In the waves of opprobrium that have swamped this council some truth has been lost.
The Dame, over the years, has been this council's harshest critic. Her venom has invariably been directed at the Cabinet Cabal that has so 'managed' things that 'freethinking' colleagues have been ostracised: Cllr Freeman is one clear example and there others.....
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| THE COMMITTEE SYSTEM=REAL DEMOCRACY |
So the truth is this....there are many admirable Conservative councillors: men and women who are honest and try their hardest just as there some who are corrupt and self-serving.
The same applies to the other side.
A few examples spring to mind...Cllrs Will, B. Campbell, Mackover, Lindsay and there are others.
It is wrong to throw out these babies with the bathwater.
So how do the allow one hundred flowers to blossom and utilise the best of talent whatever the political persuasion?
It's simple...we 'can' the Cabinet asap and revert to the Committee System: one we know works.
The Committee System draws upon the specific talents of all councillors, irrespective of their politics thus ensuring proper democracy flourishes.
Will the Cabinet even consider this quiet revolution?
It's doubtful.... so at the next election, we need to see candidates standing on the single ticket of reversion to the Committee system.
It will be an easy idea to sell to residents as they struggle with a stream of bad news.
CLLR WILL, YOU ARE JOKING SHE WAS PARTLY TO BLAME FOR THE TRANSPORT COCK UP
ReplyDeleteI think it was Cllr E. Campbell not Will
Delete"PARTLY"
Delete"Politics is not a game"
ReplyDeleteIndependent Recovery Taskforce
ReplyDeleteSajid Javid’s statement: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2017-07-05/HCWS27/
Independent Recovery Taskforce - Sajid Javid’s statement
DeleteI am announcing today that I am intervening in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) following the Grenfell Tower disaster.
The scale of the recovery effort needed on the Lancaster West estate in the months to come cannot be underestimated. Support to survivors, the families and friends of those who lost their lives and residents in the wider community must and will be ongoing. The challenge of providing that support is and will continue to be significant. I want to help the Council meet that challenge.
The immediate response to the disaster is being coordinated by the Grenfell Response Team, headed up by John Barradell. He is ably supported by a number of colleagues drawn from London Councils, the wider local government sector including RBKC, the voluntary sector, Police, Health and Fire services as well as central government. Their expertise and hard work is making a huge difference. However this is a temporary measure to deal with the immediate need.
As well as providing that immediate support, we must have an eye to the future. This intervention is putting in place the foundations that will support the longer term recovery. I am therefore setting out my plans for strengthening the structures that will support that recovery effort.
Following an agreement with RBKC, I will appoint an independent Recovery Taskforce with the experience and skills to advise the Council on the longer term recovery needs. The remit of the Recovery Taskforce is to provide advice and practical and strategic support to RBKC. It will work alongside the Council to make sure that they have the manpower, expertise and resources necessary to take on the longer term recovery work beyond the immediate Civil Emergency Response.
The Recovery Taskforce will report to me directly, and will be made up of experienced and senior people with a track record in delivery, including from local government. I will announce details of the chair and membership of the Recovery Taskforce shortly. The Recovery Taskforce will be in place for as long as is required.
The Recovery Taskforce will consider all aspects of the recovery operation but will have a special focus on housing, regeneration and community engagement. It will also consider the governance of the Council and the way that it operates to ensure it is able to provide effective leadership through trying and difficult circumstances.
This sounds like the Recovery Taskforce pulling the strings of the puppets on the council
ReplyDeleteQuite frankly, I would like to have our money back. This mess of RBKC done by Page-Brown and his Cronies. Him and the cabinet members need to pay us back. From their own pockets please. Give us our money back.
ReplyDeleteCouncil tax for all of North Kensington needs to be waived for at least a year and charged personally to Page-Brown and the other cabinet members. Before they go to prison, I mean.
Delete23.34. You can add the names of some TMO Officers to the list who need to contribute to refunding rents, service charges and council tax to the people of North Kensington. I only wish that I could be as confident as you are about an Her Majesty's Prison slop bucket awaiting their arrival.
