THE SHAME CONTINUES

Councillor Chris Hughes once branded me short sighted over my proposals to regenerate the Town centre and claimed that the Council had “An exciting development planned for the old indoor market” when questioned about it he told us he would not tell us because it was “Commercially sensitive”. It was his smug, superior attitude in the way he delivered that comment that made me want to find out more, so, basically, I have him to thank for leading me on to the road of discovery over Council misdemeanours. The latest post on him brought a good response, a lot of which even I didn’t dare publish! It also brought to me a copy of a letter sent to him by Pat Jackson, Secretary of Friends of the Pier Society (copy below). In it she asks Councillor Hughes to confirm his position in regards to his Chairmanship of the Society, note the date, 7th October, she has still not received a reply.
The Pier is in dispute with the Council; Chris Hughes is a prominent member of that Council and yet still refuses to resign as Chairman of the Friends Society. If Chris Hughes himself cannot see the CONFLICT OF INTEREST is there anyone else on the Council who can? Surely if the Council wish to retain any credibility at all over the sorrowful issue of the Pier then someone on it must pull Councillor Hughes to one side and say “Okay Chris, you’ve damaged them enough, people are now starting to notice we are playing dirty, time to call it a day”
The more I look at this case the more I believe Steve Hunt’s claims that he was “fit-up” and the more the Council allow Councillor Hughes to “blunder” around the more people that will agree with me, it is no longer disgraceful; it is shamefully disgraceful.


Cllr Chris Hughes
Conwy County Borough Council
Bodlondeb
CONWAY
LL32 8DU 7th October 2009

Dear Councillor Hughes

Re Friends of Victoria Pier, Colwyn Bay

I refer to your e-mail of the 7th May 2009 when you stated, as Chairman of the Friends of the Pier, that you would arrange something i.e an AGM of the Friends within the next two weeks. There has not been an AGM for the past three years.

Previous to that when a meeting of the Friends was called by others you attended and branded the meeting as unconstitutional and refused to stand down as Chairman. You then informed me that it was the Chairman’s duty to call AGMs.

The point of this letter is that it appears from your Register of Members Interests at the Council, that you do not list any interest in ‘Friends of the Pier’. I do not appear to have had any official resignation letter from you.

Please, therefore, would you please explain by return of post your position with regard to the ‘Friends of the Pier.’

Yours sincerely


Pat Jackson
Secretary and Treasurer
Friends of the Pier.

OSCAR'S IDENTITY FINALLY REVEALED

http://llandudno-and-colwyn-local.blogspot.com/2009/11/twinkle-twinkle.html

OSCAR, CLLR HUGHES AND THE CONSERVATIVES

After an article appeared on Thoughts of Oscar today...
http://thoughtsofoscar.blogspot.com/search/label/Cllr%20Chris%20Hughes

... in which he criticises Councillor Chris Hughes for his comments one has to wonder if Councillor Hughes will actually name the Council Officer who made the comment he referred to, or is it, once again, more Labour spin and deceit? The local Conservatives have remained remarkably quiet about it, perhaps, like me they missed the original article..... http://www.northwalesweeklynews.co.uk/conwy-county-news/local-conwy-news/2009/11/19/huge-cuts-planned-at-conwy-council-55243-25200572/

When Councillors make such claims they should, at least, be able to substantiate them; which, once again, begs the question why haven’t the Conservatives been demanding answers from Councillor Hughes, are they scared of taking on the might of Councillor Hughes or was he speaking the truth? If the Conservatives wish to hide behind a wall of silence then so be it but if Councillor Hughes was using deceit then, surely, this would be the ideal opportunity for the Conservatives to gain Brownie points with the electorate, they must question his comments or appear weak and powerless.
If they need ammunition to fire at Councillor Hughes they could also ask him why he remains as Chairman of The Friends of the Pier Society; having not called a meeting in over three and a half years and closed down the meeting called by the membership to remove him. Even I can give them that information and the society’s Secretary’s details for confirmation.

Not long ago Oscar was thinking of calling it a day and packing-in blogging, what I think he failed to realise was just how much information he puts into the public domain that would otherwise remain unheard of or commented on. His blog is a mine of information that anyone of us can tap into; his decision to continue, undoubtedly, caused a few Councillors to groan out aloud, after this I think Councillor Hughes might be one of them.

