Morley Train Station

The 12 weeks of improvement works at Morley train station has now been completed. The works, that includes under ground water storage tanks to prevent flooding, a reed bed and wild flower area, new and more efficient lighting, extending and resurfacing the car-park and access road and a new wall and fencing,
The increasing popularity of rail travel, nationally passenger numbers have roughly doubled in the last decade, but passenger numbers at Morley station have increased much, much more. Back in 2003 54,591 passengers used Morley station, the same figures show that in 2012 that number now stands at 347,610; a massive rise. Undoubtedly the reason for this rise is the speed, punctuality and low cost of rail travel when compared to the buses in this area. Local rail travel can be around 40% cheaper than travelling by bus.
So the increasing passenger numbers has brought better facilities. CCTV was added in early 2011, even back then the station was a bare place. But this year the platforms have been brightened up with flowers instead of weeds and the platforms and the surrounding areas are a much cleaner and brighter, thanks to the ‘Friends of Morley Station’ group, that was formed in 2012.

Blank Display?

Since all our political parties now put money making over the interests of of the people, I was pleased that at least in Australia the Government put the people first. In Australia the Government have past a law forcing cigarette manufacturers to pack their cigarettes in a plain pack. No more advertising or brand loyalty, because there is nothing to promote. If only our coalition Government could put people before profit. We could follow Australia, and reduce smoking even further. We could turn back the clock, and have zero promotion in bookmakers shop windows. Now they offer free £50 bets, to tempt in the young and vulnerable. At least all of the bookmakers used to pay full corporation tax. But now they avoid tax by having their head office in tax haven.

The Number One Cause Of Car Accidents

With recent surveys carried out on main roads showing that people were driving whilst using their mobile phone on a ridiculously regular scale. The police and councils fixation with speeding needs to end. We all know that we need to drive in accordance with the law when passing a speed camera. Why cant the police set up secret cameras that recognises people using their mobile phone? Even my £50 camera phone has face recognition. Perhaps someone could design a computer program that could recognise a driver using his/her mobile? And whilst I am on the crusade for better road safety, what about having UNMARKED mobile speed cameras? Make drivers drive with care, all the time, because they don’t know when they might come across a speed camera. Four of the five most commonly reported reasons for a crash involved driver error or reaction, says the Department for Transport. “Failed to look properly” was the biggest reason of all, reported in 42% of all accidents. How can drivers “look properly” when they are using a mobile phone? We have recently heard that Bradford City Council have unveiled its new weapon, a new £50,000 CCTV car will be patrolling the district’s schools, catching motorists to stop illegal parking. If Bradford City Council can fund a brand new vehicle costing £50,000 in total, perhaps our new police commissioner, Mark Burns-Williamson, has some available funds?

Police ‘contact points’

 

Local Councillors and our MP, Ed Balls are campaigning against the weekend closure and the closure of the help desk of the Morley police station. Some think that instead of letting the police prioritise their finances, we should force them to keep the station open and pay, from council tax funds, to run the police station. Is this just playing politics with public services? The majority of contact with the police is no longer face to face over a police counter. Over the whole country there has been a decrease in people attending police station counters to report crime and to visit overall. If we close the least busiest police counters we could potentially free up many police officers. The Police force wants to close the quietest front counters across the country and replace each with ‘contact points’, and boost the number of officers available for the front-line. These ‘contact points’ would be in busy places such as supermarkets, town centre shops or faith centres – the exact locations being decided locally. Let the police decide how to run their service, they can and do contact people via facebook, and in many other new and innovative ways.

 

Broken Rhetoric

 

David Cameron said: “We will keep pushing for that referendum, campaign for a No Vote”, on the Lisbon treaty.

David Cameron said: “We will abolish the Human Rights Act and put a new British Bill of Rights in its place.”

David Cameron said: “Ensure that every patient can access a GP in their area between 8am and 8pm, seven days a week.”

David Cameron said: “we also look at expanding our Army.”

David Cameron said: “Give councils greater control over spending.”

David Cameron said: “Help consumers to “buy British” by changing rules on food labelling.”

David Cameron said: “We will recognise marriage in the tax system.”

David Cameron said: “I will give this cast-iron guarantee: If I become PM a Conservative government will hold a referendum on any EU treaty that emerges from these negotiations. Broken rhetoric by David Cameron, none of the above has been acted upon. Will you vote for this man at the next election? There has been no recognition of marriage in the tax system, if it was brought in, it would mean that 2 men living together or 2 females living together would benefit by at least £750 just by signing up to a civil partnership.

In 2000 there were 154,940 in the British Army, by 2012 that number was reduced to 138,500

David Cameron is vowing to take on the “scandal” of public drunkenness and alcohol abuse that costs the NHS £2.7 bn a year. Yet the Home Office consultation on Minimum Alcohol Pricing closed on 6 February, with no action

Crank Mills

Crank Mills, Morley. This 1790 steam engine factory, built for the Earl of Dartmouth, the first such factory in Yorkshire. Not in a very good state of repair at the moment, even though it is a grade ll listed building.

A Gift From The Tax Payer?

The United Kingdom has not always been a country obsessed with house prices. But the Housing Act of 1980, brought in by the Thatcher Government, changed the face of home ownership in the UK. Many former local authority tenants paid less than £10,000 for council houses, that would be worth 10 times more a decade later. The massive discounts, resulted in more than a million people getting a £10,000 gift from the tax payer. Margaret Thatcher was elected to Westminster for over 10 years on the back of this policy. The result was a prolonged boom in house prices along with a chronic shortage of affordable housing. In some countries, the offer or giving of rewards is referred to as “electoral treating”. Electoral treating is legal in most countries.

Clean Air

In a case before the United Kingdoms Supreme Court, the UK is being held responsible by the EU for not fulfilling its duties to allow its citizens clean air. The EU air pollution laws attempts to put an end to the decades-long scandal of air pollution, which kills thousands of people in Britain each year. Three years ago, Mayor Boris Johnson, published research showing that it caused 4,300 deaths annually in London alone, while the Government’s official air pollution watchdog later put the nationwide mortality figure at 29,000. One in seven British children have asthma. David Cameron has included “environmental legislation” among the areas for renegotiation where he believes Brussels has “gone far too far”. Yet polls show that UK voters believe Brussels has a “negative role” in areas such as health care, employment, inflation, housing and tax, but many people consistently say it has had a good effect on the British environment. The EU is widely credited with forcing the pace on improvements to the quality of air and rivers.