3,000 miles of motorway do not have street lighting. Some, including the Sunday Telegraph and The Mirror, have presented this as news. The Mirror talked about them being "plunged into darkness." But 3,000 miles of motorway and trunk roads have never had street lighting. The news is that an extra 98 miles are to be […]
In a new paper, to be launched today at Party Conference Westminster City Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Protection, Cllr Nickie Aiken proposes a new model to deliver localised policing and criminal justice in partnership with Police and Crime Commissioners. Heralded as the biggest shake up to the service for decades Police and Crime Commissioners […]
Many conversations in the back of cabs are not only private but intimate. Often a decision to take a cab is prompted by being the worse for wear. Yet astonishingly in some places these conversations are recorded. The Information Commissioner Christoper Graham has ordered Labour-run Southamton City Council to end the requirement of the taxi […]
All the relevant 152 councils in England have signed up to the Government's Troubled Families programme. What this really means is that they each now have an incentive to come up with their own programme. The more of the 120,000 families that are "turned round", the more funding the council responsible will get. There will […]
The Daily Mail reports that under a Community Protection Notice there will be £100 on-the-spot fines introduced for those who use their gardens as rubbsh dumps for items such as old sofas or fridges. The report says: The powers will apply to privately owned homes as well as council houses. Officials will target only those […]
As a councillor part of my role is to report graffiti and arrange for it to be cleaned off. But what are the underlying causes? Why is graffiti more likely to occur on modernist/brutalist rather than traditionalist buildings? How much is produced by gangs using tags to mark territory? In his new book The Face […]
Cllr Peter Golds, leader of the Conservative opposition in Tower Hamlets, says the police and the Electoral Commission are ineffective in ensuring free and fair elections in his borough In terms of the conduct of elections, the Borough of Tower Hamlets is in a league of its own. The lack of action taken on fraud […]
Cllr Florence Anderson has been suspended as a Labour councillor in Sunderland after she supported a call for the IRA to bomb this year's Conservative Party Conference. Her support for this cause on Facebook was spotted by Mark Wallace who reported it on his Crash Bang Wallace blog. I am pleased that the Labour Party […]
Cllr Clare Hilley, a Conservative councillor in Croydon, says strong law and order policies are needed for her borough to be confident about 2012 Like many other residents returning home from a hard day’s work on that mild August evening in Croydon, I was forced to witness horrendous acts of mindless vandalism and violence targeted […]
Cllr Colin Barrow, the Leader of Westminster City Council,asks what residents, businesses and the council can do for each other This morning, Westminster City Council will launch its future vision for the city and council; one that moves decisively away from the state knows best model and one that moves away from the state simply […]
The London Local Authorities Bill gives power to Police Community Support Officers power to issue Fixed Penalty Notices for such offences as dropping litter. Excellent news. I have long thought how absurd it is that PCSOs – of we are to have them at all – have such little power in law enforcement. But more […]
Westminster Council is planning to introduce a by-law that would prohibit the protest camp in Parliament Square. The Council leader Cllr Colin Barrow says: “We have been calling for action for years and now finally we have the ability to do something about it. I have said time and again we are not against public […]
Any doubts as to how seriously the Conservatives will be taking the elections in a year's time for Police Commissioners have been thoroughly dispelled this morning. CCHQ have launched a new section of their website stressing the importance of the election and providing an opportunity for those interested in standing to submit their details. It […]
In November next year there will be elections in England and Wales (apart from London) for Police Commissioners across the 41 police authorities. Those elected will have the power to set priorities for fighting crime, to set the precept and to sack chief constables for fail to deliver. Yet all the three main political parties […]
Very good piece by my fellow Municipal Journal contributor Claire Fox on the notion that councils spending more money on "youth engagement" would be an effective response to last month's riots. She says: From mandatory 'pupil voice' policies in schools, to shadow youth councils, never in history have the young been so 'listened to' or […]