TAKE AWAYS

There is something fundamentally wrong with the mindset of our County Council when it comes to what is good and what is bad for Colwyn Bay.
A recent decision was made to allow a change of use at 19, Abergele Road, from a retail outlet to a Kebab and Pizza take away; this is despite there being two other Kebab and Pizza take away premises within 100 yards of it. We have, I am reliably informed, already got 19 take away establishments between East and West End, nearly double what Llandudno has. By allowing such an application not only are the Council putting extra strain on existing take away businesses but they are turning us into the “Take away Capital” of North Wales.
Take away owners are, obviously, up in arms about this decision; they were advised to form a petition when news of the application reached them, which they did, stating that a new take away would be bad for their business, this alone is not a legitimate reason for complaint, they, along with every other member of the public, would have been far better writing individual letters of objection to the Case Officer, they were badly advised.
Once the decision is reached by the Case Officer there are no grounds for appeal, their only option is to take it to the High Court and who, in these economic times, can afford to do that.
Here, in Colwyn Bay, we are fast becoming a collection of Charity Shops, get rich quick seasonal shops, £ shops and now take aways; there appears to be no thought, on the part of the Council, for other businesses or the people who live here. This all falls nicely into place when you consider the Council would like to see the town become an Administration Centre, the less attractive it becomes as a tourist or shopping destination, the less complaints the Council will have to their proposals.
I have to question myself and wonder if I am the only one who sees it this way, am I, perhaps, paranoid, or would the Council stoop to such levels to achieve their goals; I think we may only have to wait a short time to find out the answer.

OMBUDSMAN COMPLAINT RE: DOUGLAS ROAD

Below is a copy of the covering letter I have sent, along with my complaint to the Ombudsman for Wales, I honestly believe that the Council should not investigate its own misdemeanours, that is akin to you or I appearing in Court and finding ourselves innocent!



On the 12th of October 2009 Mr A. Jones, a local buyer, put in an offer to Stirling Estate Agents, of £65,000 to purchase 10, Douglas Road Colwyn Bay.
On the 13th of October 2009 Rob Dix a CCBC Officer and member of the Regeneration Board working under Bethan Jones Deputy CE of CCBC, submitted, under a schedule 12a LGA (attached) a proposal to the Council Cabinet to purchase 10, Douglas Road, stating there was a “tight timetable”.
On or around the 15th October 2009 Gareth Peters, Principle Property Manager CCBC, put in an offer of £119,000 to Stirling Estate agents to buy 10 Douglas Road.
Mr Jones was informed of this offer and contacted CCBC to tell them that he had had a valuation done on the property and it had been £70,000. After negotiations Mr Jones upped his offer, he was then told that if he withdrew from the negotiations and remained silent about the deal and CCBC were successful in their purchase he would receive £1,000 as a “consultant’s fee” Mr Jones had already employed a solicitor and surveyor and was already out of pocket so refused to withdraw. Offers went to sealed bids and Mr Jones was informed his offer of £82,001 had no been successful. (Email attached)
I draw the Ombudsman’s attention to the fact that Rob Dix would have had to have permission from Bethan Jones, his superior, to make such a proposal to the Cabinet, I suggest the Cabinet, because of the Schedule 12a, were informed a private buyer had already made an offer on the property and so were party to what was to follow. Gareth Peters was the negotiator and was the one who made the offer to Mr Jones but I surmise he colluded with his superiors before doing so.
I wrote to Byron Davies CE CCBC urging for an Independent Enquiry as this incident was all over the local papers and that in the interests of the public and the Councils credibility this should be as open and transparent as possible. On the 21st of October 2009 I received a reply from Mr Davies stating that the Enquiry was to be an internal one. My fear of this is that those truly responsible for this appalling incident will not be investigated and, if they are, the results will not be published. This enquiry is about CCBC investigating itself, there can be no justification in this as they will, undoubtedly, find themselves innocent or use Mr Peters as a scapegoat. For that reason alone I believe the Ombudsman should investigate this case.

