“AMANDLA NGAWETHU” Sleep Well Madiba

"We seek to create a united Democratic and non-racial society. We have a vision of South Africa in which black and white shall live and work together as equals in conditions of peace and prosperity. Using the power you derive from the discovery of the truth about racism in South Africa, you will help us to remake our part of the world into a corner of the globe on which all -- of which all of humanity can be proud."

It will seem strange to some that I should precede a tribute to our beloved Madiba with a quote from Oliver Tambos (ANC president 1967-1991) But as a founding member of the ANC Youth League alongside Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela in 1943, Tambos (pronounced Tambo) was in the 1980’s the voice of the ANC in the West, the spokesperson of Mandela, whose own voice was silenced by his white oppressors within a wicked South African regime willing to use its system of Apartheid to butcher and murder so many of the nation’s young for daring to even believe that all men are born equal.

But it was Tambos’ words as précised above that made me the political activist I am today, His words of unity, equality, peace and humanity following on from those of Martin Luther King in the 1960’s and preceding Madiba’s own actions and words of the future are all major parts of my political education.

I joined the ANC in the mid 1980’s whilst working as Local Government Officer with Northamptonshire County Council, and became a fundraiser for the cause, peddling mugs, t shirts, badges and flags on behalf of the movement. A strange political awakening and activity for a boy born in the Barratt Maternity home in Northampton but one which was itself born out of admiration for a movement willing to fight for world change and for a man who was still incarcerated and as such denied the oxygen of publicity by his enemies.

In 1990 when Mandela was finally released from his Victor Versta prison cell (he was only at Robben

Island from 1964-1982) and began his long walk to freedom on behalf of a whole people, I wept like a small child, tears of joy, hope and anger tears not just at the sense of collective achievement bought about by a world community who had boycotted and protested South Africa into submission but because of the injustice of this true giant of world politics having been incarcerated for so long and for the world having been denied the opportunity to find hope and comfort in his words and in his voice for 27 years .

Having been informed of his freedom by the then South African President FW De Clerk, on the 10^th February 1990 Madiba, despite his 27 years incarceration, is reported to have told the then president that “at the risk of appearing ungrateful I would prefer to have a week's notice in order that my family and my organization could be prepared." His request though was denied and his release then arranged for the very next day.

His words on the day of his release were as always, from the heart and as carefully crafted, thoughtful and true as all those that followed from him for the rest of his life when he told the massive crowds who came to witness his freedom  and the millions watching worldwide that

“It is only through disciplined mass action that our victory can be assured. We call on our white compatriots to join us in the shaping of a new South Africa”

And then he purposely repeated the words he had spoken at his trial those 27 years previous when he told the Cape Town crowd:

“I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die”.

On his first day of freedom, he called for peace, asked those present to act with calm dignity and put feelings of indifference aside, he began the remarkable journey and long walk to freedom that South Arica and its people were destined to make, it was his forgiveness of his enemies, his desire for one nation, and his total commitment to equality and fairness for all black and white that inspired so many across the world in the 23 years thereafter. In that his first act of freedom we were to witness first hand his calmness, his humility and courage.

Mandela didn’t just battle against and conquer racism, he crushed it as a very concept, he taught the world how futile ethnic indifference to be and on a personal note he personally helped alongside others to make me the person I am proud to be and helped me teach my children the importance of collective human endevour.

Madiba, the whole world is poorer for your passing, we grieve alongside your own “One Nation" in their loss, but we thank you as One World from the bottom of our hearts for precious gifts you gave to us, the lessons you taught us and the legacy you leave behind.

“Amandla Ngawethu” RIP Madiba, Sleep Well my Comrade

County Council Election 2013 Castle Ward Leaflet 2

The second leaflet is off the printing block and ready for delivery. This one is for all those who wanted less words!

All of our leaflets are printed in house (literally, in my back room) on a old recycled Risograph printer using vegetable ink,  our paper is sourced from FSE certified paper.

Delivery begins along with canvassing after the Green Party photo call at 6.30pm County Hall, St George's Row

WAITING FOR A PARTY WITH A MORAL COMPASS AND A BACKBONE

Regular readers of this blog, and those I socialise with would acknowledge I hope, that I am very "up front" with my views and opinions and rarely if ever do I feel the need to hold back on the truth or water down my true feelings.  And those who have been here on this blog from the start will also know that I have had in recent years an ongoing love hate relationship with the Labour Party. To catch up on how it all began just click here

http://tonyclarkeindependent.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/why.html

The Labour Party is of course a number of different entities these days National, Regional and Local and it wouldn't surprise many that individual members at National and Local level who we're my friends pre expulsion remain my friends to this day. I intend this week to go down to Parliament to meet up with old acquaintances,  Others however within the party treat me post 2007 with a mixture of either unnecessary fear and/or unexplainable indifference. I have become the family member who left home under a cloud and who nobody now is allowed to mention! I sometimes wonder, can I really after all be that bad a person? I am not "anti" Labour in any way, I actually believe that Andy Sawford will be a very good MP for Corby and I wish him well in his election campaign, if his values are anything like his fathers then Corby and the Labour Party have everything to gain. Equally Sally Keebles reselection as Candidate for Northampton North leaves me cold and asking "Will they never learn?"

Anyhow despite the views of others and much I am sure to the annoyance of some local members I have now decided to come clean on the recent events and attempts to woo me back to into the fold and to rejoin the party I left 5 years ago, and I will also try to explain to you all how difficult a decision it has been to make, being asked to put all the past to one side in exchange for a "lets move on" reconciliation.

Being expelled from the Labour Party in 2007 hurt me very deeply, I had given over twenty years to the movement and I represented them at all levels all the way up to Westminster, so to be treated in such a crass and unfair fashion by the very people you considered to be on your side, and seeing people you considered to be friends reluctant to stand by you in case they themselves were targeted left some very deep and open wounds. Of course the expulsions didn't just end with yours truly, they extended beyond any sensible trawl for supposed trouble makers and led to many good innocent people being wrongly judged and punished. Indeed whenever asked about rejoining I have always made it clear that if I ever said yes then those expelled would walk back in together rather than special favours been offered to individuals.

For the record my expulsion was automatic, having stood as an Independent candidate in the Borough Council elections in 2007, but that decision was only taken after the party had lied, cheated, abused it's own rules and accused good people of wrongful intent. And it is also worth remembering that when the Labour Party instructed me not to submit my nomination papers as a Labour candidate on the nomination day for the Borough Council elections, that I was a fully endorsed candidate, one of three fully endorsed candidates for two seats in Castle Ward for that election!

On three occasions now since 2007 I have been asked to rejoin the party in 2009, 2010 and most recently in December 2011. On each occasion I have listened to the reasoned arguments and tried to apply logic to any given answer.  I still remain after all the same political animal I have always been, independently minded but always of the left, and always mindful of the advantages and disadvantages of collective action, combined strength and cooperative engagement.

But now I still find myself in a period of indifference towards not just a party but towards a whole political system I find myself unable to make a final decision which I am comfortable with owning, so I am doing what I always do, taking council, asking for views, trying to explain my dilemma and then using the exercise to help form a decision.

