Matt Palmer

Burley Millenium Theatre Group are performing a comedy ‘Outside Edge’ this week. I’m told tickets will be available on the door at the Queens Hall, so if you fancy a change to the normal evening routine…

“‘Outside Edge’ written by Richard Harris and directed by Mike Newman. This is an original and truly hilarious comedy! What begins as an afternoon of cricket turns into utter chaos! A tale of lust, betrayal, jealousy…………and cream teas.”

Dear Mr Hoddy,

Having submitted the requested words in time for your deadline (your being already in posession of my photograph) I was surprised and disappointed to open my Gazette today to find that they had not been included along with the other candidates.

I have no doubt that this is simply an oversight by the paper, however the fact that no information is included sends a signal to the electorate that is not justified, provides unbalanced coverage in an election period, and means that those residents who look to your paper for information about who they are voting for will not be fully informed.

You have also omitted my name from the list of candidates, despite no doubt being in possestion of the list of candidates from City Hall. On top of this, you last week printed that I was standing down from Burley Parish Council without stating that I was seeking relection as a district councillor.

Any one of these would give me cause for comment, but together this gives entirely the wrong impression and as a reuslt I have had people on the phone to me asking why I am not seeking relection and why there is no Conservative candidate, when this is clearly not the case.

Whilst I do not generally choose to comment on your coverage, in this case I do feel very strongly that an apology is in order and would like to ask for a correction to be printed please, along with the words I submitted, in next Thursday’s paper.

Yours,

Matt Palmer
Conservative Candidate for Wharfedale Ward

Dear all,

With an election around the corner, if you have not already received my election address through your door delivered by local volunteers, you should do so shortly. However, I wanted to write to you now to let you know why this election matters.

Having become a father since the last election, I know it’s a fact of life that things change— the job of a Councillor is often to make sure that, wherever possible, that change is for the better.

There’s rarely been a more difficult time to achieve that than now.

Regardless of who is to blame, the fact is that our national economy has the highest deficit in the G20. The process of dealing with this is painful but necessary.

Extra government funds have allowed council tax to be held at last year’s level, but the new Labour administration in City Hall is anxious to prove that cutting the deficit will hurt.

Labour are closing five local libraries this year with five more to go next year. Along with Dale Smith and Chris Greaves, I’ve been working to protect local services from these cuts.

I’ve also been campaigning for improvements, and it’s been fantastic to be part of local community successes such as protecting Burley House field, winning investment for faster broadband, and improving local facilities.

By far the toughest battle though is not yet over, and that’s the fight to show that proposals to build on Derry Hill and Bingley Road in Menston are ludicrous and unworkable. Planning law needs to change and Conservatives are working to change it.

Burley and Menston are great places to live and it’s been my honour to represent you. I very much hope you will give me the opportunity  to continue: standing up for our area, delivering better local services and fighting to protect our green fields.

If you’d like to know more about what I’ve been doing for Burley and Menston and local priorities for next year, you will find more information in my election address, which I’ve also put online at www.mattpalmer.net.

Just as important at this election is the vote on AV. At the moment, the person with the most votes wins. It’s fair and it’s democratic. I’ll be voting ‘no’ to AV to keep it that way, and I hope you will join me. Of course politics needs to change—but only for the better.

Regards,

Matt

PS. You can read the election leaflet here: Election Address – Matt Palmer

We’ve won.

Amazing to think where this started. The below picture is February 2003 – Kevin Reid, Malcolm Fisher and myself kicking off Burley’s first Broadband campaign, LS29.NET.

Back then we were still all on dial-up. BT had said they were not going to enable the exchange. We’d tried to persuade them and failed. I’d tried to find public funding, but whilst Airedale was a priority, Burley was not.

So we pursued our own solution – an ambitious project to be our own broadband provider. From the Yorkshire Forward magazine.

Matt Palmer of internet company Palmedia is secretary of LS29.NET, which has produced a new wireless solution to bringing broadband to Burley in Wharfedale. Despite having one of the highest levels of demand in the country, BT had not upgraded the exchange.

The not-for-profit community group will provide a leased line (ultra-fast connection to the internet) to a central location in the village which will be distributed to residents, businesses and community buildings using wireless technology.
Matt said: “LS29.NET will be broadband for the community, by the community and in the community. Residents will benefit from broadband internet access in their homes at lower cost than BT. Business will benefit for their networks and communication and community groups will also benefit, such as the planned internet café for the local youth club.

“We have completed successful technical trials and are now ready to sign people up. We are delighted that over 200 local residents have already registered and several businesses have already shown an interest. Burley will no longer be left in the dark ages.”

