Not even the end of the beginning

Thanks to everyone who has emailed me and called me following the coverage in the Derbyshire Times and Mansfield Chad of the appalling decision by Bolsover Councillors to keep their sky-high allowances in spite of a call from their remuneration panel for a massive cut.

Some people have asked what I intend to do next and whether they can help. Well if we can borrow and twist a phrase from Churchill this is not even the end of the beginning on this issue. There are several aspects about how the decision was made which are almost as shocking as the decisions itself. And you can rest assured that every time the Council calls for cuts facilities, jobs and services I will be reminding them that if they hadn't scoffed so much of the cake for themselves there would be an extra £430,000 in the kitty.

Duncan

A note of thanks

I've been a Councillor now for nearly three months, so I thought I'd review the list of cases that people have brought to me. I knew a lot of them were about housing  - but was surprised to find that these amounted to two-thirds of my case-load. This has meant that I've had more dealings with housing than any other section, and I just like to pay tribute to the staff for their responsiveness on operational issues.

Sometimes Council staff get the blame when it's the Council policies or resource decisions, made by members, which are at fault, and sometimes members take the credit when it is the staff that have done the work, so it's important to separate the two. There are clearly some policies that need changing and concerns over resources but that's no reason not to thank the staff who deliver the service.

So good on ya.

Sometimes a dull life has its attractions..

The life of a Councillor is never dull, but two consecutive calls tonight made me chuckle. The first was a tenant in a bungalow who tells me that the Council plans to give him, and his neighbours, new front doors (hurray) but want them to open outwards not inwards!- it'll be a case of knock and get knocked over.

I'd just checked the calendar to make sure it wasn't the start of April when the next call arrived to report a dead sheep in a nearby field. I know we Green Councillors are concerned about all living things but even I was flummoxed by that one.

None so deaf.......

Council meeting today. I had failed to convince the Councillors of Bolsover that our allowances were too high, up until now they had relied on the expert advice of their independent remuneration panel. Last week the panel changed their advice and recommended a 47% cut based on comparisons with other authorities and the not unreasonable observation that being a member in Bolsover can't really be so different.

Guess what every Councillor, but me,  voted to ignore the panels recommendations. So for the next four years residents in Bolsover will keep having to fork-out for the highest member allowances of any District Council in England. It simply takes your breadth away....

But don't worry we're not giving-up!

The price some people pay

A couple of weeks after the election I got talking to ex-soldier who has just taken a flat on Holmefield road and was busy cutting the grass. He told me that he came from Clowne and was looking forward to getting the flat decorated and was looking forward to a new life. He hoped that his children would be able to visit. I wished him well and told him me to contact me if he needed anything.

Unfortunately it didn't work out that way as you may have seen from the covergae in the local press. Like many of those who have fought in the Middle East he had been diagnoised with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and a couple of weeks later news of the death of another colleague led to an incident where he became a threat to himself and the police. The tragedy is that as a consequence he received a 17 week custodial sentence so now has to cope with a criminal record in addition to PTSD which is unlikely to help either his recovery or his job prospects. The incident also called considerable alarm to neighbouring families

The case has troubled me; I don't expect for a moment he thought that his army career would leave him in this desperate situation and I wondered how many other ex-soldiers might be in a similar situation. I concluded that is important that we learn from this case and do all we can to prevent it happening again, we can  surely do better. Clearly the Council as the housing authority, needs to work with the Derbyshire PCT and Mental Health provider, as well as charities that offer specialist support to develop robust and effective support arrangements.

Bolsover Council has a Committee that can scrutinise such issues and on the 23rd May I emailed its Chair Cllr Mary Dooley asking them to review the support offered to ex-soldiers so that we can learn lessons from this case. Unfortunately I have not yet received an acknowledgement let alone a response - but I won’t give up and any support you can give would be welcome


Duncan

The experts agree

Regular readers (ha ha) will know that I've put down a question for the meeting of Bolsover Council on the 20th July drawing attention to the fact that it has the highest basic allowances of any District Council in England. This morning, five days after the question was submitted, a report from the Council's remuneration panel came through the letter-box, and surprise, surprise, they also think the allowances are too high and should be cut by 46%.

I wonder what the Council will make of it all next Wednesday - I'll let you know.

Duncan

"It wasn't me"

In my last post I drew attention to the fact that the poverty stricken council of Bolsover nether-the-less managed to pay its Councillors the highest allowances in the country. Apparently telling the public what is being done with their money has upset a few Bolsover Councillors who have been quick to claim that these allowances were based on recommendations of a panel.

I find this "it wasn't me" defence incredible - one moment Councillors are taking important decisions as leader of their community and worth ever penny of their allowances and more, but the moment you question them apparently all they do is rubber stamp officer report and recommendations. Power without accountability anyone?

Duncan

Bolosver gets organised

Packed meeting in Bolsover last night as part of the campaign to stop Bolsover Council from builidng 800 to 2,000 houses on green-land to the North of the town.

Government guidance tells Councils to build on brownfield land and God knows there's enough abandoned insutrial sites in Boslover District so why dig up good quality arable land?........could the answer having something to do with the money that the Council gets from the Government if it builds more homes?

I know that remediating the Coalite site and other such as the Whitwell pit site won't be cheap but it's got to be done some time - so lets get on with it...... we certainly won't help the problem by building on green land.

Inspirational talk at the meeting from Julie who took on the County Council and got their plans for an incinerator rejected - so it just shows what people power can do!

Blood / stone

If you ran a hotel you'd know how many rooms were empty each night wouldn't you? Well for 2 months I've been asking Bolsover Council how many council homes in Whitwell are empty and as you can see from the title I'm in a Fawlty mood.

They keep offering me ever wierder spreadsheets all of which have of course been filtered to remove properties empty for less than 20 days ,or having major work. I don't want any fudging I just want the simple data - there's a presentation to Council on the 20th I'm told - don't hold your breadth.

Duncan

Tescover

Cllr Watts Labour Leader of Bolsover thinks that we are becoming the Bakewell of North Derbyshire. Given the decisions already made in Clowne, Shirebrook and apparently now Bolsover I think you can see the future of our District is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfSi0D7KESk

You've been warned!

Cllr Duncan Kerr