Lets have a look at the attendance of councillors for their 1st 6 months in office. We have tried to break this down into easy blocks with best 1st and then on a downward spiral.
Please bear in mind that some of the members are only on 1 or 2 committees or none at all and just turn up for the Assembly or not as the mood takes them.
100% - 90%
Alasia (91%), Channer (100%), Clee (100%), Geddes (100%), IS Jamu (95%), Ramsay (100%), Rodwell (93%), Salam (94%), Smith (92%), Twomey (93%), Vincent (93%), Worby (92%).
80% - 90%
Ashraf (81%), Burgon (82%), R Gill (83%), AS Jamu (81%), Keller (84%), Letchford (86%), McKenzie (83%) Poulton (80%), Reason (87%), C Rice (88%) L Rice (87%), Wade (83%), P Waker (81%), White (82%)
We would suggest a cut off line here for the middle, all those in this block should be questioning themselves.
70% - 80%
Butt (76%), Carpenter (70%), Douglas (79%), N Gill (75%), Hunt (71%) Hussain (73%), Kangethe (71%), McCarthy (78%), McDermott (77%), Miles (79%), Mullane (76%), Perry (77%), Rai (75%), Saeed (75%), Tarry (79%).
60% - 70%
Collins (62%), Davis (60%), Ogungbose (67%), L Waker (67%).
50% - 60%
Alexander (53%).
We would suggest that the next 2 bands are coming close to taking the p....s
40% - 50%
Aziz (46%).
30% - 40%
Obasohan (38%).
This last band is taking the p.....s
20% - 30%
Baldwin (22%), Barratt (25%), Couling (29%)
So there it is in Black white and red, not very good reading is it????
Over the next couple of days we will be putting together a post on their Register of Interests, and Hospitality's, some glaring discrepancies there.
Monday, 6 December 2010
Friday, 3 December 2010
A VERY EARLY PANTO IN THE BOROUGH
On Wednesday evening quite a few of us turned up to view what we thought was going to be a Safer Stronger Select committee meeting, which according to the Agenda would be debating the options for cuts that came under its remit.
We very soon learned that we were to be entertained by a one off performance of "The Emperors New Clothes". With of course the Lead Member Rodwell in the starring role of Emperor.
No sooner had the Lead Member been informed by officers that it was 6.0pm and time to start he stated that he had a bus load of family and friends on their way who he had 'sold' tickets to, about 40 of them we were told, so we had to wait for them to arrive.
Very embarrassing for officers and Senior Members, but then this would not be the first time that night they would suffer embarrassment.
Well the scene was set and the Emperor opened the show, now we have been made aware that in the report on Options ALL members of the select committee would have been aware of which options the Cabinet were NOT supporting.
Now bearing this in mind, we do ask why? the Emperor made such a drama over Libraries, knowing full well that the Cabinet would NOT support closure of any of the 5 suggested. Is it as we would suggest that the Emperor is tilting at windmills and wanted his audience to recognise that he would save their libraries all by himself?
Why we ask did the Emperor force a vote on each of the options? so totally not within the remit of a select committee, does he not understand that a Select committee is NOT a decision making body? or was he just trying to further embarrass members in front of the public?
The next very amusing scene of this very lack lustre panto was the to do over Community Halls, the Emperor had already been informed by a Senior Cabinet Member that the Community Associations were all supportive of the proposals that they take over the running of the Halls, but, no the Emperor was not having any of this, he obviously was not prepared to listen to the community, he wants things to stay as they are, and even to increase funding to the halls. Now Baron Von Letchford who we all know is very fashion minded was not going to be out done by his Emperors new outfit.
There was a very heated and should we say foul language tirade between the 2 of them. You only had to look at the faces of Senior Officers and Members while this was going on to realize that they had both overstepped the mark, their conduct was appalling, and we wait to see if the Standards Board and the Labour Group deal with this as they should.
Oh what next Goresbrook Leisure Centre, it has been judged by professional engineers to be coming to the end of its life and recommended for closure in 2013, but, again the Emperor was having none of this.
So........we the council tax payers would ask the Emperor just where he proposes to put the cuts? So that he can keep his little pets in place. Are we going to see less streets being cleaned, are we going over to fortnightly rubbish collection? are more front line staff who deliver the services going to loose their jobs?
On looking through the list of members of this committee we reckon only 5 of them actually pay council tax. 1 of them we know has 3 wage packets from public money, another has 2.
They are not going to feel the pain, certainly not if this panto is anything to go by. Its about time the players in this little farce and certainly the Emperor woke up to the fact that they are there to represent the best interest of the residents in this borough, not their own little pet projects.