But to offer advice, you the readers of this blog will need to know exactly what has been occurring, and also to understand my thinking, to understand what I feel is still wrong within the party and also share my discomfort that it's issues are still left undealt with,  after all it is easy to make a flash judgement which could then have a heavy cost for many people if not thought through fully, why bother rejoining if I find myself expelled again with weeks by saying something others think is best left unsaid?

The case made for my rejoining is made mostly but not exclusively in Castle Ward by normal electors and party members alike who tell me that they want me to continue as their Cllr,  they care not if I am Independent or Labour, both suit them, they say that with the vote being split between Labour and Independent that they risk losing my input unnecessarily. They believe that at a time of real need in the area that we need strong representatives who will bury past differences to collectively fight against continued cut backs and attacks on the vulnerable, their case is a compelling one.

In the opposite corner are those from a much wider base than just Castle Ward who have completely lost all faith with the political system and judge all party's to be as one, and as bad as each other, they wish me to contine to carry a torch for Independence and in doing so help lead the way to a different political future altogether. Again all well considered and intelligent expressions, after all membership of political parties and trust in the same is now at an all time low

The third factor, if I am allowed' is a personal one, do I really want back in? And at what cost to my reputation? If I went back in to fight the battle from the inside how long would I last? And what would I do about all of those open faultlines laying within, I couldn't bite my tongue and to be a member of an orginasition in which you knew wrongdoing was present but didn't act, that would be totally immoral. So what are the facts and how do we separate the individual from the plural? How do we encourage those inside to help with any subsequent cleansing and just what is my best individual course of action? 

After all doing absolutely nothing and sitting back and taking a rest from the whole cabana is an equally if not far more attractive alternative option.

So in this and a couple of other posts I will outline all the facts, warts and all as usual, and let you have your say, I will tell you things you never knew, draw venom from those who would prefer everything kept swept under an ever growing hump under the red carpet, and then I will make a decision.

So to start, and to set tongues wagging, I should reveal that the latest invitation to rejoin the party came as recently as December 2011 came via the County Council Labour Group who amazingly offered me instant party membership (meaning a guaranteed lifting of my then still in place expulsion) if I would consider being the Party's candidate for the forthcoming Police Commissionaire elections. A high prize indeed, but not necessarily an attractive one, and I also couldn't help draw a comparison with my reasons for expulsion (The Party fixing candidate selections in their favour) and my invite back (The Party fixing a candidate selection in my favour!) Will they never learn? Of course they are not alone, all three party's play the same game, open selection where it suits them, or a fixed coronation of the favoured son/daughter when it is more useful to their cause.

Needless to say the invite was not accepted and I was pleased to note that an open selection did indeed thereafter take place and a candidate was chosen fairly. The other irony being that if I had said yes I would have had to then withdraw Simon Weston style due to a conviction during my misspent youth, I can stand for Parliament, become an MP, and of course serve as a Police Officer for 4 and a half years in the Special Constabulary, but the crazy rules on this election bar all but those who are squeaky squeaky clean. 

But even after this prize had been offered and rejected the opportunity to rejoin the party still remained, and it was a tempting one in part because the County Council Labour Group are a thoroughly decent group of people, they are as a party group well organised, and well disciplined, they campaign effectively and more than hold their own in full Council meetings, they seem to work hard both collectively and in their respective divisions, they are also as individuals very nice people. No my problem doesn't lie with the County Labour group. it lies elsewhere, not too far away in fact just a few yards over the road at the Town Hall.

You see I have always been a "Borough" man, when elected to the County in 2009 BBC Northampton asked me what my hopes were for the 4 year term ahead and I replied "I hope the County Council gets abolished" I still feel the same way, our two tier system of local government in Northampton serves none of us well, apart from of course the Tories, who will if they get their way turn into a three tier system propped up by Parish Councils across the town providing services only to those who can afford them. To me a Unitary Northampton Council has always been the end game and any future Unitary Council will need strong local representatives to lead it, and that is where I see the labour Party failing at present.

In fact is is not just failing, it is irrelevant, and it is in my opinion corrupt, all the fault lines are there for all to see and all of the complaints and attempts to challenge any wrongdoing have been ignored, and for me or for that matter anyone else to wanting to join or rejoin the Labour Party in Northampton we would need to be assured that these underlying faults are being addressed before we put our names on any membership list.
Some good new Councillors were elected to the group in 2011 (others not so good) but the old guard are still holding sway and I am sure I am the last person in the world who they would want to walk back in. Sometimes you have to shake the tree if you are to allow new fruit to bud, sometimes you have to clear out the old in order to make room for the new. And sometimes you need to do nothing more than be prepared to tell the truth in order to start the cleansing.

And so in my next three posts, I will tell you of three separate incidents.  I will fairly explore the internal allegations made regarding three of Northampton Borough Labour Cllrs, one who we are told lied to a court and also committed what the judge concluded to be a forgery, one who allegedly feels that the cost of political support equates to sexual favours in return, and a third who we are understand thinks that it is perfectly reasonable to use their Council position to bolster their own private income. I will be fair to all of them and stay firmly within the law,  I will stick to facts and not rely on simply here say, I will not judge them, others in some cases already have done, but I will only reveal what has already been revealed both to me and to the party's whips and then leave others to question why in some cases no action has been taken, and in others why the victims rather than the perpetrators feel that they have been punished rather than the alleged wrongdoers,  I will also, for now refrain from naming any of them.

It was Groucho Marx who most famously said "I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member" For me it is more of question of not wanting to be member of any party who preaches equality fairness and justice whilst presiding over an internal executive system which denies all three to its own members who have made complaints. And of course let no one think that the Labour Party are alone in Northamptonshire in buying ever more wardrobes to host an ever growing clutter of skeletons!

As always your comments will be very much welcomed.

A MESSAGE TO THE COUNTY COUNCIL - YOU HAVE NOT BEATEN A MAN JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE SILENCED HIM

This is for all of you old enough to have walked into an empty room and then forgotten what you went in there for in the first place. It is a tale of personal anxiety and deep inner questioning and also of incredible interference in the democratic process by person or persons unknown. A real shocker!

I begin by apologising to many people who for the last few months have had to put up with my erratic and at times rude behaviour, I now acknowledge that I was becoming a miserable old sod, but perhaps now in light of the truth being revealed it will be seen as all with good reason?. It all stems from my role as a County Councillor and opposition to all things Tory at County Hall. Opposition is never welcomed and I remember myself in Parliament castigating the Tory benches when first elected for seeming to oppose for oppositions sake. This was before I realised that a) they were simply doing their job and b) good opposition aslo makes good government.