John Oddy



Within the comments are emails sent to me from and reply to the Ombudsman in which they say my name will be passed to those concerned. Unlike the Council I am open about what I do and am not scared of them knowing their accuser.

YOU HAVE TO LAUGH

DOES THE BOX CARRY THE FOLLOWING WARNING....


"Barbie in a Burkha must not come into contact with Action Man due to possibility of stoning!"


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1229760/Its-Barbie-burka-World-famous-doll-gets-makeover-hammer-50th-anniversary.html

AT LAST........... A DECISION.........NO!

North Wales UKIP has finally responded to my request to attend one of their meetings with a refusal.
Here is a section of that response...



Mr Oddy
There was little enthusiasm for a December meeting at our last meeting, the next will be in January 2010.
You request to attend the next monthly meeting of the North Wales branch was put to the UKIP Wales commitee at its meeting in November.
The unanimous decision was that as a former prominent member of the BNP you should not be allowed to attend.
Your request was further discussed at the North Wales branch meeting three days later with the decision being reached that you should not be invited to attend our meetings and that the result of any application that you may make to join UKIP be awaited. I am therefor unable to extend an invitation to you for you to attend.
Several members made the point that most if not all of us had joined UKIP without ever having attended a branch meeting.


I am not angry at their refusal, slightly bemused and bewildered but not angry. They are worried that I may be a BNP infiltrator, but I could only be that after joining the Party and not by attending one meeting. I could understand close scrutiny if I joined them but what harm could be done at a branch meeting?
I am now left to decide whether to join them or not; it has given me a reminder of how petty political parties can be, we only have to look at our local Conservatives to see that. As an Independent I can do and vote as I please, in a Party I have to toe a line and I don’t know if I could do that.
I do feel sorry for the local members of UKIP if this type of dallying is common practice, good leadership and decision making is crucial to the success of any branch and I don’t think we’ve seen either in this decision.
I have stated I believe UKIP can be a good challenger to the mainstream parties but I think I have gained more information about them through this episode than I would have through attending a meeting; They are weak on decisiveness, still at the Church Hall level in regards to meetings and not pushing themselves on publicity. When it comes to politics you have to be decisive, members and votes can be lost if you are not. Credibility as a Party is fundamental and by meeting in church halls you give the impression more of a local action group rather than that of a political party, the Town Hall hires out the Committee Room and the main Chamber, get in there and show people you have arrived. By now every home in the area should have had a UKIP leaflet, every Saturday the market should be full of activist handing out leaflets and talking to the people and instead of me going to UKIP to find out about them they should be coming to us, you cannot win votes by sitting on your arse and talking about it to the already converted. Perhaps, in a funny way, they may have done me a favour in their refusal.

WHY ARE THEY SCARED OF TRANSPARENCY

To-day (Saturday) I received a reply to my letter sent to the Chief Executive, Byron Davies, in it he has confirmed that the Enquiry into the gazumping of 10, Douglas Road and the subsequent “Hush money” (Consultants fee) offered to Mr Jones, the original buyer, is being dealt with in the form of an Internal Enquiry.
This means that whatever the outcome of such an Enquiry you, the public, will never be informed of it, the Council can deliberate on it, discuss the details of it and come to a conclusion on it and we will not be told any of it. This, to me, is totally wrong; we have a right to know what the people, whose wages we pay, are doing.
Let me remind you of one section of my letter to Mr Davies....
“In the interests of the public and the Council’s integrity this enquiry should be totally open and transparent without the stigma of any cover-up being attached to it.”
This Enquiry now calls into question the Council’s integrity, what is it that they are scared of us knowing and how far up the Council tree does this climb, remember I called into question the actions of the Cabinet in all of this; are they going to enquire into their own actions and find themselves innocent? What is it about Openness and Transparency that our Council fear? There are so many question and not enough answers.
I’m afraid I, for one, cannot accept this, I have spoken to Mr Jones about the letter, he is the ultimate loser along with his disabled son who the house was being bought for, he is in agreement with me and I shall now be forwarding this complaint about CCBC staff and Cabinet members to the Local Authority Ombudsman, if nothing else we will then see the results of the Enquiry.

FERTILE UKIP?

