This is the first a series of posts which gives candidates in the Greenwich West and Peninsula wards the chance to tell Greenwich.co.uk readers a little about themselves and why they standing in the forthcoming council elections.
Name: Ryan Acty (Conservative)
Ward: Greenwich West
Please can you tell Greenwich.co.uk readers a little about yourself.
I joined the Army in 1998 and served for nine years which including operational tours of Kosovo in 2000 and Iraq in 2004 before getting posted to Woolwich Barracks. Since then I have worked for an Engineering Recruitment Company as a Recruitment Consultant before becoming their IT Manager. I have lived on Blackheath Hill since leaving the Army in 2007.
Why does it matter that people vote in council elections?
At the 2006 Council elections the turnout in parts of the Borough was as low as 25%. By going to the polling station on Election Day you are giving a clear signal that you want to improve the services that you receive.
Why are you standing to be a councillor?
I am standing to make a difference to the services we get from the Council and for greater value for our council tax, to work hard to make Greenwich a better place for all of us.
What do you like most about the area you wish to represent?
One of my favourite places to visit after work in Greenwich is the Tolley (Richard the First) on Royal Hill which has a great community feel and Young’s bitter on tap! I also enjoy wandering around the market on a weekend, in particular trying the various different foods, which is why it needs to be protected from damaging redevelopment which would ruin the heart of Greenwich.
If elected, what would be your priorities for Greenwich West ward over the next four years?
If elected to serve West Greenwich I would ensure that Charlotte Turner School was re-opened, fight against the redevelopment of Greenwich Market, ensure that an extra police team was set up and based in Greenwich Town Centre and ensure that the LOCOG deliver on their assurances of returning the Park in the same way that they found it. Also that Greenwich Time, the Councils propaganda paper is scrapped.
I can’t understand the Tories problem with the Greenwich Time! Why continue to smear it as Council ‘propaganda’? I personally LOVE getting the paper through the door and reading about positive things going on in the area.
•For many people in Greenwich it enforces a sense of community.
•It provides advertising for local businesses.
•It informs about local events and promotions (including resident discounts).
I could go on…
Even people who DO have access to the internet are never going to check up on these things regularly.
What is your problem with it? What do you propose to replace it with? And how will you positively promote the good work being done in our brilliant area without it being labelled ‘propaganda’?
Thanks, Damian, for the lovely, sincere comment. I, too, love Greenwich Time, I’m happy to pay my taxes to support its incisive reports of how wonderful everything is in Greenwich, and the photos of Our Glorious Leader. I paste them on my wall alongside my pictures of Stalin and Kim Il Jung.
“For many people in Greenwich it enforces a sense of community”
How patronising can you get?
“Here you are little people, it’s YOUR newspaper…. do you like ickle picture of nice council leader man? No, don’t read nasty website full of bad news about council messing things up, read nice paper with nice council leader man…”
I’d suggest GT needs reform rather than outright abolition – and in the meantime, if Greenwich Labour members like Damian want to have their unchallenged views pushed through people’s letterboxes, perhaps they can have a whipround at their next meeting rather than dipping into council tax funds.
I would willingly sell my house and all its contents to help fund Greenwich Time and its deliberative, cutting-edge and informative journalism. Help me raise money for this excellent project by clicking on http://www.praising greenwichlabourpartytotheskies.com and making your much needed donation…..
Sorry if you misread my comment as patronising. It wasn’t. I’m not a Labour member. I just really like getting the GT through the door! And if the Tories got in, I’d hope they would either keep it or produce something similar.
I know the council aren’t perfect. I know if it was a Tory council it wouldn’t be perfect either.
When I said ‘enforces a sense of community’, I meant through reports on schools, charity works, sporting achievements, culture etc…. that’s what springs to mind if you said ‘Greenwich Time’ to me. In none of the pictures that pop up in my head can I see ‘Our Glorious Leader’!
(Am I the only person who enjoys reading positive stories?)
If it was 100% funded by the advertising, would it be more acceptable?