LS29.NET chairman Kevin Reed said: “Fifteen miles from the heart of Leeds and Bradford and considered to be in the outback, Burley residents deserve to be connected to the superhighway. We have in the community all the skills we need to do this for ourselves – network consultants, security consultants, and many willing volunteers all working for the good of the village”

http://www.digitalyorkshire.org.uk/news_601.htm

This did what persuasion could not do – BT noticed the ‘market stimulation activity’ and Yorkshire Forward noted the demand. Somehow, Airedale became Airedale and Wharfedale, and ‘Broadband Airedale and Wharfedale’ was born, with BT enabling Burley’s exchange using Council and regional government support.

i remeber mixed emotions – sorry it no longer made sense to pursue our rather exciting community scheme after investing a lot of time in it, but at the same time a degree of relief that we wouldn’t have to, and real happiness that we had won what we had originally sought.

On the back of that project, this forum was born. In the days before social networking, setting up the forum was the way we communicated. For the technical minded, the original version of the forum was the ASP1.0 based Snitz Forums 2000, hosted on a Windows server.

I never thought at the time that the legacy of the LS29.NET campaign would be a succesful campaign to take Burley from last-in-line to the front of the queue for the latest technology.

Nonetheless, eight years, two major software upgrades, three web hosts and almost 10,000 posts later, a forum member posts:

BT are seeking votes to determine which locations get access to the next generation of high speed broadband.  The web site is at: http://www.racetoinfinity.bt.com/ 3 votes so far for Burley.

And it all went from there.

Once again, the forum was the tool of chocie for communication with a seperate hidden iburley forum to keep strategy away from the competition. That’s a closed team forum with 1,325 posts in about 3 months.

So from me, a big thank you to forum users such as Wharfedale, Malcolm, Peppa Pig, ianrigarslford, wierdmusic, Harverybos and appropriatebridge. A more reluctant bunch of heroes I have rarely met – everyone wanted to get the job done and nobody wanted credit for it.

Thanks also to The Queens Head and the Red Lion for hosting ‘team meetings’ on a regular basis.

Thanks to all those who supported the campaign, both everyone locally and to my 89 colleagues on Bradford Council for supporting us unanimously, regardless of party.

Thanks to BT for recognising the value of community in business.

Thanks to all those who voted.

In may ways most im portantly, thanks to all those who engaged with LS29.NET back in 2003, particularly Malcolm Fisher, Kevin Reid and the other members of that committee.

Thank you all though for reading the forum. Just as I was wondering whether it was really worth the remarkable amount of hassle, it proves it’s worth to the community – and it’s a seven figure sum.

Matt

Many Burley in Wharfedale residents will have been reading about the ‘iburley‘ campaign for faster broadband for Burley. BT have announced that the five exchanges with the highest level of support will be enabled, when they wouldn’t be otherwise.

So what’s the issue?

• Burley waits for everything. Broadband, Channel 5. Digital radio. Digital television. Carrier pigeons*. Most people have forgotten now that it was community campaigning and Bradford Council support that got us Broadband in the first place. Without that, we’d be stuck on dial-up.
• Today’s broadband is tomorrow’s dial-up: obsolete and out-of-date. If we don’t get the next generation service, in a few years time Burley will be back in the internet dark age
• Upgrading the exchange won’t happen without this. OK, it might eventually, but not for many, many years. This isn’t a timing issue. It;’s a yes/no issue
• Even if you’re not bothered at the moment, many of your friends and neighbours will be. Please support them and support Burley
• Campaigners have worked really hard and Burley deserves to win, and we can win. Don’t let your vote be the one that could have made that critical difference.

Burley is currently 4th out of 2,475. We need to stay in the top 5, but some exchanges are already 70% voted. This means we need EVERY vote to win – and that means you!

Please visit www.racetoinfinity.bt.com and vote today – it literally does only take minute…. and for years to come, will save your hours!

(*probably. I wasn’t here then.)

A change from the usual here.

What happens if you spend you life pursuing a dream, only to fail because it was the wrong dream?

I went this evening to see Arthur Miller’s play ‘Death of a Salesman’ at West Yorkshire Playhouse, in which Willy Loman is a man whose dreams never came to pass. He had a dream – but it was very much the wrong one – he seemed to have adopted the dream of another man and taken it for his own, without questioning whether it was right for him.

Perhaps there is a parallel here with Bradford? It is increasingly a city of unfulfilled aspiration.

It’s residents are more likely to want to set up a business than almost anywhere else in the country – but they are less likley to do so.

It’s City fathers built momuments to success that they no doubt thought would last for many generations. If they could but see where the city has been for the last half century.

It’s a city that wants to do the best for it’s children – it invented the school lunch, and today is a city in which no end of education experts invest entire careers on trying to give our children a better chance. Yet today we have some of the least healthy kids in the country and our schools are still fighting to make a difference.

