GREEN ON THE OUTSIDE RED TO THE CORE

Thursday, 20 January 2011

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.

Wednesday, 12 January 2011

NBC's DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

In 2005 two giant 4m earth bunds were constructed at Delapre Abbey, Northampton, to prevent illegal traveller encampments and joyriders using the parkland for their own purposes. The bunds were not welcome by local residents who wanted a less visually restrictive measure to be used to stop vehicles entering the site. Log posts maybe? or a fence? or railings? Anything but a 4m earth bund restricting the views across the historic gardens and battlefield at Delapre.

The then Tory Council at the Guildhall went ahead regardless. A local haulage company who had been involved in building many similar bunds across the town were engaged to carry out the works and the bunds were erected. Local Residents fought the plans to no avail. Two of those local residents Pam and Paul Varnsverry cut their political teeth on the issue, Pam even handcuffed herself to the gates to prevent the lorries entering the site and they both launched their local Government careers on the issue.

It was no surprise then that the Lib Dem manifesto for the 2007 NBC election contained a pledge to remove the bund, and Planning permission was granted very quickly to enable it's removal. but who would take it away and who would pay for these works?

Then to pour oil (literally) on troubled waters 3 individuals who had worked in different capacities for the company carrying out the works came forward to the Council and signed written affidavits to the effect that the bunds were constructed illegally with contaminated material. Christopher Merry a driver for the firm told the Borough Solicitors department that he took contaminated soil from the Express Lifts site in Northampton which probably contained diesel, cyanide and oil to be mixed with clean soil at the yard of the company and then take the contaminated material to Delapre Abbey for dumping into the bund. Thomas Ryan who was part of the team constructing the bund at Delapre signed his statement to say he witnessed contaminated soil from Mainline Construction, Telford Way Kettering and from the railway yards at Bletchley being tipped at Delapre for the use of constructing the bund. he said that whilst levelling off the soil on the bund he noticed that it was a dark blue colour. A third employee of the firm, Richard Gent also offered to sign a statement but the council said it would not be necessary.

As the cost of dumping a lorry load of contaminated material can be anything unto £700 or more the temptation to dump it elsewhere at nil cost or for a no questions asked lesser cash in hand sum is great.

Despite all this potential evidence, and the Councils statutory responsibility to prosecute polluters, and make them pay for their crimes, no action has been taken against The company by NBC.

Cllrs Varnsverry (plural) now intend to stand for election in the newly formed Delapre Ward in May, and unfortunately for them after their previous involvement and with them being part of a Lib Dem administration who promised to remove the bund, it is still there! Mores the point the original planning application allowing for it's removal has run out of time.

So to enable the local Focus team to repledge themselves to removing the bund a renewal application was submitted to the Planning Committee last night. I attended the meeting to object. Not because I don't want the bund removed, the sooner it is gone the better, but simply because the Council were amazingly trying to give themselves planning permission without mentioning to anyone the probability of the site being contaminated! There was no mention in the Planning officers report of the soil being contaminated at all? No objection from the Environment Agency either? But we discovered last night that they had been told by NBC that the soil was inert! despite the Council knowing otherwise.

The Council had carried out a pointless surface water test at the site a year or so back to try and suggest the area wasn't contaminated, even though they are aware that only a bore hole testing of the bunds can provide the results they need. The waste transfer tickets from the sites contaminated soil were taken from and the tip tickets from Sita in Wellingborough showing lesser volumes weighed and tipped than were collected have never been examined.