I have been corresponding with some UKIP members and am quite surprised at how inactive they are in this area, which really is fertile ground for them.
Labour have shown themselves to be the traitors we always knew they were, they have ruined whatever they have touched, just like our Labour led Council, they have lied to and deceived the working classes and sold us all down the river. Their chances of re-election, like their candidates, are a non-starter.
Cameron’s u turn on the EU has shown us what to expect from the Conservatives; broken promises and another Labour Government but dressed in blue.
The Lib/Dems themselves do not even know what they want so the rest of us have no chance of knowing, they are weak and leaderless, pro political correctness and a bunch of socialist do-gooders to all the wrong people.
So, out of all the minority parties, there is not much other choice. UKIP have strengthened up their policies, they are now much tougher on immigration and, of course, they want out of the EU. I realise that is not good for you poor misguided pro EUers but even you must now be wondering what the hell we have let ourselves into.
With some real effort UKIP could collect all those disenchanted Labour and Conservative voters, the Lib/Dem voters will remain confused until polling day and still be confused after that, the mainstream parties have shown themselves to be the liars, cheats and thieves that they really are so it is now time for something different, the only real option is UKIP.

A MINUTE OF YOUR TIME

As you will know and as the Weekly News reported I get a lot of information from the Council’s own web-site, dates and agenda of meetings, what is to be exempt and usually why. One also gets a lot of information from the minutes of a meeting, which is why I trawl through them; I have now noticed that the minutes of meetings are now extremely slow in being published. Such things as the Cabinet and the Planning Committee are on the ball; they have to be because they contain things that the public will be looking for. If we start to search further we find it is completely different; there are two Cabinet Sub Committees; Anti Social Behaviour and Council Tax Hardship Relief; according to the agendas and minutes these Committees have never met, they have a full compliment of Councillors who, I presume, are being paid extra for being on these Committees (I’m sure someone will correct me if I am wrong) yet they have done nothing.
Back to the minutes of meetings;
The Constitution and Maladministration Review Committee last printed its minutes on the 11th May
The Cabinet Sub-Committee on Office Accommodation, last printed its minutes on 25th August
The Cabinet Sub-Committee Personnel, last printed its minutes on 29th June
The Standards Committee, last printed its minutes on7th September
The Audit Committee, last printed its minutes on 28th September

These are just a few, but by no means exceptions, to the many committees and sub-committees that our Council has.
One has to wonder why our Council find it so hard to publish the minutes of its meetings, 5 months in one case, do they not want us to know what’s going on?, do they have anything to hide? Or could it simply be that the secretary forgot to put them up?; will we ever know?

BRAVE? NO, CONCERNED: YES.

Today, on “Thoughts of Oscar”, Oscar highlights three Councillors as being brave, Jason Weyman, Bob Squires and me, an accolade in itself coming from Oscar. The real truth, however, is that there are a lot of good and, indeed, brave Councillors it is only a minority who are not, it is this minority who, for whatever reason, bring down the others. There are those on the Council who influence other Councillors for different reasons be it political, private or an unknown agenda.
The vast difference between a Town or Community Council and those on the County Council is, of course, the pay; Town and Community Councillors are unpaid and most of them do what they do because they actually care about the people and area in which they live. County Councillors, on the other hand, are well paid for what they do, or, in some cases, do not do.
We are very often critical of our Council and I admit to being one of the worst offenders when it comes to that and I shall continue to be so as long as the County Council remains as secretive and deceitful as it is being.
I believe it is part of the duties of a Town or Community Councillor to challenge the actions and decisions of the County Council if they are detrimental to the people and communities. This is extremely difficult to do when you have County Councillors sitting on these lower Councils, they can influence the debate or outcome of a vote. This dual representation is very dangerous as it stifles the democratic process; the County Councillors may well have voted in favour of the very proposal we are arguing about, for example the pier, offices or regeneration projects. At County level they have already made their decisions so by influencing members of the lower councils their proposals are pushed through unquestioned. To me this is totally wrong and I think dual representation should be ended, this would allow the lower councils to argue with the County unimpeded.
Without the input of the County Councillors I’m sure that more arguments would be raised from the lower councils and that more Councillors would be vocal; it is not a question therefore of being brave it is more a point of being heard, so many Councillors do good things quietly yet other Councillors use the same stealth to hide their secret agenda.