The Broadway Theatre is supposed to be able to fund itself with just a little help from the council, what about those residents in the borough who do not have a community hall in their ward? why should they pay for something they cannot access.
The consensus of opinion from residents is they want their streets clean, they want weekly rubbish collections and they want to feel safe. The fluffy bits are ok when you have the money, but in times like these you must give the bread and butter services that the council tax payers are paying for.
So at the end of what was an embarrassing Panto for officers and public alike, the Emperor slew NO Dragons and we could all see his blue and white boxer shorts.
We very soon learned that we were to be entertained by a one off performance of "The Emperors New Clothes". With of course the Lead Member Rodwell in the starring role of Emperor.
No sooner had the Lead Member been informed by officers that it was 6.0pm and time to start he stated that he had a bus load of family and friends on their way who he had 'sold' tickets to, about 40 of them we were told, so we had to wait for them to arrive.
Very embarrassing for officers and Senior Members, but then this would not be the first time that night they would suffer embarrassment.
Well the scene was set and the Emperor opened the show, now we have been made aware that in the report on Options ALL members of the select committee would have been aware of which options the Cabinet were NOT supporting.
Now bearing this in mind, we do ask why? the Emperor made such a drama over Libraries, knowing full well that the Cabinet would NOT support closure of any of the 5 suggested. Is it as we would suggest that the Emperor is tilting at windmills and wanted his audience to recognise that he would save their libraries all by himself?
Why we ask did the Emperor force a vote on each of the options? so totally not within the remit of a select committee, does he not understand that a Select committee is NOT a decision making body? or was he just trying to further embarrass members in front of the public?
The next very amusing scene of this very lack lustre panto was the to do over Community Halls, the Emperor had already been informed by a Senior Cabinet Member that the Community Associations were all supportive of the proposals that they take over the running of the Halls, but, no the Emperor was not having any of this, he obviously was not prepared to listen to the community, he wants things to stay as they are, and even to increase funding to the halls. Now Baron Von Letchford who we all know is very fashion minded was not going to be out done by his Emperors new outfit.
There was a very heated and should we say foul language tirade between the 2 of them. You only had to look at the faces of Senior Officers and Members while this was going on to realize that they had both overstepped the mark, their conduct was appalling, and we wait to see if the Standards Board and the Labour Group deal with this as they should.
Oh what next Goresbrook Leisure Centre, it has been judged by professional engineers to be coming to the end of its life and recommended for closure in 2013, but, again the Emperor was having none of this.
So........we the council tax payers would ask the Emperor just where he proposes to put the cuts? So that he can keep his little pets in place. Are we going to see less streets being cleaned, are we going over to fortnightly rubbish collection? are more front line staff who deliver the services going to loose their jobs?
On looking through the list of members of this committee we reckon only 5 of them actually pay council tax. 1 of them we know has 3 wage packets from public money, another has 2.
They are not going to feel the pain, certainly not if this panto is anything to go by. Its about time the players in this little farce and certainly the Emperor woke up to the fact that they are there to represent the best interest of the residents in this borough, not their own little pet projects.
The Broadway Theatre is supposed to be able to fund itself with just a little help from the council, what about those residents in the borough who do not have a community hall in their ward? why should they pay for something they cannot access.
The consensus of opinion from residents is they want their streets clean, they want weekly rubbish collections and they want to feel safe. The fluffy bits are ok when you have the money, but in times like these you must give the bread and butter services that the council tax payers are paying for.
So at the end of what was an embarrassing Panto for officers and public alike, the Emperor slew NO Dragons and we could all see his blue and white boxer shorts.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
A TIME OF SACRIFICE
As anyone living in Barking & Dagenham, or outside with any interest and a computer can click on the councils website and after a little hunting can find in the agendas for the select/scrutiny committee meetings the Options for cuts.
This is because the council has to find some 48 million in cuts we read, in the reports and in the local press.
There is also on the agenda for the Executive the proposals for increase in charges.
None of these reports are making for easy reading, council staff will loose their jobs, services will be cut altogether or trimmed down.
We can fully appreciate that difficult times such as these call for difficult decisions, and we know that as well as the staff that will loose their jobs it is the residents of the borough who will feel the most pain of these cuts.
But, just what cuts are the elected members making? well we can always assume that the usual tea, coffee and biscuits for meetings will get cut, at least for the first 3 months and then quietly make their way back, but, what else? Nothing!!!!!!
Well lets have a look at one prominent member, he has his own business registered at Companies House, he works for a Registered Charity in the borough, his wages for this job come from public funds. He receives as all members do just over £10,000 per annum on top of this he receives a little over £3,000 as a Lead Member on a select committee, these monies come from public funds. He also receives £7,500 per annum as a non Exec member of the PCT again paid out of public funds.