So I reminded the committee last night of the information and statements held by the council and asked them why the Council including the Planning Committee wanted to be in breach of the Town and Country Planning Act? the act makes it clear that

"where there is a reason to suspect that a site may be contaminated and there is the possibility that the contamination may affect the proposed development, the applicant will be required to submit reports in support of their planning application"

Now I have no doubt that the bunds are contaminated but the act only requires that "there is reason to suspect that a site MAY be contaminated, and the Council's own advice goes one step further as part of the Northants Contaminated Land Group they inform all potential planning applicants that:

"Where development is proposed on land that may be affected by contamination, a risk assessment should be submitted to the Local Planning Authority for consideration before the application is determined"

So as the applicant why did they (NBC) not mention that the site may be contaminated? And why did the Council as the Planning Authority not insist on upholding the T&C planning act and their own ruling that a risk assessment should be submitted to them before the application was determined? Why were the Environment Agency told the soil was inert when the Council knew otherwise? and why when all this was pointed out to them last night did members of the Planning Committee simply sit on their hands and nod the recommended approval through without insisting on their own planning rules being followed.

More the point why when the Council have evidence of wrongdoing, why is no action being taken to ensure that the contaminated bund is removed by the company who dumped the material there in the first place? after all what ever happened to the doctrine that the "polluter must pay"?

I spoke to other individuals this week who were involved in this whole sorry affair including those above who gave written statements. the Council seem to want to ignore their evidence? They ask what reason the council thinks motivated them to offer to swear under oath to what they witnessed other than to allow the truth to out? during my conversations I was horrified to hear that other bunds across the town were constructed in exactly the same way! In Northampton East including at a local nature reserve, in Wooton Fields and on other sites where bunds were built to deter traveller encampments.

So we have now hit a new all time low. We have a completely toothless Council unwilling to take any action against alleged illegal activity and allow contaminated waste to be dumped by major companies, but remain extra vigilant to issue fixed penalty notices against people dropping cigarette butts.

We have a Planning Department happy to ignore and break it's own planning rules where the applicant is the Council themselves, and then also make themselves culpable in not presenting to outside bodies the truth as to any possible contamination when seeking their comments on their own application.

We have a planning committee who when presented with the facts as above chose not to ask me a single question in clarifying what I had told them and then sat on their hands as officers told them without explanation that nothing was wrong.

And we have a whole community being taken for a ride by being told once again that action is to be taken to remove the bunds when the truth is that no money exists or has been committed to undertake those works and where the body responsible for any alleged contamination is allowed to walk away with no questions asked.

I am often told that NBC is no longer Britain's worst Council, but their inaction, double standards, incompetence and unwillingness to uncover the truth over this matter makes me wonder if it is not just the bunds that have been contaminated?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday, 12 December 2010

WINTER WARMERS

MUGGED!

Friday 10th December, the morning after the night before (The Tuition Fee Vote) and I am being entertained in the office of Brian Hoare Lib Dem Leader of Northampton Borough Council where together with other group leaders we are working on the Chief Execs appraisal. Caroline, Brians very efficient secretary brought me a welcome cup of coffee in one of several (Lib Dem) themed mugs. Needless to say their was much merriment and mirth around the table. I offered Brian a fiver for the mug which must now be a collectors piece, but he refused. He will probably get more for it on ebay, but what will it be listed under? How about Collectibles/Myth-Fantasy

RUNAROUND

Meanwhile students and unbelievably in many cases their parents continue to be Kettled by The Metropolitan Polices finest and detained in streets for hours upon end for simply having the courage to demonstrate against this political skullduggery. Of course there will always be violence at such events, the anarchists will always use the opportunity to do their worst, but is containment on such a large scale defensible? or even legal? The students are now however getting wise to such moves and are moving around the capitals streets in smaller groups making mad dashes to agreed local landmarks as soon as plod look likely to contain them. This modern day demonstration technique reminded me of Mike Reids Fab Kids TV show RRRRRRunaround where kids were asked a question prior to making a mad dash to a spot containing their chosen answers. others suggested Cheggers Plays Pop which had a similar theme. Brilliant! So well done students I say, it is good to see some of the University Education put to good practice and use rather than just being wasted on creating ever more capital for the rich.