It’s a city with gret potential – diversity is often trotted out as  a strength without a lot of thought, but it really is – or rather can be – the reality can be altogether different for many.

It’s a creative city – art, music, literature – Bradfordians are up there with the best, try a night out with University students – they know this.

For all the yorkshire grit it’s a caring city – perhaps because it’s people know life can be hard.

It is a city that wants to succeed, but a city whose ambition remains unfulfilled. The entrepreneurialism of Bradford people is hard to reconcile with streets of vacant, abandoned shops and unloved frontages.

Perhaps that’s because we’ve been aiming for the wrong things. Bradford is often compared (negatively) to Leeds, but it it not Leeds. Leeds is good at being Leeds. Why not let Bradford be good at being Bradford, instead of bad at being Leeds? Of course, we’d need to start seeing our City differently.

The Westfield shopping centre scheme is a good idea – until you look at other cities that have build shopping centres in their city centres – Reading for example, where the shopping centre is an excellent one but still leaves you feeling sometimes that planners left the City’s heart beating but took away it’s soul. Until, also, you look at other places defined by shopping centres – back to Leeds again. Leeds is an attractive proposition for shoppers, as long as you’re looking for the same thing whether you’re in the city centre, the White Rose centre, or indeed other cities – try Meadowhall. A mid-sized shopping centre with a smaller selection of the same stuff will never bring people into Bradford. Nor will it ever be Bradford. It will be better than the mess that was there before, and better than a hole in the ground – but if not aspirational enough, if it does not connect the city together and connect with the city around it, it runs the risk of being the same mistake made in the 1960s when much of horror recently demolished was erected.

Perhaps the current economic crisis provides an opportunity to rethink.

Perhaps it offers a chance for crossrail, perhaps a chance to bring some of the creativity that runs throughout the City into it’s centre. Perhaps an opportunity to reconnect Little Germany with the City Centre. Or perhaps that is a ‘dream to far’, and we need to settle for Westfield, or something like it. If we must we must, but I’d like to think we can do better.

Likewise, the Odeon development – New Victoria Place – will be better than what is there now, as long as you don’t too hard look at which City you’re putting it in to, and where you’re putting it. As soon as you do, the absurdity of it is evident. It takes away an iconic skyline and replaces it with an identikit office block, and one in all the wrong proportions at that. I may have said all along it was the wrong thing to do, and to have voted against it, but still we seem to be stuck with it. Why can’t we have something more suited to Bradford? Something that will complement it’s surroundings and inspire Bradford’s children as the Odeon and Alhambra did? Because Yorkshire Forward says we can’t? Not good enough, our children will say in 20 years time.

The good bit though is the City Park – unpopular though it may be at the moment, it connects the city and offers something unique and special. It will be excellent when complete, giving people a reason to look again at the City Centre, and a reason to enjoy it – a reason to be part of it. It just won’t be enough by itself.

We should have a centre that is distinctly Bradford, a city centre that helps the city understand itself. Most of all we need a city centre that inspires our children.

15 years ago right here in this district a teacher inspired me to read Arthur Miller. I’ve waited those 15 years to see Death of a Salesman – I don’t think I’ve waited quite that long for anything else! I’m glad I did – the performance was well worth the wait, and it is a small part of a dream fulfilled.

But can we do the same for Bradford?

All the attention on the Council this week has been around the change in Leadership.

However, equally significant constitutional changes have been rushed through in a sneaky lib/dem amendment as part of the deal between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, that could create gridlock at City Hall and put front line services at risk.

Under the ill thought out changes rushed through on Tuesday in order to secure a last-minute deal, all decisions made by the executive will have to be second-guessed by a scrutiny committee. This will at best hold up decision making for months and at worst make it completely impossible.

It will cause total gridlock at City Hall, with any decision, however minor, having to go to at least two committees and possibly on to full council for a decision to be made – a process that can take up to six months.

It also undermines the independence of Scrutiny, which we have carefully developed over many years, and will bog down the work programme with minor issues that do not need to be discussed and do not add value for the people of Bradford.

Another part of the decision – to stop officers moving small funds between budgets without an agreement by full Council – is just as damaging. It is hard enough to make difficult decisions as it is. This proposal will prevent officers from responding to changes in funding and costs and could put at risk front line services if there are budget pressures in areas such as social care or education. By the time a decision can be made it may well be too late – it will now take 90 people up to 3 months to make a decision that could previously have been made by 2 people in 24 hours.

What Bradford district needs is clear, decisive leadership from someone with a clear mandate to deliver, not bureaucratic gridlock.

Hardly an example of local democracy at it’s best. I’m not sure who disappoints me most – the Lib/dems who came up with such a daft proposal, then sat on their hands and refused to vote – or Labour who fell for it.

