Dotty Weatherhead should have been put out to pasture years ago.
Listening to her ramble on at meetings is an exhausting experience.
She is someone who has never had to run a business and whose juicy allowance supplements her OAP.
At 105 it's time Dotty staggered off into the sunset......
These sunny days present rare opportunities for cafes to increase turnover and profits and Dotty should understand that her hefty £33,000 a year allowance is paid for by those profits. The fact that 500 locals have signed the petition speaks volumes for the demand for places in the sun.
 |
| LEAVE KITCHEN & PANTRY ALONE! |
She is quite gaga
ReplyDeleteHad the council actually had any complaints about the tables and chairs? By the sounds of things they hadn't and are just being heavy handed and very wrongly so. Time for a FOI request?
ReplyDeleteAs for Dotty, I decided about twenty years ago that there wasn't enough of my life left to spend it listening to the old dear rambling on so I and almost all others avoided her like a dose of the pox. She really has had her day but on the basis she will carry on what are the electorate thinking of? It was unthinkable that she was re-elected any time in the last twenty years and yet she's still there.
Unfortunately the Tories vote on autopilot. The Party could put up Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde in K&C and they would coast home.
DeleteK+P were breaking rules, blocking pavement, wheelchairs could not get past, bus passengers had to step into street, lots of complaints, loads of warnings - took no notice. Serves them right but has now damaged others. This is what FoI will demonstrate.
DeleteThey did one thing and one thing only...they broke rules. The rest of what you say they have done is pure garbage. I live nearby and there has always been good access...and that is why I was one of the 500 residents who signed the petition. Had the issues you lie about been reality I would not have signed the petition would I?
DeleteSorry, @11.05, but that is bollocks. There was not a single complaint about K&P, just 3 carefully timed and cleverly angled photographs taken by a very dubious enforcement officer (who had just been complained about for harrassing local businesses)...
DeletePavement seating in residential areas is a pain and should not be allowed. Residents find it impossible to sleep at night when thoughtless revelers do their rebelling. Having said that, the case here seems not to be in a residential area and should be allowed. The problem with Dotty is that there is no consistency in her decisions. She seems to enjoy exercising arbitrary power which should not be tolerated. A failure of democracy. SHE is tolerated because she knows where to promise her vote when it is needed.
ReplyDeleteCan't condone ageism, but if her decision-making ability is compromised, shouldn't she be medically retired?
ReplyDeleteWhatever it takes
DeleteRBKC bleeds small businesses dry. As well as hugely inflated local rents leading to extremely high business rates, even the smallest business is required to pay about £1,000pa to place a couple of small tables and chairs on its own forecourt. The charges are much the same for 2 tables as for 20. At this level, the charges are both illegitimate and immoral - typical RBKC concepts.
ReplyDeleteLocally this is seen as just the tip of the iceberg. In RBKC's various departments, the new H & F officers have an agenda to squeeze every possible penny from K & C residents and businesses. No public discussion or consultation is tolerated; so there is no public oversight. Councillors say nothing.
Miss Weatherhead's advanced age is the least of our problems.
Outdoor activity is the new fad. And it is an unwelcome fad. English buildings and public spaces are not designed for it and the result is congested pavements, overflows to the street, noise and nuisance to everyone except the punters and the shop owners. Keep up the good work Cllr Weatherhead. The Chelsea Chronicle is seriously off message on this one.
ReplyDeleteOvercharging local business is a different matter. Less splurging on £90 million schools and £30 million make overs of Exhibition Rd would help to bring Borough costs down.
Nothing wrong with Cllr Weatherhead's age. Safe pair of hands. No nonsense bird who knows her own mind and takes no prisoners.
ReplyDeleteYou would say that....you are as moribund as she is. She is a foolish old woman who loves the sound of her own voice
DeleteThe issue is that RBKC and Hammersmith & Fulham, are extracting every last penny from this Borough. The additional millions may play a role in retaining long term Conservative control of H & F.
ReplyDeleteHammersmith and Fulham residents have a habit of voting in a Labour Council. Does anyone know if RBKC has publicly debated what will happen to Tri-Bi-Borough when H & F reverts to Labour? Have there been public consultations? What plans exist to deal with this eventuality?
Westminster CC wisely keeps its distance; perhaps scenting disaster for the Tri-Bi-borough experiment. Disaster seems inevitable. So is the fact that K & C residents will end up footing the bill.