IN A RIGHT PICKLE

Am I alone in thinking that Local Government Minister Eric Pickles has finally lost the plot? Hoping to hear a leak about the still to be released Local Government Spending Settlement (next due date Mon 3.30pm) I tuned into the politics show only to catch him being caught out by his own Localism Bill. He confirmed during the show that the newly planned bill will give the power to the people to call referendums on anything they like, when they like, as long as they have the requisite number of signatories.

Not a bad move at first sighting, but then the wheels started to come off in a big way when it was explained that residents could force a referendum to say cut any planned rise in the council tax, and then call another referendum thereafter forcing the Council to reinstate any services cut by the publics vote on cuts to the council tax increase! It a something for nothing society! We can vote to pay no increase in our local tax and then vote again to save the Community Centre closed as a result!

In another barmy clause it seems as if communities will be able to stop local pub owners or any other business deemed to be a community asset, from selling their business until such a time that the community can organise a raffle to make an alternative offer! Now part of me likes this idea, but the lawyers will have a field day when the local landlord has to pull out an agreed deal to sell his own property for say £500,000 to save him from going bankrupt, because Eric Pickles has decreed that the locals can have a few weeks to raise a maybe lower sum.

I am all for Power to the People but I don't think this one has been thought through too far behind the headlines.

RENT RANTS

I am sure we all remember Lib Dem Housing Portfolio Holder Cllr Sally Beardsworth rallying against the last Labour Government in years past when rent rises in the town where set to be increased way above inflation

In 2009 the government proposed a 5.6% increase to local rents and here's a reminder for you of what she said at the time.

"This is way above the rate of inflation, it's almost outrageous that this Government gives such little thought to the people of this town and puts the rent increases up so much."

Tony Woods the then leader of the Council chipped in and said

"It's obscene. It's a stealth tax but we've little choice but to pay it unfortunately."

After much lobbying by all parties the government backed down and the final rise was reduced to 2.8%

Then in 2010 the government introduced a new formula to restructure rents meaning that the average rent increase for properties last year in Northampton was just 0.58%

Sally, hardly said a word. So what does her Lib Dem and Conservative coalition have in store for us this year you ask? and will she be "outraged" or silent?

Well the new ConDem government have a cunning plan to make all Council Tenants pay a more "Market Rent" in the future and are utterly dismayed at such paltry increases being allowed in the past.

So they are definitely going up, but by how much? 1% do I hear? any advance on 1%? Yes 3% to the man in the yellow tie 3%? is that your final offer? No 5% to the smart looking chap from the Bullingdon Club, any advance on 5%? 6%!......................6.5% ? no 6.9%, sold to the nice one nation Tory with the Liberal conscience.

So there you have it, a proposed massive 6.9% rise in Northampton Council House Rents brought to you courtesy of the Liberal Democrats and their Tory chums in Westminster. But we are all in this together, honestly we are.

I wonder therefore how outraged Sally and her colleagues will be this year?

LIAR LIAR

Finally to jolt you out of your Xfactor trances, up pops Captain Ska to present you with a real alternative choice to this years Christmas Number 1 spot. The single, Liar, Liar hit iTunes today and all proceeds will go to charities (Crisis, Disability Alliance, FalseEconomy and Women’s Health Matters) and to the running of the False Economy website. Ska music? Tory Government? I have come over all 1980's all of a sudden. Anyhow Listen and enjoy and then buy it and help the cause.

Monday, 8 November 2010

Friday, 15 October 2010

SPARE ANY LOOSE CHANGE GOVERNOR?

