The Spectator’s Coffee House Evening Blend reports that Tower Hamlets was “a council ruled by a ‘medieval monarch’ that was ‘riddled with cronyism and corruption’. That was how Eric Pickles’ described the local authority ruled by Tower Hamlets’ First’s Lutfur Rahman. The Communities Secretary sent in three commissioners to take over the authority after a report by accountancy firm PwC found contracts were awarded without the appropriate paperwork and Rahman picked preferred companies. It said Tower Hamlets’ ‘current governance arrangements do not appear to be capable of preventing or responding appropriately to failures of the best value duty of the kind we have identified’. This is Pickles’ first intervention in a council since he sent commissioners to monitor Doncaster in 2010. His statement in the Commons today drew support from Labour, who are calling for Rahman to resign as Mayor. His way of governing and the rotten borough practices of the council leave him with no friends in other parties
Robert Lindsay (the new Green member for South Cosford) proposed the following motion at the Babergh District Council meeting on Friday 26th September as follows: “That a letter be sent to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government requesting that local authorities be given the power to introduce a levy of up to 8.5% of the rateable value on supermarkets or large retail outlets in their area with a rateable annual value not less than £500,000 and for the revenue to be retained by local authorities in order to be used to help improve their local communities.” It was seconded by (Conservative) Councillor Jenny Antill. It is nice to see conviction politicians crossing divides and supporting each other. Lindsay (unsuccessfully) fought Antill in 2013 for the position of County Councillor for Cosford. I could not support the motion. It is too woolly as to its effects on business (which ones will be affected – probably Tesco in Sudbury & Copdock and possibly Toys R Us) and it is seriously weak as to what “improve their local communities” means. Some people think it means supporting small shops in our High Streets but it could equally apply to street lighting or employing high cost temporary consultants to fill staffing gaps.
And then again there is the question of sending the letter.
Well, all a letter and £1.50 will get you is a cup of coffee.
The motion was shunted off to the Strategy Committee where it will take its turn to be researched and considered.
A mother who forged documents in a bid to secure a school place for her daughter has been fined £500 and sentenced to 100 hours community service. In one of the first prosecutions of so-called ‘education tourism’,
Lura Pacheco was found to have submitted a forged tenancy agreement so that her 11-year-old daughter might attend a secondary school in Havering rather than Dagenham and Redbridge. Giles Morrison, representing Havering Council, said: “She wanted her daughter to get into a Havering school as these are generally better… It (the offence) is, I am told, something that Havering Council is very concerned with in the borough and there might be a number of prosecutions that might happen in the future.”
One would hope that that education chiefs in Dagenham and Redbridge would start to look at Havering and see what can be done to emulate their successes.
The fine and community service may seem harsh but they may be signs that things are hotting up in Havering. In 2008 a resident claimed £25,308 in housing benefit and council tax benefit, despite inheriting £44,821. But he received a sentence of just 20 weeks, suspended for one year, and was ordered to carry out 60 hours unpaid community. In June 2012 a woman who claimed to be a struggling single mum-of-two was sentenced to 15 months in prison after Havering Council uncovered her double life as a jet-setting wife of a London black cab driver. She admitted fraudulently claiming more than £165,000 in benefits over a 20-year period, despite living in an expensively furnished home and enjoying numerous holidays abroad with her husband. And last year a Romford man was jailed for six weeks for benefit fraud after illegally subletting his council house. More than £14,000 was involved. Meanwhile in a separate case, a Harold Hill resident was also sentenced to six weeks in prison, suspended for two years, and given a curfew from 7pm to 7am daily, for fraudulently claiming almost £9,000 in housing and Council tax benefit.
Still, £500 and a sentence of 100 hours community service for being too enthusiastic for the well being of your children does seem a tad on the strong side.
The picture is 1897 Bogdanov-Belsky At School Doors var” by Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky – art-catalog.ru. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Earlier this month my neighbour Jane Basham catalogued the activities and services available at the Children’s Centre. The list is very impressive as follows:
Access To Suffolk Library Services;
Autism Suffolk Parent Group;
Birth And Beyond;
Breast Feeding Workshops;
Career Advice And Support Service;
Child Health Clinic And Sensory Babies;
Child Health Clinic;
From Floor To Four;
Inbetweenies;
Infant Massage;
Made Of Money;
Making & Creating;
Marking;
Mini Maulers;
Parentcraft;
Place To Raise Child Protection Concerns
Rise & Shine;
Sing & Sign;
Snap Drop In Service (Housing Related Support);
Swap Shop (For Clothes);
Targeted Family Support Practitioners,;
Targeted Financial Support;
Time For Me;
Time With My Dad;
Walkers & Talkers;
Weaning Group;
And then she tells us that “it all FREE”.