I was hoping for some genuine, informative reasoning in the replies. Here’s a real chance to back it up, folks!
I was nervous about posting, considering the level of unhelpful bitchiness on other topics. So far, my fears have been justified!
The trouble is there is a tendency for GT to plug certain members of the Council to the exclusion of all others. It’s always the same half dozen Cabinet members featured in photos!
The propaganda is so blatant most people I know bin it without looking at it, which is a pity as there is occasionally something of worth.
Damian – if you want something positive and enforcing a sense of community can I recommend http://www.thegreenwichphantom,co.uk ?There’s a genuine love of Greenwich there, and lots of insider tips about local things I’ve found helpful and fun.
I mean http://www.thegreenwichphantom.co.uk of course…
Thanks Kate… Yeah, I’m a big fan of the phantom already. I wish there was a Phantom Fortnightly came through the letterbox!
As for GT, it’s fascinating how other people view the same publication in a different way! I guess if someone is in the mindset that it is ‘propaganda’ then maybe they cringe if a councillor is in a photo. I don’t tend to notice. I just notice the interesting stories.
I’ve flicked through a few random back issues online and… no…. I still couldn’t find Nick or his same half dozen council staff. I’m not trying to be awkward, just realistic!
I have never finished it and thought “Wow, what a great council we have!”. I just think “What a great borough we live in!”. And I’m not convinced it will be any different under any of the other parties.
I shouldn’t have to do this, but I feel I’m getting anti-Labour bullying.
I’m currently ‘UNDECIDED’.
I’ve opened up the subject for some intelligent discussion as it seems such a strange priority to me.
I’m a bit disappointed therefore that, given this soapbox, Richard Shackleton (Chairman Greenwich & Woolwich Conservatives) can only make cheap jokes instead of a considered response.
Damian – Sorry if you are feeling bullied. However I think it is the view of most people living a normal life outside the bubble of the Greenwich Labour Politburo that GT contains nothing that could not be done elsewhere (and more cheaply) by using the Council website and/or taking “advertorial” space in our two quality independent local papers. Their pages would be ideal for the usual fare of statutory planning notices and other announcements of interest to residents.
A casual glance through GT confirms that much useful information is heavily interspersed with “puff pieces” for the local Labour hierarchy. I challenge anyone to do a quick name/photo check of a recent issue (not since the election was called) to see how many non-Labour councillors/candidates get a mention.
Sorry Damian – but party propaganda should be relegated to party leaflets and flyers where it belongs. These are paid for by political parties – not the Council Tax payer.
So if elected, the conservatives will scrap it and just use a website and adverts in the paper?
Or keep it and just cut down/remove the “puff pieces”?
Personally, I would hope for some sort of newsletter through the door irrespective of political party.
(I use the internet a lot, but even a website like this one and greenwichphantom only attracts me to visit every now and again. And nobody browses EVERY page! Also I’m in a block where quite a few people don’t have internet access or if they do, they just use it primarily for emails.)
Damian,
Your second option seems very attractive – a number of councils do what you have suggested with a strictly non-political publication. This was certainly the case at Croydon when I worked there.
Conservatives are pledged to scrapping GT. But whatever the result on May 6th, the Whitehall economies that will be imposed on Greenwich will almost certainly result in GT being consigned to the “dustbin of history” whoever’s in charge.
At the moment, GT can’t feature *any* councillors because of the election – the council’s in “purdah” and can’t legally be seen to be promoting anyone who may be standing in the election.
The Tories have been banging on about axing Greenwich Time for about 25 years (I’ve seen a flyer from the 1986 council election promising it!). But the situation’s reversed across town in Hammersmith & Fulham – where Labour want to axe the Tories’ propaganda rag there. Both parties are at it across London.
I think all councils need to promote what they’re up to, but what Greenwich Council gets up to with its plump publicity budget really needs some scrutiny. While I agree the local press is pretty weak in this area (Greenwich now having to share titles with neighbouring boroughs) a local council shouldn’t be seeking to drive them out of business with a competing offer masquerading as a “newspaper”.
