What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Congratulations on the appointment Judith. I do think the question of whether a Mrs Mayor is called Mayor or not is not the main issue at hand in Accrington today.

The bigger question to my mind is what can the Mayor (any Mayor) bring to the table in order to fix Accrington's serious problems. The town has been in a state of constant decline for as far as I can see the last 100 years, and throughout that period has had a Mayor (granted not you Judith, but a Mayor nonetheless).

In the absence of a budget from Central Government (I like the Accrington town plan which clearly had a lot of consideration put into it) the town will continue to deteriorate. Pity the recession killed that spend, but it did. So other than the passing of the Planning Act that makes it easier to develop commercial property, what else is coming to Accrington, or what can the Mayor do to help fix the town?

In USA the Mayor has real power. In the UK I'm not sure that is the case outside of London.

What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

I think they seem to be a figurehead rather than a political asset, perhaps not a bad thing?
They get put forward to represent rather than command.

Attend openings, (strangely, never closings) of prominent work places.

Add a touch of 'being' to the town, we may be struggling as a community, but even folk like me recognise that the town/district is on going.

It had better be, I want a future for all our grandchildren.

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

In Canada too ... Mayors here are not usually appointed, but are elected at large in their communities. They sit as chair of their councils, and vote in the case of a tie. They are also ambassadors for the community.

Mayor Mark Gerretsen - City of Kingston

Not a bad lad ... he is probably a Liberal; his old man is a member of the Provincial Cabinet.

By the by, the Mayor of Toronto (the fifth largest government in Canada) is in deep feces at the moment.

Rob Ford crack video: Mayor expected at City Hall to face allegations | Posted Toronto | National Post

And, of course, he is a tory.:eek: Sorry about the wander.:D

Once again, congratulations Judith. I would wish you the best of British luck if I were not a Canadian; so, the best I can do is: May the Force be with you.;)

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

The local Mayor doesn't have the power of say Boris in London, the Mayor of Hyndburn is a none political post, usually taken on by a councilor who is rewarded for their efforts on behalf of the people and is nominated by fellow councilors usually on a year about party basis. the Mayors duties are more ceremonial than anything, plus representing the borough at events in other towns and boroughs

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Instead of asking what the Mayor or councillors can do, maybe we should ask those who actually get paid to come up with the ideas. It's our council tax that pays them :mad:

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

There are two types of Mayor in this country. The majority like me are Civic or Ceremonial Mayors, representing the Borough at official functions and accepting invitations to visit voluntary organisations, schools, businesses, etc. throughout the community. Political power is exercised by the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet. The Elected Mayor, like Boris Johnson in London, is a fairly new phenomenon in this country. Such Mayors are similar to Leaders of Councils. In London there is still a Lord Mayor who carries out the civic and ceremonial functions.

What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

This is a good example of the benefit of this forum, as it provides a voice for the people to discuss the issues of the community from within and outside of power. I welcome Judith's active involvement, because you could not take up such a role unless you really cared about the community you represent.

Less and I and others will disagree about many things (as is evidenced all over the forum), but we can probably agree that we all want to improve the town.

I speak as a town "outsider" looking in. There's many things I'd like to know about the way the town is managed:

1) What is the council is thinking now that the Accrington Town Plan is dead ?
2) Why is the planning department a part time function? (part time phone only service to the public at least.)
3) Why do they charge just to make an appointment to speak with them? I thought the purpose of a council was to serve the people not charge the people.
4) Why do investors in the town get a frosty reception? Bad history?
5) What is it that the town offers that is attractive? (Ie beyond just hope and aspirations of local folk)

If the answer to 5) is nothing then it is the councils task to create something, and quick.

Finally, does anyone from the council care to comment on this forum? Not sure if you do or not but I would encourage it and would do so myself if I were an elected representative. I have no wish to be a councillor, but I would love to debate with them.

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

members from the council will comment frequently mainly around election time and mostly labour ones

as for actual employees of the council or heads of departments i havnt yet seen any coming on here appologising for screwing the town up i think they leave that to the councilors who as mentioned earlier only come here to bitch about each other or leak information/gossip via PM about council affairs that shouldnt be public knowledge etc.