Except that it isn’t. It doesn’t fall like rain from the skies. It must be paid for and if we wish to continue the services then the taxpayer has to put their hands in their pockets. The County’s consultation is about reviewing the way we provide services to the people who need them in the most effective manner possible. It is also about ensuring that residents get the best value possible.
The more responses the County receives to its consultation, the better informed they will be.
The Scotsman reports that Aberdeen City Council accidently sent out a publication to 20,000 households that read “Newshite” rather than “Newsbite”, forcing the authority to issue an apology. “An unfortunate oversight in the production process for the front cover has focused a lot of welcome attention on this excellent publication,” said a council spokesperson
Over the past two days I have delivered letters to every household in Benton Street as follows:
“For a number of years we have experienced increased traffic on Benton Street using the street as a throughway to and from the A12. The incidence of overweight vehicles seems to have abated with the installation of improved signage at Copdock and at the East Bergholt/Hadleigh turn off, but we are still experiencing goods vehicles and private cars using us as a convenient short cut for the surrounding villages. Worse, drivers seem to think that they can drive on the pavements without regard to the residents.
A number of ideas have been circulating for some time. These include a bypass via Hook Lane, railings and a pinch point chicane/ priority traffic system.
Suffolk’s Economy Skills & Environment Department have suggested that we try a pilot programme of installing a priority traffic system between 50 and 60 Benton Street. The priority system would consist of pavement build-outs on each side of the road (see plan below). This will ensure that drivers are aware that it is not possible to pass each other in this narrow section of Benton Street and formalise the requirement to give way to oncoming traffic. Additional parking restrictions would need to be introduced to allow queuing in advance of the build-outs and approximately 7 parking spaces (including 1 advisory disabled bay, which is currently not being used) would be lost. However there would be facility to offset this loss by revoking some of the parking restrictions further along Benton Street.
If these proposals are pursued, SCC will introduce an experimental priority system, using temporary water filled barriers, for 6-12 months to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed treatment.
If you feel that Benton Street should remain the same, please tell me. Similarly if you want change, then please let me know which of the choices is most acceptable and if you have other ideas please share them with me.
A larger version of the plan will be on display upstairs in the Library at 10 a.m. on Saturday 13th September when this informal consultation will end. “
So far the feed back (on the street) has been positive.
However I would like written feedback so that we can go ahead with firmly based actions.
How to have your say
• Visit: http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/consultations and complete the online questionnaire
• Hard copy questionnaires are available from local children’s centres from the beginning of August, or on request by calling: 0845 603 1842. They should be completed and returned it to:
Children’s Centre consultation
Freepost
RTAC-HSKL-CSAY
SUFFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL
IPSWICH IP1 2EB
If there are difficulties in obtaining a paper copy of the consultation document please let me know.
• Email: ChildrensCentre.feedback@suffolk.gov.uk
All responses must be received by the end of Thursday 16 October 2014.
What happens after the consultation?
Once the consultation closes, all views will be analysed and the results reported to Suffolk County
Council’s Cabinet at its meeting in December 2014.
In the meantime I have delivered a copy of the consultation to the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for South Suffolk so that she can be fully informed.
In an ideal world, politicians (on behalf of the people) would set the policy, civic officers would work up proposals and then with everything being synchronised the world would march on to a new and better existence. But mankind are not angels and we are not perfect and quite often there appears to be a mismatch between what was said, what was heard and what was produced.
We can all agree that the Council’s functions include striving for continual improvement in servicing the needs of the residents and the concomitant mandate to provide value for money. Thus the provision of children’s services is scheduled by Suffolk County Council for review and remodelling as necessary.
And then the mismatch occurred between desire and action. At the Council meeting on the 17th July it was proposed that the Council would consult on merging the Brett River Children’s Centre with Cherry Blossom Children’s Centre, East Bergholt and close the building currently used by Brett River. When I first read the document at home there was an outbreak of expletive driven thunder and lightning and got ready to ride off into battle.
I subsequently obtained from my Council Leader an unequivocal undertaking that this was to be a genuine consultation and not a cynical move to give democratic legitimacy to a decision already taken. I promised a robust response to the consultation. Similarly before the main Council meeting I obtained the same undertaking from the Portfolio Holder. And at the main meeting he stated that he did not become elected in order to reduce services and close buildings.
