The Murmurings of Barry Kirby

Yesterday was my final day at BAE Systems and so I had all the fun things like the leaving speech, exit interview and after work drinks.  I thought I might start getting cold feet about my new venture, but there was nothing like that, it was all really good.  Now its a day off to take it all in before full speed ahead with K Sharp on Monday.

The one thing that did hit me was that I had been with BAE for seven years, in fact it had been over 7 years but in many ways I was lucky in that I had a number of different projects that took me around different parts of the business and doing new things.

Anyway, I had a nice leaving speech and a speedy exit interview to give back the array of stuff I had acquired over the years then down to Bristol for a few drinks.  Starting of in Las Iguanas and ending up in Hooters, it was quite good fun especially because  of the people who turned up.

So I have a day of unemployment and then onwards and upwards

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Last Saturday I took part in an Exercise at Gloucester North Warehouse which had been organised by Gloucester Safer Communities and was themed around what would happen if a far right organisation applied to have a protest march and rally in Gloucester.  Just how would the communities work together and with the police and other agencies?

I have to admit that I could not stay for the whole event, I went in for the morning and had to disappear just after lunch.  But int hat morning we got a briefing from the police and Safer Communities team about what were there to achieve, and then briefed on the first bit of exercise and then in our groups we discussed what we would expect from the police in terms of action and also information.

For me, this was a really good event, not only because of the better understanding of the police powers and how they view all these type of events, but also to talk to other community organisations and see how their needs are similar in some ways, but also different in others.

ON the face of it, Kingsway could be seen as not very relevent tot a march in the city centre, but for me it was the more knock on effects on services like policing.  IE if they all went to the City Centre to support the main action, would that make us vulnerable.  How do we deal with the troublemakers that may be in the city centre but come from our own communities?  How can we support the communities that have been hit by issues?  Not surprisingly a lot of the actual experience discussion came from the recent riots.  It was quite good to have Cllr Kathy Williams on our table as she could give us her experience in that riot and the actions she and the other people took in the very early hours to set about “putting it right”.

A great success on both understanding what happens, but also to really boost communications between the many organisations that exist within the local area.  I would look forward to doing another one.

I know I moan a lot, but one of the things that has disappointed me in the past couple of years has been the Gloucester Carnival.  This could have been because I have had a fair bit of experience of being involved with Silloth Carnival when I was younger or just the fact that I found the Gloucester Carnival really good in the park, but very uninspirational in terms of a procession.  because of this, when Paul James, Leader of Gloucester City Council, made a public statement in essence as a challenge to those who criticised to get involved with it this year, I really couldn’t resist.

Having been involved for the past couple of months, the group leading it has grown from a few sat round a table to over 15 at the meeting last week.  What is really great is that is that it’s not just the usual suspects, but many groups have got involved, and also local businesses

as well as a couple of councillors like Tarren Randle.  It is chaired by Paul James but really is an “open to any ideas” session.

Some of the changes we have already agreed upon is to make the procession at the start rather than at the end of the day, and then making it start from elsewhere and then end at Gloucester Park, the logic being that you line the streets to watch the parade, then follow into the park to enjoy the rest of the entertainment.  Having it at the end, when the parade left, many people just went home.

Also, we are really encouraging everyone to get involved, it is a carnival for everyone, and it is as much fun to be in the parade as watch it, so we want to really push groups and organisations to highlight themselves and contribute to the parade by  joining in.

For me, a key thing is the businesses getting involved too.  It is a great method of advertising, and getting involved with our community, so we will be encouraging businesses to either take out a sponsorship pack (at very reasonable rates) and/or get involved directly with one of your community groups and give them some cash (or things in kind) to help them put on a fantastic display.

So, its early days, with a lot to do.  And for all those who say that the Carnival is rubbish the message is quite simple, to make it better, get involved.  Think about how you could make a float or a walking entry.  Could you encourage your local pub to g sponsor a few of you, or you employer?  It will be as good as we, as a community, makes it!

I got home late last night and picked up the day’s copy of the Citizen, and had a catchup of what is going on in our fair city.  It’s fair to say I was rather bemused to read the following on the letters page:

I had written a whole post as a ‘reply’ to the letter, but given the clues in the letter itself about who wrote it then maybe im just playing into their hands, however, for clarity I offer the following points.

On the face of it, I absolutely agree, I do not talk on behalf of the council, and have never purported to have done so.  I always speak on behalf of myself as the constant reminder on this site and any other medium (Twitter etc)  highlights.  I make sure the statements are there to highlight they are my own views.  I would not wish to bring the council in disrepute, there are members of the council who have hearts of gold, which is why I have taken guidance from the various authorities about doing all I can to comply with the rules as highlighted.

It is also right what they say, that I am often quoted as Quedgeley Parish Councillor, that is a statement of fact and while I ask (and reporters can verify this) to not be quoted as such, it is not wrong to say it.

Various people would like me to stop blogging, tweeting, talking to people (and probably breathing too) but I really believe that I should be communicating with the people who I represent and these are very effective mediums for doing so.  In fact Parish Councils are being encouraged to make use of Social Media to communicate more with residents so perhaps I have just been leading the way?

