Flood Risk Management Group meeting - January 2011

I had my first meeting as the new Chair of the Local Government Association’s Inland Flood Risk Management group this month. On the face of it a bit outside my comfort zone but some of the flooding issues experienced by householders in the Armitage Bridge part of the Newsome Ward have highlighted to me some of the real concerns people have who have gone through flooding events.


The attendees represented an array of Councillors for whom this area is a real passion and officers who grapple with flood related issues on a day to day basis including the National Flood Forum, the Environment Agency, DEFRA officials. So it was a very well informed gathering and an ideal place to get acquainted with the issues. I put the officers from DEFRA and the EA at their ease by telling them I was keen for us to have the meetings questions put to them and answered in a Select Committee fashion with lots of probing to get to the nub of concerns. They seemed suitably pleased by this and they defended the government as best they could.

One real bone of contention was the issue of how Insurance Companies approached flood risk. Insurance companies are approaching the insurance of properties for flood risk not on the basis of flood risk but on postcode. So you could have one property which could be at low/no risk of flooding and then further down the road a property at high risk. Both could be insurance blight areas. In fact this issue affects hundreds of properties in Runnymede which are completely unaffordable to insure for many householders and it would appear that their local MP isn’t desperately fighting their corner on this issue. Following flooding you would assume that Insurance companies would be keen to make areas ‘resilient’ to flooding in future by getting electrical sockets raised and having flood resistant flooring installed. You’d be wrong as Insurance Companies generally want things restoring to their previous state including low electrical sockets etc. Bonkers. I have suggested that there could be a 'green deal' type finance approach to paying for flood hardening measures for 'at risk' homes. A 'Wet Deal'?

The first actions I have asked for is a letter to the Association of British Insurers about the issue and a request for a meeting with the Minister along with other concerned Councillors and officials.

Stirley Hill - Dead and Buried

Stirley Hill - Burial at sea?

Kirklees Planning Committee voted 7 votes to 6 yesterday against a new cemetery at Stirley Hill yesterday. A groundbreaking (maybe the wrong word) decision where the Committee went against Kirklees Councils own proposal to build there. Regular readers of my blog will be familiar with the issues where a site with poor transport links in a location which becomes waterlogged and bleak in winter. Tragically the poor road and weather conditions on the road leading up to the proposed site had resulted in a traffic fatality a few months ago. This highlighted the real issue that would have faced corteges of vehicles going up to the site. There was a massive petition of over a thousand signatures completed in favour of the cemetery but as Cllr Christine Smith pointed out many did not come from our area. In reality these were people who were anxious for a cemetery for religious reasons and were not related to the site or the planning application. They would most likely have been happy with a cemetery anywhere. I spoke up outlining my and the Green Party’s concerns about the site the one point I didn’t make that I wish I had was that because the site is often waterlogged and it is a high site with often frozen land that this could actually make it difficult to actually dig graves. The site was never really fit for purpose. So what happens now? There still remains an issue of a lack of burial spaces and it is not an easy position for the Council to be in but that does not mean it should have put forward a poorly thought out option that had some real downsides. Ultimately, forgetting the impact on the scenery around Castle Hill and the transport issues, it was a far from ideal location and the Committee were right to reject it.

Scrap - Would you credit it!

Now Ronald Reagan is not one of my political idols but some rather good quotes are attributed to him one being this one,

"There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit."

Somehow or other this sprung to mind this week when I read in The Huddersfield Examiner that Kirklees Council will be considering establishing a Voluntary Code of Conduct for Scrap Dealers Now regular readers of this blog will remember I spent a morning going round scrapyards with the police and environmental services back in September and raised the issue with them about establishing such a code. Later we met along with the British Transport Police and knocked some ideas backwards and forwards and a produced a draft code which I suggested was put to Cllr Khan as Leader of the Council but also because he has an interest in the issue of scrap at a national level in his role at the Local Government Association. Of course we'll need Kirklees Cabinet approval to get it adopted and quite rightly we're looking at getting the code adopted more widely in Yorkshire and I think through the Local Government Association we could get replication of the idea at a national level. I guess it will be character forming for me to sit at the sidelines and watch the idea take off and be adopted more widely.