So I therefore make no excuses for being a thorn in the side of my political opponents, however for the past few months I had detected a sense of disaffiliation with some officers on the Council and a growing impression that they had simply decided en-masse as a collective group to ignore me. To say "stuff Tony Clarke and his opinionated comments and requests he can go toot"

I found myself arguing more often with officers over them not carrying out the simplest of tasks requested, for repeatedly asking for my opinion on the same matters even if I had already passed judgement on them before. And for ringing me up at all hours of the day enquiring as to matters I had already dealt with. All this coupled with the discovery that at the age of 48 reading glasses were to be the order of the day, it led me to believe I was getting far too old far too quickly. Perhaps I hadn't sent that reply back to whoever it was, and maybe the comments on consultations and reviews which had pondered over stayed inside my own head and were not as I thought shared with others? Constituency case work was also getting harder to deal with, people never got back to me with any answers and I would then have to chase officers  up over every emailed request with a phone call or personal visit to ensure that any action was taken.

So was I losing the plot? or had I overstepped the mark, burnt all my bridges and been ex communicated?

The very  last straw came in the guise of a petty standards board complaint which had been made by a Tory Backbench Cllr who I have never spoken to in person and has in fact as far as I am aware never even spoken himself in the chamber since being elected. He had taken offence as to something written on this blog. I doubt it was even him behind the complaint, he was probably the Tories stool pigeon sent out to fire a warning shot across my bow for repeatedly upsetting the boss. The investigating officer kept asking me to attend for interview, and I kept replying saying I had better things to do with my time and if they really wanted to make a case then they should just go ahead and do it. I did however point them in the direction of precedent and high court rulings which made the complaint non enforceable. I also told them that I looked forward to defending my position in the public realm once concluded

To my anger I got a draft report sent to me a) saying I hadn't bothered to reply to any requests made by the officer and b) finding me in breach of something I couldn't possibly have done. So I fired off a pretty forceful response, which basically asked the investigator to remove the untruths and think again on the judgement in light of the clear evidence. The response? A final report unchanged and still full of holes and wrongful judgements and decisions. Perhaps it was time I called it a day I thought, after all do I really need all this hassle?

But in a final attempt to rescue my sanity I asked the Chief Executive why he hadn't even responded or intervened in the matter having been copied in to all the correspondence. "I never received them" he said? You must of done I replied and I showed him the "delivered" notes in my ipad version of the email sent box. Still no joy. So he sent me a test email, which I received and I sent him a reply back which he didn't receive! So I then forwarded the test email to my NTFC account and replied to him from that different inbox and account and Hey Presto it arrived, and with it the real reason why life has been so difficult for me as a County Councillor for the past 6 months or maybe even longer. You see some kind and thoughtful soul at County Hall had decided off of their own back or with others to blacklist all of my incoming email correspondence to the County Council. Not an IT blip you will understand as emails can only be blocked as either spam, or from a bad IP address or host, or with profanities within the text (This is called the Scunthorpe scenario, for all of you with filthy minds).

As my email account and its posts was being delivered to and sent from various IP addresses, all profanity free and sent to individuals or small groups (not spammed) then the block could only have be ordered and implemented by individual decision and input from within County Hall.

So for months, my requests on behalf of constituents have been totally ignored, leading to me being bad tempered with staff on the phone having wondered why they had failed to make any progress on my query, My considered comments on reviews and consultations over such important matters as the boundary review, future parking powers, changes to the councils constitution, changes to services including social care, have all gone undelivered, requests and forms sent in for empowerment fund monies all sat in a deleted box in the Council not processed. No wonder officers looked at me gone out when I got angry at having to repeat myself verbally when asked for my views on Council issues, and not once did anyone say, "we never received your email Councillor"

So just how am I supposed to feel now? Pleased to discover that I am not losing my marbles after all? No not really, in fact I feel angrier than ever before that an elected member of the Council and the constituents they represent could have been treated in such a fashion, that person or persons unknown have taken it upon themselves to interfere with the democratic process and deny myself and those I serve a voice. I feel embarrassed that my electorate have had to endure poor service and puzzlement as to why their Cllr couldn't get things done for them in the usual and expected fashion. I am furious that the relationship between myself and some officers of the council has been sullied, leading to a mistrust between us as to my opinion or lack of opinion being forthcoming or my insistence that they were not doing their job all because someone decided that Tony Clarke should be silenced.

I will of course deal with what is an  insignificant standards board complaint by a Tory Cllr in a future blog posting, once the truth has outed, and the mistakes in the report corrected, but there is a certain irony that it was this complaint that would eventually be the matter on which a far more serious abuse of local government power has been revealed.

I doubt for one minute if any who know me would think I could ever be silenced, and it is in some ways complimentary to think that some will still try, but I believe that I am owed a full answer to how this could have happened who was responsible and what were the reasons behind the action. Whilst I await the outcome of the inquiry , I must take some solace in discovering that age has not truly caught up with me yet and that if I am still annoying someone to the point of them taking such crass actions then I must still be doing something right along the way.

"CANNE(S)" YOU BELIEVE IT

Regular readers of this blog will now that I have held long standing concerns over the Tory County Council's £2m annual spend on the Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (previously Northamptonshire Enterprise Limited) whose board of Directors includes one Jim Harker aka Leader of the County Council. http://tonyclarkeindependent.blogspot.com/2011/09/turning-lights-on-in-some-very-dark.html

Almost a year ago I was criticised by the Leader of the Council for suggesting that the County's £2m proposed new grant to NEP had little to do with economic development but more to do with saving a few red faces at County Hall, because without the £2m grant and having lost its other regional grants from the government office East Midlands NEL could have gone bust, leaving the Council a very heavy financial liability in potential pension payouts. Utter nonsense they all cried at the time.

And yet yesterday at the County Council full budget meeting the section 151 officer (Council bean counter) finally agreed with me! Both the Lib Dem and Labour alternative budgets proposed the scrapping of this over generous grant, particularly at a time when council staff are being thrown on the dole, streets lights have been switched off and PCSO's are being cut due to the continued savage cuts on Local Government spending. So in response to Labours' proposals the 151 officers report confirmed beyond doubt that without the Councils grant then the organisation could fold and the pension cost to the council (which last year they told us wasn't a problem) would be now be considerable! Perhaps it is only a problem when the opposition propose it?

As you would expect yesterday I supported both opposition motions, after all, I am sure we could all suggest better ways in which that money could be spent, after all what exactly does NEP do? Well for a start they have nothing to do with the £200m Northampton Enterprise Zone, government cash for that initiative was secured by SEMLEP (South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership) Nor are they responsible for the £25m redevelopment plan for Northampton's Castle Station that is being led by the soon to be no more WNDC (West Northamptonshire Development Corporation) The Grovesnor Centre expansion and new bus interchange?  No that's NBC (Northampton Borough Council) and L&G (Legal and General) So what exactly do NEP do with our money? Well there is that Brussels office they run of course to the estimated tune of £300,000 a year, and a look at their 2010 accounts (then as NEL) shows that over 50% of their income is spent on administration! Not much left for driving the local economy then?

Palais de Festival

But yesterday I asked Cllr Jim Harker a few more difficult questions regarding NEL and NEP.  For a start I asked him how he could justify at a time of such savage cuts to services giving money to NEP when for at least the past 5 years they have spent untold sums on a yearly fun in the sun trip to Cannes in the South of France to promote the Rose of the Shires at the annual MIPIM conference for Real Estate Executives?