OFFICES OR TRAM SYSTEM

Conwy County Borough Council and some of it’s more clever Councillors believe that Colwyn Bay is finished as a tourist town; in their eyes they see fit to take advantage of the downturn by turning the Town into an Administration Centre. Using the Regeneration Grant to feather the Council’s nest is such an easy way out; but what about the people of Colwyn Bay?, what about the businesses and what about the future?.
With a little bit of thought and some practical ideas Colwyn Bay can be put back on the map. If we used the Regeneration Grant, in association with other grants and private funding that is available and waiting, we could implement the proposal to run a Tram System from Old Colwyn all the way through to Llandudno and beyond. There are now enough influential parties who agree with me and have expressed their interest in the project that it concerns me why the Regeneration Board are not amongst them. If people like David Jones MP, Arriva Buses and Trains, Mostyn Estates, Colwyn Bay Civic Society and a host of other individuals are keen on this idea why, in heavens name, aren’t the Council and the Regeneration Board?.
Of course we would have to regenerate the Town itself, I put that in under a different proposal, the Town would need an attraction such as a week-end market and we have all the activities with watersports and jet-skiers, join them all together and we will have a thriving town again. The Tram System will not only be a Tourist Magnet in itself it will ferry them up and down between here and Llandudno, a saviour for both places.
We have to stop CCBC and it’s inept County Councillors from selling Colwyn Bay down the river, they need to look at this Tram System with new eyes, their old and antiquated ways of doing things are in the past, we have to look to the future and that includes sustainable modes of transport that are emission free, cheap to run and environmentally friendly.
The Council and Councillors, for once, need to look at what is best for the people and not for themselves.

CONSERVATIVE SHAME

I believe what happened to Councillor Hazel Meredith was an absolute mockery; suspended from the local Conservative Party because she wouldn’t vote for their candidate in a Town Council co-option. The Conservative Party, by their actions, are trying to force the opinions of the “elite” few onto the majority and this is their way of saying “Do as we say or else!” The fact that the person she voted for was another Conservative seems to be irrelevant, her choice of the two candidates has been in the Conservative Party for over 30 years and had previously been a Councillor, and the Party’s choice was an unknown entity apart from the fact that she was Margaret Lyons daughter in-law and Colin Lyons wife. IT STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN.
The shameful thing is I do not think the Conservatives have finished yet; they desperately need to get Margaret Lyons out of Llandudno, she stands no chance of re-election there and, as I said previously in another post, she will stand in the safe seat of Rhos; unless Merfyn Thomas retires then the Conservatives have only two choices; They can stand four candidates and hope to oust Phi Edwards or de-select a candidate. The two that could be in line for this is Dave Roberts or Roger Parry. Both are long term Party members so who is it going to be, my money would be on Dave Roberts, he’s the type that would stand-up to the “elite” so they will want rid of him, it lowers the argument against them.
Unfortunately this is the level the local Conservatives have stooped to; it is gutter politics and has no right, at any level, never mind Local Government level, the interests of Councillors should be on the people, not playing politics with their interests.


TUESDAY 17th
This morning I received a phone call informing me of a few inaccuracies in regards to this post; Merfyn Thomas called to correct my mistakes and told me that Hazel was not suspended she was expelled from the Party, she was not expelled for not voting for Lyn Lyon but because she exceeded her authority in that she informed people she had the authority to select candidates.
Cllr Thomas also said that he would probably be retiring at the next election, he is unaware of where Margaret Lyon will be standing but other than a few personal comments I made about him this post is factually correct. Those personal comments I have removed at his request.
The fact that Cllr Thomas phoned me speaks volumes for his integrity, he accepts criticism when it is due but wants the facts to be correct, I hope, in adding this, I have complied with his wishes.

INDEPENDENT ENQUIRY OR NOT?

Having had little or no response from my complaint regarding the Council’s actions and involvement in the property in Douglas Road, I have sent the following letter to the Chief Executive, who cannot talk to me about the incident because an enquiry is ongoing, I believe this to be an Internal Enquiry of which the public will not be privy to the outcome of.
You will see I have urged for an Independent Enquiry; I believe the public have a right to know who was behind this incident and the lead-up to it.


