FULL ENQUIRY

I have been informed, by Byron Davies’s office, that a Full Enquiry as now been started; I would like it to be an Independent Enquiry as I believe this incident has far reaching implications. It was started by an application by Rob Dix, of the Regeneration Panel, his boss, Bethan Jones must have okayed the application; it went in front of the Cabinet under the Local Authority Act Schedule 12a, public and press exempt, they must have been informed that there was an offer on the property due to the urgency and the “Tight timetable”, they approved the application. It then befell on Gareth Peters, Principle Property Manager to make the offer and enter in to negotiations. So, as far as I am concerned, this reaches to the very top of the tree.
I believe the Mayor of Colwyn Bay has sent out an email accusing me of “Self promoting”, I, myself have not seen the email yet but I wait in anticipation for its arrival. My answer to the Mayor will be quite simple; “If CCBC kept their house in order and were not so secretive and deceitful then there would be no need for me to go public with such information, if this is just one incident that I have uncovered, Mr Mayor, how many other incidents have gone undisclosed?”.

ANYTHING ABOVE £65,000 IS A WASTE OF TAXPAYERS MONEY

Fw: RE: 10 Douglas Road
RE: 10 Douglas Road
21 October 2009 09:14:28
From:
"Gareth Peters"
To: ********** *****************
Dear Mr J****
The £70,000 offer was our offer on the table when we spoke on the phone and when I emailed you last week.

Our increased offer was made after you countered ours.

Yours sincerely
Gareth Peters DipSurv MRICS
Pen Reolwr Eiddo / Principal Property Manager
Gwasanathau Peirianneg a Dylunio / Engineering and Design Services
Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol CONWY County Borough Council
E-Bost / E-mail: gareth.peters@conwy.gov.uk
01492 574218

-----Original Message-----
From: ************ ****************
Sent: 20 October 2009 16:26
To: Gareth Peters
Subject: 10 Douglas Road

Dear Mr Peters
I didn`t increase my offer of £60,000. until I was informed by Mr
Crabtree that you had offered £70,0000. and I then counter offered .
If Mr Crabtree has told you that I have offered anything more before you
offered the £70,000. then it is a lie. He has also told me that you have
put an offer in of more than £75,000.
Yours sincerely
****** *****
-----------------------------------------
"Mae'r neges e-bost hon ac unrhyw ymgysylltiadau yn gyfrinachol, ac
wedi eu bwriadu ar gyfer yr un sy'n cael ei h/enwi yn unig.
Gallent gynnwys gwybodaeth freintiedig. Os yw'r neges hon wedi
eich cyrraedd ar gam, ni ddylech ei chopio, ei rhannu na dangos ei
chynnwys i unrhyw un. Cysylltwch efo Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol
Conwy ar unwaith. Nid yw'r Cyngor na'r un sydd wedi anfon y neges
yn derbyn unrhyw gyfrifoldeb am feirysau, a'ch cyfrifoldeb chi yw
sganio unrhyw ymgysylltiadau. Mae’r Awdurdod yn monitro’r defnydd o
e-bost/rhyngrwyd a chynnwys y rhain i ddibenion busnes. "

"This email and any attachments are confidential and intended for
the named recipient only. The content may contain privileged
information. If it has reached you by mistake, you should not copy,
distribute or show the content to anyone but should contact Conwy
County Borough Council at once. Neither the Council nor the sender
accepts any responsibility for viruses,
and it is your responsibility to scan any attachments. The
Authority monitors e-mail/internet usage and content for business
purposes"
Fw: RE: 10 Douglas Road
RE: 10 Douglas Road
20 October 2009 15:47:18
From:
"Gareth Peters"
To:
Dear Mr J****

I have been fully open and prepared to discuss the matter with you.

Regrettably we established that rather than discussing the matter further you in fact increased your offer over our offer and emailed me stating that my offer and conditions was not acceptable. I was left with no option other than to try and acquire the property through the normal channels.

You stated that we could have acquired the property for £65,000. But before that was ever discussed you upped your bid over ours.

