David Ottewell's Politics

£7.4million. That’s the amount councils in Greater Manchester have paid out in trip-and-slip claims in the last financial year.
In truth, it’s a reduction on previous years – particularly for councils like Manchester, which have instituted a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy on bogus claims. They now fight virtually every disputed case through the courts.
That brings its own problems, though. Court action, and evidence-gathering, don’t come cheap.
Stockport council has already paid out £160,000 fighting a claim dating back to 2004. Trafford spent £130,000 disputing a woman’s demand for compensation after she tripped on a pavement. She was eventually awarded nearly £57,000.
Salford topped the list of compensation pay-outs last year, at £1.78m. That’s the equivalent of nearly two per cent
on every council tax bill in the city.
I’m not against the principle of fair compensation where blame can be attributed. But the sums awarded are bound to raise eyebrows – particularly when they are coming from the public purse.
A couple of years ago I asked, under the Freedom of Information Act, for Manchester council’s database of trip-and-slip claims. I got it – with the names removed, of course.
I discovered that one resident who fractured an ankle in a fall in Benchill in 2002 settled for £30,000.
At the time I pointed out:

That is nearly three times as much as the standard government compensation payment of £11,000 to the husband or wife of someone killed as the result of a violent crime.

You could add that it is as much as ten times more than traumatised soldiers have been given on their return from Iraq or Afghanistan.
Part of the problem is that the law doesn’t seem to adjust for degrees of blame. For example: if I trip over a pothole, then this may be partly the council’s fault, since they are responsible for keeping the highways in good condition. But it is also partly my fault, since – quite simply – I didn’t look where I was going. Surely I shouldn’t be compensated for that part of my injury caused by inattention or blind stupidity?
It’s impossible to form a judgement about individual settlements without knowing all the facts. But as long as there are people being paid the equivalent of a year’s salary for falling over and breaking a bone, there are going to be an awful lot of people trying to play the system.

And they say local government isn’t a hotbed of comedy…
Here’s a motion going before Manchester city council next week:

Maryam Khan with her father, former Manchester lord mayor Afzal Khan
Maryam Khan, solicitor and Manchester councillor, has been chosen as Labour’s candidate to replace David Chaytor in Bury North at the next general election.
Maryam received ‘overwhelming’ support as a ‘change-candidate’ – someone who represented a definite break from the past.
Labour has taken Bury North at the last three general elections but faces an uphill struggle this time. Mr Chaytor was seriously damaged by the expenses scandal, and may not be out of the woods just yet. He admitted making an ‘unforgivable error’ by claiming for a non-existent mortgage on a London flat where his children had lived.
Maryam represents a clean break from the Chaytor era and has proven a formidable campaigner in the past. If she manages to win – no mean feat with the current climate in Bury North, and Labour defending a majority of just 2,926 – she could become the party’s first female Asian MP. She will also be one of the youngest – just as she was Manchester’s youngest councillor when she took Longsight in 2006.
And a victory could mark the start of an historic father-daughter MP team. Afzal Khan remains many people’s favourite to replace Sir Gerald Kaufman if and when he stands down as MP for Manchester Gorton.

And so the saga draws to a close.
Trustees of the National Football Museum will meet tomorrow to decide whether to stay in Preston or switch to Urbis in Manchester city centre.
A decision is set to be announced at around 1pm.
The whispers I’m hearing suggest the switch to Manchester is still the most likely outcome, despite a hard-fought campaign in Preston. The economic case is simply unanswerable.
I’m told it is likely, though, there will be some compensation for Preston – perhaps part of the museum will stay at Deepdale.
We shall see. I’ll be posting updates on twitter as the day progresses. Follow me at www.twitter.com/davidottewell.

There are plenty of good things in Manchester’s green plan – billed as an industrial revolution for the 21st century.
The aim is to cut carbon emissions by more than 40 per cent in just over a decade.
Among the more eye-catching aims are electric cars zipping around the city:

‘Living walls’ around Manchester:

And even ’several days’ green training for every man, woman and child:

There is a problem, though. The target – cutting one million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year – is offset by the fact the figures don’t include planes flying from Manchester airport.
There is no precise data, but most estimates put the amount of CO2 they create at around two million to two-and-a-half million tonnes per annum. And the airport is central to the economy of the city-region – so much so that there is an express aim of virtually doubling the number of passengers in the next couple of decades.
Even allowing for advances in aeroplane technology, that’s likely to involve a lot of extra CO2.
The airport – which is doing a great deal to cut emissions from its ground operations – argues that any curbs on aviation must be multilateral. To act alone would be economic suicide. Maybe so; but it certainly brings the dilemma we all face into sharp relief.

Manchester council is drawing up its ‘medium-term’ financial plan. And if you work for the council, a new report suggests, you shouldn’t be expecting a big pay rise any time soon:

Is the recession biting for the world’s oldest profession?
According to a new report by Manchester council, it just might be:

MediaCityUK – the huge ‘media zone’ built around the BBC’s new northern headquarters – was an important project before the recession.
Now, it’s absolutely vital.
Figures out today suggest MediaCityUK has generated £92m for local contractors. That is around 40 per cent of the £228m of contracts given to businesses across Greater Manchester.
A total of 80 per cent of people working at the site live in the north west. More than half are from Greater Manchester. Some 11 per cent are from Salford.
Furthermore, 466 people are completing, or have completed, a recognised apprenticeship or qualification while working on the project.
It’s easy for the London-based media to question the overall value of projects like the BBC’s move north. But MediaCityUK has already had a massive impact on the economy of our region, and will continue to do so for decades to come.
There is no substitute for this kind of ‘grand scheme’ investment. And if the BBC is the nation’s broadcaster, then it is surely right that the benefits it brings should be spread throughout the country – and not simply hoarded in the capital.

The trams are back in Manchester city centre.
Even better, transport chiefs have agreed to a second free day of travel as a ‘thank you’ to customers affected by the disruption over the last few months.
The idea – put forward by Labour’s city centre spokesman Pat Karney – was picked up by council leader Sir RIchard Leese.
He wrote to Keith Whitmore, the Liberal Democrat chairman of the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority, suggesting November 2 (for commuters) and November 5 (for shoppers).
Coun Whitmore ruled out these dates on the grounds that he did not believe ‘it would be prudent to encourage many more users than normal on the first full day of operations’.
Instead, it emerged this morning, the trams will be free on November 14 and November 19 – when the Christmas Markets will be up in Manchester city centre.