![Sutton Guardian’s Guide to Political Blogging]()
by Paul Scully | Nov 2, 2006 | News |
Despite the photographers’ best efforts, I wasn’t able to exude for the lens and looked half asleep. Richard Lyon’s sharp eye noticed a photo of my garden with the ladder that I had forgotten to put away. But hey, I’m being picky. I came home to an excellent article in today’s Sutton Guardian about the rise of the political blogs in Sutton, which I have covered in an earlier post. Since it hasn’t gone up on their webpage yet, I have copied the text here. To spare the public and avoid incurring the wrath of the Guardian lawyers, I have put one of my own photos alongside.
Blog standard
Richard Lyons
Posted on the internet is a photograph of Conservative councillor Paul Scully’s back garden.
It is a rich, green affair with a well kept lawn and borders of shrubs. On closer inspection you can clearly make out a yellow whirlygig clothes dryer and, at the bottom, a big black trampoline. Next to the photo, which also shows a white parasol and a discarded ladder, reads the words: “The picture shows the view from my bedroom window”.
As if to remind us the site is not some kind of councillors-homes-through-the-keyhole, the text goes on to discuss the issue of back garden development. OK, so we may still be in the realm of local politics, but it is not politics as we know it. Welcome to the brave new world of political blogs.
Taking the lead from national political blogs and the webcam diary of David Cameron, a growing number of local politicians are starting their own online diaries. Mayor of Sutton Richard Bailey gave out the web address of his blog at a meeting of the full council this month and councillor Cohn Ball and former councillor, Charlie Mansell are also established bloggers.
Claiming to be the first however, is Coun Scully who is aware of the medium’s ability to let the public know what councillors are doing almost as soon as they’ve done it. And what is more he adds, blogs can break down barriers between politicians and their constituents, allowing them to get to know the person in a way never quite achieved before. “I think blogs give an immediacy and an intimacy,” he says. “When people vote for you they generally vote for the party and few people know the individual. I think it’s important they get to know the individual because you may have particular political issues and problems and if they know you have a similar outlook as them they may be able to trust you more.” Coun Scully’s first posting was on May 29, 2006— just three weeks after being elected and bore the title ‘Does cyberspace need another blog?’ Since then he has written a total of 37 entries covering everything from the future of Westcroft Leisure Centre to whether classroom assistants should wear veils.
Much less prolific, by his own admission, is deputy leader of the council Cohn Hall, who left a month between his last posting and the previous one dated September 27. But despite this under-use of his cyberspace presence, he remains extremely enthusiastic about what blogs can achieve – particularly in terms of connecting with the community. “I have had more response from doing more things on a blog than I’ve had from all the leaflets I’ve done in all the years I’ve been councillor” he says. “If I put something up on the blog I might get half a dozen emails about it which is great. The more I can engage with the residents, the better.”
There is also a suggestion the more successful blogs could start to challenge newspapers by breaking stories before journalists. Fortunately for the Sutton Guardian, there is little chance of that happening in this borough. What the blogs of our councillors do seem to demonstrate though is that the internet can bring people closer together — even the public and politicians. “I think it has the potential to change politics and make politicians more human because we do seem a very strange breed,” Coun Hall says. “The potential is there but we need to take it up a level. More councillors should start blogs.”
![Sutton Guardian’s Guide to Political Blogging]()
by Paul Scully | Nov 1, 2006 | News |
Richmond council are seeking to introduce new payment scales for their controlled parking zones. The headline is that it will cost £300pa to park a 4×4. With the current trend for green taxes, many people will find this attractive.
As usual, the devil is in the detail. There are 7 categories A-G. 4x4s, Porsches, Ferraris etc. will come under category G. Half of the Minis sold in the UK will come under the second most expensive category, F. There are very few cars that are actually on the market in the UK that will come into category A.
With a basic 1.6 litre saloon being so penalised, it is hard to see this being more than a money-making exercise rather than a green initiative. Four years ago, I was at the forefront of the campaign to reject a proposed CPZ in Wallington that would have affected 20,000 people. Although an intial low charge was proposed, I worried about the future as the council became more dependent on this revenue. History has shown the 3000 people who objected to be right.
![Sutton Guardian’s Guide to Political Blogging]()
by Paul Scully | Oct 24, 2006 | News |
My second speech at last night’s council meeting was a successful attempt to strengthen our policies on development on back garden land. The picture shows the view from my bedroom window. My house is not extraordinary being located in the middle of Carshalton but it is tranquil.