I was more than willing to enter into a legal binding contract that your fee would be paid once CCBC exchanged contracts. I felt it was in both our interests to work together and that is why I was more than willing to discuss the arrangement.


Gareth Peters DipSurv MRICS
Pen Reolwr Eiddo / Principal Property Manager
Gwasanathau Peirianneg a Dylunio / Engineering and Design Services
Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol CONWY County Borough Council
E-Bost / E-mail: gareth.peters@conwy.gov.uk
01492 574218


-----Original Message-----
From: ******** **********
Sent: 20 October 2009 15:07
To: Gareth Peters
Subject: 10 Douglas Road

Dear Mr Peters
If you had been completely honest with me you could of had the property
for £65,000.00,
£60,000. for the property and £5,000. for my consultation fee. You are
now in excess of the valuation and we haven`t finished yet.As it is the
cost to both of us is rising.
No consultation fee will be accepted after completion as the trust has
gone, any fee would have to be deposited with my solicitor before I
withdraw my interest.
Yours sincerely
***** *****
-----------------------------------------
"Mae'r neges e-bost hon ac unrhyw ymgysylltiadau yn gyfrinachol, ac
wedi eu bwriadu ar gyfer yr un sy'n cael ei h/enwi yn unig.
Gallent gynnwys gwybodaeth freintiedig. Os yw'r neges hon wedi
eich cyrraedd ar gam, ni ddylech ei chopio, ei rhannu na dangos ei
chynnwys i unrhyw un. Cysylltwch efo Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol
Conwy ar unwaith. Nid yw'r Cyngor na'r un sydd wedi anfon y neges
yn derbyn unrhyw gyfrifoldeb am feirysau, a'ch cyfrifoldeb chi yw
sganio unrhyw ymgysylltiadau. Mae’r Awdurdod yn monitro’r defnydd o
e-bost/rhyngrwyd a chynnwys y rhain i ddibenion busnes. "

"This email and any attachments are confidential and intended for
the named recipient only. The content may contain privileged
information. If it has reached you by mistake, you should not copy,
distribute or show the content to anyone but should contact Conwy
County Borough Council at once. Neither the Council nor the sender
accepts any responsibility for viruses,
and it is your responsibility to scan any attachments. The
Authority monitors e-mail/internet usage and content for business
purposes"
Fw: RE: 10 douglas road.
RE: 10 douglas road.
19 October 2009 13:11:31
From:
"Gareth Peters"
To:
"********* ********
Dear Mr *****
Thank you for your email.

Naturally I am disappointed that you were not able to agree the terms of
my offer.

In the circumstances the offer is withdrawn.

Yours sincerely

Gareth Peters DipSurv MRICS
Pen Reolwr Eiddo / Principal Property Manager
Gwasanathau Peirianneg a Dylunio / Engineering and Design Services
Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol CONWY County Borough Council
E-Bost / E-mail: gareth.peters@conwy.gov.uk
01492 574218



-----Original Message-----
From******** ********
Sent: 19 October 2009 10:22
To: Gareth Peters
Subject: 10 douglas road.

Dear Mr Peters
I have spoken to my solicitor and I cannot agree to the conditions
you`ve set out. My solicitor is holding on to the contracts for the time

being and myself and my son wish to arrange a meeting with yourself and
all relevant parties asap.
Yours sincerely
****** *****
-----------------------------------------
"Mae'r neges e-bost hon ac unrhyw ymgysylltiadau yn gyfrinachol, ac
wedi eu bwriadu ar gyfer yr un sy'n cael ei h/enwi yn unig.
Gallent gynnwys gwybodaeth freintiedig. Os yw'r neges hon wedi
eich cyrraedd ar gam, ni ddylech ei chopio, ei rhannu na dangos ei
chynnwys i unrhyw un. Cysylltwch efo Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol
Conwy ar unwaith. Nid yw'r Cyngor na'r un sydd wedi anfon y neges
yn derbyn unrhyw gyfrifoldeb am feirysau, a'ch cyfrifoldeb chi yw
sganio unrhyw ymgysylltiadau. Mae’r Awdurdod yn monitro’r defnydd o
e-bost/rhyngrwyd a chynnwys y rhain i ddibenion busnes. "

