TRIBOROUGH DANGERS

 

An officer has forwarded this interesting assessment by a resident with years of experience leading international companies and managing complex industrial integrations. It has gone to all cllrs and certain officers

It is an eye opener-except to the oblivious and risk taking council..... 

The Dame comments, " H&F & WCC have new, inexperienced leaders.

RBK&C has one well past his well past his sell by date; with no business experience and his time spent with the Local Government Association...dangers ahead.....

 

Dear Councillor
Cllr Buckmaster's Scrutiny Report about the Tri Borough will be discussed at the main Council Meeting next week and I am writing to urge caution. Having been involved for many years in mergers, acquisitions and integrations in the private sector, the alarm bells are ringing when I consider what is going on. The first challenge is always that Chairmen like to run their own company and are reluctant to give up power. But any organisation can only serve one "brain" otherwise it becomes dysfunctional. We are proceeding with three Leaders and three Cabinets. The Tri Borough FAILS THIS TEST.
It is also clear from the result of the last local elections that Hammersmith will revert to Labour the next time around. This is currently the 'elephant in the room' that nobody seems prepared to discuss.

Cllr Freeman recently wrote in my Resident Association Newsletter (The Campden Hill Residents Association) that the Tri Borough foreshadows the merger of the three Boroughs into a single Borough i.e. One Leader, One Cabinet, One Electoral Services department and One Accounts (collection of taxes) Department. This is the necessary first step before any integration arrangements can be successfully attempted. In the meantime good preparation can be put in place in two important dimensions:
(i) benchmarking of service outcomes and efficiencies between the three Boroughs. This is a powerful source of learning and improvement
(ii) planning (and perhaps implementing) a common IT system across all three Boroughs in anticipation of a merger into one Borough

No modern organisation can be aligned or function without a common IT system. And it is pointless to attempt organisation change before this is put in place.


The Buckmaster Report
The Terms of Reference are flawed because they failed to seek the views of persons, organisations and consultants with experience and track records of mergers and integration. At a single stroke, the enquiry decided that it would not mine the rich seam of experience that is available to be tapped.

The report also notes that it chose not to address the implications of any change of political control that may come about

Learnings

My experience at Board level of integration work taught me and my colleagues a number of lessons

(i) The Chief Executive selected to run a merged operation has to be recruited from outside the shareholders. If he comes from one of the hosts there will always be suspicion from the others and authority will be undermined and then it breaks down. The Tri Borough FAILS THIS TEST.

(ii) Profit maximisation or cost minimisation cannot be the objective of an organisation. Both are by products of actions and strategies. If costs are too high then the objective should be, for example, to save money by taking out activities (eg Holland Park Opera subsidy) or work in a way that benchmarks against best in class (eg number of staff per £ of service delivered). The Tri Borough FAILS THIS TEST

(iii) If costs have to be reduced by re engineering an organisation, then lines of control have to be shortened and power concentrated. But we are building a shared power organisation and distributed organisation. The Tri Borough FAILS THIS TEST

(iv) If a new way of delivering a critical function (such as an accounting system) is to be introduced, then the old system needs to run in parallel with the new system until the new system demonstrates that it works. It never does first time. Tri Borough implementation arrangements (Hosting) FAILS THIS TEST

(v) Merger and integration is high risk. There is no point contemplating it unless savings of ca 30% can be demonstrated on paper (and empirically only about 10% will be obtained). The three Boroughs spend about £2 billion. 30% is £800 million. But Tri Borough savings were projected to be ca £20m to £30m at the outset and now £40 million is being trumpeted. Paltry in the scheme of things and they will be swept away by risk. The Tri Borough FAILS THIS TEST.

(vi) The personality of the Chief Executive needs to be understood and a performance/reward framework put in place to match his behaviour to the desired outcome. The dual appraisal arrangement by K&C and Hammersmith is a classic "divide and rule" trap. The Tri Borough FAILS THIS TEST

(vii) The Chief Executive needs to report to a single master. Mr Myers will report to two masters. The Tri Borough FAILS THIS TEST

(viii) Shareholder/owner sanctions over the Chief Executive need to be symmetric. Hammersmith has rights to give Mr Myers three months notice. K&C is open ended. The Tri Borough FAILS THIS TEST.

(ix) Shareholder/owner drivers need to be aligned. Westminster and K&C have guaranteed Conservative majorities. The Leaders are on a long leash. Hammersmith is a marginal council (Conservatives in survival mode). The Tri Borough FAILS THIS TEST

(x) Shareholder/owner constituencies need to be aligned. The demographics of Hammersmith are fundamentally different from K&C/Westminster. The Tri Borough FAILS THIS TEST

(xi) The Chief Executive and those appointed so far to senior positions have no joint venture experience. They will have to learn on the job while the expectation will be immediate delivery of cost savings and the maintenance of service levels. The Tri Borough FAILS THIS TEST

In my experience any integration programme will fail if any one of the rules above are broken.