GT needs reforming into something different – a community noticeboard, something which offers training for young people wanting to get into the media, a forum for people to suggest ways to improve the borough, with an independent body making sure the council leadership does not abuse its position in it. And nobody needs to hear from their local council every week.
Damian – apologies for accusing you of being a Greenwich Labour party member. With one honourable exception, most Labour members around here rarely speak up in defence of their party’s leadership. At least not under their real names, anyway.
I like a newsletter / newspaper too and think relying on a website is tricky for some members of the community.
I am critical of GT, but wouldn’t want to lose it altogether – II just wish the Journalists at GT were allowed to get on with their job without the PR puffs. And yes – give the Phantom a paid column!
Maybe thereports on schools, charity works, sporting achievements, culture etc would appear in the Mercury and Newsshopper – two newspapers that actually already exist!
There’s a more profound problem with GT, and I say this as someone who will certainly be voting for my Labour Councillors (altho I’m reluctant to support the loathsome Nick Raynsford, who flaunts his indifference to his constituents).
It’s a matter of democratic accountabiliy: GT poses as a newspaper, takes advertisements although it’s almost wholly subsidised from our council tax, and therefore helps put independent newspaper publishers out of business. Once they are gone, what local media will be left to keep an eye on the Labour Council?
Darryl,
The point you make about election purdah is well taken but please see my last but one post. How many non-Labourites get mentioned in previous (non-election) issues? You won’t need a calculator I promise you!!!!
If Labour are re-elected locally on May 6 they will do their level best to keep GT on as the local Pravda – subject to centrally imposed cuts. As the party in power for the last 40 years old habits really do die hard.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council, on the other hand, regularly changes between Labour and Conservatives so voters always get a shout when it comes to the future of a local Council-funded newspaper.
This on the other hand is the first realistic opportunity that Greenwich voters will have had to comment the GT’s future since its introduction.
Paul,
You are bang on the money when it comes to Council-funded publications threatening the future of independent titles. Quis custodiet ipsos custodies!
Conservatives on the other hand will investigate the possibility of live streaming of Council meetings and its most important committees on the Boroughl website.
So you will be able to see exactly what we are doing (or not doing) in live living colour free from GT’s corrective lens.
I agree with you Richard – trouble is, with all GTs since March 29 taking on a decidedly neutral-ish look, it’s harder to illustrate the point that the paper is full of beaming photos of about six Labour councillors at all other times. In a strange way, purdah works in Greenwich Labour’s favour here – really, GT should shut down for a month while the election’s going on, and Labour members can pay for their own publicity.
Kate – basically the journalists there are paid simply to promote the council; there’s no chance they’re going to be doing any Woodward & Bernstein work any day soon. (Which isn’t to say they’re incapable of it – the team behind GT is the core of the team behind the Mercury in its late 80s/early 90s glory days.)
Paul – absolutely. I think local titles should take Greenwich Time as warning to up their game, both in terms of funding their journalism and distributing their papers. The sad truth is, though, that many newspaper groups cut back on local coverage during the 90s (the Mercury was a victim of this) when the going was good – but now the going’s tough in newspaperland, they’ve found themselves in a hole; which titles like GT can claim to fill.
But then that’s where sites like greenwich.co.uk are so important – it’s the only one that bothers to go to council meetings, for example. And yes, webcasting council meetings is a good idea; they’ll hardly be ratings blockbusters, but when it’s about your street, you’d look, wouldn’t you? Lewisham’s investigating the idea (thanks to a Green motion, incidentally) but Greenwich is sniffy about it. If you turn up to an average council meeting, you’ll see why…
(declaration of interest – I’m the Green candidate for Peninsula ward, jobbing hack and sometime contributor to this site. Phew.)
Darryl – I agree about GT Journos: I met Pat Greenwood recently (their Chief Reporter) and she’s very committed and really interested in things locally. I’m a Journalist too and always assumed GT was written by Council Communication Officers but Pat impressed me, and I realised the problems with GT don’t lie with the Journos.