"This email and any attachments are confidential and intended for
the named recipient only. The content may contain privileged
information. If it has reached you by mistake, you should not copy,
distribute or show the content to anyone but should contact Conwy
County Borough Council at once. Neither the Council nor the sender
accepts any responsibility for viruses,
and it is your responsibility to scan any attachments. The
Authority monitors e-mail/internet usage and content for business
purposes"
Fw: 10 Douglas Road, Colwyn Bay
10 Douglas Road, Colwyn Bay
16 October 2009 16:10:11
From:
"Gareth Peters"
Dear Mr J****

Re: 10 Douglas Road, Colwyn Bay

Thank you for your valued input and help in us trying to secure the above property.

As discussed if Conwy County Borough Council were to secure the property then your Consultant Fee of £1,000 will be paid to you.

As you will appreciate the above offer is of a commercial sensitivity and is subject to the following conditions:

* that no offer is made by you, or your family, for the property and that any previous offer is withdrawn
* that Conwy County Borough Council exchange contracts with the Vendor of the property
* that neither you or your family release any detail of our discussions between us or the sums being offered by any party to any third party

Again thank you for your attention to this matter to date and I look forward to your acceptance of these terms.

Yours sincerely

Gareth Peters DipSurv MRICS
Pen Reolwr Eiddo / Principal Property Manager
Gwasanathau Peirianneg a Dylunio / Engineering and Design Services
Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol CONWY County Borough Council
E-Bost / E-mail: gareth.peters@conwy.gov.uk
01492 574218


-----------------------------------------
"Mae'r neges e-bost hon ac unrhyw ymgysylltiadau yn gyfrinachol, ac
wedi eu bwriadu ar gyfer yr un sy'n cael ei h/enwi yn unig.
Gallent gynnwys gwybodaeth freintiedig. Os yw'r neges hon wedi
eich cyrraedd ar gam, ni ddylech ei chopio, ei rhannu na dangos ei
chynnwys i unrhyw un. Cysylltwch efo Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol
Conwy ar unwaith. Nid yw'r Cyngor na'r un sydd wedi anfon y neges
yn derbyn unrhyw gyfrifoldeb am feirysau, a'ch cyfrifoldeb chi yw
sganio unrhyw ymgysylltiadau. Mae’r Awdurdod yn monitro’r defnydd o
e-bost/rhyngrwyd a chynnwys y rhain i ddibenion busnes. "

"This email and any attachments are confidential and intended for
the named recipient only. The content may contain privileged
information. If it has reached you by mistake, you should not copy,
distribute or show the content to anyone but should contact Conwy
County Borough Council at once. Neither the Council nor the sender
accepts any responsibility for viruses,
and it is your responsibility to scan any attachments. The
Authority monitors e-mail/internet usage and content for business
purposes"

THE EMAIL

Dear Mr J****

Re: 10 Douglas Road, Colwyn Bay

Thank you for your =alued input and help in us trying to secure the above property.

As =iscussed if Conwy County Borough Council were to secure the property then =our Consultant Fee of £1,000 will be paid to you.

As you will =ppreciate the above offer is of a commercial sensitivity and is subject to=the following conditions:

* that no offer is made by you, or your fam=ly, for the property and that any previous offer is withdrawn
* that Con=y County Borough Council exchange contracts with the Vendor of the propert=
* that neither you or your family release any detail of our discussions=between us or the sums being offered by any party to any third party

=gain thank you for your attention to this matter to date and I look forwar= to your acceptance of these terms.