I can't be the only person fed up to the back teeth of the ConDem coalitions lame excuses for the massive cuts they intend to inflict on our public services next week, but surely to god some amongst the Liberal Democrat faithful have some respect left to at least challenge the garbage put around by their front bench as they cosy up ever closer to their new Tory chums. All of a Sudden it is Brown not the Banks which caused the current crisis! They also never tire of telling us that:

"The deficit was far worse than we were led to believe it was before the election"

Not true. First of all the three main parties as always before a general election had full access to the red book and nothing was hidden from them, so how Vince Cable can live with his lazy lie of the UK debt being now so far worse than it was before the election is beyond me And then to use his dodgy mathematics as an excuse to dump his parties pledge to scrap tuition fees and now support a market led solution to double or treble the tuition fee and then put interest on Student loans is morally bankrupt! Both parties also conveniently fail to mention that in the month after the election the deficit forecast was reduced by £10bn making the Tories immediate cuts of £7bn unnecessary.

"We have never in our history owed as much as a nation they cry"

Again not true, the two charts below, which the Tories and Liberals don't want the public to see prove once again how desperate they are to shift attention from the real reason they are cutting our public services. Of course in real cash terms we have never owed more and also never earned more but the only true comparison you can make is as a % of GDP. Now admittedly the figures below only take us back to1700! when national debt was first recorded! So I can't speak any debt left by the dinosaurs or by the Bank of Rome, but they still make very interesting viewing

The National Debt began the 20th century at about 30 percent of GDP. It jerked above 150 percent in World War I and stayed high. Debt breached 200 percent during World War II. Debt declined to 50 percent of GDP by the 1970s and dipped to 25 percent by 1990. The National Debt began a rapid increase in the aftermath of the worldwide bank led financial crisis of 2008.

The National Debt began when William III engaged a syndicate of City merchants to market an issue of government debt. The syndicate became the Bank of England, and HM government debt began a century-long climb, financing Marlborough’s wars, wars against the French, against the North American colonial rebels, and peaking in 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars at over 200 percent of GDP. Government debt exploded in World War I and World War II and then equalled the level of 1815 reaching over 200 percent of GDP. Debt declined below 50 percent of GDP by the 1970s.

So lets all now be honest before next weeks announcements as to the reasons for any cuts to public services They are of a purely political not a fiscal nature. History shows that to invest in Public Services to grow the economy is as good a plan as any in reducing the debt. Its jobs, growth and public confidence that they can spend (within their limited means) we need not a massive increase in the unemployment and benefit uptake and the rising welfare bill to pay for it. Clem Attlee after the second World War faced a national debt almost five times higher as a % of GDP to that which we face today and yet he managed to build a National Health Service, Founded the Welfare State, Built more Council Homes than any government ever has past or present, and nationalised the Railways, The Mines, together with our Gas, Electric, and Water Supplies. He set post war Britain back to work and was rewarded with growth and employment of such a scale that even the Old Tory Bore Harold Macmillan had to declare "We have never had it so good"

Britain does have a problem with debt though, but it is private not public debt that threatens to ruin us. The post Thatcher years of must have house ownership coupled with rising housing prices and the encouragement of credit to pay for things we never knew we really needed has left our personal finances in tatters.

If the current government can't sleep at night for worrying over the £772 billion total UK Public Debt then we should all be having nightmares about the £1.4 trillion record level of UK Private debt! as this chart below shows:

So when will the Liberals and the Tories own up to us that they have been economical with the truth over not only who is to blame for the current state of the countries finances and stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes as to why they plan to decimate our public services and play poker with our future risking a double dip recession all in the name of political ideology.

(with grateful thanks to www.averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com and www.boffyblog.blogspot.com and www.ukpublicspending.co.uk)

Tuesday, 12 October 2010

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?

Tuesday, 28 September 2010

YATES' WHINE LODGED

And so it came to pass.........................After just 3 years and 4 months the Liberal Democrat majority on Northampton Borough Council has been wiped out. Having started with 23 councillors and a majority of 6 Cllr John Yates' defection to the Tory benches has placed them in a minority with just 20 votes left to the oppositions 21.

Ironically it wasn't council policy or the shame as to the Liberal Democrats actions in power which finally broke the back of Liberal Democrat resistance, no in true Lib Dem fashion it was good old self interest and infighting.