Alas i digress and as mentioned accywebb could be a great tool to comunicate to the people its a hell of a site better and more reliable than that overpriced mess HBC launched but the narrow mindedness has seen a potentially great platform for communication been used as a tool for handbag throwing and telling tales.

if they ever do return be gentle as any question deemed too difficult or tricky will result in a vanishing act.I think it took graham jones 3 months to answer the members as to why he screwed us over a referendum and the answer was that we were too thick to understand and little englanders trying to cling onto englishness or something along those lines:rolleyes:

we did have a tory candidate one time who came on to let us know she was standing for election and that she had our interests at heart because her grandad lived here allegedly many years ago lol.Im not sure if she ever stepped foot in accy to be honest

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Is the Town Plan dead? What about this slightly misleading story in the Observer £2m Accrington town centre plans get go-ahead - Accrington Observer

As far as I understand they have been successful at stage 1 which gives them £50,000 to develop plans and the stage 2 application. The £2 million isn't in the bank yet but I hope they are successful at stage 2.

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

I can't understand why he doesn't try and educate us as to why we should stay in Europe. From what I can remember he was for leaving the EU before he was an MP so he must have been educated as to why we should stay. Come on Graham educate us and we might want to stay in as well as you.

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Don't hold your breath while waitng;)]

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

I suppose thats one way to put it.:D;)

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

If your lucky he might send you a PM Neil:rolleyes:

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Neil. he can't, because nobody knows why we left the commonwealth and went and joined in the first place.

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Well that's a bit off topic, but easy to answer.

The EU is the largest trading black in the world. The better question would be why would we not want to be part of that? Being in the EU in no way prevents us from trading with Asia or America. Overseas inward investment to the UK comes in BECAUSE we are in the EU, which is seen as stabilising. For example The Nissan plant in Sunderland is the largest car plant in Europe is there because we are in the EU so trade for them with other EA nations is tax/tariff free (for the Japanese owners). Nissan would not be manufacturing in the UK if we were out, such manufacturing would go to Dublin or elsewhere.

There are a multitude of science and joint defence contracts that we benefit from such as the Eurofighter made by BAE systems, the Arean space programme and Airbus planes (where the wings are made in the uk) to name just a few.

The immediate impact of a UK pullout from the EU would be a very significant spike in unemployment. That is high enough as is, we can ill afford more. What would be the economic gain of leaving? Please don't say we can use pounds, ounces and stones again in the butchers....

Finally the Bank of England governor Mervyn King is dead against leaving and he is the most qualified economist in the UK. He isn't politically influenced.

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

That's all well and good if it was just a trading place but it isn't, well not any more. Back in the 70s when the Common Market came into being it was about trading across borders, now its much, much more than that. Many a time our own government is overruled by the EU, and some of the stupidity which comes from Brussels is breathe taking and steeped in hypocrisy, but as things stand its not a two way street, its either in or out and my vote would be out.

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Well if Kings the most qualified the others must be real useless :rolleyes: remember the banking crisis or the ignoring of it.:rolleyes:

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Ya not one of his finest hours Cashy;)

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Yeh but its very interesting to see who supports the useless.:rolleyes:

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Cash - King solved the banking crisis!! He was knighted for saving the country which was totally appropriate.

So lets go back in time. Labour gets in and creates confusion of supervision removing it from the Bank of England, creating the FSA. King at that time was Head of Banking Supervision, BoE. He subsequently became Chief Economist, then Governor.

Banks to out of control (mix of greed and no supervision). That's nothing to do with the man, not since Gordon thought he knew best in 1998, the same year he sold the countries entire gold reserves for $300 an ounce.

So banking collapse starts with Northern Rock 10 August 2007, a date I remember we'll because it is the same day I started my first business in the UK. Real calamity doesn't hit banks until early 2008 when the entire system fails and the country gets to about 6 hours from total collapse and the loss of every penny in everyone's account (only 3% of bank balances are covered by cash, the rest is numbers in a computer.....).

You'll remember Gordon and Alistair Darling hastily convening a news conference to announce a massive banking bailout (ahead of every other country in the world). That was not their idea, although Gordon tried to take the credit later, it was King and his associates at the Bank of England that saved the day. As I mentioned King subsequently knighted.

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Gordon n Darling n Blair before em were complete winkers,:rolleyes: As was King during the banking fiasco, political allegiance makes no difference at all to the way it is, theres those who can see the big picture n those who can't.

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Whilst I respect your views Mark Carney who is taking over the Bank of England job on the 1st July from Mervyn King has totally different views on Europe. In his own words and i quote " Warns of a decade of stagnation unless the European leaders make substantial and significant reforms" unquote.