Yours sincerely

Gareth Pet=rs DipSurv MRICS
Pen Reolwr Eiddo / Principal Property Manager
Gwasana=hau Peirianneg a Dylunio / Engineering and Design Services
Cyngor Bwrdei=tref Sirol CONWY County Borough Council
E-Bost / E-mail: gareth.peter=@conwy.gov.uk
01492 574218

GAZUMPED BY THE COUNCIL

Once again the Council have shown their contempt for the people in Colwyn Bay. I informed you, the readers, of CCBC intentions to secretly buy properties in Colwyn Bay, namely the old indoor market and a property in Douglas Road; what I didn’t know at the time was that an offered had already been made by a local buyer (I will not print his name as I feel that would be unfair) on the house in Douglas Road, his offer of £60,000 had been accepted by the vendor and the sale was proceeding. The estate agents were Stirlings of Colwyn Bay but, somehow, CCBC must have got to hear of the offer because at the Cabinet meeting the reason for a Schedule 12 was.... “NONE DISCLOSURE- Disclosure could prejudice the negotiations between the Council and the Owners and potentially delay the acquisition of the properties for which there is a tight timetable for purchase.” NOTE: tight timetable”
Gareth Peters, CCBC Principal Property Services approached the buyer and offered him £1,000 as a “Consultation fee” to pull out of the deal, as the buyer pointed out, his expenses and solicitor’s fees came to considerably more than that and to accept that would leave him out of pocket. CCBC then put in an offer of £70,000 thereby gazumping the local buyer who immediately upped his offer. This resulted in the vendor asking for sealed bids, the local buyer took his bid into the solicitor’s office where it was immediately opened, why? The information inside was commercially sensitive as the amount of the offer could be passed-on to interested parties and thereby negating the reason for a sealed bid.
From day one I have said this entire issue stinks, it is full of secrecy, lies and deceit now, if I am correct in my assumptions, a breach of the Council’s own Code of Conduct. It appears there is no depth to which the Council will not stoop to push through their inward looking proposals in using the Regeneration Grant, all to their own ends.
I am in receipt of all the documentation that backs-up my allegations and I have forwarded copies to the Chairman of the Council demanding a full explanation into the, at least morally corrupt, conduct of the Council and its Officers. The least the Council can do is compensate the local buyer or pull-out of the deal and allow him to continue with his original purchase.

WOMAN POWER

Political Correctness gone barmy; Labour have decided on this Women Only Shortlist for some of its Parliamentary Candidates. Reading between the lines this comes out as “You will probably be totally crap as a politician but at least you’re a woman”. Good old Labour; stupid as buggery. Does it not occur to them that, regardless of sex, we want the best person for the job, if one looks at Betty Williams, a woman MP, she is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard, I cannot remember when she last got involved in local issues or spoke out for Wales, she is totally, totally useless.
Next thing you know Labour will wheel-out Donna Hutton and ask us to vote for her because she is also a woman, not the best person for the job but by voting for her you, at least, will be politically correct; what a load of tosh. Labour lost the plot a long time ago, they turned their back on the working class and pampered to the immigrants instead, once again being politically correct; now this slimy attempt to woe the female vote with “Sister Power, vote for Donna, she’s a shite politician but she is all woman”
Labour have lied to us, cheated us, led us into illegal wars, failed to deliver the basic needs of the people and run this Country into the ground; BUT, given the chance, they will do it all over again only this time they’ll be able to blame the women.

BETTY WILLIAMS AND UAF

Having seen Betty Williams was on the list of supporters of the previous post I thought I would ask her outright if she supported the use of violence. Below is a copy of the email I sent to her via the HOP, she has taken her personal email off of her web-site.
Are any of you prepared to offer odds that I do not get a reply to the questions?...


Full Message View
UAF
From: John Oddy
Add
To: bettywilliamsmp@parliament.uk
________________________________________
Dear Mrs Williams,
Having looked on the Unite Against Fascism web-site I see you are on the list of their supporters; in light of that may I then ask you if you condone the use of violence, civil unrest and assaults on our police?.
In recent days and weeks members of the UAF have been involved in many cases of civil unrest in which a significant number of their members have assaulted the police (6 officers injured at the riot outside the BBC), 30 of them arrested for public disorder in Birmingham, Manchester and London in which members of the public had to take shelter from them.
I realise you are not particularly liked by your constituents due to your lack of care on local issues spanning many years but I do believe you owe it to them to explain your support of such a criminal organisation such as the UAF.
I understand you will be extremely busy compiling your report on climate change that you studied so well out in Fiji, a report many of us look forward to reading, but, if at all possible, (I know your aversion to doing it) I would much appreciate an answer to the question.

