All these people in Barnsley complaining about Tories..

What did Labour have 13 years in power ??

How did Barnsley benefit from being a faithful Labour stronghold / safe seat?

Answer it didn't. End of, Barnsley has been left with little in the way of economic susbtance with no industry to fall back on.

Fair enough the Tories shut the pits, lets get over it 30 yrs ago move on. Did Labour reverse the Tory pit closures?

No they didn't. Did Labour invest heavily in Barnsley.. No they didn't.

Give me a credible strong independent local person who genuinely cares for the town anyday over party politics.

Never can work out the fascination with voting Labour in Barnsley, the town would benefit much more from being focused on because it is not a safe seat.

 

I guess reviving Barnsley is as difficult as getting the club back to the Premiership.

 

Errrm not sure you are allowed comments like that on here matey...

you will get them all upset

 

I work in construction as a structural steel draffy & during the Labour rule they sanctioned the rebuild of pretty much every single comprehensive school in the area. We did quite a bit of this work and it helped us (a local Barnsley company) stay in business during an incredibly tough period.

Not only did it help keep us afloat, it also provided the young adults in this area with some of the very best schooling facility's I've ever seen. The schools and academy's that these kids in the area now have are fantastic places to learn & also have some of the best sporting facility's around.

I don't want an argument about politics but just thought it only fair to try and re-dress the balance ...... I certainly didn't think nothing at all was a achieved under Labour rule.

 

I know of the re-building schools programme. That should have been funded through state spending not the way Labour did the majority or the Tories not doing anything. Most of the Labour ones were through PFI though which gets the job done on a short term basis and as you point out does provide work, however the offset of the PFI is the true cost at the end of the agreement etc.

I'm not saying I am a Tory, I enjoy getting into politics so welcome any sensible debate as you have put forward. Certainly I think there is so much reform required for a modern democratic society to make sure people are heard fairly and politicians become accountable.

Labour lost the election by not listening to the people, everyone decided in the end better the devil in my opinion.

 

3 brand new, state of the art schools.
In Wombwell alone, 2 new doctors surgeries.
Minimum wage.
Educational Maintenance Allowance.
Pupil Premium
Additional NHS funding to bring Barnsley General up to something like.
Sure start centers
New Deal
Adult training

Nar, they did nowt for us. Don't know anyone who thinks they're perfect but let's not pretend they've ever, ever been as bad for this Town as the Conservative Party.

And I agree about a strong local person - however, it's absolutely pointless having an independent in a 2 party, FPTP system. Pointless.

 

Is that the tape you use for sealing pipes?

 

Isn't it a bottom burp?

 

You keep fekin harping on about why Barnsley people have been labour and how you and yer dad when you came to Barnsley thought how thick these Barnsley people are for keep voting abour

Well being as you couldnt be bothered to look at our history or couldn't give a fek I'll tell you why we vote labour.
All our history we have been exploited by the upper classes who paid the Tory politicians to look the other way.
Mining disaster after mining disaster was ignored in these cnuts favour .
No Education,no medical assistance, no hope no life ,children were still sent down the mines despite legislation against it,alll in the full knowledge of Tories turning a blind eye in favour of their paymasters.
Tories fought against every bit of humanity we in industrialised areas struggled for all our lives right up to this day. Passing legislation for multi million pound companies to pay slave wages whilst pouring millions in the Tories coffers.
The Tories treat us with contempt and insignificance and the only people to stand up to them is ourselves through Trade Unions and the labour movement.
So if you and yer dad don't like what we stand for I suggest you go back from whence you came and good riddance imo

 

MDG has a fair point imo.

We are hardly a bright modern town under S Houghton and his cronies are we, even when labour were in power.

Having said that it certainly ain't gunna get better now

 

Well fek off then, i'll not miss thi one bit

 

Pupil premium ? Weren t it introduced by coalition in 2011?

Nowt to do wi labour.

 

most local funding is governed by central government and seeing as we've had more tory years than labour it must come as no surprise that areas like barnsley have been made to suffer,

 

Every progressive thing you can think of from the nhs to the education system, from equal opp laws to anti discrimination, votes for all, minimum wage, all came under Labour. Every policy which destroyed our industry, limits our opportunity and Lines the pocket of the super rich came from the conservatives. I guess with them only clocking a third of the votes today, the majority of the rest of the country don't think much to the Tories either.

