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SALFORD COUNCIL LEADER HITS OUT AT SALFORD STAR
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YOU WON'T BE CENSORED SO WE WON'T FUND THE SALFORD STAR!
Salford Council Leader, John Merry, today told Regeneration and Renewal magazine the reason why the Council blocked Salford Star's application for devolved funding from the city's Community Committees… |
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Our spat with Salford Council goes back almost two years, when we applied for money from the city's community committees. These committees, made up of community groups, have huge budgets to spend locally on things which would benefit their areas. So, naturally, we believed that Salford Star would get funded from this source, particularly as our first issue had received some money.
When we put the forms in, first we were told that the application had been deferred and later, after the constitution for devolved funding for `publications' had been re-written, that we didn't meet the criteria of being `balanced'.
Now, two years later, John Merry has gone on the record saying the reason was that "the Salford Star would not be able to accept any restraints on what it was allowed to publish."
In other words, that we refuse to be censored…
We find this absolutely shocking!
The whole story was covered in issue 5 of the Salford Star and you can read all about it and related stories here.
To see today's Regeneration and Renewal article click here
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guy griffiths wrote
at 13:55:58 on 17 May 2009 |
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| When is the Broughton article coming out Steve?
Anyway I think its a bit right wing that people are being told that they can only move to certain bits of Salford. According to Salfords relocation policy, you cant even move up near the civic centre because its not in central Salford. I think it wrong to designate areas,reservations or camps where a concentration of people have to move to. Im not buying the "you can move anywhere but you cant have the money" line. Im sure black people could go into certain places in America Pre civil rights---But they would then get prosecuted or worse. I believe in freedom. I believe in civil rights.Whilst its not the same,its a similar thing to what Martin Luther King fought,lived and died for. Its similar to Rosa Parks going onto the "whites only" part of the bus. Its someone fighting for a freedom for themselves and others like them. Remember this "while one of us is chained non of us are free" |
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Guy Griffiths wrote
at 13:54:48 on 17 May 2009 |
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| If £36,500 is a fair price for a 3 bedroom terracred house in the area then there has got to be something wrong. Look at the prices of houses across Leicester road.Before your "regeneration" they were always similar in price to the Wiltshire street area---Check your own council minutes and check the Broughton and Blackfriars community comittee 29th November 2001. The problem was that the Wiltshire street area was taken out of the housing market by your plans. Check the "open day" 24th September 1999 at Calderwood day centre (demolished 2003 and awaiting a replacement) where the draft programme said 10 to 12 weeks to refurbish Vincent street. Neither you or any of your employees or partners have responded to my letters in the advertiser about the regeneration. Is it because you cant defend it or is it another example of council censorship? Anybody reading--You cannot photocopy Cllr Merry,s image at the clowes house resources centre. In the star trek episode "the trouble with tribbles" a klingon referred to captain Kirk as "A tinpot dictator with delusions of Godhood"----makes you think.ANYONE TO DEFEND THE REGENERATION OF HIGHER BROUGHTON THEN? No wonder 1 in 10 people in Salford are depressed. |
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John Merry wrote
at 00:03:06 on 17 May 2009 |
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| Guy you have failed to understand from the start that this was not money to be given to people for compensation. As it happens for your 5 properties I think its a fair price. Our scheme was funded to support people who wish to stay in Salford. If you wish to do so you can claim. |
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guy griffiths wrote
at 05:11:26 on 16 May 2009 |
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| Well Im pleased to see cllr Merry has said something. RE me moving to North Wales--Statutory Instrument 2002 no 1860 says that this assistance can be given to "acquire living accommodation (whether within or outside their area)". Id say North Wales was outside the area. This grant is available because of the recognition that people in the Pathfinder C.P.O. areas were being screwed over the prices of their homes. The trouble with making this dicretionary is that Salford council always say "well normally--BUT". They have done this with government guidelines over C.P.O. and replacement sports facilities. The reason that Cllr Merry wants to keep people in Salford by using this money as a lever is so that they can go to the government for the next pot of regeneration money and say "Look how many people stayed in Central Salford. The regeneration must have worked". So John--Hows your 14 years of regeneration going. Neither you or any of the employees or partners involved can defend it.The word is DISASTER. Hold your hands up. |
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John Merry wrote
at 05:10:07 on 16 May 2009 |
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| I can spell. Just not a very good typist! Steve you are better in that one department! As you know I do respond to your queries on a regular basis and as you accepted in the past I have always been prepared to talk to you. On this posting I wanted to correct a false impression that I wanted to censor you. In fact it’s the opposite. We would have had to vet the content of the star if we had subsidized it and would have face demands from a variety of groups that we support their magazine. No similar magazine to Salford Star that I know of has demanded the council pays for it.
