September 2000

Council to investigate Newlands allegations (Sept 20, 2000)

Bingley votes for end to secrecy (Sept 15, 2000)

Rough time for comic con merchant (11 Sept, 2000)

First Food Festival off to a tasty start (10 Sept, 2000)

Community Association plans to run council housing stock (Sept 1, 2000)

Council to investigate Newlands allegations

Allegations surrounding the Newlands SRB board are to be investigated by Bradford Council's Chief Executive, it was decided at a full council meeting last night.

The £17.6 million regeneration scheme has been plagued by allegations of corruption and cronyism since it started. Many have appeared recently on the KDIS Discussion Forum, which board chief Bob Sowman described as "very entertaining".

Lib-Dem councillor David Ward, a board member, said last night:

"Right from day one there have been rumours. It has been a running sore".

Supporting the call for an inquiry he said:

"There have been problems in the area for a long time and they're not getting better. In fact they're getting worse.

"It's got to end. It's got to be brought to an end. We in the community can't do it ourselves."

See Full story
See also: KDIS Forum

Bingley votes for end to secrecy

The citizens of Bingley voted overwhelmingly for an end to the secrecy surrounding meetings of the Town Centre Partnership. The almost unanimous verdict came at a packed public meeting at Bingley Town Hall last night, organised by local MP Chris Leslie.

The very suggestion that the Partnership might let in members of the public to observe it's proceedings had led local cop Inspector David Drucquer to storm out of it's last meeting in June. He accused the MP of opening a "can of worms".

"I believe it was set up for people of some standing and importance in Bingley to hear their ideas" he said.

The vote will be discussed at the next private meeting of the Partnership this weekend. But it will be the 13 members of the Partnership itself who will have the final decision on whether they should open their meetings to public scrutiny.

Set up in 1997 by Leslie, the Partnership is made up of invited "representatives" from local big businesses, police and civic organisations. As one disgruntled resident pointed out last night, only 2 of these "representatives" are actual residents of Bingley. With the exception of Chris Leslie himself and Donald Wood of the Better Bingley campaign, all the other members of the Partnership present last night opposed opening up the meetings.

Tory councillor David Herdson, chairman of the council's Shipley Area Panel, had condemned the public meeting organised by Chris Leslie.

"It will not decide anything. He is by himself here. Members (of the Partnership) are quite happy with the existing structure."

Update: 20 Sept 2000: A closed meeting of the Bingley Town Centre Partnership decided by 6 votes to 3 to ignore the overwhelming wishes of Bingley residents and to continue to meet in secret.

See feature: The end of secrecy?

Rough time for comic con merchant

Comedian and con merchant Mark Rough found himself behind bars following his latest scam in Sunderland.

Rough, who moved to Saltaire in 1994 and later set up the "Fnnr Fnnr Comedy Club" at Fanny's Ale House, faces 2 charges of obtaining property by deception and 2 of forgery. He was remanded in custody for 7 days by Sunderland Magisatrates last week. The charges arise from the sale of tickets at a Sunderland pub in which TV stars Lee Hurst and Bob Monkhouse were billed. Needless to say the stars knew nothing about the gig and Rough allegedly disappeared with £2000. He was later arrested at his mother house in Doncaster.

Rough quickly built quite a reputation around Bradford for his smooth-talking vanishing acts which left quite a lot of people out of pocket.

But who's laughing now?

See Previous posting
Do you have any tall tales of funny deals with the fat comic? Then let us know by e-mailing us on the "Rough Justice" hot-line: rough@kdis.org.uk

First Food Festival off to a tasty start

Bradford's first ever "Food and Drink" festival is proving a great success with the public, despite gloomy September weather.

For 10 days a host of top chefs from around the region are demonstrating their skills for free in Centenary Square - and the audience get to eat the final dishes - with foods ranging through British, Chinese, Greek, Japanese, Kashmiri, Swedish and Malaysian.

Even volunteers from the 1 in 12 Club Peasants Collective were on hand today to produce samples of their delicious vegan cooking with stock from their own local allotments. The cookery demonstrations take place amidst a lively local produce market and street entertainers.

The project is the work of Simon Dunn and his public relations company Catering Solutions, with the event financed largely through the support and sponsorship of the region's restaurants and cafes. Simon is already planning next year's festival.

He believes that the food industry could play a major role in the future regeneration of the city.

The festival continues all week, so why not take advantage of some free entertainment - and some free food!

Check out the Bradford Food and Drink festival website.
See also: The KDIS 2020 Vision submission.

Community Association plans to run council housing stock

The Royds Community Association, which runs a £35 million government regeneration scheme, is planning to take control of up to 5,000 council houses. The Association have been in talks with the council to take over the 3,300 houses in the South West of Bradford which it covers, together with other houses from adjoining estates.

The plan depends on the recommendations of private consultants Hacas, who the council have hired to report on the future control of it's entire housing stock of 26,500 homes, which currently face a repairs backlog of over £100 million. Their report is expected to be considered at the council's Executive meeting in 2 weeks time, but the full report is unlikely to be made public. The government is pushing councils to get rid of their housing stock.

Royds Corporate manager Andy Greenough told KDIS:

" We've been talking to the council for months about Royds Community Association becoming a registered landlord and taking over part of the stock within the Royds area. We're hoping that is what Hacas recommend to the council."

If the Council express an interest in a stock transfer, then they must prepare a business plan for the government by November, with any go-ahead been granted next March. Then all the tenants in the area will be balloted.

"It's not a case of Royds taking over. We would like to become the landlord for the Buttershaw, Woodside and Delph Hill estates. There are also some other estates outside that area who we're working with who are also very interested in the idea - Odsal and Wyke. But without the backing of the tenants, it will not happen".

The Royds SRB scheme officially finishes in 2002, but the Association hope to continue after that. The 22 strong board has a majority of elected residents, together with representatives from partner organisations, such as Keepmoat Plc.

See: Royds Community Association website
See also: "Inside Housing" which carried the story in it's September 1st edition.
Check out also: KDIS Forum for discussion on Newlands SRB scheme.

Back to Top of Page

Back to Contents Page