John Yates, a likeable ruralesque Lib Dem who will settle well in the Tory Party crossed the floor simply because in his absence his Lib Dem colleagues ousted him from his Council seat as a potential candidate for next years election! He wasn't alone, even the current Lib Dem Mayor Cllr Marianne Taylor couldn't escape the cull as her seat disappeared to another favoured replacement leaving her in an embarrassing situation of not even being able to see her Mayoral year out as an elected Councillor.Others also have fell foul of the selection process

The night of the long knives it seems has been orchestrated by Cllr Andrew Simpson aided and abetted by Cllr Richard Church and as a result the internal atmosphere inside the group is outright poisonous. So driven apart are the local group that Cllr Malcolm Mildren and myself popped into the Wig and Pen the other Friday for a quiet drink only to find two sets of Lib Dem Councillors drinking in two different parts of the pub! We didn't know which way to turn or who to upset first!

But it just might turn out to be good news for the people of Northampton, no more will we have to suffer the arrogance of the Liberal Democrats when forcing through their pet projects over the heads and suggestions of others and no more will we have to listen to the uncompromising whinges on why the Council won't sit down with our sporting clubs and find a way out of the Planning mess that they themselves have created with their outright subservience to national planning advice and their over friendly relationship with Legal and General.

At some point in the coming months a sensible motion will be moved in the Council Chamber offering a way forward for the town and for Saints and the Cobblers without the need for the future of the town centre to be jeopardised. When it happens it will be interesting to see how the votes stack up? my guess is that with an election just around the corner we might find a few Lib Dem's suddenly have a change of heart!

So well done John, the town owes you one!

Monday, 13 September 2010

HAVE THEY NO SHAME PART 3

Mohammed Warsame knows all about forced eviction, 10 years ago he was fleeing for his life from warring factions in Somalia. He eventually ended up in the UK and in Northampton, and in September 2003 after serving his time on the waiting list he moved into a one bedroom council flat in Spring Boroughs with his wife and young child.

Mohammed is a proud man and has never claimed benefits, he quickly got himself a job on Brackmills and has always strived to pay his way. His family had at last found peace and security and soon after a second child was added to the family. Life was beginning to take on an air of normality after all the trauma in their homeland and their flight from fear.

But living with 4 people under one small roof in a small one bedroom flat was not easy and the Council were not in a position to offer him anything bigger. So Mohammed, as is his way sorted out the problem himself. His mother in law, lived in a larger flat in Chelsea, and those who understand Somalian culture will know that it is very normal for young mothers to reside with their own mother whilst the husband was working. in Somalia many of the men work hundreds of miles away from their family to earn money to support the family so Mrs Warsame and the two children moved in with Mum even though they wanted to be at home in Northampton with Mohammed.

Mohammed carried on working 5 days a week at Brackmills and then at the weekends he would visit his wife and children at the mother in laws in Chelsea. His mother in law was not working, and it soon become apparent that Mohhamed would need to support both households, so he worked harder, did extra shifts and tried to pay his way the best he could, but he fell behind with the rent, not hugely, but enough to worry him. At one point he was £800 in arrears with NBC, but by working a bit more overtime he reduced that down to £400. All this it seems was to be to no avail!

You seen those kind souls at Lib Dem controlled Northampton Borough Council, decided to serve him a repossession order and took the case to court to evict Mr Warsame on the grounds of unpaid rent. Now those who understand how the Council works will be amazed that they took such an austere measure over such a small sum, residents usually can run up arrears into the thousands before the council would even consider taking the case to court for eviction. So why was Mohammed being treated so badly?

Thankfully the Judge agreed, and noted that Mr Warsame had been reducing his arrears not allowing them to grow and refused the Council the right to repossess the property. But the court costs still added another £120 to Mr Warsame's arrears, hardly helpful to him giving his current position. but at least he could keep his flat? Or could he?

