Labour lies and Indies naivety

Can someone tell me just how this tale of how Labour Councillors have 'saved' Tonyrefail Police station matches up with this tale of station closures across South Wales?

Now someone seems to be trying to feed the public a line here.  Wonder who that could be?  Answers on a postcard please.

Meanwhile RCT Ratepayers Action Group members seem to be operating a step or two behind with this post on their Facebook page.

Steve O'Gorman

"I've just heard on the grapevine (second-hand info, but with good authority backing it up) that Aberdare Police Station has been earmarked for closure. All the existing provision will be relocated to Merthyr and/or Pontypridd. I can't name my source for obvious reasons..." Um, the Western Mail maybe?

 

Just what is going on with Tonyrefail policing then Russell?

I have to admit to being a bit confused – you know that Russell Roberts fella, the Council leader in RCT who is also the Chair of the South Wales Police Authority?  Well some of the things he says just don’t add up.

I mean there was all the confusion over who authorised the changes in terms and conditions for employees earning less than £42,000 – he tried to say it was all down to the Chief executive.  Yet at the same time it seems the Cabinet are the ones in charge whenever there is good news to impart.

Then there was the lovely bit of spin about there being no compulsory redundancies in RCT when what they were doing instead was giving people a not so gentle push with enhanced deals if they shut up and signed on the dotted line.  It’s only tax payers’ money they are giving away after all.

But no, it is none of that which is currently puzzling me.  My confusion this time is over the status of Tonyrefail Police station.

South Wales Police community police site Our Bobby.com states

Northern Division has four main stations - one in each area.  Main Stations are open to the public between 8am and 8pm Sunday-Thursday. Friday and Saturday is 10am-10pm

Merthyr Tydfil Police Station - Swan Street, Merthyr CF47 8ES

Ton Pentre Police Station, Maindy Road, Ton Pentre  CF41 7HA

Aberdare Police Station, Cross Street, Aberdare CF44 7EG

Pontypridd Police Station, Berw Road, Pontypridd CF37 2TR

Supplementary Stations with Limited Reception Cover Between 9am - 5pm Monday to Friday    -    Porth Police Station; Talbot Green Police Station

There are a further number of stations geographically placed throughout the area where officers patrol from. They have no counter facilities and officers may not be present if they are on patrol.

Treharris Police Station 1:30pm-4:30pm (Merthyr area) Monday-Friday

Mountain Ash Police Station; Hirwaun Police Station;  Tonyrefail Police Station;

Ferndale Police Station; Rhydyfelin; Church Village

Tonyrefail East ward covers

Tonyrefail east: The Coedely, Collena and Tylcha wards of the Community of Tonyrefail. The village of Tonyrefail is sited just to the south of the Rhondda valleys on the A4119.

Your nearest Police Station is: Porth Police Station, Porth Street, Porth CF39 9SB which is open Monday-Friday 9am -1pm, 1.45pm-5pm.

So how exactly does this fit with this piece of fiction from the Tonyrefail Labour website?

Tonyrefail West Councillor, Eudine Hanagan said:

“Following our representations I am pleased that Tonyrefail has received assurances that our Police Station is not affected,.”

Umm?   Is that because it had already closed then?

The ‘news’ article (or short story whichever you prefer top view it as) states that

““Having Cllr Roberts as a member of the Police Authority has allowed us to have direct access into the decision making process and protect our local Police Station.”

Perhaps Russell had better pay more attention at Police Authority meetings. Or perhaps his influence isn’t as great as he thinks it is?

As I have said previously he was surely on dicey ground trying to use his position for ward advantage anyway?

Police row rumbles on

The Western Mail today reports on a study by Cardiff’s Universities Police Science Institute that says local police services will take the biggest hit from Government cuts to the policing budget.

The report’s author Dr Timothy Brain, who was formerly the Chief Constable of Gloucestershire, challenges claims by the Westminster Government  that the cuts can be absorbed in the main by back office efficiency savings with little impact on frontline services.

If this is the case then somebody had better start asking questions of South Wales Police Officers who are telling people a different story. 

Councillors in RCT have been reassured that front line services will not be affected by budget savings.  So who is right?

Playing the blame game

As if the sight of looters and rioters wreaking havoc on the streets of cities across England isn’t enough, the situation is being made all the more sickening by the rush by politicians to alternatively wipe their hands of any blame / attribute blame to someone else.

This situation is not the result simply of anything that has happened over the past fifteen months of coalition Government.  Mistakes have been made by successive Governments and politicians for years.  They have failed to connect with a substantial number of people in this country.  Just look at the number of people who are completely disengaged with the democratic process, the process by which they should be able to bring about change.

No political party is managing to successfully engage with the poverty stricken and disadvantaged communities they all claim to care so much about.  And the worst offenders are the party who was supposed to be there for the working class, who were originally all about communities and socialist principles – the Labour party.  They don’t want to lift people out of poverty, they don’t want to get people off benefits, because then they will have nothing to blackmail them with.

And so what are they doing now? Are they making any serious effort to suggest solutions?  Of course not – they are far too busy trying to lay all the blame at the door of the coalition Government.

Peter Hain has a pop in the Western Mail today at the ‘savage cuts’ (what a ludicrous and overworked phrase) affecting the Police.  The Government must change its mind immediately or how will the Police cope with situations such as the current riots in the future?

As a Wales Office spokesman said:

 “Peter Hain appears to be conveniently unaware that his own shadow cabinet colleague Yvette Cooper has said the police would not be immune from cuts under Labour. He also seems to have forgotten that in Government the then Home Secretary Alan Johnson said he could not guarantee that police numbers would not fall, or that under Labour in January 2010 all police forces were expecting significant spending cuts in the 2011-2012 financial year.”