The consultation period will run for two months to get us over the Summer holidays. The consultation document will be available on line and in hard copy. I am arranging to obtain hard copies of the consultation document so that it is fully available to all concerned.
If a hard copy is required then please respond to this posting
Am I bothered by all this? Yes I am – because officers cannot know my locality as well as I do. Similarly I am not as familiar as they are with their areas of expertise. That is why they are employed. But I am elected to front up for Hadleigh’s residents whether they vote for me or not.
There are a number of flaws in the consultation document and the ideas on which it is based.
My role is to protect and promote the well being of our town and I am always open to ideas. To support me in my endeavours I need as many people as possible to respond to the consultation. Responses can be by email or letter to the Assistant Director – Early Help and Specialist Services. Responses can be short and pithy or they can be as detailed as an E.U. regulation. What matters is that we show that our needs cannot be met by merging with East Bergholt.
As soon as the consultation is published, I’ll put details on Facebook and on this blog – then we can go forward together towards the smell of smoke and the sound of gunfire. What we should not be doing is responding to half truths and the hysterics of the ignorant whose agendas may not be in chime with our own.
Last week saw a by election in the South Cosford ward of Babergh District. The ward covers 4,311 hectares and holds 2,139 residents in 905 houses. The average age is 41 y.o. Hadleigh North (which is represented by two District Councillors) contains 3,417 residents in 1,510 dwellings. The average age of the residents is 42.5 years.
The seat was previously held by Dawn Kendall (Conservative).
The results were as follows: Robert Lindsay, (G) 346, David Talbot Clarke (C) 330, Stephen Laing (UKIP) 219, Angela Wiltshire (L) 72. Majority 16. Turnout 54.7%.
The turnout was quite high for a local election – so full marks to all the workers who knocked on doors and delivered leaflets.
Mr Lindsay will be the only Green on Babergh and the question is will he sit on his own (unattached from any political grouping) or will he align himself to one of the groups – Conservative (unlikely), Labour, Liberal Democrats or Independents? Perhaps the key question is what sort of Green is he – a mango or a melon? Mangos are yellow on the inside and are therefore closet Liberal Democrats. The melons are red on the inside and therefore closet Socialists. One spends money without policies whilst the other spends money with abandon.
There are enough questions here to keep a psephologist happy for days. Why did UKIP come third and did he take votes away from the Conservatives. And what was the effect of the Liberal Democrats not having a candidate?
Nationally the conservatives have managed expectations and have done better than expected – especially in East Anglia where we retained three seats in Brussels. Yesterday’s Spectator web site suggested that there is a sense that the national results have given critics in each party the opportunity to say what they’ve been planning to say all along, but possibly without the impact they’d hoped for.
Meanwhile the economy is picking up and this may be affecting the voting.
The number of young people not in education, work or training (Neets) in eastern England has fallen to a pre-recession low. In a fresh boost to the local economic outlook, there were 79,000 16 to 24-year-olds considered Neet in the first quarter of 2014, the lowest figure since 74,000 in the second quarter of 2008. At its peak, the number of young people in the region classed as Neet was 121,000 in the third quarter of 2011. Nationally, the percentage of teenagers in Neet is at its lowest since records began. The news comes after it emerged last week that total unemployment in Suffolk fell by almost a third in a year. The number of people claiming out-of-work benefits in the county reached pre-recession levels when falling to 8,592 in April, a 32.3% drop from 12,607 in April last year and the lowest since 8,486 in October 2008.
The Spectator’s Coffee House Evening Blend reports that Tower Hamlets was “a council ruled by a ‘medieval monarch’ that was ‘riddled with cronyism and corruption’. That was how Eric Pickles’ described the local authority ruled by Tower Hamlets’ First’s Lutfur Rahman. The Communities Secretary sent in three commissioners to take over the authority after a report by accountancy firm PwC found contracts were awarded without the appropriate paperwork and Rahman picked preferred companies. It said Tower Hamlets’ ‘current governance arrangements do not appear to be capable of preventing or responding appropriately to failures of the best value duty of the kind we have identified’. This is Pickles’ first intervention in a council since he sent commissioners to monitor Doncaster in 2010. His statement in the Commons today drew support from Labour, who are calling for Rahman to resign as Mayor. His way of governing and the rotten borough practices of the council leave him with no friends in other parties
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