What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

King was (and still is) brilliant. Not only did he save the banking system with the solution that was hastily put in place but he was banking on in speech after speech prior to the collapse about greed in the city. Shame Tony and Gordon removed his powers in 1998.

He has them back now though.

We can though agree on the merits of Blair, Brown and Darling.

What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

I think Mark Carney will also be excellent. He has an excellent track record, and I think it's a stellar replacement of one of the most important jobs in the country.

Change is required in Europe, everyone knows that, but It's not as clear cut as stay or leave. Short term, too many British jobs depend on it.

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

One particular item always gets my back up - don't know how long the EU has been an organisation but the auditors have never signed off on the accounts. That suggests to me that there is a great deal of money that cannot be accounted for, in other words a lot of money has been misappropriated:confused:
What other organisation or business could operate without having it's accounts audited and verified?:mad:

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Just what are the trading differences that UK has between the EU and the rest of the world?

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

corrupt to the core and if i am correct not one euro mp is elected its a dictoatorship

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

No good getting yer back up Barrie, we have been told its good fer us.:rolleyes:

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

its a perfect system

other countries lie and cheat their way out of paying taxes and force their economey to collapse then the working people of our country have to suffer extra tax and cutbacks to bail them out the poop

how much fairer than that can you get

we go without so other countries can be wreckless and then whatever money we have left gets spent funding people as they pour into the UK country by country as they join the EU knowing that theres a soft touch just one tunnel trip past france away.

the channel tunnel is the colon of europe and sadly that makes the UK its arsehole

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

interesting how a thread about what a mayor can do has ended up been about the EU

yet according to some the EU isnt an issue the british public give a damn about

go figure

What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Bank of England has been in existence since 1694. It has never been audited and even the Audit Commission has no right to enter. However, in the unlikely event that any money was missing they can just print a few more sheets.

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Yup ... you need a Canadian to sort things out;)

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

If this is the case, why are so many members of the EU in the red:confused:;):D

What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Accy - Britain is not bailing out any European country. Euro bailouts are for the European Central Bank to which we do not contribute. The Tory govt rejected the Euro and whatever your politics you must give them credit for that.

We don't have their currency so we don't have their problems. We are free to let our currency depreciate versus all others and that makes the UK competitive in Europe and the rest of the world so we have more tools with which we can recover. In the immediate aftermath of the banking crisis the pound was depreciated (by both statements and policy actions of the BoE) by about 30%. While it might not feel like it the country is in far better state because we can do that.

The problem UK has is that London is the undisputed world centre of finance (particularly Foreign Exchange) and as a result we have something like 1000 banks operating from it. The banking system here is 6x the size of our entire economy so if it so much as sneezes we have a big problem.

Nothing to do with people coming into the country and claiming benefits. That is trivial compared to broken banks. Consider this...... Total annual welfare bill (of all claimants real or bogus is £30bn per year). Fixing the 100% Scottish bank RBS cost English taxpayers £44bn and counting. Scottish bank, Scottish board, Scottish HQ, Scottish failure, English bailout (because the sum involved was same size as the entire annual Scottish budget). Bank of Scotland another £12bn. Not heard a word of thanks or apology from Alex Salmond. Ah but of course the two who made that decision, Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling are Scots......

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

i dont know where you get your information from GEaston but we have bailed out greece twice.Just because we dont have the euro it dosnt mean they wont take our money or that we ar eobliged to pay them our money .We are part of the EU and its problems regardless of our currency

didnt we also give a crap load of money to Ireland for tehir bail out also

maybe the UK should stop paying tax and get a bail out if not two bail outs

What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Greece was a special case that was additionally bailed out by the IMF. We are part of the IMF as indeed are most other nations, so yes in that regard we have a minor exposure.

Ireland was a loan situation agreed on a bilateral basis between the UK govt and Ireland. The UK considered the actual collapse of Ireland to be too great a risk to our country so went and lent them some. What we lent to Ireland is a tiny fraction of ECB lending of which we take no part.

In reality there's so much cross lending that its hard to know extent of it, but as I've said elsewhere I believe modern day finance to be something of a giant Ponzi scheme.