 

Weren't all these new schools paid for with money we didn't have. Tied into 20 maintenance contracts where they have to call out Carillon just to change a light bulb. They knocked down solid 75+ year old schools, sold off the land (or banked) and replaced with identikit McDonald build schools that'll be lucky to still be standing in 10 years. But that's ok, the maintenance contract should patch them up.
Sure it created a some jobs, but you can bet a few nests were feathered handing out these contracts.
Labour or Conservative, they're all the same.

 

Just back to this.

Did you spend any time in these 'solid' 75+ year old schools? Because I only left Wombwell High in 2004. We had leaks, toilets that were a disgrace, a lack of room for development in terms of ICT and other technologies & no real sporting facilities.

Now I don't necessarily agree with PFI, however, I'm not quite sure how else you fund multi million pound schools. Maybe, if there'd been sustained investment in the 18 years of Tory rule, you could get away with doing one every decade but when you've got to redo the lot then what do you do?

Also, have you been into any of these schools that won't be standing in 10 years time? They're f.cking brilliant. Holy Trinity at Carlton & Netherwood at Wombwell are unbelievable spaces and truly inspirational in terms of the facilities. Not only that, they're community hubs with local people using the facilities on an evening & putting cash back in. We play football at Netherwood - £40 for an hour for 14 lads. Unbelievable value.

Again - not saying they're perfect, I'd much prefer us as a party to be much lefter leaning but as we've seen, when we are we don't get voted in. What that means is you have to be sensible, get as many votes as you can and then govern with a damn sight more social conscience than these b.stards will. The b.stards.

PS - 'sure, it created some jobs'.

That's the whole point.

 

Yes from 1972 to 1986 I went through these solid built Schools. Kexborough Infant and Primary school are still there and are exactly the same. Except the front lawns have been replaced with tarmac to accommodate the teachers parking. Only 2 teachers had cars when I was there. Parking wasn't an issue as the majority lived locally and taught all their career in the same school. It's also now protected by high security fencing to keep out intruders.

Darton High School, while I was there through the 80's had a brand new science block as well as sports hall and all weather athletics track. They also earned revenue hiring out the sporting facilities to the public, including two immaculate wooden squash courts.

I then left school and got a job. 15-18 years later, I had 3 kids. Two of em went to Darton Primary (old build school) - As did both my parents and their parents before them. Yes it was a bit cold and tired, certainly not falling down. Probably too expensive to heat and not the ideal layout, but it was a solid school. Probably would stand another 100 years.

In 2007 Darton Primary was moved to one of the Carillion built schools located on the old Darton High (lower) site. The old school across the road was knocked down (slate and brick reclaimed and sold) and there it's been left as wasteland for page 6-7 years. The new school had lots of teething problems, leaking roof, wooden facias falling off. Door frames warped. All fixed under contract.

Whilst my eldest was at Darton Primary, they had a couple of sporting events held at the old Darton High in Kexborough. I went and had a good nosy around and I was gobsmacked. No actually, I was upset. Where when we were kids there was the occasional graffiti outside in 'smokers corner', now graffiti on the inside corridor walls appeared to be the norm. Security camera's protected by wire cages with the monitoring done from the safety of the staff room. Everything was as I remembered it almost 20 years earlier, but it looked like zero maintenance had been done in that time. Same aluminium windows, plenty were boarded up. This was the school we were intending to put our kids through.

We looked at alternatives, but thankfully by 2011 the new build Darton College had been built. Excellent building with wonderful facilities. Two of my kids are currently there with my youngest in her final years at Darton Primary.

Of course the new schools are a massive improvement over what was. I don't personally think they will stand the test of time. But why were the old schools allowed to go into such a state of disrepair that they needed to be demolished and replaced. Surely some of this neglect also came during the 1997-2007 Labour government and BMBC. I'd imagine that the schools would have had to have be replaced by whoever was in power. It happened to be Labour, so I guess they have the right to claim the credit.

 

A third of the 66% who voted in actual fact, which makes for around 25% of the electorate.

 

Everybody gets what 75% of the population didn't want. It's a cracking system. Can't understand why anyone has a problem with it.

 

When Blair was elected with a landslide only just over 30% of the voting population voted for New Labour. As you say great system