In the private sector the sanction is bankruptcy if the choices/decisions are wrong. The players lose their jobs and their investment. In the public sector there is no such sanction, just the bottomless pit of tax payers money to fund whatever happens to be in fashion. The only safeguard is wise and inspired Leadership.

A Resident

MERRICK COCKELL 'CHANNELS' THE DAME!

At long last....recognition!

The Dame has been invited by Pooter to give a keynote address to councillors on how to 'engage', via the internet, with residents. A better idea would be to ask Cllr Coleridge to give this advice. The Dame has been very impressed by Coleridge's determined efforts to engage with residents in Northern parts of the Borough...not through the unread and expensive Royal Borer propaganda sheet...but by physically meeting and talking to residents. He is one of the few Cabinet members to actually reply to resident's letters. Well done, Cllr Coleridge.
Senior councillors have seen the Dame become a useful source of information to residents....they clearly plan to compete with her!
With over 100,000 (and rising) Unique Visitors the Dame's Hornet is the ' way to go".
Come along on the 27th June and hear the Dame tell councillors 'How It's Done' 

U TURN REQUIRED NOW

Town Hall Luddites

 
 Doctor Taylor is a local resident. He has had a distinguished career in industry and in politics. He has been a GLC member and an adviser to Lady Thatcher. His skilful lobbying(West London Residents Association) led Boris to abandon congestion charging in the Borough. 'Boys' Moylan loathes him:that, in itself, is the very best of reasons to listen to him.
It has probably escaped the notice or interest of the recipient of this letter, Pooter Cockell, that local business is in dire straits. But why would it excite his interest?  Cllr Cockell has never had to rely on business for his £3,000 a week taxpayer funded allowance, so is immune from the cold realities of business survival. 
This excellent letter from Doctor Taylor should be a wake up call. And by the way, Cllr Cockell....common civility demands that you answer correspondence from residents. The Dame has had several reports of you failing to extend this courtesy to those who pay your over generous allowance. Ensure you answer this one please.....
 

Leader of the Council   

Superfast Broadband

Dear Merrick ,

City Am reports that the Council has turned down BT’s proposals for the rolling out of superfast broadand across the borough. As you are well aware superfast broadband connection is as important to future business development as  some of the other utilities ie electricity, water, gas and telephone. The lack of this high speed broadband will seriously hamper business development. The Council apparently turned down the BT proposals on the basis that you want to reduce street clutter and preserve the streetscape. As there are already hundreds of discreet telephone cabinets in the borough  the further 108 cabinets of the BT proposal could surely be accommodated. The Council itself has vandalized our historic streetscape by removing the perfectly sound Victorian type black street lamp standards along our main thoroughfares replacing them with modern silver standards more appropriate to Basildon New Town. Stainless steel bike stands have mushroomed on main roads. Much of the new hugely expensive Exhibition Rd is badly cluttered with residents parked cars, bicycle racks and benches.  Some 31 of the 33 London boroughs are reportedly well on the way to being  connected by BT to superfast broadband. As these other boroughs  are apparently happy with the location and design of the BT cabinets it would be helpful of you would revisit this problem and either accommodate BT or urgently bring in another supplier so that that borough is not left technologically marooned in the 20^th century.

Kind regards

Gordon Taylor 

THE DAME AND HER ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNIQUE VISITORS!

The Dame Thanks You All!

 There was more post Jubilee jubilation in the streets of the Rotten Borough...No, The Dame has not been awarded the much coveted Mayor's Award..it's much better.  Doubtless we will hear from Cockell's cronies, 'Up Yours' Palmer and Cllr 'Boys' Moylan squealing 'no one reads The Dame'. In their desperation they forget something....unlike RBKC consultation exercises you cannot forge Unique Visitor numbers!

So today The Hornet is proud to announce 100,000 unique visitors.  After 2.5 years of championing democracy in Kensington and Chelsea she can claim some notable successes derived from campaigns to stop the abuse of power and our taxes. Here are just some......

• No more extravagant Virgin Upper Class jollies to New York by the Leader, Cllr Pooter Cockell
• No more tax payer funded meals "for friends" at expensive 5*international restaurants
• No more use of the Mayor's brand new Bentley by the Leader

• A torchlight shone into dark corners resulting in the sacking of ex Mayor (and friend of Cockell), disgraced ex Cllr Phelps, for distributing vile images of young boys on the Council website. 
• Cockell slammed for allowing ex Cllr Andrew Lamont to remain in situ knowing the gravity of the child pornography charges he was later convicted of.
• Exposure of the proposed gay porn star candidate selected for Brompton Ward!