Residents were not given a choice about this tripe borough. As usual. this arrogant spineless council chose to let cockup leave this as his true legacy of disaster. Millions are being wasted on tripe Borough nonsense and it is a total and utter failure.
DeleteThis whole situation is schizophrenic, Councillors bleat we have kept our sovereignty and can leave anytime, but officers have been given a clear agenda by someone? to join the Royal Borough with the other two at any cost and quickly. The only people it will truly cost is us taxpayers and vulnerable people.
It is an utter disgrace. Roll on the next election, the list of mismanagement and incompetency that has occurred in Horton Street is well documented by the Dame. The voters will decide exactly WHAT this council has done FOR THEM which is not a lot.
Cllr Weatherhead should stick to her guns. She is right. Ms Horrox is a bright young journalist but she lacks balance on this occasion. Easy to go after the Council and an elderly Councillor. But the shopkeepers and cafe operators bleat too easily and without reason that they are "going out of business because of the council". Pavements are for pedestrians, wheelchairs and prams. Not noisy and greedy coffee sippers and imbibers
ReplyDeleteBefore thick and greedy shopkeepers and cafe owners moan about tax, they should consider that we all pay too much tax. Punters pay 70% of their income in tax after you add up PAYE, Value Added Tax, National Insurance, council tax and all the other taxes. And the stuff we have paid for is being cut back too. Pensions paid later, Winter Fuel Allowance and free bus passes under attack. Mansion Tax on the way. What we all need to do is band together and get Government, and especially Local Government to stop wasting tax payers money. Like spending £90 million to tart up Holland Park School and £30 million to import pink granite from China to beautify Exhibition Road. Stop all that stupidity and taxes will go down
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget the K&C tax to pay for unidentified UFOs landing in Ladbroke Grove
DeleteCllr Weatherhead is dead right on this one
ReplyDeleteShe is not quite dead, but nearly so....she is a laughing stock with her stupid comments
DeleteGive pavements back to pedestrians!
ReplyDeleteFor too long the greedy traders have been crying wolf. If they cannot make a profit from their new ventures of stealing public space to run a business then the solution is simple. Don't do it. But please, stop asking for more.
ReplyDeleteExactly. The market must be allowed to decide these things. Local Government should ensure that there are strict rules about "where and what". Thats it. No subsidies. No nods and winks. No backhanders
DeleteDon't be an idiot...
DeleteThey pay for the space through licences.
They are equally paying 40% of their rateable value to government. No one wonder the high streets of England are dying
There is nothing quite as corrosive to local communities as a small shopkeeper, restauranteur or publican "on the make".
ReplyDeleteWithout these small shopkeepers, pubs and restaurants there would be even more charity shops burgeoning everywhere.
DeleteClearly you have only worked for huge multinationals who escape paying their proper tax by the use of clever tax advisers...something unavailable to the local butcher, baker and candlestick maker. Our high streets and thus local communities are dying because of senseless comments like yours.
Very interesting responses. In K & C there is no desire for a political debate. Comments are restricted to pavements rather than the obvious potential for bi-tri-borough to crash.
ReplyDeleteAs for "greedy" cafe owners, the businesses most involved in this each pay £150k - £200k a year in rent and business rates. In addition they pay wages; NIC; VAT; insurance; utilities and professional services etc plus for coffee and food to sell. One can't imagine how many £3 cups of coffee it takes to cover the overheads. From the resulting profits, the "greedy" cafe owners also pay income tax; NIC and VAT etc totalling 70% like everyone else. Yet the Council wants more.
Well put...
DeleteDoubtless Mr Fitzgerald's PR team have been commenting..
It needs to be said again. The way for all of us (business and residents) to make ends meet is to reduce tax. And the way to reduce tax is to reduce unnecessary Government spending. Kensington and Chelsea should not spend £90 million to refurbish Holland Park School when everyone else finds that £30 million is enough to build a fit for purpose school. K&C should not spend £30 million to import pink granite from China to tart up Exhibition Road. K&C should not spend on Festivals to enact the landing of UFOs in Ladbroke Grove.
ReplyDeleteShops that sell more coffee and make more money by renting pavement space from the Council, and cause problems for pavement users, is a side show. Shop keepers will always bleat that they would make more money if they paid less tax, rates, rent.
Reduce Government spending. This is what we all need to clamour for. And as a Tory I am pissed off that it is the Tories in K&C who are the worst offenders where profligate spending is concerned.
You are a killjoy, Sir. We are rich in K&C. We can afford it. Obviously you are one of those unfortunate North Kensington types.
Delete