Jim got very angry at this and informed the Council that NEP had never been there (Well they couldn't have done as this years event is in March 2012 and they only changed their name at companies house from NEL to NEP last June)

He went on to tell the  Council that I had initially not even  mentioned NEL in my speech even though I used the words "NEL and NEP" in my opening statement. He said that NEL was a "separate" "independent body"to NEP even though Companies House shows clearly that Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership's date of corporation to be the 26th January 2006! and records the name change from NEL to NEP on the 1st June 2011. Two separate bodies? or just the same one? and who sat on the board of this company prior to and after the name change? You guessed it one Jim Harker.

Now gentleman Jim was keen to dismiss my concerns as "scurrilous" rumours,  he told the Council that he knew of no case of NEP officers going to Cannes,  technically correct, if we give him the benefit of doubt that the same officers went as officers of NEL even though they are one and the same. He also said that as far as he was aware NEL never went in it's penultimate year? would that be 2010? or 2009?

Either or really because amongst my scurrilous rumours were the details I gave about the event in 2009 where  guests attended a lunch to hear Kevin Mcloud from Channel 4's "Grand Designs" talk about sustainable housing details of which are here in investnorthamptonshire 2010 MIPIM web contribution http://mipim.investnorthamptonshire.co.uk/contact-us helpfully listing the names of the officers of NEL who never attended (all 8 of them)? They tell us where they can be contacted here at the Palais De Festival where the Cannes International Film Festival vies with MIPIM for floorspace http://www.palaisdesfestivals.com/sommaire.php3?lang=en or even better here at the La Mandala http://www.plage-lamandala.com/

La Mandala

As well as flights and hotel bills and swanky luncheons we can even wonder at the additional cost to NEL of the 2009 "communications strategy using digital marketing techniques including a specially designed microsite, video and email campaign and the integrated use of these digital communication tools" as provided to NEL by Ferrier Pierce Creative Group here http://www.ferrierpearce.com/portfolio/projects/47-Northamptonshire-Enterprise-Limited/

Now I had also been informed by a whistle blower in NEL/NEP that a cabinet or cabinet members had on occasion/s flew out to participate in the proceedings, I asked Jim about this and he said he personally never has done and that he knows of no other cabinet member who has done so.

So let me be clear and fair.  I am happy to take him at his word on that score and hope my informer can correct the impression they gave, if they do I will gladly inform Council of that fact and apologise for any wrong information given.  But do I care who exactly went on this annual works outing?  No not one bit, but I do care that at a time when services are being cut to the bone and when we can't even afford to turn on the street lights that we are giving £2m to a repetitious unnecessary Quango for them to spend half of it on running their administration and part of it on offices in Brussels and annual trips to Cannes on the French Riviera.

And if we can get ourselves all worked up,  rightly so about that "£3000 painting" celebrating Tory Chair Rosemary Bromwich's year as Council Chair, then what are we to make of many more thousands of pounds of Council tax payers money being used to support what even the Financial Times describes as a "famously excessive" "Jamboree" They also got it spot on about local council's though when they said in their pink paper that:

"Some things, of course, never change, including the presence of the local authorities, banging the drum for ambitious and often delayed regeneration projects. Under scrutiny for spending tightening budgets on a week away in France, it is unlikely that they will come away with much given that spending on regeneration is the last thing to return in any recovery."

"Canne" I add one other slight concern? given that all of the above fallout was recorded on the Councils webcast  http://www.northamptonshire.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/65967 (about 5hrs 17 minutes in ) and in front of the local press, am I alone in wondering why you are having to read this rather enlightening news here? and not in the local media?

RUSHDEN CRIMINALS LEFT IN THE DARK

Sometimes at Council meetings Cllrs say something so bizarre or so strange that you find yourself asking, is my hearing going? surely they didn't just what they said? But in the world of Northamptonshire County Council anything is possible.


This morning at the Environment and Transport Scrutiny committee (available here if you have trouble sleeping http://www.northamptonshire.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/65181 ) we were supposed to be scrutinising the County Councils disastrous policy of switching off 50% of the street lights across the county. I say supposed to be because the lead officer never produced a report! He gave a verbal outline and left us even further in the dark as to what the real impact of these budget cutting decisions really are.

I complained of course and asked for a further written report and may have achieved my goal, but I also told the committee that in my mind and in the minds of local residents in Castle Ward that crime and the fear of crime have both risen since the switch off. Reports from our local Police Safer Community Team back up these claims by showing certain crimes showing significant double figure % increases against a background of wider crime figures falling. Burglary for instance year on year if my memory serves me correctly was up by over 70% in Castle Ward last month.


Other Cllrs mentioned crime rises in their areas and also the ineffectiveness of CCTV now in areas which are too dark to pick up a picture


The Tory Cllrs present didn't want to hear any of this of course, "move on" they shouted "next business" they cried, but one brave soldier went further and rose to contradict my claims. Step forward Cllr Andy Mercer, (Rushden East) not an unlikeable bloke for a Tory and usually worth listening to, but then the bombshell!


You see he disagreed with my view on the impact the big switch off may have had on rising crime and wanted to tell us all that life in Rushden is very different indeed "strange and contrasting" were the words he used. Using the local Police as his source of information he told us that crime in some areas of Rushden had gone down since the lights went out, not up, and the reason for this was, and I quote, that

"crooks can't see what they are doing"

he went on to explain his theory to us saying that there were

"places where the criminals wanted illumination"

but the street light shut off had foiled them! he told an amazed committee that because of the Councils policy on street lighting and the darker streets, that Rushden's criminal fraternity may have

"wanted to pick a lock but they had now been unable to"

Now I have always considered their to be something not quite right going on 25 miles along the A4500 and during Rushden and Diamonds FC's time in the Football League I often discussed with fellow Cobblers fans the subtle differences between Northampton folk and our country cousins from the East, but criminals who are afraid of the dark!

Surely not!

TRAFFIC WARDENS BECOME LAWBREAKERS

Remember this?

"DO THEY HONESTLY THINK THEY CAN SILENCE ME"

http://tonyclarkeindependent.blogspot.com/search/label/parking%20services


Or this?

 

Borough Council Election 2011

"PARKING MAD" 

If not then don't worry the story is a simple one to follow. Two and a half years ago I asked the County Council to review the residents parking schemes in the Borough as it was becoming increasingly difficult for residents to park (too many permits not enough spaces) and the traffic wardens were giving out tickets like confetti. The schemes were old and needed updated, the regulations when they were first introduced were different to now But they ignored me!  I then put in an official complaint to the Council and we resolved it by them agreeing to review the schemes, But they didn't! So I complained again, and this time they got all clever with me by saying that they only promised to review the schemes, but never said when they would do it!

So I decided to fight fire with fire. Over a period of 6 months I picked up 10 parking tickets in the Billing Road area and refused to pay any of them, stating lack of maintenance and poor signage and lining as my reasons. During this period I felt victimised as my car was ticketed at any opportunity it was even towed away at one point (although I was told for a totally unconnected reason!) All this happened at the time that my brother was in hospital and unable to drive and I was helping him run his company using his vehicles which the Council wouldn't give me varied permits for.