The Hornet, is now required reading for K&C Councillors and local and national newspaper journalists. It's readership is burgeoning in Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham and the GLA.

It is an established feed for the printed media.

Hornet inspired stories have appeared in the papers like the Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times,The Daily Mail,The Standard and Private Eye and throughout the net.

It is a "top of mind" fact of life in the Council Chamber and amongst officers. Cockell's feeble attempt to block it failed miserably.

The foundation and fast growth of the Hornet is the result of the decay and excess that has resulted from one Party Conservative rule in Kensington and Chelsea exacerbated by a fourteen year term of leadership by the current incumbent, unemployable ex ciggy salesman,  Cllr Cockell.

Simply put, the Dame is keeping the "One Party State" on its toes.

There is a huge democratic deficit in Kensington and Chelsea.It's a regime intoxicated by glam projects (Holland Park School, Exhibition Road, Streetscapes) funded by hard earned council tax. This is a wave of irresponsible spending akin to the 'harlot throughout ages.' And there is a brutal regime of hate, spite and patronage built upon the highest SRA's in the land. It is an administration that has lost sight of its essential purpose- to represent and work honestly in the interests of residents. 

Consider the recent decision to ban BT from introducing super fast broadband because their equipment was not sensitive to the "historical tradition" of the Borough! Nowhere else has this problem....so one wonders the worst.....

The Dame's influence grows as she reaches out to residents increasingly alert to the corruption within a very Rotten Royal Borough.

Driven by Freedom of Information, Councillor and Officer moles, plus a liberal helping of common sense, the Dame will continue to prod, expose and ridicule the ludicrous Cockell administration. 200,000 here we come!

The Dame Warns Cllr 'Tel' Buxton-Avoid Phelps

Person Familiar with The Situation  keeps her friend, The Dame, up to speed with some of the less obvious interests of our councillors. 
This comment should cause alarm bells to ring...
One is judged by the company one keeps and the property interests one is involved in. This is particularly so when chairing the Planning Committee. To avoid potential conflict 'Tel' should step aside from Planning. He should also avoid the company of his close friend, ex Cllr Phelps-the man with the overactive imagination when it comes to pictures of VERY young boys in odd situations.......

Bunterish Enthusiasms

Person Familiar with The Situation ......

"Cllr Terence Buxton has told friends that he cannot understand why his name is not in the frame for a Cabinet position and why he is not considered as a future Leader of the Borough. Even though tainted by his fascination and close relationship with disgraced ex Cllr Phelps, this Councillor for the Earls Court Ward lists his interests in no less than fourteen societies and organisations which he is presumably active in ( Bow Group, Anti Slavery Society, Royal Opera House, Earls Court Society, Chelsea Physic Gdn etc). Obviously a confused person or someone still in his adolescence.

 

There is also a bit of a muddle and possible conflict of interest between his Chairmanship of the Borough's Planning Committee and his employment by a property company, ownership of another property company, and owner of four properties in the Borough. Sounds like a can of worms......."

Tel's Can Of Worms...

 

 

 

NO MORE AID TO ARGENTINA

Cllr Quent Marshall loves his polo.........when he is not scooting around Brompton Ward.
The other day he was telling the Dame how useful it was to have the British Government giving vast amounts of aid to Argentina-a country he spends much time whacking balls around in.
According to Quent, it helps his relations with Argie polo grandees when he tells them of the largesse of the hard pressed British public. Probably some of it goes on the construction of their world class polo grounds.

Cllr Quent In Action

However, if the Taxpayers Alliance has it's way the gravy train will stop and the funds will go to countries in real need.
So the Dame will risk upsetting Quent by encouraging all of you to sign the petition. This is one bit of overseas aid better spent on some of the most deprived parts of our Rotten Borough.
Sign petition

PAGET-BROWN POURS OUR MONEY INTO THE THAMES!

 Cllr Nick 'The Medici' Paget-Brown

You could not make it up'....as ex Cllr Phelps was wont to say. The Dame, forbids 'toilet talk' in her elegant 'internet drawing room' but she has heard an astonishing story.....
Louise and Fritha(see below) are working on another little project to get money off Nick....well us!
They have plans to take samples of a 'medical nature' from all RBKC councillors. The entire 'Hirst Pharmacy' like display will then become a 'participatory' exhibition at The Town Hall.
The gals will be 'curating' it  and plan to title it

      "TAKING THE PISS"   entrance fee: one old P.
                     Could that be what the mischievous girls are doing?

