Progressive Middlesbrough: terrorist blog?

[Spanish-Inquisition]

Another terrorist blog attacking Middlesbrough?

Middlesbrough Council AGM

Middlesbrough Council's AGM is normally an incident-free business meeting, mainly concerned with filling vacancies on committees and outside bodies.
This week's meeting was little different in many ways, but there were some items of interest which may give an indication of how the next council will develop.
After the nomination of Steve Bloundele as Council Chair, the Tories nominated Cllr John Hobson for the position. Fair enough – it's the Tories' job to show some opposition.
What was interesting was that the four MICA councillors, (those heavily backed by the BoroTaxi tendency) voted in support of Cllr Hobson. Is that what 'independent' voters in Beckfield, Park End and Coulby Newham expected when they voted on 5 May?
Similarly, the purportedly 'Green' councillor from Park Ward (who has yet to reveal any green credentials whatsoever) also voted for the Tory; not what any Green voter that I have ever met would expect.
As no opposition group has achieved 10% or more of the seats on the council, none of them has qualified as of right for a special responsibility allowance for their group leader. After it was proposed that the Tories, as the only political group (as distinct from a self-interested commercially-influenced group), should have the cash, the 'leader' of the four MICA councillors quickly intervened. He moved that the allowance be alternated between the Tories and MICA, and that the MICA 'leader' (i.e. himself) should be first to get his grubby little hands on the money.
The 'independents' main – indeed, only – campaign argument during the recent election was that Labour councillors were very bad people for taking special responsibility allowances for, well, actual real responsibilities (like chairing scrutiny panels or having Executive jobs). So there's a strong whiff of hypocrisy about these same 'independents' grabbing a special responsibility allowance for nothing more than being a group with fewer than a tenth of members of the council (four, to be precise).
Still – honesty, consistency and political principles are not what we should expect from the the four MICAs

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Progressive Middlesbrough: terrorist plan?

Middlesbrough Council's new Gresham (St. Hilda's & Grove Hill) plan

MIDDLESBROUGH Council is set to borrow millions of pounds in a bid to get the stalled Gresham housing renewal (and St. Hilda's and Grove Hill) scheme back on track.
This is Sandy McKenzie's report in tonight's Evening Gazette (24/08/2011)
The authority also aims to use millions more generated from land sales to buy up homes in affected areas.
It comes as Mayor Ray Mallon makes clear his commitment to completing the stalled redevelopment scheme - and says he now expects “quick progress” to be made.
The council is also working to complete projects in St Hilda’s and to take forward the regeneration scheme at Grove Hill.
Big Government cash allocations for Housing Market Renewal schemes - such as that at Gresham - are no longer available.
And Mr Mallon will consider a report next Friday which includes a recommendation that the council should borrow £14.8m from private lenders to complete the purchase and demolition of properties in Phase 2A of the Gresham project.
A bid for Government cash towards the £3.7m cost of completing the purchase of the outstanding properties in Phase 1 has been also made.
And the council also plans to use cash generated from land sales to meet the £14.4m cost of buying up the homes in Phase 2B.

Mr Mallon told the Gazette: “The original plans to demolish 1,500 homes in Gresham area were far too ambitious. This is the reason the plans were scaled back to demolish 750 houses.
“In recent years, the economy has been fragile and this has had an effect on the progress of the Gresham project. In recent months a great deal of work has taken place to deal with the Gresham situation once and for all.
“We have almost completed the demolition of Phase 1 and, because of the Government withdrawing support for Housing Market Renewal projects, the council will now borrow £14.8m so Phase 2A can be completed within the next three years - though I believe all the houses in that phase will be demolished well before that.”
Mr Mallon said that - in addition - the council would sell sites for development in different locations in the borough which would result in many millions of pounds being made available.
“For example Hemlington Grange is worth in excess of £30m and I do believe the market value will be realised,” he said.
“There are other sites which are also extremely valuable and, when all the sites are put together, the overall value is very high.”
A proportion of that money will be invested in Gresham so Phase 2B can be completed.
“Therefore I can confirm today that the proposals on the table at this time will be progressed and completed - and for the first time we know exactly where the money is coming from,” said Mr Mallon.
“This has been a very difficult process for people in the Gresham area and I believe we will see quick progress.”
Mr Mallon said there had also been meetings with Erimus Housing over Grove Hill that and more than £3m had been identified to ensure the completion of the demolition process

GRESHAM:
Phase 1 is bounded by Union Street and Princes Road - 46 of the 418 properties are yet to be acquired and there are 198 homes still to be demolished. The cost of completing the buying up of homes and clearing the area is estimated at £3.6m.
Phase 2A is bounded by Borough Road, Diamond Road, Garnet Street and the back of Linthorpe Road and 10 of the 210 properties have been acquired. The total cost for securing the remaining properties and clearing the area is estimated at £14.8m. Plans will also be drawn up for a mixed-use development of the site and they will be market-tested to gauge the interest of developers.
Phase 2B is bounded by Garnet Street, Princes Road, Diamond Road and the back of Linthorpe Road - The council has acquired 11 of the 201 properties. The cost of completing the assembly of the site is estimated at £14.4m. The rate of future acquisition will be dependent of the speed at the council generates cash from the sale of land.
Negotiations are also ongoing with a developer about a comprehensive refurbishment of 67 houses in Wentworth and Waverley Streets.
ST HILDA’S:
The council has acquired all but 12 of the original 291 properties scheduled for demolition. There are still 33 properties to demolish. Completing the scheme will cost £1.1m and a bid is being made to Government for a contribution towards the cost.
GROVE HILL:
There are 28 privately-owned houses yet to be acquired and 42 tenants to be relocated. There are 266 houses still to demolish. The cost of completing the site assembly is £3.6m. The aim is to create a site for new housing to be built, improve the layout of the estate and improve the environment including providing a new park.
Posted by John at 21:54

Source - http://progressive-middlesbrough.blogsp ... am-st.html