without hurting workers in the industrialised West.
• Supports the Charter Of Workers’ Rights endorsed by major trade unions
• Encourages un-unionised, temporary, and migrant workers to join trade unions
For more reasons why Trade Unionists should vote Green see
http://brentandharrow.greenparty.org.uk/GPTU_release.pdf

Demo at Station

There was a very successful demonstration at the station this morning, to protest at East Midlands trains plan to install barriers and prevent pedestrians walking through.There must have been about 50 people there, including representatives from all 4 political parties, Transport4All,Friends of Sheaf Vally Park, Friends of Norfolk Park, Park Community Action, Victoria Methodist Church, Grace Owen Nursery and probably other organisations I wasn't aware of. When was the last time all 4 political parties in Sheffield came together on the same demonstration? I have just been forwarded another email from East Midlands trains, which is much clearer about their plans. It says

Dear ***** *****

Thank you for your email of 24 February 2008.

I can confirm that we are installing ticket barriers at Sheffield on a
trial basis- these have been well received at the stations at which they
have already been installed e.g. Leicester.

These barriers are intended to reduce the amount of fare evasion taking
place, and this is one of a number of measures we have implemented to
ensure this is the case - ultimately, this is to benefit the travelling
public by helping to keep fare rises to an absolute minimum.

If the installation is successful the barriers will become permanent.

Thank you for your enquiry.

Kind regards

******** ***
Customer Relations Officer

What is rather ironic is that even though it is the clear democratic will of the people to keep free access to the station, because it is now a private concern, in the end East Midlands trains can do what they like. We need to renationalise the railways to bring them back into democratic control.

I have had a letter published in the Telegraph about the station access, which is at http://www.sheffieldgreenparty.org.uk/archives/letters/2008/080413eastmidlandstrains.htm
and Rob Murphy, Green candidate for Sheffield Central, has written about the demo
http://www.sheffieldgreenparty.org.uk/archives/letters/2008/080418demo.htm

The coverage on Radio Sheffield was a little disappointing, as it gave all the publicity to Jan Wilson, when the hard work that has been done by local campaigners bringing this to everyone's attention was ignored. However it has sent a very stong message to East Midlands trains- lets hope they now reconsider and come up with a sensible alternative.