Anyway I continued to fight all ten tickets and submitted a number to the Traffic Tribunal Service for them to pass judgement. At one point the council tried to withdraw all the tickets but I refused. All I wanted, I told them was a review. The adjudicator adjourned the first hearing and asked us to settle the row between us.

I offered the Council £300 for a charity of their choice to settle the outstanding tickets (10 X £75) if they in return reviewed the scheme. They refused!

So we went the whole distance. The hearing was eventually heard by the Chief Adjudicator for England and Wales Caroline Sheppard, two weeks ago I am delighted to say that she found in my favour in all cases! The council lost in all of it's challenges

She told the Council that their "Permit Holders Only" signs were inadequate as they failed to display the times of the scheme on each and every sign. Furthermore she told them that they could not have a visitors permit scheme which operated for different hours than the residents (currently our overnight visitors even with a permit  have to park in two hour bays the night before and move their cars at 10am into a residents bay or at 8am from a residents bay into a 2hr limit and then move again at 10am we call it the pyjama run)

She told them that they could not evidence the state of the markings because they had submitted no evidence, but that the latest changes following resurfacing had only made things worse. she told them to cancel all my tickets, and to cancel the rest that they had issued to me over the period.

The next day they were outside ticketing as usual, knowing that the scheme was unlawful. In the two weeks since the hearing they have not contacted me once to discuss the case and they told the Chronicle and Echo that they were waiting for the official notice before taking any action. Today after they had got the official notice they had no comment to make

The official judgement came earlier this week, all eight pages of it! I include below for your pleasure some of the adjudicators comments therein.

"The signs do not comply with regulations 18"
"The County Council has failed in its duty to sign the effect of the TRO" (Traffic Regulation order)
" The alleged contraventions did not occur"
"The signs used have no times of operation"
"This is hardly surprising as there are three sets of applicable hours within the TRO"
"The CPZ (Controlled Parking Zone) signs do not govern the parking places"
"The County Council may not rely on the CPZ zone to inform road users"

Amazingly the Council tried to defend their ignorance by saying they thought the signs were ok when they put them up and the regulations had changed afterwards! The adjudicator said

"I cannot accept that argument"

They then said that as a Councillor I should know what the regulations were! The adjudicator said

"It is all very well to submit that Cllr Clarke knew what restrictions were intended but the test is not a subjective one, it is an objective one applying to" persons using the road" that means persons in general and not just Cllr Clarke"

Ms Sheppard then criticised the Council for misleading disable blue badge holders who wouldn't know when the scheme was or was not operating.

She then said that in summary

"Northamptonshire County Council at the time the Parking Places Order 2001 came into force failed to comply with its duty under Regulation 18(1)(a) of LATOR to adequately sign the various operational times that applied to the permit bays."

So what does it all mean? Well for a start it means that none of the Residents Parking Schemes in the Town are legal or valid, as none of the TRO's which govern the schemes, the Signs which police the schemes, or the CPZ's which give notice of the schemes are valid.

This means that the Council will now have to review not just the individual schemes but also review the whole policy and look at how to reprovide for issues such as visitors permits and how to display times (perhaps they should look at my suggestion for scratch cards?) It means that they have to draw up new TRO's send them out to residents for consultation and then they will have to replace all the signs in the town at huge cost. It means a Council which can't even afford to keep the street lights on will  face a massive bill to correct their own incompetence. (And if you get a ticket in the dark because the street lights are off I am also told you have a good chance of having those quashed as well as the signs would be not readable)

And it also means that the residents like me who have paid our £25 a year will now have no scheme operating leading to potential traffic chaos caused by the Councils stubbornness and arrogance and unwillingness to work with one of their own Cllrs to find a sensible compromise and to listen to residents concerns. At one point (about a year ago) they even had the gall to say, Tony if you win this case then we wont be able to enforce the scheme anymore and it will all be your fault! For the record I said fine then lets settle things here and now with a timetable for proper review.... They of course declined my offer.

As for the current residents schemes I wonder if we will all get our £25 back? One bit of bad news for those already ticketed is that I understand if you have paid a ticket you cannot recover the money? But if you have one outstanding in a residents  bay, you now know what to say!

It is not for me to encourage people to park where they will, and I hope people will respect the need for residents to continue to use the permit bays until the council sort out the mess they have created. Nor should people think that this covers them for other offences outside of the regulations above, but one issue that really still grinds with me is that the Council has known for two weeks that the schemes were not enforceable, So why have they let their wardens continue to issue unlawful tickets? If they say they were waiting for confirmation then it came earlier this week, so why are they out there today (now) still ticketing (till 1am in the morning)

The answer? They (the council, not the wardens) don't give a fig about serving the public, they just want your money and until they were found out they were creaming in over a £1m a year including a large sum from PCN's within the residents parking areas. My message to them is to send them out of our side streets and onto the main roads where they can do what they are paid for, keeping the roads clear, ticketing people blocking bus lanes, ticketing lorries unloading outside of hours and causing mile long tail backs!

Anyone wanting a full copy of the Traffic Tribunals decision can email me at tony.clarke@email.com

For more on this story see tomorrows Chronicle and Echo.

TURNING THE LIGHTS ON IN SOME VERY DARK CORNERS

Earlier today the Independent group on the County Council submitted the following motion for debate at this months Council meeting (29th September)

That this Council notes the investigation requested by the Independent Group for the Head of Paid Service, the Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer to look into:

1.     The alarming increase in the deficit in the NEL pension fund from £421k to £1.46mn between March 2009 and March 2010

2.     The potential breach of either the procurement regulations and European Directives in the buying £2m of services from NEL/NEP without going out to tender when the shareholding of NCC was below 20% or the breach of the council grant allocation procedures.

3.     The principle of NCC members of the Board of NEL/NEP in determining liability for the deficit to the pension fund to NCC, without declaration of interest either way during any relevant debates or decisions in NCC meetings or at the NEL/NLP board

4.     The failure to record any decision by NCC to underwrite the NEL/NEP pension deficit or any other loss

5.     The omission of the liability for the pension deficit from the NEL accounts without a concurrent inclusion of the same liability in the NCC accounts for 2010,

Furthermore this Council resolves to receive the Officers’ report at Full Council for open debate.

We are very grateful to Liam Costello (a fellow Independent candidate and Parish Cllr from Wooton and EH) for his tireless work and his submission of freedom of information requests to help us get to the truth of this whole sorry saga. At a time when the Council can't even afford to keep the lights on in it streets it seems that they are happy to find money for private ltd companies to spend on plugging holes in their pension funds and it also seems as if they care not what the price?

The following explanation owes much to Liam's narrative:

NEL (Northamptonshire Enterprise Limited was formed in 2006 by the merger of 6 companies that all lived off government grants delivering government programmes such as economic development, tourism, training etc. they made their money by slicing off a hefty management fee from funding programmes delivered through EMDA. Five years ago the County Council under Jim Harker's leadership brought them all together under the NEL umbrella.