Before Mohammed had even left the court another kind soul from the Borough Councils Housing Department caught up with him and handed him another pre prepared eviction order! This time under the auspice of the flat in Spring Boroughs not being his main abode! So they once more told him he had to go and duly evicted him in May. He couldn't understand what he had done wrong? And didn't know who to turn to.

Ever since he has been sleeping on friends sofas in Northampton during the week to ensure he keeps his job and then commuting at weekends back down to Chelsea, where he recently received a bill for over £1100 from NBC who had added another months rent (notice of intention to quit) to his bill despite them evicting him.

Mohammed came to me to ask we what he had done wrong? And why the Council were victimising him? the only response I have got so far from my enqiuries to the Council is that they had discovered that Mr Warsame's name had appeared as being resident on a housing benefit claim in Chelsea, he was of course, and the claim probably in the name of his mother in law was simply being truthful as to who resided there albeit only at weekends.

But what business is it of Northampton Borough Council what his mother in law does in Chelsea? and how did they source this information with the Data Protection Act in place?

And why oh why did no one at NBC think to invite him in to talk about his housing needs? after all if the Council had done it's job properly Mrs Warsame and the 2 children would still be in Northampton with their husband/father living in a slightly bigger property. So much it seems for secured tenancies!

I have of course asked the council a number of questions on Mr Warsame's case including:

Why an eviction order was served and a court case fixed on such a low arrears amount when it was clear the tenant was reducing the arrears?

How come a housing officer was in the court with a second eviction notice for a different reason on the day of the hearing?

What are they doing involving themselves in the affairs of another local authority area?

Why was Mr Warsame not offered any help at any time since 2003 instead of being treated so badly and evicted by any means possible?

Mr Warsame now tells me he has had more arrears bills sent to him in London regarding his Council Tax far beyond the point that he was forcefully removed from his tenancy.

So once again take a bow Northampton Borough Council and their Liberal Democrat administration, you must all be very proud of yourselves.

Perhaps this one should go directly to Northamptonshire Race Equality Council for them to investigate?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday, 12 September 2010

HAVE THEY NO SHAME PART 2

Harry is 78 years old, and lives a mile from Northampton Town Centre. That's not his real name by the way, he at this stage wants to remain anonymous. He is very angry about how Northampton Borough Council has treated him. He is also at odds to understand why the council have singled him out for such despicable treatment. In addition to his advanced years Harry is also registered disabled, and to make life that little bit more difficult for him in his old age he has cancer.

But Harry like many Northampton born sons who have seen and battled against so much in their lives is still an independent soul, he refuses to accept his disability and and just gets on with life, therefore it cut me to the core when he has told me on more than one occasion since his troubles with NBC began "why can't the council just leave me alone and let me be, I will be dead soon enough, then I won't cause anyone any problems"

Harry's troubles started in August when he contacted me to explain that the County Council had sent him a letter, in fact a removal order, threatening to remove his motorcycle trailer from outside his house because the Borough Council had decided that it was dangerous, and declared it to be a "building container"

The building container as stated above turned out in fact to be a small trailer which at one time belonged to his old motorbike, but on which he now kept his electric bicycle. Being disabled his electric bicycle is now his only form of mobility. He uses this environmentaly friendly mode of transport to get him down to the market and back to pick up his veg and to do his other shopping. His disability and his daily medication mean that a normal mobility scooter just doesn't work for him as he gets nauseous when seated so low. The bicycle was therefore kept chained to the trailer to stop it being stolen because the three high stone steps up to his front door from the street made it impossible for him to lift the heavy bike indoors.

Surely NBC and in the first instance NCC wouldn't be so cruel as to take Harry's trailer away thus leaving him nowhere to secure his bicycle, his only means of transport and independence? So after Harry had contacted me I contacted the County Council and they kindly agreed to extend by one month the time on the removal order. They then also said that even if another order was issued, we would then have another 30 days thereafter to remove it. Time enough for us all to come up with a solution, or so we thought!

