THE ROTTING BOROUGH AND THE PLIGHT OF DISABLED CHILDREN

Those close to the parents of disabled, vulnerable children are touched by their unending love and devotion.
Bringing up children is hard work: bringing up children with special needs is super tough. 
Parents of disabled children devote 100% of their lives caring for them: it's what total love is all about.
David and Samantha Cameron are the best high profile example of this love. 
They would surely have been disgusted by the casual and dangerous way the Tri Borough treats these children.

So when, to save a few thousand pounds, the Tri Borough decides to sacrifice the wellbeing of these children our hackles should rise and the officer and councillor responsible, respectively Andrew Christie and Cllr E. Campbell should be moved on to less important duties.

Last night parents came to hear a motion demanding the current contractors responsible for transporting their loved ones be fired and the former contractors reinstated.
When the late Baroness Ritchie was running Childrens' Services she would have never tolerated this mess.

EMPTY, UNCARING  HOUSE

“The Council recognises that the tri-borough SEN Transport Service procured by WCC is not fit for purpose and cannot be remedied under the existing arrangements in time for the new school term in September. 
It there resolves to invite the Cabinet to work with representatives of the previous contractor, and the operator whose bid was rejected on the grounds of price, to provide an interim service in K&C; and, at the same time, to prepare a tender specification to commission a new SEN transport solely for RBK&C.

Newcomer, Councillor Aouane, showed her total ennui with the proceedings by doing a bit of texting....filling up her Ocado order maybe? 
No wonder she is rapidly becoming known by certain officers as Cllr Inane!

CLLR INANE ORDERING HER GROCERIES

As for Cllr 'Oirish' Ahern he could be ranting at the parents, " Shut Up. You are not elected"!


Nothing proves the uselessness of the Tri Borough arrangement than this sad and pathetic shambles.

PLEASE SIGN AND PUBLICISE THIS IMPORTANT PETITION

Given its service of over  20 years to the North Kensington Community and especially its service to Children with Special Educational Needs, We the undersigned ask the Council to urge  the Westway Trust Board of Trustees to reconsider the decision not to renew the lease of Westway Stables held by Sarah Tuvey. Apart from failing to acknowledge her excellent, dedicated and selfless service, the reputational damage that will accrue not just to the Westway Trust but also to the Council itself will be severe and unnecessary. The Westway Supplementary Planning Document includes provision for stables and a riding arena on the land beneath the Westway and the Westway Stables should be given an opportunity to develop a firm proposal to meet this requirement, which cannot be done without a formal lease.



Please click below to go to the online petition....AND please circulate to friends. 
WESTWAY STABLES PETITION

NO MONEY FOR THE DISABLED: LOADS FOR JUNK ART

The Dame hears that the Council has just spent £150,000 on two 'works of arts' (the Dame uses the term advisedly) for the Kensington Academy and Leisure Centre.

Most of our councillors are devoid of any sense of taste so are easy prey for spiv art dealers and their clients trying to flog off their 'junk art'.

The Dame was told that they were considering to buy Miss Ermin's bed,however, they were not put off by the £2 million price tag; merely the thoughts that it might not wear well outside and might be used by vagrants for a quick kip.

Councillor's First Choice

This is a council which cannot provide a proper transport service for the weak and disabled yet massages its sense of self importance by wasting a fortune of our money on pseudo art.

COUNCILLORS CALL FOR REINSTATEMENT OF SEN TRANSPORT CONTRACTORS

Anyone who has the slightest interest in the Special Educational Needs Transport debacle should attend this vital meeting on Thursday, 24 July @ 6.00pm.
This should not be about 'local politics' but about providing the sort of quality service that RBKC was noted for.


The Council Chamber 
Kensington Town Hall 
Contact: Mr M Carver 
Tel: 020 7361 2477 


 Public Agenda 



Pursuant to Standing Order 6.02, Cllrs. Blakeman, Mason, Powell, Littler and Dent Coad request an extraordinary meeting to discuss the following motion: 

1. MOTION FOR DEBATE 

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS TRANSPORT SERVICE 

“The Council recognises that the tri-borough SEN Transport Service procured by WCC is not fit for purpose and cannot be remedied under the existing arrangements in time for the new school term in September. 
It there resolves to invite the Cabinet to work with representatives of the previous contractor, and the operator whose bid was rejected on the grounds of price, to provide an interim service in K&C; and, at the same time, to prepare a tender specification to commission a new SEN transport solely for RBK&C.” 

Moved by: Cllr Blakeman 
Seconded by: Cllr Lasharie 

CLLR SPALDING! YOU ARE IN THE MIDST OF A CONFLICT OF INTEREST!

LOCAL HYPOCRITE

Cllr Malcolm Spalding has this to say.....

"I have worked with borough planners to establish controls on the Exhibition Centre re-development, fighting to influence the developers’ plans to obtain the best outcomes for local residents."

So residents might wonder how, if he is so busy fighting Capital & Counties, he can rationalise taking largesse from the very same developer he claims to be fighting! 
For an elected councillor to behave in this way is outrageous

The Dame is unimpressed Malc....
Make up your mind whose side you are on rather than taking scraps thrown from the tables of rich South African developers.

Dear Colleagues

It occurred to me that you may wish to attend this event - for the stunning views of Earl's Court from the 30th floor revolving restaurant !

£15 each for guests and free for Chamber members.

Yours

Malcolm Spalding

Kensington & Chelsea Chamber of Commerce invites you to our First Tuesday Networking Event on the 1st July 6.30 - 8.30pm   the Empress State Building   Empress Approach, London SW6 1TR Enjoy networking and refreshments with wonderful views of West London from the 30th floor courtesy of Capital and Counties Booking online at    http://www.kccc.co.uk/events Free for members, £15 for guests

WILL MALC RIFKIND HELP COUSIN LEON?