When NEL was formed, this company quickly became Jim's baby. He seemed keen to hive off as much council business to it as he could. Things such as Single Regeneration Budget funding were passed over by NCC to NEL to administer etc. NCC seemed to be doing everything it could to build up the name and standing of this company.

NEL then became a member company of the Local Government Pension Scheme and its employees became eligible to join.

The articles of association of NEL stated that the borrowings of the company could not exceed the amount it receives in annual grants from the Government, or from other organisations. Essentially this limits the working capital of the company to the value of the funding programmes that it was delivering. It should therefore not be capable of going into debt if the directors abide by the articles. It has no shareholders, no equity, therefore no dividends can be paid. It makes its money by top slicing management fees from grant programmes and paying what some might consider to be fat cat salaries.

When NEL published its accounts for the year ended 31 March 2010, they showed that the company had run up a pension deficit of nearly 1.6million in 5 years. This may have been a bit of an unfortunate consequence of the recession caused by the banking crisis, but given the strict articles, the company should have considered the risk before becoming a member of a final salary pension scheme. Prior to joining the LGPS, the company paid into money purchase pensions where the risk to the company is non-existent.

The 2010 accounts state that the company considered the size of this deficit to be an ‘unwelcome surprise’, but go on to say that NCC gave a simple but unequivocal undertaking to underwrite any future deficits in the pension scheme at the time of the formation of the company. A blank cheque if ever there was one! They do however go on to acknowledge that NEL has primary legal liability for the deficit despite the alleged NCC undertaking.

We have searched the NCC website for any such mention of this undertaking in the Pension Committee minutes but surprise surprise cannot find any. Liam then made a FOI request for a copy of the Admission Agreement between NEL and NCC, and despite a statutory requirement that these agreements are made public they have refused to supply him with a copy. A complaint was made to the Information Commissioner in January this year and he has just received notification from the IC that NCC has been ordered to supply the document to him.

Jumping back to 2010, shortly after their year end, there was a change of government and the announcement that Regional Development Agencies, such as EMDA, were to be scrapped along with the funding streams they delivered through bodies such as NEL. NEL was essentially up the creek without a paddle. It had a pension debt of just under £1.5M and its funding streams had gone.

NEL is not the only company to have found itself in this situation, Visit London has a 2.1 million deficit which they are in dispute with the GLA over, and there was a piece on Look East about an east anglian tourism body that had folded leaving a LGPS deficit of £1million. We are sure that there are others across the country.

So the Council it seems devised a cunning plan to rescue NEL, and their own embarrassment. They decided that despite other Councils in Northamptonshire agreeing to support a new "South East Midlands" Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) as agreed by the government that they would form their own new body called the Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership, (NEP) and allocate it a £2m budget for the next 3 years. £1.3 million was to go on back office and administration and £700k on actual economic development, including the infamous Brussels office. (The Northamptonshire European Investment Office)

Cllr Bill Parker at the 24 Feb council meeting said of the NEP partnership

“The sum of £2million would be invested in a Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership comprised of NCC, business and industry, the skills sector and voluntary sector”.

Yet we now find that the partnership as described by Cllr Parker which should have included the skills and voluntary sectors has not been formed, and instead NEL has now been morphed into NEP. Companies House records and confirms the change of name of NEL to NEP on June 1st 2011

This whole affair we believe was just a cover to give £2million to the former NEL to get it out of financial trouble. One problem they faced however (apart from the name of the organisation) was that because of the value of the services that they were procuring, they should have followed normal public procurement processes. This would have involved a tendering process, advertising the contract in the European Journal etc. This would have attracted great interest from other companies and it would have been difficult to award the contract to NEP. Any company it would seem could have beat NEP in a tendering process to deliver £700k worth of economic development in return for £2million.

There are of course circumstances in which the normal public procurement process can be bypassed, and these were clarified in a Supreme Court judgement recently. these are called the Teckal exemptions. NCC know about these as they referred to them in the report on The future of Direct Services to Adults and Carers in May this year. Essentially to apply the exemption the council must have such control of the company that is proposing to award a contract to, that it could be considered the be a department of the council. One of the factors in establishing whether this control exists is the amount of control that a council has over the contracting company, which should be 20% control. But the articles of NEL limit the voting power of local authority members to less than 20% (article 18). So essentially this service should have been put out to tender, and what they have done may be seen by some as being on the cusp of unlawful. 

Instead however it seems that they spent an untold sum on legal advice to tell them that the money should instead be paid as a"Grant" But the Council also have strict procedures for grant allocations and we believe a lot of local charities and other organisations will be very interested to look at how NEL/NEP were treated by the Council when awarding this "special" grant when matched against their own experiences of late. And just who made the grant application NEL? NEP? and when?

So the new partnership it seems was just a mirage to cover up giving £2million to bail out NEL which is now NEP. Not only does this quango duplicate the work of SEMLEP, (although it was SEMLEP not NEP who delivered the recent Northampton Enterprise Zone)  but is has also been given £2million of Council Tax payers money for three years by way of grant which helpfully covers the same size hole left in the companies pensions deficit.

So where do we start with this one? Well some answers to the questions we raise in the motion above might help, for instance if NEL state in their accounts that they had an unequivocal undertaking to underwrite any future deficits in the pension scheme at the time of the formation of the company then why can we find no record of any decision taken by NCC to do that?

Furthermore if as we state in the motion if NEL had removed the liability for the pension deficit from the NEL accounts in 2010 why is there no concurrent inclusion of the same liability in the NCC accounts for 2010? or in 2011's budget? And can it be lawful for a local authority to underwrite the pensions deficit of a limited company?

And whilst it may be just a standards board issue, why does it seem that certain people who were or have since become directors of  NEL or NEP not declared their interests when proposing or discussing any of these issues over the previous months?

We believe a lot of people have a lot of questions to answer? We hang back at present from calling for anyones head or even singling out individuals for censure, but we do believe that the Council. (The whole Council) has a duty to receive the requested reports and ensure clear answers and accountability's are given.

We look forward to debating these matters further on the 29th of September

A BAD (WEEK) AT THE OFFICE AHEAD FOR NCC

Since reluctantly vacating my seat on the Borough Council I have had the opportunity to spend more time looking into affairs across the road at County Hall. A case of David Kennedy's gain being Paul Blantern's loss I guess? Anyhow for those who have wanted me to post some more local political stories I offer you up a treat in the days ahead and here's a small trailer of whats to come.


CARRY ON CARRILION?

Remember all those promises made by the County Council after the Carrilion fiasco? assuring us that future contracts will be let more openly and with far more transparency and democratic accountability? Well what would happen if it happened again, but with another private company? and how about we throw in a few undeclared personal interests into the pot and stir it all around with a spoonful of financial confusion, pension deficit and undemocratic practices? Hubble Bubble, someones in a lot of trouble! More to come on Thursday.