Cllr John Oddy,
4, Dundonald Road,
Colwyn Bay,
Conwy LL29 7RW
01492 531511
12.11.09.

RE: 10, DOUGLAS ROAD
Dear Mr Davies,
I was informed by your secretary that you would contact me on your return from leave; I have serious concerns regarding the Council’s involvement in the above named property.
When it was brought to my attention by the original buyer, Mr Jones, I referred the matter to Cllr G. Jones, Chairman of the Council, he has since written to me informing me that an enquiry has been started.
My questions to you are;
1. Is this an Internal Enquiry
2. Is it an Independent Enquiry
My belief is that this matter includes Bethan Jones, Rob Dix, the Cabinet and Gareth Peters; in light of that I strongly urge that an Independent Enquiry is held.
In the interests of the public and the Council’s integrity this enquiry should be totally open and transparent without the stigma of any cover-up being attached to it.
I am withholding my complaint to the Local Authority Ombudsman until I receive your assurances in regards to this Enquiry.
Yours Sincerely.


JOHN ODDY

HAD ANY GOOD IDEAS RECENTLY

The ideas to regenerate Old Colwyn are great, so too is the proposal to involve the people it will affect, Councillor Brian Cossey is excited about it and so he should be, it is only a shame then that when the exact same regeneration was proposed for Colwyn Bay the Town Council rejected it......
http://voicesofcolwynbay.blogspot.com/2009/04/regeneration-not-political-gain.html

HOW CAN WE GET RID OF COLWYN BAY'S SHOPPERS

With everything that is happening in Colwyn Bay it makes one wonder what the next great Council backed scheme will be to attract shoppers into the Town. A good idea is the free parking leading up to Christmas but surely with the good must come some bad; how can you stop Colwyn Bay from being prosperous?
Someone, somewhere will come-up with a harebrained idea, you never know, the Council may even decide to sell back their concessionary car parking spaces at the Bay View Shopping Centre which would then allow the Centre owners to start charging shoppers to park their cars whilst using their facilities..........No?............nobody is that stupid............are they?

THE DANGER WITHIN (NOT GORDON BROWN)

I was against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, I believe we only entered because we were the lap-dog of the Americans, now we are there I have to agree with Gordon Brown that we should stay BUT there should be equal input from our allies. Apart from us and the Americans every other nation has a date for withdrawal, you cannot put a date on a state of safety, you have to continue until the enemy is dead or captured. When we eventually do pull-out we must leave behind us a safer, more stable Country, free from terror and corruption.
Continued training and mentoring of the Afghan Army and Police is, obviously, dangerous but necessary; we must ensure that once we do leave they are capable of defending themselves and policing the country, allowing the Taliban to take control is not an option.
The sad recent events of the Policeman murdering our troops and today, in America, the Army Major who killed 13 and wounded many more is a stark reminder of the enemy we are fighting. To quote a relative of the Army Major; “He was a devout Muslim but not an extremist”. The terrorists we are defending against are not from the foothills of Afghanistan or the valleys of Pakistan they are home-grown, from within our own borders or being trained and taught by us. The tube and bus bombers, the attack on Glasgow Airport and the conspiracy to blow our airliners out of the skies were all English Muslims.
I realise I run the risk of being called a racist for raising these points but, eventually, someone has to, I have never denied my dislike of Islam, an archaic and dangerous religion, but we have to raise ourselves above the smokescreen of political correctness and face the facts, the tighter we embrace this religion the more damage it does to us. The incident of the Army Major proves that it is only a short step from being “devout” to “extremist” we, as a nation, have to learn this and be as wary of the way we appease the Islamic religion, especially, within our own shores.