Cllr John Oddy

QUESTION TIME

Question Time itself was, for me, a bit of an anti-climax, it didn’t conform to the normal format of the show and appeared to be aimed purely at Nick Griffin’s past comments or at him personally, there was none of the usual questions on current affairs.
What I did find interesting was the demonstrations outside the studio. These members of the left-wing groups, such as Unite Against Fascism and Searchlight, call the BNP violent and dangerous yet, whenever they turn-up, they are the ones that turn violent, policemen were injured, demonstrators arrested and members of the public scared out of their wits.
The founder of Searchlight is Gerry Gable, a convicted burglar with a long history in Communism, he once fabricated a story about the Conservative Party that landed his employer, the BBC, in court for libel, they eventually settled out of court. Both Searchlight and the UAF are allegedly funded by the Labour Party . Here is a list of their supporters, who by supporting them are condoning the use of violence against our police, rioting on the streets and open hostility towards people who do not share their views.....
UAF supporters include:
Ken Livingstone
Tony Benn
Peter Hain MP
David Hanson MP
Adam Price MP
Barbara Follett MP
Diane Abbott MP
John Cryer MP
John Trickett MP
Keith Vaz MP
Peter Bottomley MP
Alice Mahon MP
Alan Meale MP
Ian Gibson MP
Sir Teddy Taylor MP
Harry Cohen MP
Betty Williams MP
Ken Purchase MP
Alistair Carmichael MP
Laura Moffatt MP
Peter Bradley MP
Vera Baird MP
Bill Etherington MP
Edward Garnier MP
Roger Berry MP
Angela Smith MP
Brian Iddon MP
Anthony Steen MP
Mike Hancock MP
Colin Pickthall MP
Clive Betts MP
Janet Anderson MP
Neil Gerrard MP
Jane Griffiths MP
Brian Donohue MP
Helen Clark MP
Terry Davis MP
Janet Dean MP
Adrian Bailey MP
David Cameron MP
Louise Ellman MP
Eric Illsley MP
Kelvin Hopkins MP
Ernie Ross MP
Rob Marris MP
Martin Caton MP
Jim Sheridan MP
Martin Jones MP
Paul Tyler MP
Colin Challen MP
David Wright MP
Rudi Vis MP
Tony Worthington MP
Derek Watts MP
Julie Morgan MP
Rev W Martin Smyth MP
Diana Organ MP
Doug Henderson MP
Barry Gardiner MP Brendan Barber
TUC General Secretary
Roger Lyons
TUC President and
AMICUS Joint Gen Sec
Dave Prentis
UNISON Gen Sec
Tony Woodley
TGWU Gen Sec
Billy Hayes
CWU Gen Sec
Sir Bill Connor
Gen Sec USDAW
Andy Gilchrest
FBU Gen Sec
Gordon Taylor
Chief Exec PFA
Adrian Askew
CONNECT Gen Sec
Bob Crow
RMT Gen Sec
Doug Nichols
CYWU Gen Sec
Ed Sweeney
UNIFI Gen Sec
Janice Godrich
PCS President
Jeremy Dear
NUJ Gen Sec
Judy McKnight
NAPO Gen Sec
Kevin Curran
GMB Gen Sec
Mark Serwotka
PCS Gen Sec
Paul Mackney
NATHFHE Gen Sec
Peter Pendle
ACM Gen Sec
Rosie Eagleson
AMO Gen Sec
Steve Kemp
NUM Gen sec
Sally Hunt
AUT Gen Sec
Glenys Kinnock MEP
Gary Titley MEP
Linda McAvan MEP
Glyn Ford MEP
Chris Davies MEP
Chris Heaton-Harris MEP
Claude Moraes MEP
Phillip Whitehead MEP
Stephen Hughes MEP David Seymour
Political Editor,
Daily Mirror
Mark Seddon
Tribune Editor Afzal Khan
North West rep Muslim Council of Britain
Dr. Richard Stone
Lawrie & Ruby Nerva
Poale Zion
Kashmir Singh
General Sec British Sikh Federation
Benjamin Zephaniah
Poet
Beresford Mack
Choice FM
Bobbie Miles
The 1990 Trust,
Asst. Director
Carolyn Jones
Director, Institute of Employment Rights
Clive Mardner
Director Essex REC
Dr. Siddiqui
Muslim Parliament
George Anthony-Maggie Bowden
Liberation
Hilary Wainwright
Editor, Red Pepper
John Haylett
Editor, Morning Star
Leroy Logan
Metrpolitan Black Police Association Chair
Louise Christian
Human Rights Lawyer
Louise Hutchins
NUS/SAAR,
Luciana Burger
NUS
Paul Foot
Journalist
Mark Steele
Journalist
Roni Size
Musician
Michael Rosen
writer
Laurie Heselden
Acting Regional Secretary SERTUC
Essex Racial Equality Council
Liberal democrats North west Region
Mohammed Azam
Coalition Against Racism – Unite to Stop the BNP
Jason Fraser

