22/03 Terror in broad daylight

In this blog I am going to try to look at the act of terrorism and also respond to a thought provoking tweet I received today.

Yesterday we witnessed a man deliberately driving along a footpath mowing people down, crashed the car, ran towards parliament and stabbing a police officer. As I write this 4 people have been killed, 4 families have lost someone and many more affected in this incident. Innocent people going about their daily business.

Praise, Thanks, Thoughts and Prayers  go out the family and friends of Keith Palmer and the others who died yesterday. And also to all Emergency services, members of the public and Tobias Elwood who all selflessly stayed on the front line and tried to help the injured.

Earlier I was listening girl Brendan Cox, who lost his wife in a terror attack last summer, whilst I can't directly quote him, his point was we see people in isolation often characterised by their profession but everyone has a back story they are a father mother sister brother etc. what I would say about profession and isolation there of is that some people go to work to just earn money others go to work not only for a wage but because they believe in what they do.

 I going to quickly refer to the tweet I was in copy yesterday.

   that's the story? . Police officer and 2 others dead but mp locked in is the story!!!

I have now had more information about this tweet and I have clearly Miss understood, the point was about attempts to create s local story and not as I'd assumed. please scroll to the end for update

 I suppose it depends what eyes you are looking through. I've included above my narrative on what i saw through the media, but as for the story, I saw something bigger than whats suggested in the tweet. so I'm going to split this into 2 parts.
    Part 1 an individual caused a number of incidents which triggered a Blue Light response, Their role includes protection of all and our way of life, cordons were put in place and then the area cleared. The area being cleared included a building with over 1000 people in some were emergency services some were administrators, visitors, researchers, MP's, Business people, managers even school children so in light of the situation just outside the building the last thing emergency services need is all these people spilling out into danger or endangering those already caught up in the incident and so lock down the building. Its not only safer for them its also a potentially large problem that can be dealt with later. I fully believe the emergency services did the right thing.
    Part 2 Yes that group of people included MP's. Now in the UK we have a hatred of MP's and a feeling that these people aren't worthy of protection. MP's work really hard to try and improve the Uk or manage particular problems, despite common belief these people work very long hours and put in a great deal of effort. I know Tamworth MP not only increased the number of hours he worked but also took a pay cut when leaving his job to be an MP.
Not one politician that I know is there to cause any harm or distress to anyone they are there for the right reasons the issues become clouded when it comes to priorities and the public purse.
  Despite the above, we have the right to elect and MP to represent our needs and so I do believe they should be protected as should the public and international visitors who walk around London and enjoy the freedom our democracy and services provide for us.


The Uk is no stranger to Terrorism

Wikipedia has a great page listing attacks since 1970

I remember as many of us do some of the troubles we have had, I was in Brighton when the Grand Hotel was bombed, I visited London the week after the 7/7 bombings, i remember reading about the soldiers being shot at Lichfield station.
This week we heard of the death of Martin McGuiness a few years a go we saw tributes following the death of Nelson Mandela and now we are focused on the group who attempt to hide behind Islam. for me it doesn't matter what the cause, it doesn't matter whether its instructed, lone wolf or someone just pushed over the edge. Anyone who creates fear, panic and ultimately injury and death is acting in a terrorist manner, they are terrorising other people.
The above named people moved away from violence and began to negotiate, it was only at that stage that they made progress, (I know there is a whole debate as to who called who terrorists with these)
It has been said a number times but its still true we must not give in to terrorism.

And we must not punish the innocent in the way that terrorist are trying to, we must not let ourselves be consumed by the hatred.
An Irish man I know had his vehicle vandalised repeatedly in the 1974's following the Birmingham pub bombings, it had nothing to do with him. The Muslim community talking their children to school today should not be judged because this guy in London may have been inspired by a terrorist group using their religion.


Again, a massive thank you to all who protect us and they way we live in the UK.

The tweet I referenced at the top was about the localisation of a story and the reference to the local MP not as I interpreted it. I do have to agree with the tweet in regards to the fact that this terrible incident is terrible regardless of whether it has a local angle.

Planning, Tamworth's town centre, retail and leisure

     I tend not to comment on planning meeting or decisions after my points have been made in the meeting, but I feel it might be time to start doing so; well at least I'm going have my say on a few recent things not just planning committee meetings but also some of the wider issues that affect Tamworth.
    It is often tempting for the public and committee members to say things like "I'd prefer to see a shop here instead of this application for a cafe" or "I think this land is better suited to shops than housing" but the committee can only consider the application in front of them for approval or not, the committee cannot refuse an application just on speculative desire, if it fits policy it's difficult to argue against.

In January we had planning meeting with 4 applications for discussion and decision. 1 was a change to existing, 1 was a new application following refusal of a previous scheme, 1 was a change to a scheme and 1 was final details about a foot bridge.

 One was for a new footbridge over the Birmingham Derby railway line giving pedestrian access to the Anker Valley development keeping pedestrians off the carriageway.  The main controversy on this one has already been aired and discussed with the Anker Valley development and at previous committees so was simply around final details on the bridge itself. Previously the committee had been asked its collective opinion on the style of the footbridge and what would be acceptable or not such as a high arch bridge or low profile, enclosed roof etc.