So quite a nice little income really, just how much is he and the other 50 members of the council prepared to sacrifice to share the pain that the community they were elected to represent are going to feel?
How about the option that for the financial year April 2011 all 51 members offer up their basic £10,000 per annum?
This we are sure you will know makes a good saving of in excess of £510,000 quite a tidy sum, which could very well mean that some council staff do not loose their jobs.
And lets face it no councillor should depend on that £10,000 per annum, you never know when a by-election could be called.
So the question we pose to the members is are you up for the sacrifice?
This is because the council has to find some 48 million in cuts we read, in the reports and in the local press.
There is also on the agenda for the Executive the proposals for increase in charges.
None of these reports are making for easy reading, council staff will loose their jobs, services will be cut altogether or trimmed down.
We can fully appreciate that difficult times such as these call for difficult decisions, and we know that as well as the staff that will loose their jobs it is the residents of the borough who will feel the most pain of these cuts.
But, just what cuts are the elected members making? well we can always assume that the usual tea, coffee and biscuits for meetings will get cut, at least for the first 3 months and then quietly make their way back, but, what else? Nothing!!!!!!
Well lets have a look at one prominent member, he has his own business registered at Companies House, he works for a Registered Charity in the borough, his wages for this job come from public funds. He receives as all members do just over £10,000 per annum on top of this he receives a little over £3,000 as a Lead Member on a select committee, these monies come from public funds. He also receives £7,500 per annum as a non Exec member of the PCT again paid out of public funds.
So quite a nice little income really, just how much is he and the other 50 members of the council prepared to sacrifice to share the pain that the community they were elected to represent are going to feel?
How about the option that for the financial year April 2011 all 51 members offer up their basic £10,000 per annum?
This we are sure you will know makes a good saving of in excess of £510,000 quite a tidy sum, which could very well mean that some council staff do not loose their jobs.
And lets face it no councillor should depend on that £10,000 per annum, you never know when a by-election could be called.
So the question we pose to the members is are you up for the sacrifice?
Friday, 15 October 2010
OH DO GET A GRIP!!!!!
Many of those who are contacting us now are pointing us in the direction of Minutes of council meetings, especially those of Select committees which do sometimes make for very interesting reading.
Let us firstly offer some words of advice, at the beginning of any agenda there is an item asking members to declare any interest, it appears that many of the new members either do not know what this means or choose to ignore it, which if they carry on could cause them problems.
Recently the Safer and Communities select committee received a report consulting them on the proposed new way forward for Council Grants.........now any member who had taken the trouble to read the report beforehand, and of course had any common sense would have realized that working for a voluntary sector organization that is funded by the council should have declared an interest at the beginning of the meeting. Of course we were surprised to see there were no declarations of interest minuted. There should have been!!!!
Then we come to the discussion no doubt started by the Lead Member who wants to see more council grant funding go to Tenants and Residents Associations, (well we all know the reasons why that is).
Well lets air an argument we understand from our sources that has been going on for a long time with regard to funding for these "elite" groups. (a) they are funded from the Housing Revenue Account, therefore no resident who is not a council tenant should benefit from the funding given by the council to these groups, and they should in fact be only Tenants Associations. (b) and why,( if has been suggested that the funding for these groups comes from the General Fund) when cuts are going to come, probably to much needed council services, should the council tax payers money fund "elite" groups such as these.
We should all be thankful that in the Minutes of the Cabinet Meeting where these appalling suggestions were reported that the wise heads in the Cabinet NOTED the report. At least the council tax payers in Barking & Dagenham can take some comfort that the Cabinet Members will use their experience and good, sound judgement to kick the irresponsible suggestions put forward by certain self seeking members who FAIL to declare their interests into touch.
We will continue to monitor the progress in the Minutes.
Let us firstly offer some words of advice, at the beginning of any agenda there is an item asking members to declare any interest, it appears that many of the new members either do not know what this means or choose to ignore it, which if they carry on could cause them problems.
Recently the Safer and Communities select committee received a report consulting them on the proposed new way forward for Council Grants.........now any member who had taken the trouble to read the report beforehand, and of course had any common sense would have realized that working for a voluntary sector organization that is funded by the council should have declared an interest at the beginning of the meeting. Of course we were surprised to see there were no declarations of interest minuted. There should have been!!!!
Then we come to the discussion no doubt started by the Lead Member who wants to see more council grant funding go to Tenants and Residents Associations, (well we all know the reasons why that is).
Well lets air an argument we understand from our sources that has been going on for a long time with regard to funding for these "elite" groups. (a) they are funded from the Housing Revenue Account, therefore no resident who is not a council tenant should benefit from the funding given by the council to these groups, and they should in fact be only Tenants Associations. (b) and why,( if has been suggested that the funding for these groups comes from the General Fund) when cuts are going to come, probably to much needed council services, should the council tax payers money fund "elite" groups such as these.