CCBC DO HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOUR

Below is a sectional copy of Jason Weyman’s diary for this week....

Thursday 22nd October
10am: Cabinet (Special Meeting)
This meeting is one of the events that has been arranged to celebrate Local Democracy Week in Conwy. (I haven't been informed of any other events !). Young people from various schools and Llandrillo College have been invited along to observe the Cabinet meeting. One of the agenda items is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). After the official agenda has nee dealt with, Councillors and the young people will spilt into discussion groups focusing on the 3 categories in the UNCRC: Provision Rights, Protection Rights, Participation Rights.
I will attend as to make this Cabinet as real as possible, so the young people can see the contributions to debate from backbenchers.

I have underlined and highlighted the part that had me rolling around in fits of laughter; will somebody please poke a Councillor with a pointy stick and inform them that “Local Democracy” is long dead, buried and forgotten about, it has been since our Labour led coalition slunk into the driving seat.
There are some County Councillors who would love to see democracy die an agonising death, they believe knowledge is power and to share that knowledge is to loose that power, they cling onto the hope that Labour’s continued lies will see them through and democracy is not something they want to take with them. The shame of it is; some of these Councillors do believe they are being democratic, but only when the old-boy network tells them they can be.

RAILWAY COTTAGES

CCBC Planning Committee has, all but, agreed to allow the building of a 54 bed roomed hotel on the site of the old Railway Cottages. The wording of it is “Minded for Refusal unless conditions met” those conditions are being looked at by Travelodge to see if they are financially viable but don’t hold your breath hoping that they wont be. I will be writing to Phil Hardwick, Head of Planning, to voice my disapproval and ask for a list of the imposed conditions, one, I hope, is that should it fail as a hotel, or ceases to be a going concern then it must be demolished; otherwise we have a purpose build, 54 bed roomed, ready to go Rehab centre or homeless accommodation, which I believe is what CCBC wants anyway. The owners of Bay View Shopping Centre are the actual applicants and I , for one, will now do as little shopping in there as possible; this may be a cutting off of the nose to spite the face but sod ‘em, this application shows the contempt they have for local people so I shall reciprocate.
Every time this application came in front of the Town Council it was refused, the local community groups said they didn’t want it and the people of Colwyn Bay didn’t want it either but, apparently, Councillor Brian Cossey spoke strongly in it’s favour and the weak Planning Committee decided to go with him as apposed to all the other voices, a sure sign that democracy is alive and well but just not living in the minds of our County Councillors.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972