But the application that garnered the most discussion was that of the new multi-use development adjacent to the co-op garage opposite the former site of the Jolly Sailor public house. This was the 4th time the committee had been presented with information of the development. They received an issues paper, which is an opportunity to raise issues which the committee feels are important prior to application, then a planning app which in this case ignored the comments made by the committee at issue paper stage. This first application was refused as it did not meet either policy or the views given by the committee. The cycle was repeated and this time the new design and plans were approved. For the committee this was an important applications as not only does it sit next to the old Co-op garage site which will be coming forward for development at some point it is also located on the route of one of the Gateways to the town centre which the borough and county council have been investing in through the gateways project over the last 6 years. Evidence of this can be seen in the works done to Ladybridge surfacing, changes to the pedestrian crossing on Riverdrive and also the works around Tamworth Train station roundabout.  The ultimate goal is to marry up the 2 different offers of Ventura Park and the town centre and walking onto the Train station.

Tamworth Borough Council and many other groups and individuals have been grappling with the challenge of keeping the town centre vibrant in an ever changing world of retail and leisure.
There are a few things than need to be stated before we go too far.
 
Tamworth Borough Council-

• does not set business rates
• does not own Ankerside or most of the town centre properties
• does not and did not own the land formally the precinct
• does not operate bus services
• does not maintain or build highways (but Staffordshire County Council does)
• does not have any control of what planning applications are received but all must be considered
• Retail has changed and is still changing rapidly

The issues start with what does Tamworth have to offer. Tamworth has Ventura Park as we know it locally but it's actually a collections of sites, This area is one of the biggest retail attractions of the Midlands, it's not on the scale of Trafford Cnetre or the Bullring or the big city high street experience but in fact there is a lot more there than we realise and take for granted. I know people who travel to Ventura park as an activity in shopping and tell me they have been to Tamworth. And actually the traffic issues are nowhere near a bad as we say or think they are I travel through there at various times of the day without problems, in fact I often choose that route to get to the town centre between 4:45pm and 6pm.

So what's the blocker for the town centre? Why aren't these shops there?
Retail has changed and is still changing rapidly, the retail units on offer in traditional town centres are simply not as suitable as they were in the past. There are different demands on vehicle access, different demands on safe pedestrian areas and the size of retail units in demand has changed significantly.

As mentioned earlier the planning committee at Tamworth often receives planning issues papers where a developer will allow early discussion of a proposal and get a feel for the bigger issues the committee will have on a development, this week we have had sight of an application for changes to car parking at Ventura and a the redevelopment of the Gungate Precinct. Yes it's another outline permission maintaining the outline permission given in the past.

 So what should be done ?

In the past I have had some of  my ideas reported in the Tamworth Herald including a tramway from the station along Victoria road to the town centre and a series of venues 'New Orleans' style along this route. yes maybe this was just blue sky thinking but it was still an idea.

As I have mentioned before retail is changing in a way no one predicted, or at least didn't predict well and in the longer term I do worry about all retail shops with the progression of internet shopping so what should be built in Tamworth?

I was walking through Ankerside this week looking at the shops that were open and noted a number of jewellery shops, hair and beauty outlets, and opticians. This got me thinking could Anker side move away from traditional retail and become a place to be pampered? hair salons, perfume and make up outlets, Jewellery outlets, nail bars, tanning salons etc etc, this would probably need so proactive chasing on behalf of Ankerside management but it's just food for thought.
And whilst I'm just imagining the opportunities here's another, should the Henry Boot development on the precinct be mixed retail and leisure or should it be heavily weighted on leisure and becoming a match for Star City in Birmingham, More leisure, restaurants, cafes, venues and a few retail outlets that fit the theme of the development, maybe even some nice flats and apartments similar to the top of Ankerside. Again this would take a shift in the approach of the owner.

I'm hoping the above stimulates some thought and debate outside the "another nail in the coffin" or " we need a Primark" or " too many card and phone shops". You never know the glass might be half full if we make it half full if we use the town centre for retail it may stay as a retail centre, its a bit like  local pub if they are empty the pub will close.

Consumer sovereignty will prevail

What about Brum !!!!!!! Another run way for Heathrow

Today saw the announcement that the government has agreed to pursue a third run way at Heathrow.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37760187

http://news.sky.com/story/heathrow-airport-expansion-now-comes-the-hard-part-10631608


Some have said it is needed to support british industry, some have said london needs it, some have said it will never happen and some have even resigned at the announcement.

I say What about Brum ?

I did have the pleasure of working for Birmingham Airport in 2013 this was a time when the the Uk's airport capacity was being looked at and a number of airports and ideas came forward. This was when Boris was mayor and he had is Island idea. This was a news story at the time showing the proposed runway.

During my time there I was convinced that expansion of Birmingham Airport was not only feasible but also advantageous and beneficial not only to the midlands region but also London and the rest of the UK. Today I still believe this is true.

Not only is Birmingham airport served by Birmingham International train station but also links straight onto the M42, M6, M5, M40 and  M6TOLL giving fantastic links to the whole of the UK in a mere few hours. Hold on here's something joined up, Birmingham airport could be a vital link connecting London to the Northern Powerhouse.

And be careful we might have too much joined up thinking here. The expansion of Birmingham Airport instead of Heathrow would create a justifiable argument for HS2, something the project could certainly have done with. The proposals that were made in 2013 used HS2 and an expanded Birmingham Airport as a midlands hub for travel. this would not only lift the region but also pull some of the wealth from the south east and up into the country without complete displacement, all in easy reach

Tamworth would benefit hugely from this with employment opportunity at the airport and business development in Tamworth as well as potential tourism in the region. I am not going to repeat all the arguments that have been documented before but I will conclude.

   An expanded Birmingham Airport is a better option than Heathrow and I would urge all MP's in the region to fight for this before the final vote in the house for the Heathrow 3rd runway