 I have a simple message to the author of the letter, and I say this as my own personal view,  I will always do what I can for our community, and I will not stop communicating with the community.  For me the potential for someone to have some confusion about who I am speaking on behalf of (which can be very quickly cleared up) is a small price to pay for ensuring that I am fulfilling my duty to those I represent and those who ask me to try and help (who are not residents of Kingsway and Quedgeley).

Promoting the fact that Quedgeley Parish Council has achieved the Quality Parish Status is indeed something that should be written about and promoted, its ironic that the reason I have not done so (though I wanted to) is because the only people allowed to communicate with the press about Council matters is the Chair and the Clerk.

Just in case you have not got the message – I write this on behalf of myself, not Quedgeley Parish Council, not other Kirby’s, other residents of Gloucester, Human Factors practitioners, bloggers, tweeters, politicians, men, humans or any other primates!

On many issues I have an opinion.  I like to hear the arguments and make up my mind as I’m sure everyone does.  But I have to admit on listening to the various arguments for and against the devolution of Scotland I really am left with the “so what?” attitude.  Not because I dislike Scotland, but in the grand scheme of things I think a few people in Holyrood will get more power, but will the typical Scottish resident see much difference?  I don’t really much of substance will change, so why bother?

The idea is to enable the Scottish Parliament to have

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full control over Scotland, to be able to set tax, generate its own income, buy and maintain its own assets and protect its own borders.  Which in theory sounds all very nice, but would it all be that easy and what would be the real benefit to the Country?  The undercurrent, I think, is North sea Oil income. Some analysts estimate that 80-90% of the North Sea Oil, should devolution occur, would belong to Scotland.  A nice little earner one would say. But what else does Scotland do to generate income?  It has a great reputation for Whisky, and Tourism, coupled with a modest manufacturing basis, it all could add up to a tidy package.

However, so could the costs of devolution.  It would need its own defence force, with Soldiers, Sailors, Aircrew, guns, Jets and Ships, intelligence and hierarchy.  Where would this come from, would the UK gift the Scottish regiments, airbases and submarines that are currently based in Scotland.  could they afford the maintenance bill?  Would they be part of NATO? 

Would they create their own currency?  If they kept the Pound (£) then they are linked to the UK and therefore that’s not devolution so would we see a true Scottish currency? It’s probably not the best time to join the Euro, and would they want that anyway? 

Looking at Health, per head, Scotland has a much higher health bill than the rest of the UK, so that could be a plus from the English side, our NHS bill should reduce.  I know that there are talks about a “Devolution+” option, where everything is devolved except a few items like Defence and Social Care, but surely it should be an all or nothing thing, not like a child leaving home but still getting mum to do all the laundry and cooking the meals.

Finally what about the border, will we need passport control (probably), how will it affect the working economy, cross border jobs and the like.

And a bit of food for thought, the UK Gov bailed a lot of banks out and some of these were Scottish, would the Scottish Government take on this burden and give Westminster its money Back?

Personally I don’t want to see devolution, I like the idea of the UK as it is, but by the same token, I don’t think it would change life dramatically in England if it did, I think the idea that Scotland is some sort of “cash cow” for Westminster is vastly overrated, and I woudl assume that if this happens and in a few years time if it doesn’t work as well as the SNP hopes, then there will not be an option to “kiss and make up”? 

Related articles

• Cameron is gambling with Scottish independence | John Curtice (guardian.co.uk)
• The New Braveheart? Scotland’s Salmond Eyes Independence from the U.K. (globalspin.blogs.time.com)
• David Cameron and Ed Miliband join forces to fight Scottish independence (mirror.co.uk)
• Devo-max isn’t a solution, it’s a whole new can of worms (leftfootforward.org)

On the border between Kingsway and Tuffley is Daniels Brook.  In 2007 this flooded (as did much of Gloucester) and flooded a lot of the gardens of the houses in Bodium Avenue.  The Environment Agency has been working on the Brook to ensure it is more able to cope with the water run off and drainage requirements.  We knew this work was going to happen in some form, but what we were not prepared for was the devastation it would cause to so many of the trees and habitats that exist along there.  

In the Citizen, there is an article today featuring Cllr Steve Morgan who is “delighted” with the work.  He obviously has not decided to venture over to Kingsway and see it from our perspective.  The Environment Agency were tasked with full consultation to ensure that residents were aware and in agreement with the plans, but they obviously decided that they could not be bothered because many of the directly affected Kingsway residents have been left shocked and aghast at what was a very attractive edge of the estate, is now a barren wasteland as the Environment agency has rode roughshod and ripped out pretty much every tree it can see.  At the recent Kingsway Association AGM, residents highlighted the lack of communication and the rather excessive approach that has been taken, since then it has only got worse.

Don’t get me wrong, some action had to happen, because I believe that a lot of the issues were caused by the neglecting of the brook by the agency responsible, and therefore a serious cleaning up task was required, and some deepening required, but not the whole-scale destruction of the entire area  for the sake of the freak event in 2007 (according to the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology).

As a bit of a pacifier, the Environment Agency will be replacing “some” trees, but this will not be happening until the back-end of 2012, even though they could be doing this right now (The ideal planing time for trees is the winter as they are mainly dormant).  I personally think the action they have taken is so over the top and destructive, it makes a mockery of the name of the agency.

If only they had consulted properly and this could have all been highlighted and worked out, but it seems that they work in a little bubble of their own, regardless of who is affected.