At the Council’s Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday 13th of this month certain items were exempt from disclosure under the wonderful guise of “Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972” an Act our Council seem to hide behind more and more.
There was only one Exemption that really interested me “Purchase of Properties in Colwyn Bay”, these properties, one in Douglas Road and the other being the old Indoor Market, the latter was asked to be exempted by Rob Dix, a member of the Regeneration Board. The reasons given were...
FACTORS IN FAVOUR OF DISCLOSURE- None- other than general public interest.
NONE DISCLOSURE- Disclosure could prejudice the negotiations between the Council and the Owners and potentially delay the acquisition of the properties for which there is a tight timetable for purchase.
This is extremely interesting in that the old Indoor Market is the site ear-marked for the proposed Council Offices for 600 of its staff, note the word “proposed” because I was at the meeting where Bethan Jones stated to Colwyn Bay Town Council that nothing was “set in stone” and that lengthy Public Consultation would take place prior to any decisions being made. Also note “ tight timetable for purchase”. I have said, in the past, that the County Council are secretly trying to push through this office development as quickly and as quietly as they can, this is more proof of what I said being correct, it also shows the deceit and falsehoods given to the Town Council by the Regeneration Board.
Is it any wonder then that the public perception of the Council is one of mistrust?. I can assure you that this will not end here and I shall be putting these findings in front of our Council at its next full meeting and demanding an explanation.
Before certain Councillors or Council Officers start running for their Code of Conduct or shouting “Standards Committee” everything I have said is already in the public domain, you just have to know where to look.

BAY LIFE ( SECRET) INITIATIVE

The Bay Life Initiative and the Bay Life Quality Assurance Team (QAT), both set-up to oversee the redevelopment and improvements to Colwyn Bay but who are they really?
If we look on the Bay Life website,
http://www.colwynbaylife.co.uk/
This gives us no clue; it does not even tell us who runs “Bay Life”, how many staff it has or, indeed at what cost it is to us, the tax-payer. If you were to do a Google search of “Colwyn Bay Initiative” it will lead you right back to the Bay Life site, a search of CCBC’s web-site for the QAT reveals there is no information available or, indeed of its existence.
Fortunately I have the minutes of the first QAT meeting held in May of this year and, from it, I can tell you the membership consists of...
Cllr Gwyn Hughes, Colwyn Bay Town Council and CCTV engineer
Cllr Chris Hughes, Labour County Councillor, quoted as saying “Tourism in Colwyn Bay is dead”
Cllr Bob Squires, Independent County Councillor, wants to knock-down housing
Cllr Abdul Khan Plaid County Councillor, Chairman of Chamber of Trade
Cllr Janet Finch-Saunders, Conservative County Councillor, lives in Craig-y-Don
Alan Smith, works for CCBC as Corporate Improvements Officer
Patti Fitton, works for CCBC as Customer Service Manager
Communities 1st, a CCBC imitative
Apologies were received from; Mochdre CC, Llysfaen CC, Janet Finch-Saunders, Communities 1st and the Chamber of Trade (see Abdul Khan).
The first comment of the first meeting was made by Cllr Chris Hughes...
“It is generally accepted that there will be occasions for the need to have confidentiality, especially where potential projects could be at risk should information be distributed.”
Basically that means that not only do we not want to be open and transparent we don’t want what we discuss to be either. This is hardly surprising as our Labour/Alliance led Council have implemented the LGA 1972 100a, schedule 12 (exclusion of press and public) rule on, literally hundreds of occasions.
We only have to look at what the Council are doing /proposing to do to Colwyn Bay to realise that they want to turn the town into an Administration Centre, kill off tourism and trade and make it all offices, rehab centres and sheltered housing. These “Initiatives” and “Public Consultations” are a load of bull, for a start they are Council controlled and when was the last time you were “consulted” for your opinion?, these groups they set-up are mere puppets doing the Council’s bidding, they must think we are all as blind as they are stupid.
Colwyn Bay has got a future in tourism, not in the way it had of family holidays, but we can hold our own to the day and week-end visitors, we have the best and busiest of beaches, we have the pier, if the Council ever find the guts to be straight with us about it, and we have a great little town. Yes, we need restoration; yes we need to improve our access from the beach and yes we need to restore our pride but don’t write us off because of these. Instead of hiding your intentions from us ask us what we want or listen to our representatives. The public are against the Council and the only way to change that perception is for the Council to inter-react with the people, being murky and secretive is not the solution; honesty is.