DeleteTask force to work alongside the Council.... what is likely to be the "force's" exact remit? Will they have any statutory powers, or just 'suggesting and recommending' to the Council, who are in no way obliged to take any notice of it. The team will report directly to Javid, but what about in situ? Are the members going to be of 'inferior', 'equal' or 'superior' legal status vis-a-vis the Council employees?
ReplyDeleteAll of the Councillors and staff are guilty by association. They were, or should have been, aware of what was going for a very long time. That is simply inexcusable - irrespective of their political hue. Why have they not spoken out before? Should be interesting to hear what are their excuses now?
ReplyDeleteFailure by councillors or officers to speak out about any whiff of corruption contravenes RBKC written constitution, available on its website.
DeleteScrutiny committees look at councillors' conduct. In practice, regardless of the facts, RBKC invariably backs councillors and senior management against residents.
Conscientious councillors tend to depart, as do diligent senior officers. At lower levels, no junior officer, with mortgage, wife and children etc, dares to speak out. People need their jobs.
Cross party committees look at various aspects of council work. They too ignore awkward facts presented by residents. A report is produced and instantly filed into oblivion. Additional fees are paid to all councillors sitting on committees; chairs receiving the most. So the more committees, the higher a councillor's income. Councillors are often present to be listed on the minutes. Then they leave.
Residents' funds are misused to suppress scandals seen as minor.
Residents may object to the council's annual accounts by writing to the supposedly independent, council funded, district auditor. Residents are again fobbed off. Those who refuse to go quietly are threatened by the district auditor with criminal prosecution.
This is how the Rotten Borough keeps a lid on its multiple scandals. Then there's Grenfell.
Dear Dame,
ReplyDeleteCouncil officers are now using Grenfell tower as an excuse not to send enforcement officers out or even a request for an application form for tree pruning was refused due to "planning officers dealing with Grenfell".
It does appear that the council as a whole has imploded from top to bottom which cannot not deal with the smallest request.
Same with TMO. I asked for a fire safety officer for an advice and at 16:25, I was told that the person has gone home. Then I asked for a person in charge of Media enquiry and this person wasn't available either. It just business as usual. I should have said, I'm calling from the Standard. They would have put me through to them. Lie after lie, how do TMO staff sleep at night?
Deleterather well, me thinks... Because they are an amoral, emotionally bankrupt lot - from the CEO to Ms Dack.....TMO has never been 'fit for purpose' - far too many individuals with vested personal financial interests in the sub-contractors (that's where the money changes hands).. This applies to majority to contractors, not only the gardening lot mentioned last week.... What the TMO officially agrees to provide and what is actually provided, is very different. Particularly, as there is NO independent audit of anything... They are all raking it in...no problem sleeping over this issue, me thinks...
DeleteThis prompts me to re-read what my mother wrote in 1936 about the Conservative caucus that then ruled Liverpool ("Down with the Orange Caucus"etc). This followed a famous by-election in which she supported Randolph Churchill as standing as an independent Tory. Having studied the history of Liverpool politics, she observed that Liverpool had an elected mayor (the solution for Kensington & Chelsea proposed by Sir Simon Jenkins) until the 1835 reform.
ReplyDeleteElizaabeth Campbell was on BBC London News little while ago. One of the things she claims is that she and others are 'HUMAN'... you decide...Human and Humane are different concept.. I might agree on the first, but certainly NOT on the latter... already addressed elsewhere...
ReplyDeleteDesperate stuff from E Campbell.
ReplyDeleteThe strong request that administrators behave like human beings dealing with other human beings has been a theme that's run throughout the interviews with survivors and other people in N Ken. Because they've been treated like units that RBKC would much rather were Anywhere Else.
I can imagine the hugely paid spin quacks saying "Say that you are HUMAN. Say that you will treat people like HUMANS" Pathetic.
Comments on the BBC interview with an 'alleged' eyewitness
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNdJBCGmyh0&feature=em-comments
Just a little interesting aside: The NKLC which is in front of the Grenfell Tower was closed for a few days; guess it was a crisis centre. Regular customers will not be charged for the month of July. When I went to the gym, I found all of the windows facing the Tower, sand blasted to about 2-1/2 metres, making them opaque...thus nobody could see the site outside. Regular at the gym told me that people were coming up and took photos of the area. Guess, RBKC, owners of the NKLC do not want errant photographs reaching whomever....
ReplyDelete