On the Gogglebox - Look North 9/1/12

2011/12 Green Party Boxing Day/ New Years Day Bus Service

Yours truly took to the wheel for a couple of stints



Cllrs Derek Hardcastle and Robert Barraclough on the Boxing Day stint. I daresay the Tories will refer Derek to the Standards Board for wearing a jumper like that!



Mr Andy Storey driving on the first session on the  New Years Day Newsome service

Karen Allison rode shotgun/navigation on both Newsome and Flockton services



Over a hundred people used the service in all. The last people to get off had been hospital visiting on New Years Day



Merry Christmas All

Got the sprouts from the allotment Christmas Day morning.

Councillor Graham Simpson – 2011 Annual Report to Newsome Residents

Councillor Graham Simpson – Annual Report 2011


I have had a period of illness this year and so have not been as active as I would have liked but I’m pleased to say I’m on the mend. Despite this I have still got a number of things to report back on in from the past year.

I spoke out at the Kirklees Council Budget meeting this year against the cuts which were being imposed on us by central government. I and my Green Party colleagues are opposed to the reductions in budgets and services for elderly and disabled people. Green Councillors engaged fully with the budget process to understand in detail what the implicatoions of the cuts were and what, if any room for manoeuvre there was and in truth there was very little. What disappointed me was real cuts in provision being presented by the Labour Party as ‘improvements’. We should be straight with people about the impact of decisions we make even if they are unpopular.

I was actively involved in the protest on the land between New Laithe Hill and High Lane earlier this year. It was great to see so many people turn out and the photograph of the crowd there has been used on a number of times in the Examiner highlighting our opposition. The land is used regularly by walkers,especially dog walkers & children as recreation area's If this land and the land adjacent to Jackroyd Lane and Newsome Road was developed Newsome would lose its individual identity and become an extension of the town centre.

I also spoke out at the scrutiny enquiry into the future management of council housing in Kirklees. I thought that the proposals to include non housing services in the new contract needed more work to see if they would benefit tenants and also that there had not been enough information or consultation with tenants on how the new proposals would affect them. I am pleased that this matter was then referred back to Cabinet and it has now been agreed that the management contract will continue on the existing terms until more information has been provided to tenants and that tenants and there representatives will be fully consulted to see if they agree with any proposed changes before they are implemented.

My main activity this year as a Councillor has been to take up local issues and concerns. Here are just some examples

• I asked Kirklees Highways to address an issue on Colne Street, Aspley by the carpet warehouse and the Flyboat Pub where the road surface was worn down to the cobbles in places and had numerous potholes.

• I sought to get a supply of grit for the residents of Aspley some of whom are unsteady on their feet.

• Another road issue I took up was potholes on Daisy Royd Newsome.

• Drains on Cross Lane Primrose Hill were overflowing at the bottom end of the road and I asked Kirklees Highways to get these cleared.

• I was contacted by local residents about Bankfield House in Taylor Hill. Planning permission was granted in 2008 and the site was secured, work started and construction materials were brought onto site. However nothing has happened for the last couple of years and residents are concerned that the site is not secure and boundary panels frequently fall over or are vandalised. I asked the Council to contact the owners to ensure the site was properly secured. This is an issue I’ll be keeping a close eye on

• I have taken up a number of complaints regarding empty properties around the Newsome Ward. At a time when we are under pressure by the Council and central government to build more houses it makes no sense that we have so many standing empty

These are the ‘bread and butter’ issues of being a local Councillor which affect people’s everyday lives.

I’ve played a key role in getting the thousands of leaflets out to you that we get printed and distributed using our own funds and legwork. If you’d like to help us with either this would be greatly appreciated.

I have joined my fellow Green Party Councillor Andrew Cooper at some of the Green Party advice surgeries at the Monkey Club, Armitage Bridge that we hold on the first Sunday of the month between 1pm and 2pm. Please come along if you have any issues you would like to bring to our attention.

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all

Cllr Graham Simpson

graham.simpson@kirklees.gov.uk Mobile 07814 239317