We should all be thankful that in the Minutes of the Cabinet Meeting where these appalling suggestions were reported that the wise heads in the Cabinet NOTED the report. At least the council tax payers in Barking & Dagenham can take some comfort that the Cabinet Members will use their experience and good, sound judgement to kick the irresponsible suggestions put forward by certain self seeking members who FAIL to declare their interests into touch.
We will continue to monitor the progress in the Minutes.
Saturday, 25 September 2010
NORTH STREET MAFIA OUT IN THE COLD
Just how did they get it so wrong? being driven by Hodge to support 2 losers, Oona King and David Milliband will now consign Barking CLP and M Hodge MP to Siberia.
The mafia will now learn how the party punishes, as will Hodge.
The rest of us will just sit back and watch.
A great day for the "true party members" well done Ed.
JUST WHAT ARE THEY DOING?
Now this information is in the public realm, you don't have to make a Freedom of Information request, you can just check out on the councils website. And its about time local residents did so, they would then find in black and white just what meetings their duly elected councillors are not attending, and if they are not attending they are failing to represent the residents of the ward.
We will focus on just 2 areas this time round, Louis Couling, all the fuss about how great she would be as a councillor, she has only attended 1 council meeting since being elected, wonder how the residents of Goresbrook feel about that?
Standing at the very bottom of the list at the moment are the councillors for Mayesbrook ward, one of whom has only a 15% attendance record since May, and the other 2 are not much higher.
It will be clearer as time goes on just how many of them are just there for the money and don't want to do the work, or in some cases are totally incapable of doing the work.
And although we have not been able to access the attendance figures for the groups political meetings we are given to understand that the Barking councillors consistently fail to turn up for those as well.
One other question we have been asked to raise re Mayesbrook ward, how can a resident attend a surgery with issues that maybe of a sensitive and confidential nature when the councillors persist in holding their surgery in a local cafe?
We will focus on just 2 areas this time round, Louis Couling, all the fuss about how great she would be as a councillor, she has only attended 1 council meeting since being elected, wonder how the residents of Goresbrook feel about that?
Standing at the very bottom of the list at the moment are the councillors for Mayesbrook ward, one of whom has only a 15% attendance record since May, and the other 2 are not much higher.
It will be clearer as time goes on just how many of them are just there for the money and don't want to do the work, or in some cases are totally incapable of doing the work.
And although we have not been able to access the attendance figures for the groups political meetings we are given to understand that the Barking councillors consistently fail to turn up for those as well.
One other question we have been asked to raise re Mayesbrook ward, how can a resident attend a surgery with issues that maybe of a sensitive and confidential nature when the councillors persist in holding their surgery in a local cafe?
Saturday, 18 September 2010
STORM CLOUDS ARE GATHERING
We have been reliably informed by insiders within Barking CLP, that, during the summer recess the North Street Mafia have been planning how to bring down the Leadership within the council Labour Group, a group we are told they feel NO loyalty towards because of course "they" are not leading it!!!!
We understand that their first salvo will take place at the Group meeting due to take place this coming Monday. Where we have been told they will attack one of the Cabinet members who they believe has fallen down on the job, whose service they believe is crap, of course it isn't, but, as usual when you get enough people shouting, as they no doubt will it wont be easy for the Cabinet member to get a word in.
This is just the start, their plan we understand is to pick them off 1 by 1 until they can then force through a vote of no confidence in the Leader who selected the Cabinet.
Should be an interesting and entertaining meeting on Monday, especially as the Chief Whip is very firmly in the North Street Mafia, BUT, there is of course always a glimmer of hope, that is that the stupid fools have failed to inform the Chairman in writing 7 days before the meeting that they are going to bring the issue up.
If they haven't of course that stops the conversation dead.
Lets wait and see shall we?
We understand that their first salvo will take place at the Group meeting due to take place this coming Monday. Where we have been told they will attack one of the Cabinet members who they believe has fallen down on the job, whose service they believe is crap, of course it isn't, but, as usual when you get enough people shouting, as they no doubt will it wont be easy for the Cabinet member to get a word in.
This is just the start, their plan we understand is to pick them off 1 by 1 until they can then force through a vote of no confidence in the Leader who selected the Cabinet.
Should be an interesting and entertaining meeting on Monday, especially as the Chief Whip is very firmly in the North Street Mafia, BUT, there is of course always a glimmer of hope, that is that the stupid fools have failed to inform the Chairman in writing 7 days before the meeting that they are going to bring the issue up.
If they haven't of course that stops the conversation dead.
Lets wait and see shall we?
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