WHITBY REKINDLES THE FEELGOOD FACTOR

13-02-2008

The redevelopment of New Street Station is good news for Birmingham, the West Midlands, and indeed the nation – all of us stand to benefit when the Second City finally has a rail terminal befitting its status. No one is rejoicing more, though, than irrepressible Council leader Mike Whitby who has finally managed to re-ignite the political feelgood factor.

The turnaround in his fortunes is remarkable. Just a few weeks ago, New Street – like so many of the Progressive Partnership’s grand projects – was mired in uncertainty.

Earlier plans to develop an underground system for the city - Whitby's own personal pet scheme - had been revealed as empty rhetoric, while the sums for a new Central Library were causing much head-scratching even among members of the ruling coalition.

Single Status pay negotiations were proving difficult, too, culminating in last week’s one-day strike – while a much vaunted Business Transformation programme was running into all too predictable IT problems, notably with the Voyager payments system.

To add to Whitby’s discomfort a well-organised campaign calling for a referendum on whether the city should be run by a directly elected mayor was gaining a head of steam; not as much steam as its backers would have liked, admittedly, but enough to seep under his (rather too thin) skin.

Letter writers to local newspapers talked of “drift” and a loss of momentum, while rumour-mongers on our Message Board even hinted (perhaps a tad desperately) at signs of an internal rebellion.

So what’s changed? Well, even before the New Street announcement, the PP had managed to conjure not one, but two rabbits out of the hat.

Firstly, they delivered a Council Tax rise of just 1.9% for the third consecutive year, a below inflation increase that will come as welcome relief to hard-pressed citizens facing higher fuel and food bills.

Any fears that costs were being cut at the expense of the quality of services delivered appeared to by squelched by news of a three-star award by the Audit Commission – a less than gentle nudge in the ribs to Labour that while they did much aid to Birmingham’s revival in the 80’s and 90’s, some of the nuts and bolts of the city’s social infrastructure had started to rust.

Now there’s a revamped station coming on stream, an airport runway to expand, maybe even an expanded tram system to celebrate – not to mention a pair of party conferences to re-emphasise our role as Convention City.

There’ll be high-profile overseas visitors too, when the Americans come here to train for the Olympics. Heady stuff.

Maybe it’s just the shock of actually “winning” something after so many recent defeats, but suddenly there’s a sense that Birmingham is looking forward again, imagining what it might achieve, rather than sulking about what's been lost.

Of course, some of the deeper-rooted issues remain; Single Status may well have been imposed by central government, but its implementation is by local managers and clearly many staff still feel disaffected about their treatment. Don’t discount further action to puncture Whitby's balloon.

The Central Library, too, remains a conundrum which has yet to be resolved to anyone’s satisfaction, while the government may yet use its reserve powers to force the Mayoral issue.

Yet the fact remains that many Council taxpayers will, right now, have a positive take on their city’s leadership; it can claim to provide quality services at a bargain price – and it’s proved it can deliver on major schemes too.

No wonder Whitby's looking so happy - Birmingham's feelgood factor has returned?

Has The Stirrer been on the cooking sherry?

Or has he caught the mood?

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