(more…)

A big thank you to everyone who voted for me on Thursday. We didn’t get there this time, but we have made an impact. We cut Labour’s majoroty from 9,167 to just 4,162, and showed up their appalling track record in Bradford South.

Thanks in particular to all those people who volunteered to help with the campaign – I hope you will stay involved and be part of the change we will see in the coming days.

I may not have been elected, but I will continue to work hard for Bradford.

Dear resident,

You will have received a number of leaflets from candidates at this election. However, on polling day I wanted to write to you directly to explain why this election is so important, and why Bradford is so important to me.

I understand that people feel let down by politics and politicians, and tired of broken promises. That’s why over the last few months I’ve been out meeting as many residents as possible rather than putting up posters and putting leaflets through doors. I know leaflets and speeches are no longer enough, so I’ve been out with local residents and Conservative council candidates, doing hnds-on things that make a real difference throughout the constituency – such as cleaning up streets in Great Horton and parks in Queensbury, working on plans for Odsal with residents and dealing with litter in Wibsey and pot holes in Wyke. You shouldn’t have to rely on promises, you should be able to see your future MP in action in your community and meet him face to face. That’s what I’ve tried to do. If we haven’t met yet please get in touch, I will be happy to talk to you.

I know your expect a lot from your MP, and you have a right to honesty. That’s not just honesty about tough issues like immigration and the economy, but honesty about politics, too. That’s why I’m making it clear right now – if you elect me I will only claim for expenses I’ve actually incurred in doing the job and will post the lot online, backed up with receipts. I won’t claim £400 a month for food just because I can, and I’ll be straight with you from day one.

You have a right to someone who will stand up for your interests, not tell you why things can’t be done. That’s why I’ve said I will live in the constituency if elected, not in Bingley like the current MP. What’s good enough for you is good enough for me and my family. Only by living locally and sharing the issues you face can I represent you properly.

You have a right to seen results. We can’t afford to let things slide. I know that some issues, such as Broadway, are caught up in global problems that will be tough to solve, but there are answers. It’s time to sort out our city centre, and if elected I will seek an immediate meeting with the Prime Minister to kick-start progress. Hopefully that will be David Cameron – Conservative Policy on regeneration is built on work I led for the Cities Task Force, when I brought David to Bradford to see the problems first hand. Our proposals will get things moving, and I’ll work with colleagues of all parties to deliver the jobs and investment we need.

It’s time politicians took people seriously and faced up to the difficult issues. That’s why I’m not just talking about investing in the NHS, which everyone supports – I’m determined to deal with the tough stuff too.

On the economy, we all know that when times are tough at home you have to cut back on extra spending or earn more money to balance the household books. That’s what we need to do as country too. It won’t be easy, but we can do it. Too many people here in Bradford know the cost of rising debt, and we all know we can’t borrow our way out of it, even if that’t what Gordon Brown would like to do. In a few years we’ll be spending more money on debt interest than on education. That’s just not right, and we can’t let it happen.

On immigration, we’ve heard the economic arguments but we also see every day the impact on our communities when immigration is out of control. I support the Conservative plans for a proper border force, and a controlled reduction in immigration. We can do that to, and do it fairly for all.

On crime, it’s time to deal with the day to day crimes and bad behaviour that put fear in our communities. We also need to end early release and make sure real criminals are tried and convicted, not released back into the community. Too many people are scared to report criminals for fear of retaliation. That’s wrong.

You may have received a very negative leaflet from the Labour MP complaining about the state of our city and our country, and blaming the Conservatives for everything. I say it’s time to stop complaining and do something about it. I say it’s time to stop laying blame and time to take responsbility for our future.

Bradford can be an amazing city. There is plenty of work to do, but we can do it together – we just need to start. We can deliver regeneration in the City Centre. We can deliver new investment and new jobs. We can and will deliver Broadway and a City Centre we can be proud of.

I’m proud of our city and our country, and I want to work with you to make it better. I do hope you take the time to vote at this election, and if you do choose to support me – thank you.

SIR – In the last two weeks, Bradford South has been described in your paper as a safe Labour seat.

It is not. Mr Greenhalf suggested that Conservatives have ‘given up’ (T&A, April 23). We have not.

I worked hard for the opportunity to stand for Bradford South at this election and in recent weeks and months I have been out every day meeting and talking to local residents. I cannot guess the outcome of this election, but I can tell you it is not a ‘safe’ seat.

If conversations I have had are anything to go by, the outgoing Labour MP may just be in for a surprise!

Regardless of the outcome, after this election local residents will still be here, and so will I.

If anyone still believes the Conservatives have ‘given up’, let me set them straight right here and right now – I have not given up on a single street or a single person, and I will not do so now or later.

I am fighting to win for the Conservatives and for Bradford. It really is time for a change.

Matt Palmer, Conservative Candidate for Bradford South

From the T&A website