Our MP, Sir Malc Rifkind must be getting deeply embarrassed.

RIFKIND AND COUSIN

On a daily basis his close cousin, 'Lordy' Leon Brittan, is the subject of scurrilous(?) media coverage over a missing report on a paedophilia ring once operating at the highest levels of British political society.

Here is a picture of the grotesque, frog like Brittan. 
In fact, so frog like, Splitting Images portrayed him here Leon Brittan, with Cousin Rifkind as a singing frog

Lawyer Malc now needs to give some legal advice to Cousin Leon.
Malc has particular expertise in this area, being chairman of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, which vets what the public can, or cannot see.
Maybe Leon thought the dossier was far too disgusting for us to see?

Today, trouble making Norman Tebbit came out saying Leon needs to come clean about the missing dossier handed to him, whilst Home Secretary, by the late Geoffrey Dickins.

The unsavoury rumours connecting senior Conservative politicians with cover up's need to quashed.....once and for all!

CLLR BLAKEMAN'S TERRIER LIKE SCRUTINY

The Dame must declare an interest...

At heart, the old thing is one of that now, long dead breed, of Tory who don't believe life should be motivated by pure self interest-hence her robust attitude towards Cllrs Cockell and Moylan and their £120k plus allowances.

Readers with an interest in the vulnerable will have been following Cllr Blakeman's single handed crusade to do the right thing by the vulnerable of the Borough.
It has been an example of how effective a councillor can be in holding officers to account.

BUFFOON  PALMER

Perhaps, the Council buffoon, Cllr Palmer, might wish to incorporate Blakeman's work as a case study in his CouncilSkills training course....oh, but the Dame forgets: it went belly up!

Dear Mr. Christie

I will be drafting questions about the SEN report to the next scrutiny committee meeting as requested by the Chairman. However, I would be grateful if you can clarify in advance the following issues for me:

Much is made of the problems with the TUPE arrangements between the former and the current contractors. However, we are also told that the majority of staff working to the new operators are self-employed. If this is the case, this suggests either that the TUPE arrangements were not properly put into place, which is unlawful, or that the contracts of employment of the transferred staff were then terminated early.

Are you able, therefore, to let us have details on a contractor by contractor basis of the number of staff directly employed by each of them and the number of self-employed persons working to each contractor?

I know you have given an undertaking on behalf of Tri-borough that every child is covered by insurance in the event of any untoward incident – but in view of concerns being expressed by  a number of parents, can you please also formally set out the insurance position.

Can you confirm that each contracting company is fully and properly insured and can you, for the avoidance of doubt, let us have sight of that page of each company’s insurance policy that provides full cover for any inadvertent activity of all the self-employed staff that they are using?

Many thanks.

Cllr. Judith Blakeman

SINISTER MALAYSIAN GAMBLING OPERATION VERSUS K&C RESIDENTS

When a sinister Malaysian gambling organisation(thank you, sharp eyed reader) is in 'pre planning talks' with the Rotten Borough you won't lose money betting that residents will lose their shirt.

GAMBLING MALAYSIANS 

And so it will be for residents with the misfortune to live anywhere close to the Holiday Inn on Cromwell Rd.

And when the same Malaysian 'organisation' tell you that it's going to 'consult' with you know you are going to get a real shafting.

ANOTHER GAMBLING JOINT

Last Monday, nearby neighbours of the Holiday Inn, were summoned to a meeting there. 
They were told a vast new casino was planned and it would gobble up the last bit

of green between the hotel and Cromwell Rd.

So how can residents protect themselves from a council which doesn't give a damn about residents and giant gambling outfits like Genting who care only for gambling profits?

Tough one...

At the last election a trio of brave men...Andrew Barshall,Ian Henderson and Heinz Schumi, stood against the incumbent Conservative councillors: their purpose? To stand up for residents against big and powerful foreign combines like Genting.

If residents want to protect themselves they need to follow that example and back independent candidates.

One campaigning resident has written to the Dame demolishing Genting's ludicrous claim that they are 'improving the area'.

This is what she says....

• A new building not at all in keeping with the buildings               on the other side of Ashburn Gardens in style.
• A new building that as proposed will gobble up the             small remaining area of garden/green space between the hotel and the Cromwell Road;
• And a new building that entirely covers the only wide open area of the Cromwell Road between Earls Court Road and the Natural History Museum, and which acts as a ‘lung’ in relation to the fumes of the heavy rush-hour traffic along the Cromwell Road
• Further cladding round the east and south sides of the hotel at ground and ‘commercial’ (ie much higher than residential) first floors which very closely seems to resemble the type of cladding covering large warehouses  -  ie industrial sheds.
• Proposed entrances both to be on the Cromwell Road, a Red Route.
• A café terrace, proposed by the landscape gardener, on the south west side leading directly from the hotel  -  lovely for the residents of Ashburn Gardens and Courtfield Road who will thereby directly benefit from noise until all hours of the night.
• Valet parking which will use up estimated 20 spare spaces in the car park underneath the hotel and which will thereafter spill over into further ‘public parking’ only described in the vaguest terms and which will not apparently entail parking on any of the surrounding streets.

Local residents say there are enough gambling joints in the Borough...

There's one at Gloucester Millenium Hotel, diagonally opposite the Holiday Inn. 
Another in Palace Gate, further up the Gloucester Road (Maxim’s also operated by Genting) and one in the Royal Garden Hotel on Kensington Road.
Two more suck in punters in Bayswater and yet another in the ParkTower,Knightsbridge.