PS
I do want to Email your series on Salford City to the manager of West Brom
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stephen kingston wrote
at 15:52:58 on 15 May 2009 |
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| Don't usually comment on other people's comments (see below)but, hey, Mr Merry, couldn't resist... First of all you really do need to improve your spelling: `balenced'? What's that? There's plenty of literacy courses running in Salford that would gladly accept you.
Second: the Salford Star is not `politically partisan' - the magazine is totally independent and isn't allowed to enter into the world of political parties and stuff. Otherwise I personally would be screaming on our website telling Salfordians not to vote for a certain so-called `political party', as you well know.
Our board and constitution won't allow it.
Third: see above - it's not `Steve's magazine' - the Salford Star is produced and run by a community group. I'm just the editor and thus, unfortunately, the public face of it. When we're in print there's over 100 people involved in its production and distribution, so please don't insult their incredible contribution.
And finally, it's very nice that you're reading our website but wouldn't you like to comment on something else, like the depression rates of our city or the lack of community empowerment or the bullying culture at the Council, perhaps???? Or how about a comment on Hazel?? Go on…giz a comment on Hazel!
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John Merry wrote
at 21:27:25 on 14 May 2009 |
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| Go to the website and read the whole of the quote rather than the bit supplied by Steve. Then you would realise that it was about the Star not being politicaly partisan . The council own magazine has Labour and Conservative members on its Editoral board to ensure this. Those are the restraints I was talking about. No Censorship just a question of whether public money should be used to subsidise Steves magazine |
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John Merry wrote
at 21:26:21 on 14 May 2009 |
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| My attention has been recently drawn to this post and want to make it clear that the restraints I was talking about are the legal requirements that the council are compelled to operate under. No I wont give taxpayers money that went into a scheme to encourage people to stay in Salford to allow Guy to go to North Wales and I cannot allow money to go to a Magazine however well written that will not accept the "restraint" of being politicaly balenced. Will I suggest you read the interview I did with Salford Star before saying I will not accept legitimate criticism. You may disagree with what we do but I can assure you we are not unscrupulous or morally bankrupt. |
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da barman wrote
at 02:41:37 on 28 April 2009 |
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| disappointed but not altoghether surprised.....
well, maybe a bit surprised that JM admitted......... |
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Richard Carvath wrote
at 01:05:24 on 28 April 2009 |
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| Well, no surprises that the truth has finally been confessed from Merry's own slabber-chops.
We've known for a long time that Salford Labour's big boys attempted to assassinate and suppress the Salford Star because it wasn't prepared to be their obedient mouthpiece.
The truth should also be told about the Salford Advertiser...
Despite hypocritical expressions of sympathy from senior Labour Councillors in Salford when it was announced recently that the Advertiser's Eccles office was to close, the truth is that the Salford Labour hierarchy acted to deliberately "shaft the Advertiser" when it pulled the plug on the Advertiser's bread-and-butter advertising revenue from Council advertisements (because the Advertiser was not paying 100% homage to the Salford Labour oligarchy). Make no mistake, the Advertiser was indeed 'shafted' just like the Salford Star. |
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Guy wrote
at 23:56:09 on 27 April 2009 |
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| I find it quite strange that John Merry has gone on record as saying the person he most admired was Martin Luthor King and he believes in civil rights. This is the man who wont let me have the £25,000 government relocation grant if I want to leave Salford,infringed my human rights regarding stopping me using the photocopier at the resources centre and wont fund the Salford Star because it wont be censored. I take it that we wont be seeing Nelson Mandela at the triathlon or the Lowry centre then? |
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john wrote
at 23:55:55 on 27 April 2009 |
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| welcome to england comrades of course this was always the reason the truth hurts i always thought local councils were there to provide services ie housing refuge collection so on and so forth i never knew they wanted to act as censors deciding what the people of salford could and could not read JUST WHAT HAVE THESE PEOPLE GOT TO HIDE i dont suppose its the fact they are selling salford out to big business is it what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive |
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Will Youds wrote
at 21:54:49 on 27 April 2009 |
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| Salford Council do nothing but prove over and over again that they are nothing but a bunch of devious, manipulative, unscrupulous and morally bankrupt bunch of morons.
Hopefully the present regime will come to an end and as citizens of Salford we may even get a council we deserve.
THEN, you may get some funding from a council that is not afraid to except legitimate criticism from it's people...the refusal for Salford Star to receive community funding is pathetic.
Shame on the council. |
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