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

one could argue we have no buisness lending money when we are borrowing it hand over fist and definatly not giving it away.Did tehse cretins not think to put a clause into any aggrements made saying that money would not be given if we wernt in a position to give money away ?

if a friend asks me to lend him a tenner i look at what money i have and how much i need to make sure my kids dont go without and my bills get paid etc

if i can spare that tenner he or she will get it under a condition it is paid back before any more money is lent to him or her and has to be paid back on an agreed date

if friend dosnt pay back or is constantly borrowing week to week friend gets cut off

if i can figure out you make sure yur own dont go without before giving or lending money then i dont see why government cant ?

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Think it would be illegal to even try Barrie, but it would be very interesting to know just what our money is wasted on, ups sorry:o spent on wouldn't it :mad:

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

They do have elections every 5 years Accyman, on the Google Page Ranking system, not sure when the next one is

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

do we elect our euro mps or does government decide who gets to be a euro mp ?

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

We elect them once every 5 years nothing to do with the government

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

what has Europe got to do with the mayor of accrington?

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Accys the capital of Europe.;)

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

i think it jumped from mayor to councilors ,to MPs then to MPs that lie ,to graham jones to europe

without reading all teh posts again thats about as close as i can explain it

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Perhaps our Mayor will ask Tesco to build a drive-through.

A mayor who drove through the doors of his local Tesco Express is blaming his car's brakes, his colleague has said.

BBC News - Mayor Terry Buckle 'blames brakes' for Tesco car crash

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

well they got to build a tesco smack in teh center of accy for teh mere price of a small roundabout so i dont see why not.

its not liek the old days when all you had to do was bung a few grand into a councilors back pocket you have to replan the traffic now if you want something lol

What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

It was spent on one of two things Jay: debt interest, or Irish bank bailouts. Difference is we'll get it back which may not be the case with our Scottish generosity.

Didn't have much of a notice on lending to the Irish at that time. Either we did, or they go bust. Biggest creditor of Ireland is the UK so we would also have gone bust. Not dissimilar to an armed robbery, so can't really blame the govt for handing over the cash. It was that or lose all of ours!

This explains the problem nicely http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15748696

What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

The Forum wouldn't have much of a life if we all agreed all the time,

But, yes indeed we need to improve the
Town.

What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

By heck our new Mayor has a great deal to answer for!
I bet she didn't know she would have to sort out the EU during her term.

What can the Mayor do?

She can stop this thread wander!

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

can the mayor demolish the arndale and send maundy grance into outer space ?:D

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Looks like I better make Judith a Wonder Woman t-shirt to go with her Mayoral Hoodie :D

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

lol you saying were expecting too much

i can cross world peace off this list if it will help lighten the work load :D

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

If she had the power,which i'm sure she aint, How can she have the arndale demolished? As far as i'm aware its owned privately. But i'm sure maundy into space is viable, as its non-political.:hehetable

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

compulsary purchase for 50p and a few well places explosives :D

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

The European Parliamentary Election is held every five years and is due in 2014. Usually it is held on the 1st or 2nd Thursday in June in the UK, though most of the other countries vote on the Sunday following. In 2014 it is likely that throughout the UK, local Borough Council Elections will be combined with the European Parliamentary Election and that the date for both will be Thursday 22nd May. When we first started electing members to the European Parliament we voted for a constituency MEP. Hyndburn was first of all in Lancashire East and then in Lancashire South. The system was changed a number of years ago. We now elect a group of MEPS (I think 9 or 10) to represent the whole of the North-West. If you can remember previous occasions, you get a ballot paper that looks more like a piece of toilet roll, with all the parties printed on. You vote for a party, not a person. Each party will have a list of candidates corresponding to the number of vacancies and will rank them in numerical order. So for example, if Labour won 4 seats, the top 4 candidates on their list would become MEPS. I'll try to find a link and post again.

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

You can find out more on the Electoral Commission's website:-

Electoral Commission's website

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

you can over advertise you know :D:D:D:D:D

j/k

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

No, I believe something along those lines turning up to an opening would fill a car park!

http://i.imgur.com/J6AWE.jpg

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

i thought wonder woman used a lassoo not a sheild and sword

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

When a lass is that good looking are you really going to quibble? :rolleyes:

And yes, I did mean quibble. ;) :D

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

when a lass is carrying a sword i aing quibbling period...

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Are you 100% sure about that Dave :rolleyes:

What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

I wouldn't know, for some reason, I never noticed what she had in her hands!

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Does that mean she'll have to pose for Playboy:confused:;):D

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Why, whatever did you think I might mean? ;)

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Oh & most assuredly Jay. :)

Re: What can/can't the Mayor do for Accrington
 

Just checking:D