THE FACTS DO NOT ALWAYS MATTER

Last nights Policy and Finance meeting was the busiest I have know since joining the Council; I believe most of them (non-members of the P&F Committee) were there to witness or take part in the public flogging that was to follow.
I had raised the issue that the County Council had made moves to purchase properties in Colwyn Bay prior to the promised Public Consultation given to the Town Council by Bethan Jones and I wanted an explanation as to why that promise had been broken.
Getting information out of the County Council or its Councillors is akin to getting blood out of a stone, so with no information forthcoming I publicised the FACTS that I had, the County Council were making moves to secretly buy properties in the Town. Consequently, it turned out, they also gazumped and tried to silence a local buyer, Mr Arthur Jones, these FACTS were also published. Nothing I have published or made available is not already in the public domain, one only as to search the Council’s own web-site to find the information. In the case of Mr Jones he approached me after getting no satisfaction from his County Councillor in relation to what had happened to him.
At last nights meeting I was accused of stating falsehoods because some of my claims have not yet been agreed by the Cabinet, they have not yet decided (the Cabinet) that they will build their offices on the old indoor market or that there will be accommodation for 600 staff, these are just suggestions that the Council have spent thousands of pounds on researching but, when I asked for guarantees that this wouldn’t happen, none could be given. An accusation that I was still a BNP member was hurled at me, my previous political affiliations has got nothing to do with this issue and should never have been raised. I will accept one remark that was made about me; yes I am a “Maverick” but rather that than a sheep. The suggestion that I was wrong for going outside of the Council with my revelations was the main theme of the debate but if the County Council were open and honest with the public then I wouldn’t have to.
The FACT that a full enquiry as been started into the actions of the County Council because of what I published seemed to be of little consequence. The FACT that the County Council had entered into secretly purchasing properties was of no concern. The FACT that Mr Jones had been gazumped and offered money was of no importance. The only real concern was that I had behaved inappropriately in getting the truth out, it was no more than I had I had expected, as a very good Councillor said to me the other day “Whistle-blowing and telling the truth, you will never prosper”.

BOTTLED IT.

Now that David Cameron has lost his bottle on an EU Referendum one has to wonder how that will affect his chances of winning the next election. Thousands of voters, me included, were looking at the Conservatives as the only real hope of voicing our concerns regarding our continued membership of the hateful EU. It would have been the only reason I would have voted for them, other than that they are the same as Labour or the Lib/dems. The only real alternative now is the protest vote and that must surely go to either the BNP or UKIP, the only two anti-EU parties, but this split may well damage the Conservative vote sufficiently enough to give Labour a fighting chance.
I do not hide the fact that I am anti-EU, there are thousands like me and they are growing daily. Europe’s intrusion into our daily lives is, without doubt, costing us millions of pounds, £46 million a day to be exact, and the enforced restrictions put upon us is killing our farming and fishing industries. I only hope this Conservative U turn does not allow this Country to be driven back into a new term of Labour lies and sleaze.

WASTE OF TIME.

I know I am not the only Blogger experiencing it, just recently there as been more unwanted and unwarranted comments that I have had to “reject” than usual. I still have my Jewish Conspiracy theorist who haunts the comments board but now there appears to be unsubstantiated attacks on past and present Bloggers and people from the area. Apparently, although I have not seen it, a new blog was set-up purely for that purpose, it as now been removed, I think. I have made a comment on the Council Chamber.....
http://www.thecouncilchamber.blogspot.com/
... in regards to these personal attacks, which I regard as puerile. Even Oscar....
http://thoughtsofoscar.blogspot.com/
.... has had to remove comments sent into him.
All I can say to whoever it is that is sending in these comments is; Don’t bother, I do not believe them and, even if I did, I would not post them. If this is some sort of attempt to set one blog off against another then you have failed miserably and comments in regards to Craig Ollerton will not be published either.

BIRTHDAYS

Birthdays are greatly over-rated and once past 21 should be banned; imagine not having to remember everyone’s birthday or the feeling of guilt when you realise you forgot someone’s or that frantic, frail excuse you give when you have to phone to apologise for your forgetfulness.
Banning them would give us all the excuse for not knowing how old we are or whether we are wearing well or not, a state of agelessness; how tranquil. Instead we are reminded yearly that we are yet another year closer to the knacker’s yard, the mantelpiece strewn with cards, some, even, attempting to inject humour into the occasion, rather sad really.
The only people to benefit from birthdays are the shops that sell cards and those that sell socks and slippers, complete waste of time, banning them is not quite strong enough; they should be dragged out, kicking and screaming, and put on the bonfire. I’m sure there are those that disagree with the idea but we live in a democracy and I am entitled to my opinion.