But the shameless corporate entity that is now Liberal Democrat controlled Northampton Borough Council had other ideas. whilst we were busy trying to come up with a solution for Harry, they come up with a new solution themselves to the problem, they changed their mind on Harry's trailer being a "building container" and decided that it was now a "vehicle" and as a consequence having been thwarted at their first attempt to remove it they now contacted the ELVIS abandoned vehicle scheme,(End of Life Vehicle Impound Scheme) also run by NCC and this time arranged for it to be taken away for crushing.

ELVIS then turned up one morning with no warning, but Harry put up a good fight, he sat on his trailer and pleaded for them to leave him and his trailer alone. In the end the Police were called and this helpless old man, disabled, distressed and suffering from cancer was removed from the trailer and off it went to the crusher. They left him no paperwork, no explanation as to why it was being taken away or to where and as a consequence a tearful Harry called me to ask one more to "please please" intervene.

The Borough Council then started to become very officious, they did promise to send someone from private sector housing round to talk to Harry and also suggested they might contact Care and Repair to see what they could do (neither of which came anywhere near) but as far as they were concerned by removing the trailer they had done nothing wrong.

I therefore submitted an official complaint on Harry's behalf, which also fell on deaf ears, I then raised the complaint to the next level asking them why they had failed to cooperate with NCC to find a solution to the problem rather than simply acting in such a crass fashion and in doing so denying an old man of his mobility?

But they stuck to their guns, nothing to do with them they said Elvis is run by NCC and if we had a complaint against them or the Police then that also had nothing to do with them, even though they admit that they instigated all of the aforementioned actions in the first instance.

We also pointed out to them that other trailers such as one in Fetter Street, has been parked in a restricted place every day for ten years? Why no action there? And that there were far more obstructive and dangerous obstacles all around the area? So was it simply easier for them to pick on a defenceless elderly man than say a corporate business?

In desperation and in an attempt to get the Council to see sense I then brought the case up with the Councils Chief Executive, surely he could see what a PR disaster it would be for the Council to have acted so cruelly against such an indefensible old man? Surely the council could see that finding a way forward would be cheaper in the long run than fighting a complaint?

But still all to no avail, My stage two complaint came back with none of our questions and complaints answered to any level of satisfaction and the letter then said that if Harry wished he could make a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.

He will, with my full support. but why does the Council want to act and to be seen to have acted in such a disgraceful fashion? I pointed out to them very early on that there was a local authority yard just across the road from Harry's house and with a modicum of common sense they could have agreed with Harry that he could chain his bike up there out of harms way and then every one would have been happy. But Northampton Borough Council it seems doesn't do solutions, it simply bullies its residents including the elderly and puts on it's big hat of officialdom and wherever possible passes the buck and reverts once again to collective BSE (Blame Someone Else)

So perhaps at tomorrow nights Council meeting the whole Liberal Democrat Council should stand up and take a bow and lap up the praise for their latest victory in the war against such dangerous and malicious criminal classes such as Harry.

As the title above asks, Have they no shame?

(Tomorrow, part 3 Evicted by any means possible)

Saturday, 11 September 2010

HAVE THEY NO SHAME PART 1

Edward (Teddy) Mcnabb is a community campaigner, a former soldier who served in Northern Ireland Teddy now restricts his fighting to the defence of the elderly within his community. So incensed was he when Northampton Borough Council withdrew Resident Wardens from the sheltered housing scheme he lives in that he took the Council on alongside many others who rightly pointed out that the Council was breaching the contract they signed with those elderly residents when they first moved into their homes.

So Teddy got busy, bombarding Councillors and officers alike with emails and questions, trying to get answers for many who were too frightened to raise their head above the parapet. Most of his emails went completely unanswered. In frustration at elected members from all of the three main party's who refused most times to even acknowledge his requests he lost his temper, by email! lots of them.