PARKING UP THE WRONG TREE

Sometimes, just sometimes you have to be prepared to stick your neck on the block in order to see fair play and to garner a response from a large unwieldy authority like NCC. But imagine your delight if you had been complaining to the Council through all the right formal channels for 2 years without any success? Imagine then if you had to take such drastic action to prove your point that it could have a devastating financial comeback on you if you lost the case? Imagine then your delight if you were to be proved right on all counts leading to a lot of red faces on the authority and a huge bill to rectify years of incompetence. Imagine no longer and look forward to thier being thousands of relieved residents who will at last see fair play from the Council, not through the Councils own grace but by having to be dragged kicking and screaming to the alter of justice! More on this story here and in the Chronicle just as soon as the official notices land on the doormats.


CHARGE OF THE STREETLIGHT BRIGADE

News reaches me of a potentially wonderful example of direct action being planned by person or persons unknown. It seems that they have got themselves fully trained in turning on streetlights turned off by NCC and intend to do just that.

Now should a County Councillor support direct action being taken against the authority? Yes I should in this instance as in my book the Council has no moral or democratic authority to turn them off in the first place. The decision taken by councillors allowed for full consultation to be held between local Cllrs, the Police and residents groups before the switch off was implemented, and the County Council undertook no such consultation. In a response to Joe Joyce Chair of Spring Borough residents the Council tried to suggest that the consultation on the budget back in December was sufficient, and also suggested that any comment on consultation between the Police and NCC was a "security" matter and the detail shouldn't be disclosed. Well let me disclose that no such consultation was held. as a result for the first time in five years the number of Sex Workers working in Castle Ward has increased not decreased.

So to those who plan to take their own action I have this advice. Make sure you are completely safe and that you are qualified to carry out the task in hand,  this is not a task for the DIY enthusiast, do not put yourself or any others at risk, ensure that all lamp boxes are securely locked after you have visited them. Stick to the above and you have my support and my thanks for making the streets of Castle Ward and elsewhere safer places to be.

CARELESS DRIVING COSTS LIVES

I was once a passenger in a vehicle when the driver inadvertently ran over and killed a small black and white cat.

The driver concerned for the cats owners stopped and made enquires as to its keeper. The first door knocked gained him the information that the cat belonged to an elderly lady next door. He knocked on the Lady's door and when she answered he said

"Sorry to trouble you my love but I understand you used to have a black and white cat?"

The lady was distraught but under no false illusion as to the nature of his question.

Sometimes being blunt can be the best option!

At the other end of the spectrum we have Northamptonshire County Council Tory Group who faced with telling the public that their services are to be decimated at the request of their political masters (Tory and Lib Dem) in Parliament continue to prevaricate and avoid telling us the truth. So far they have revealed just £53m of the total £68m cuts without in many cases explaining how they will be implemented. In addition there is another £15m of cuts still not identified even though the public consultation ends next week!

In fact it gets even worse as at this mornings Full Council Meeting (called by the opposition parties, after the Tories cancelled the December meeting) Cllr Parker, the Tory portfolio Holder for finance informed us all that it is now a further £20m of cuts not £15m! Making it £73m in all.

Now I don't want to draw too much on the analogy of the poor squashed cat, but the driver then was driving well within the speed limit, whereby the pace and speed that the Tories are forcing through these cuts both locally and nationally risk more than the lives of a domestic pet.

Get this budget wrong and inquest after inquest in the future as to lives possibly lost through lack of care provision of the elderly left without attention in their home, of Mental Health sufferers unable to cope with life after reductions in their care programme, of young schoolchildren involved in accidents on our roads where no lollipop man/lady are present to help them, all these will come back with the same verdict, a local authority who cut too fast and too quick the services that very vulnerable people rely so much.

So for every ones sake I ask them to collectively  take their foot off the peddle to slow down, to think harder and longer on what they are doing, and above all I ask them to come clean now as to how severe these cuts really are, so we can all judge the folly of this Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition decimating Local Government Services way beyond what is safe, all in the name of political expediency and ideology.

SEASONAL SHORTS

Sorry guys work and caseload has taken me away from the blog in recent weeks. So here's a few short thoughts regarding the blogs I nearly made!

WAR WAR IS STUPID

Hearing Ed Milliband declaring that the last Government were wrong to go to war was refreshing, but the applause of so many Blairites who are now happy to clap Ed and the Party being so anti war now it has become official Party policy sickened me.

These were the very same people for god sake who tripped through the yes lobby in Parliament knowing it was wrong to go to war but put their careers before their conscience, hypocrite's of the very first order, all of them.

COMMONS DENOMINATOR

So what do Micheal Ellis, Sally Keeble and Margaret Thatcher all have in common? is it

A: They all share the same Birthday?
B: They all share the same political views?
C: Both of the above?

Answers please





SELECTION BOX

Turmoil continues apace it seems in the race to represent the Lib Dems in next Mays Borough Council Elections. After deselecting the sitting Mayor and losing another deselected Cllr to the Tories, the local party are now going through a second round to reselect some candidates who have already dropped out!

What's not clear of course yet is how the boundary commission may lay waste to all their plans, Not only have the Lib Dems selected their candidates for yhe new wards which have still not been confirmed by the boundary commission but their is growing concern that even if confirmed their will not be enough parliamentary time available to pass the changes through the commons! Leaving the seats on NBC as they currently stand. And the candidates?


THE SECRET DIARY OF A JANITOR

New has reached my ears via a reliable source (and then Aufona) that Den the Pen Merideth is currently writing his auto biography!  How delightful a read that will be! John Dickie suggests the first line might be

"I was born at a very young age"

followed by tales of the playground and maybe a few juicy tit bits about his love of the chase!

"The breath so near her pillow, that she shrunk back into it, lest these wandering hands should light upon her face."

Stick me down for a copy please Dennis.

ALL INSIDE THE BIG TENT

I was delighted that the motion put down by our Independent group at September's Full County Council meeting was passed unanamously. The motion which asked for any "Big Society" to also be a "Fair Society" also asked the Council to commit to paying its front line staff a "Living Wage" Which Jim Harker was happy to accept.

We now just need to hear from Jim as to what rate his group has set the Councils "Living Wage" for the majority of Councils so far who have agreed to this messure a sum of £7.00 an hour is the norm with £7.20 being paid in London.

The current Pay and grading denbacle has some County Council staff on as little as £6.31 an hour. So come on Mr Pastry, how say you tell us what the new rate will be and make a lot of disgruntled staff a lot happier?

LAST OF THE SUMMER WHINE

So farewell then Cleggy my old friend, you kept a nation entertained with your mad cap misdemeanours and along with your fellow partners in crime you created a coalition of the hopeless and hapless, but all good things must come to pass and the BBC have called time on your period in the spotlight.

Ironic then really that as we come to the end of another summers political break that the BBC should be marking the passing of one Clegg just at the time that the vultures are circling around another. And this particular Clegg's exploits alongside his posh mate Dave are far less funny than those played out on the small screen.

You see local Liberal Democrats have had there own long summers whine. Publicly it's been all chocolates and roses and sycophantic columns written by LD apologists in the Chron, but underneath the surface and in private the battle for Cleggs successor is it seems gathering real pace.