 “Despite Labour spending record sums on policing and record police numbers, only 11% of police officers are available on the streets at any one time.

“We must focus police resources onto the frontline. We have said we won’t do anything that will reduce the amount of visible policing on our streets.

“The effectiveness of a police force does not depend on the number of staff but on the way police officers are deployed. Police forces must focus on driving out wasteful spending and increasing efficiency in the back office so that they can save jobs.”

I have written previously about the new policing plans for South Wales Police and the assurances given by Superintendent O’Neill that this will be precisely the case in RCT – stations may close, methods may change, but there will be no loss of front line policing.

Peter Hain told the Western Mail that people in wales should not ‘crow’ over the fact that the riots have been confined to England, and that we are not immune to the ‘family breakdown which brought disruption to the lives of young people across Britain.’

He said: “We have a stronger family and community tradition to underpin our society but it’s being eroded year by year.”

Yes – that is maybe the case, but who then is to blame for that?  Devolution means Labour have been in power here over the last fifteen months of the coalition Westminster Government.  What have they done to help the situation?

Abusing your position Russell?

Last week I wrote about the presentation on the future of policing in RCT.  Included in that presentation there was a list of Police stations which were graded green - definitely staying open;  red  - definitely closing and amber. The amber stations included Treforest, Rhydyfelin and Tonyrefail.  In these locations Superintendent O’Neill assured Members that they would be maintaining the Police presence but looking at alternative ways of providing the service.  Some of those stations may close, some may not.

Now this was just seven days ago, and the report was, everyone was assured, hot off the press. So it is reasonable to expect that discussions and decisions would take longer than a week to come to fruition.

It came as a surprise then when on Monday I had an email from Welsh Lib Dem Councillor Mike Powell (currently holidaying in France) asking if I had heard any more about Tonyrefail station being kept open.  A journalist had contacted him for comment on a press release issued by Russell Roberts stating that it was to stay open.

Russell is of course the leader of RCT Council and also Chair of the South Wales Police Authority.

The resulting article – brief though it is – appeared in the Pontypridd Observer today.

 “The pledge to protect patrols of police and PCSOs and to find a better police base in the community was given to RCT councilors in the village from Chief Superintendent Kevin O’Neil.  It came despite the force forecasting that there will be 625 fewer workers and 395 fewer police officers by 2015 to comply with Government cuts.

Mr O’Neil gave the undertaking to RCT council leader Russell Roberts – who also chairs the South Wales Police Authority – and ward councillors Eudine Hanagan and Bob McDonald after they swore to oppose any reduction.”

hhmmm…  You would think the Chair of the Police Authority may have some inside knowledge would you not?  But surely not that he would have any influence over such operational decisions in his own ward.

Yet the full press release sent out by the three Tonyrefail Labour Councillors seems to suggest he may have.

The press release, as published on a local forum, quotes Cllr Bob McDonald as saying

"Having Cllr Roberts as a member of the Police Authority has allowed us to have direct access into the decision making process and protect our local Police Station."

Interesting. 

It also states that

Tonyrefail Councillors have secured a categorical assurance from the Chief Superintendent of Police in Rhondda Cynon Taf that there will be no closure of Police Station or reductions in the level of Policing in Tonyrefail.
Eudine Hanagan, Cabinet Member for Education, piped up with

"Following our representations I am pleased that Tonyrefail has received assurances that our Police Station is not affected, despite the savage cuts being imposed on Wales by the CONDEM Government.”

Ah, Eudine, a joy as always.

Russell Roberts should maybe have shut up and – in the words of his recently reprimanded colleague the former Mayor – give his a**e a chance!

Instead he seemed determined to dig himself deeper.

"We requested the meeting with Chief Superintendent Kevin O'Neil to seek assurances that Tonyrefail Police Station was safe from the cuts South Wales Police are currently being forced to make.”

We are pleased to receive this categorical assurance as we appreciate the difficult position the Police find themselves in as a result of substantial cuts to their funding.”

So there we have it then, the ‘I’m all right Jack’ attitude typical of Labour politicians.  No wonder he wants to keep a finger in so many pies.

Of course, the press release is such a jumble it is difficult to pick out what is true and what is wishful thinking on the part of the three amigos.  Eluned Parrott AM has written to Superintendent O’Neill asking for clarification on the future of all RCT stations on the ‘amber’ list.  The response should be interesting.

A new way of Policing

I went along to the RCT Council meeting this evening, glutton for punishment that I am. Very interesting presentation from Chief Superintendent O’Neill of the South Wales Police on the ‘New Policing Model.”

There has been widespread concern recently over the proposed closure of numerous police stations throughout RCT with people understandably worried that the closure of these stations will lead to a drop in the level of local policing.

The Chief Super was at pains to explain that this is not the intention and that their focus is very much on front line policing rather than ploughing money into buildings that are underutilised by the public, and are in many cases not fit for purpose.

He stated that PCSOs at present spend on average only around 60% of their time on the streets, which he says is unacceptable. Technology means that all officers are now subject to GPS tracking and the plan is that this will enable those in the control room to ensure that officers are where they should be when they should be.

Together with changes in their operating methods officers should be spending less time at the station booking in those they have arrested.

In all he presented a very convincing argument for the changes – let’s hope it works.

Of course the Labour Councillors couldn’t resist the temptation for a dig at the ‘evil empire’ as leader Russell Roberts likes to refer to the Westminster coalition. Will the cuts affect the level of service one asked?  ‘No’ came the reply.  Has the loss of the local partnership budget had a detrimental effect on the service? ‘No’ once again came the answer.

We will be watching progress with interest but the idea of less money poured into unfit premises and more into front line policing seems a very sensible one