He knows he went over the top, even though many would understand his reason for doing so and he admits that he used some "inappropriate language" Now I know what you are thinking! But that's just your dark side coming to the fore, you see Teddy's expletives were not post 9pm watershed words, they consisted of him using lesser curses like "scum" and "bitch" both not nice, but when you are in elected office or working for the council you have to have broad shoulders and a thick skin.

Teddy also had other reasons to lose his temper on the keyboard as he had also received proof that the Council had considered and recorded the fact that they considered him to be mentally ill and that they also wrote to his doctor without his knowledge asking him to assess his patient, and in one internal e-mail exchange after Teddy had asked for a secret ballot on a tenants vote one officer wrote to another "He will get much more than a secret ballot "

So if ever there was a time to bring someone to the table and try and to resolve matters and faults on both sides then this was such an occasion. But no, that's just not the style of a Northampton Liberal Democrat Council, instead the yellow bellied bullies decided to hit him hard with a court order and sought an injunction preventing Teddy from contacting any Borough Councillor or officer (apart from the Borough Solicitor) and took such an injunction out in the names of all Cllrs without even having the decency of asking us first if we wished to be part of such an action (so much for local democracy)

see http://tonyclarkeindependent.blogspot.com/2010/05/who-is-bullying-who.html

Two over tender souls, Lib Cllrs Tony Woods and Dennis Merideth even submitted evidence to the court telling the judge how awful life had become because of Teddy's tirade of abuse. In the meantime myself and my fellow independents Cllrs Jean Hawkins and Malcolm Mildren instructed the Council to remove us from their ridiculous injunction and did what any Cllr worth their salt would do, that is talk face to face with Teddy to make sure he was not totally disenfranchised.

Teddy wanted to fight the injunction and attended Court to state his case, but it became clear that the Council would use all their legal muscle to take him on. as Teddy's total annual income is less than £6000 he reluctantly withdrew from the fray.

Not content with their pious victory (it surely would be the equivalent of Chelsea FC celebrating an uncontested victory over Duston Boys Brigade) the council went after Teddy for their costs totalling over £10,000! They told the court this astronomical bill included them costing out a lawyer at over £146 an hour! They used just the one "in house" solicitor

Luckily we managed to point out to the Judge that locum lawyers engaged by the Council were paid only just over £30 an hour and if the solicitor involved worked for the Council on a rate of £146 an hour then they would be earning annually over a quarter of a million pounds at the Council Tax payers expense. In other words the Council were looking to profiteer from the case at the expense of a disabled man on a measly £6000 a year income.

Well then perhaps Teddy was right after all. You see in my view any body public or private, willing to take such austere action and then chase fiscally for their own profit a sum of £10,000 from a disabled ex serviceman whose only crime was to become agitated on behalf of his elderly neighbours who couldn't fight for themselves, then I too would say that they are scum, and if they want to take out an injunction on me for saying so then so be it.

The judge it seems also agreed that they had overstepped the mark, as in court he reduced the Councils costs down from the £10,000 requested to £1,700 and also made it clear to the Council that they may wish to consider waiving costs entirely given Teddy's inability to pay. Only time will tell if they have listened or not?

The council accuse Teddy of being a bully, but just who is bullying who here? As the injunction is now indefinite what rights would Teddy now have to be represented if myself and my two Independent colleagues did not withdraw ourselves from the Councils shameful actions?

My fear now is that in the coming months Teddy and others may have good reason to take up the good fight again on behalf of the vulnerable as the Council and their coalition partners in Westminster looks to restrict services even further in the pursuit of small local government, the big society and tightened fiscal prudence.

In the meantime it seems as if we all will have to be gentle with the poor fragile souls in the Liberal Democrat group on the council, after all how dare the public expect them to be accountable and answer questions put to them as elected members, let alone take responsibility for their actions in cutting services to the most vulnerable in our society!

Just what has become of our local democracy, I ask you?

( Tomorrow part 2, a man and his bicycle )

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