COUNCILLOR BOOTH-TAYLOR

The case of Councillor Booth-Taylor; she has now moved to Pembrokeshire, which is hardly what one would call local to her constituents in Eglwysbach, reminds me of the case of Conservative Councillor Steve Wolfe, he moved to London and was reported to have kept claiming his allowance even though he never attended a meeting for over 6 months. It was also reported that he never returned his Council owned lap-top computer, perhaps only a few hundred pounds but, after all, our few hundred pounds.
Steve Wolfe was well reported in the local papers for his absence with fellow Councillors demanding his resignation and return of lap-top, which, I seem to recall, he never had. The papers actually covered this story for quite a few weeks causing a large percentage of embarrassment for the Council. So, one wonders, will they have learnt their lessons about Councillors who move well away from the area or are we going have another episode like the Wolfe one? As a lay-man one would expect a Councillor who moves away to be sacked, in reality that cannot happen, she must resign. So will she do the honourable thing or, as is expected, keep drawing her allowance and attend on the odd meeting or two to stop the Council forcing her to resign; she has her snout in our trough, why should she take it out, after all; think of the mileage allowance.

UKIP MEETING

Last night, Tuesday, I attended, by invitation, a UKIP meeting........................................
That’s it; I cannot tell you anything about the actual meeting because I was thrown out!
I attended the meeting in Old Colwyn and at the start attendees introduce themselves, I did, as the others and gave my name but then their Political Officer asked “Ex-Councillor John Oddy, ex-BNP Councillor?” I replied, quite honestly “ I sit as an Independent Councillor and yes I am ex-BNP, I resigned from the BNP prior to taking my seat on the Council”.
Their Political Officer then informed the meeting that their NEC had indicated that no BNP members or ex-members were allowed to attend their meetings and that I would have to leave; he then continued to describe the BNP as an odious and racist party and that I had been a major factor in it, he described my writings on here as “Racist ranting”, using his fingers to count with he reeled of a list of known BNP activists who, in the past, had committed crimes and then, mistakenly, linked me to them saying that in my position as NW Wales Organiser I must have associated with them. He continued by saying that the members should read what I write to establish for themselves what a racist I am.
The Chairman said that following the PO’s comment he had no alternative than to follow the NEC directive although because it had been a personal attack on my character he gave me the right of reply; I went through the normal denials of knowing the people he had mentioned, explained that to question open-door immigration was not racism but realism, yes I did and do believe that Islam is a dangerous and archaic religion that presents a threat to our stability, I am a firm believer in the return of the death-penalty, corporal punishment and national service. I concluded by asking had I been an ex-Labour or Conservative member would I have received the same welcome?.
Now to be fair to the UKIP members the majority of them wanted me to stay, there were comments such as “No wonder UKIP never gets anywhere”, “We have a UKIP Councillor in mid-Wales who crossed the floor from the BNP” and one that I had to answer “We want to vote to allow him to stay”, I explained that if it was a NEC directive then the Chairman had no other option than to ask me to leave. The last question was aimed at the PO “Show us where this directive is or tell us what it says” the PO could not answer that and, for once, only mumbled a reply.
As I put my coat on to leave apologies were sent my way and a comment of “How undemocratic” floated across, as I walked out nods and sympathetic smiles followed me, I liked the UKIP members, they were honest, down to earth people. Their PO, however, is a different kettle of fish, I believe he has a deep-rooted hatred of the BNP, his brother, apparently, is a member of the West Wales BNP, only he knows if there is a UKIP NEC directive, only he knows if this was personal, I certainly believe it was, and only he knows whether his attitude was wrong, personal feelings should not stand in the way of a party’s progress. With people like him holding office within UKIP one has to have serious doubts about the party’s future in Wales, truthfully I hope not because UKIP have the ability to be a major challenger to the mainstream parties.