Internal email trees leaked to myself and it seems also to the local press show that all is not well in sandal land as local Councillors and Candidates become worried about their prospects at next years elections and consider standing not in the name of the much maligned national party "Liberal Democrats" but as "Northampton Liberal Democrats" or the "Kingsthorpe Focus Team"

All is not well!

You see Nick Cleggs problem, just like his name sakes Norman in the sit com is that all of his old friends have now deserted him, and the watching public in response has now lost interest and decided that things aren't as good as they used to be, the show has lost it's shine and the popularity figures have plummeted.

But should we really be surprised? after all we all knew that the Liberal Democrats had been sold a pup by their New found Tory chums in Westminster. The price of all their heartache in being blamed for hitting the poorest hardest and an unnecessary attack on public spending was supposed to have been a cast iron guarantee on electoral reform but instead the Party has been left with faulty goods and a bill which may not even reach the ballot box and even if it does, the chances of a positive outcome for Britain's third party are looking pretty slim.

I remember when I was in Westminster that the whips worried long and hard through those summer weeks when we as MP's were in our constituencies taking soundings from the party faithful, and they knew that on our return we would be more rebellious than ever.

But this time I think the rebellion will be played out at a local, not a national level, as the harsh reality of those Local Government cuts come home to roost in the nests of local Lib Dem and Tory Councils. no longer can they blame the government for under funding local councils, no longer can they suggest that if they were in charge things would be different, instead every cut has a yellow and blue tag tied to it, and the brave amongst their membership won't stand for it.

In Northampton however, I don't see any of the local Lib Dem Council at the minute having the courage of their own convictions, it is far too close to the next election for them to change course, so they will have to put on a brave face and go to their execution with their heads held high in shame as the poorest and the most vulnerable amongst Northampton's public pay for the folly of Hapless Clegg and his foolish mates in the Westminster Village.

Expect at County Level for more Care Homes and Day Centres to shut, at Borough Level expect the elderly in Sheltered Housing to have their services cut even further!, in fact expect all service levels to drop even further as whole sections of the Council are contracted out to the cheapest deliverers, more intent on making a fast buck than delivering any type of acceptable service. Expect Leisure Centres to be hived off into Trusts, and through all of this privatisation and the hiving off of all our services expect the Liberal Democrats to suddenly find an appetite for small local government and the Big Society.

It is all smoke and mirrors though of course, and no matter how hard they polish those mirrors Liberal Democrats will still be left standing in front of them seeing a service cutting Tory stare back at them in their own reflection.

No amount of harping on about the national deficit will help them either, that cat is well and truly out of the bag, and before long it will be clear that the actions of the coalition since coming to power have damaged not improved the economic outlook for the country.

So whatever happened to the Liberal love affair with Keynes? Since when did any Local Liberal Democrat Council sign up for "small" Local Government?

It seems as if The Last of the Summer Wine left our screens because people no longer thought it was funny! Well their won't be much laughter around in our County and Town Halls this Autumn either as the harsh reality of just what the Liberal Democrats have allowed David Cameron to do in their name comes home to bite them hard.

I just hope that some of them (even one) have got the balls to stand up and stay true to their political principles, after all it may be the last chance they get to redeem themselves before the public have their say!

PINKY AND PERKY GET THIER SUMS WRONG

So if Tory controlled Northamptonshire County Council use sleight of hand to sell their annual budget plans to the public, how do their Liberal Democrat neighbours across the road at Northampton Borough Council fare when it comes to openness and transparency?

I decided last week to attend one of their "Public Consultations" to judge for myself whether the information available to the public was any clearer this side of the road from County Hall? The answer? A big no I am afraid, in fact its worse than that, let me explain what occurred.

Those bothering to attend (very few) were submitted to a hour and 30 minute party political powerpoint presentation where Brian Hoare the Council leader, with David Perkins in the background share with us all their views on how wonderful a council they now are and lecture us on Local Government finance, including the fiscal pitfalls of an inequitable regressive Local Government tax systems not centred on ability to pay (The Lib Dem's Local income Tax) An explanation of NBC's 10p a week increase against NCC's 10p a day without telling us that NCC pay for Schools and Social Services and and etc) and at every opportunity a rally against the awful government and the way they treat Northampton on concessionary fares and on being been sold short on population figures.

All good political knockabout material, and I actually agree with them on the last one, but none of this, was what we were actually there for!

The meeting was advertised as a consultation on the Council's 09/10 budget, so where was it?

No leaflets, no handouts, no brochures (glossy or recycled) telling us what their plans were, or asking us to make choices as to what we might like to see saved or what we could do without, just a continued ramble through the "Bigger picture" as Cll Hoare puts it, as he turned an ever pinker shade of red as he blustered on and on and on, with Cllr David Perkins as his prompt and foil, they were turning into the Pinky and Perky show right before our very eyes.

It was 1 hour and 15 minutes into the show that I finally gave in and could resist no longer the urge to intervene, and ask when we were going to get to next years budget?

And at last we got there, one slide that at least acted as a signpost to what might lay ahead (although where to is anybodies guess)

We were shown a slide with eight lines on it, 3 under a heading of "What you might like" and 3 under a heading of "What you might not like" You will be pleased to discover that we might like:

80% of the reduced budget coming in efficiency" savings
Protection of all Community Grants, and
A freeze on "day to day" car parking charges

but we might not like:

A 2.4% Council Tax increase
Changes to the operation of Community Centre (15 Caretaker redundancies) and
Increased charges for leisure centres and other activities.

We of course didn't like any of it and asked for more detail.

It felt like sitting in a restaurant in rural Estonia wondering what each of the dishes on the menu really might be? and whether or not the waiters translation could be trusted?.

A few hardy souls tried to question our" liking" the 80% of the reduced budget coming from efficiency savings, As the budget reductions added up to £4m what exactly were these £3.2m worth of efficiency savings?

Perky assured us that it was all innocent stuff like "cheaper Electric and Gas" and "restructuring efficiencies" members of the Trade Unions present asked how many redundancy's were included in the "efficiency savings"?

Pinky and Perky couldn't answer.

A member of the public asked what services would be reduced as a result of the savings?

Pinky and Perky couldn't answer.

I asked if the savings were like those not announced last year when they scrapped the Councils Pest Control Service without telling us?

Pinky and Perky couldn't answer.

There most amusing response, which I wrote down word for word came from the leader himself when he told the audience that:

"We didn't want to confuse the public with figures"

How we all laughed, but the joke is really on us, whats the point of a consultation if we have nothing to be consulted on?

If they were serious they would be asking us for instance if the NBC proportion of the council tax should rise by 10p a week or 12p a week or 14p a week? and give us the chance to say what services we would like to save if we elected to spend more.

Or heaven forbid if they don't want to go that far, how about asking us our views on the real cuts they are making, but not telling us about?

Our local councils need to get real over their need to consult, Both Councils are in a difficult position, money is tight and will get tighter and only by being open with us as to what the options are open to us will they ever have a chance of bringing us on board.

This however was a further attempt at smoke and mirror politics and hidden agendas and it does little to alleviate the publics understandable mistrust.