"Artists Louise Ashcroft and Fritha Jenkins will re-activate the lost River Westbourne by staging a sculptural procession between Paddington Basin (meet by the blue ‘helix’ bridge near Merchant Square, W2) and the River Thames. Samples of water found at sites en route will be added to a large, boat-like vessel and carried along the river’s former course. The collected waters will mix together, echoing the mysterious Westbourne which now runs deep below the streets in an underground pipe. The journey will culminate in Chelsea, where the contents will be poured over the beach into the Thames........"

Having read this bizarre stuff the Dame put in an emergency call to her old friend K&C MEP, 'Doc' Tannock.....

The Doc, when not on expenses paid global EU travel business, is a psychiatrist. Some might remember he featured in an embarrassing Sunday Times Insight expose on his involvement with a IoM based shale gas exploration company. It got the Doc so mad the Dame thought he might sue her-not the Sunday Times, who wrote the story(stop showing off Dame-we know you put the ST up to it Ed)

Anyway, back to the main story...

The Dame remembered the Doc had once been a fellow councillor of Nick 'The Medici' Paget-Brown so maybe he might give some free treatment to his old chum??

Wily 'artists' can twist wannabe patrons around their little fingers and it seems our local RBKC Medici has been 'got at' by these two very entrepreneurial 'performance artists'. The young ladies have used their obvious charms to seduce Nick into funding their little piece of nonsense.

The Dame is hoping  Doc Tannock will use his professional skills to 'release' Nick P-B from their dastardly grip.

Nick has little to do on the Council thus is easy prey for opportunistic 'artists' with agendas....

Anyway, it's much more fun that using our money sensibly on things that actually benefit residents.

What a deplorable waste of our money and officer's time.

MORE FROM THE "WE HEAR-BUT DO NOT LISTEN" COUNCIL

If Tim Coleridge want to prove he has the mettle to take over from that sorry apology of a leader, Cockell, he needs to raise his game. He did, after all, have the guts- with Victoria Borwick, to stand against Moylan's proposed destruction of Sloane Square-until residents scared off the Brum Thug. 

It is rather ironic that Tim Coleridge gets it in the neck on this. After all, he been the only Councillor who has had the decency to listen to local residents' concerns  and, at times, he has been viewed almost as a Michael Heseltine type figure helping save the Lancaster West community from the "managed decline" of the Estate being orchestrated by wider members of the TMO/Council.
The trouble is, that since Councillor Coleridge found some money to address the worst of residents problems in Grenfell Tower, he has decided that the "opportunity" he personally promised the rest of Lancaster West Estate, will have to stop with that particular investment.

Residents on Lancaster West Estate are unimpressed with Cockell's contempt for their concerns.....one pithily expressed it, quoting the Bard, “As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport"

Looking After Their Community

With the KALC Project moving forward with the force of an unstoppable tsunami, the Grenfell Action Group recently contacted the Council to request information on how residents living on Grenfell Walk, Barandon Walk, Verity Close and Lower Clarendon Walk will be protected from the noise and dust generated by the KALC construction project when peoples' homes on Lancaster West Estate become an extension of a giant building site. 

The Grenfell Action Group was informed that no money was available for double glazing to protect residents in these properties. 

Now this is despite the fact that the Council have allocated £60 million to the KALC Project to date and wasted £20 million importing Chinese granite Exhibition Road.

The Council claim that they have carried out detailed 'consultation' with local residents, so as usual, 'they have listened; but not heard'! (just as they did with residents of Hillgate Place)

As with everything in the Rotten Borough the truth is very different. Residents' views remain largely ignored, marginalised and unconsidered.  The council and it's consultations are becoming a byword for a cynical disregard of democracy.

The community's monthly Resident Forums are cancelled by the Council without warning or apology. Residents' concerns regarding the loss of Lancaster Green and the "right of way" along Station Walk, the imposition of a vehicular route through Lancaster West Estate and issues of noise pollution have been totally ignored. 

It is a case of the Council believing that "might is right" and not having the decency to care or listen to residents concerns.

Many vulnerable residents live in these properties: they need to be treated with compassion and dignity-not left to protect themselves against intolerable levels of noise pollution and dust. Their windows that are over 35 years old and no longer fit for purpose. Many of these single pane windows are so obsolete that they cannot be opened or closed properly and residents are forced to plug draughts with old newspapers etc.... The Council know this well!

Local stakeholders are now calling for a Public Meeting so that the the Council/TMO can reassure residents that their future well-being will not be put at risk and that money will be found to protect those living in the aforementioned properties.

Come on Tim....show that you still have some of that fighting spirit-or you just another Pooter Cockell lackey?

The website is  http://savelancasterwest.wordpress.com/ 

Twitter is @LancasterWest.