I sit on the Development Committee that decides on planning applications and I always take each application on its merits. However from a policy point of view we need to take advantage of the fact that we are considering our latest overarching policy document for planning in the borough, the Local Development Framework. My amendment that was agreed at the meeting called upon the council to strengthen our policies for gardens in this paper.
Conservatives have taken a lead on this issue nationally over the last year. Newly elected MP, Greg Clark put forward a bill in Parliament to remove back gardens from the definition of brownfield sites. Yesterday David Cameron called for “fewer houses designed for young, single people and more designed for life.” It is ridiculous that whole streets of houses are being demolished in the north whilst infrastructure is squeezed in the south. The Southeast of England has less rainfall per head of population than the Sudan. The day I see a rush to buy holiday homes in Khartoum is the day that I will accept such high housing targets without policies seeking to encourage people to relocate to other parts of the country.
by Paul Scully | Oct 24, 2006 | Carshalton Central, News |
I spoke twice at last night’s Council meeting. The first was to raise the issue of the management of Sutton’s Leisure Centres. The non-profit making organisation, SCL that manages the four sites have given notice that they intend to walk away from their contract as they cannot raise the funds necessary either through charging or Council funding. Though they are an organisation specifically created to manage, Westcroft, Cheam, Phoenix Centre and Sutton Arena they have also won the contract to manage a leisure facility in Reading. Negotiations are continuing.
We were given clear assurances that all four centres would remain open. Less assured was the response when asked if entrance fees would be increased or which budget would be raided to provide the money to fund the centres.
We must commit to sport. Many people cannot belong to private clubs. There is £35k budgeted to bring the tennis courts up to scratch in Carshalton Park. This has not been spent and so the summer has been missed. We are told that we are the most obese nation in Europe. When we tell our children that it is healthy to do something that makes them out of breath a few times a week, we mean more that smoking a pack of 20 fags.
Eric and Cllr John Kennedy will be monitoring the negotiations to ensure that we keep and maintain leisure facilities that we can be proud of.
![Sutton Guardian’s Guide to Political Blogging]()
by Paul Scully | Oct 21, 2006 | News |
Eric and I joined other councillors and our parliamentary candidate, Ken Andrew to collect signatures for a petition to be presented to Gordon Brown. It calls for him to stop his mismanagement of the NHS which has resulted in more than 18,000 jobs going and deficits approaching £1,277,000,000.
We see the net result in Sutton. The Primary Care Trust is in financial difficulties. Sutton Council are having to bear the financial burden of care for an ever increasing number of autistic children diagnosed by the PCT. There is doubt as to whether the new critical care hospital will be built at all rather than just the preferred location. In the ward (Council, not hospital), no-one is sure of the PCT’s intentions for the War Memorial Hospital.
The petition attracted a lot of interest and support. You can sign the e-petition here. After such matters of State, I went to a fundraising coffee morning and then back home to remind myself what my family looked like.
![Sutton Guardian’s Guide to Political Blogging]()
by Paul Scully | Oct 21, 2006 | News |
Conservatives on the Development Control Committee were instrumental in rejecting the application to convert Canon House into 174 flats. One Liberal Democrat councillor voted with the four Conservative members of the committee to turn the proposal down. By no coincidence, that councillor lives within a few yards of the development and commutes from Wallington Railway Station so would have to live with the consequences of any decision.
Several residents have opposed the scale of the application which proposed adding extra floors to an already dominant building. I am extremely concerned about the proliferation of back-garden development so this building presents an opportunity to meet the increasing housing needs of the area but it must surely be kept in a sensible proportion. Amenity space for the proposal was only around 25% of that required by the Council and the number of affordable housing units fell short. Both of these were to be partly offset with money paid to the council. I’m glad that the committee took their decision based on the development itself rather than allowing their minds being diverted to the short term benefits of this extra Section 106 money.
Despite the photographers’ best efforts, I wasn’t able to exude for the lens and looked half asleep. Richard Lyon’s sharp eye noticed a photo of my garden with the ladder that I had forgotten to put away. But hey, I’m being picky. I came home to an excellent article in today’s Sutton Guardian about the rise of the political blogs in Sutton, which I have covered in an earlier post. Since it hasn’t gone up on their webpage yet, I have copied the text here. To spare the public and avoid incurring the wrath of the Guardian lawyers, I have put one of my own photos alongside.
