The population is roughly 30,000.
Electoral roll is roughly 22,000.
The 2 petitions handed in contained between them 2,193. It was said by the Liberal Democrats that many of the signatures came from people outside St Neots.
The Facebook campaign has passed the 900 mark.
So it would be utterly ridiculous if only a few hundred turn up for the march!
If all the signatories of the petitions turned up there will be 2,193. That would be the minimum number needed to make this protest work. In my view 4,400 would make this protest worthy of note.
So what are these people marching on a Sunday for? To stop the imposition of car parking charges of 20 pence an hour / £1.50 a day - Free evenings and Sundays - at Riverside Car Park, St Neots. Rather ironic the day used for protest is the day that stays free!
A typical outburst is below by Jon Mountfort. His sites are frequently linked by the Facebook campaign run by with some Liberal Democrat Councillors on the admin team.
A typical outburst by Jon Mountfort: (my comments in red)
"This is the bunch of incompetent money-wasters (your opinion with NO EVIDENCE to back this up!) who've built themselves an 18 million pound palace (in previous rants this was £12 million) while removing every single facilitiy and amenity (every single facility and amenity? What has HDC closed? This is a downright lie. The Leisure Centre, Riverside and Priory Parks are some of the facilities and amenity STILL open.) from St Neots to pay for it. As their latest money-making scam, they have just voted to charge for St Neots' last two remaining free car parks (there are many other free car parks. The Hardwick Road Car Park and Priory Park are both still free. Another downright lie!), in doing so ignoring the wishes of over 2000 St Neots residents (the Liberal Democrats says many signatures came from people outside St Neots. So over 2000 St Neots residents didn't sign the petitions. Another UNTRUE statement) who signed two petitions. According to our Great Leader's own figures (which you can read for yourself if you wish by clicking on his face), the most that charging for the Riverside car park can raise is 20,000 pounds a year - that is if anybody still uses it once they have to pay! This is about a quarter of the annual electricity bill for Pathfinder Palace! If you move your mouse over their faces, you can see how much each of them claimed in expenses (this is a twisting of the truth. Councillors are paid a basic allowance plus more for more responsibilities. To label all these as expenses is WRONG and TWISTING the truth.) for 2008/09 - it adds up to about 120 thousand pounds. So if anyone knows of another five car parks they can charge for to cover their expenses, please email our Great Leader - he will be pleased to hear from you.
Not only that, but HDC produces a glossy newsletter called District Wide to tell us what a good job they are doing! (That's a laugh!) How much does that cost? (Instead of asking the question why didn't Jon look this up?)And the publicity department to produce it? The Right Honourable Eric Pickles has described these newsletters (no he didn't) as "propaganda on the rates" and "town hall Pravdas". (Eric Pickles was having a go at Councils producing local newspapers like the News and Crier and Hunts Post not District Wide. There is an issue Councils using CT Payers money for newspapers.) Good for Eric Pickles! He's absolutely right. (And Jon Mountfort is absolutely wrong!) Let's tell him what these buffoons are doing with our money, while they are charging mums to park their cars so their children can feed the ducks!
They also pay a Chief Executive 200,000 pounds a year to run the Council efficiently (that's a joke!) What does he do? Does anyone know? (The Councillors do and you can find out.) As we are paying him, perhaps he could have a webcam installed on his desk so we can see him in action! There's one thing I can promise you - I bet he doesn't pay to park his car! Just for fun, I've included his expenses claim for 2008/09 - yes, you've guessed it: 469 pounds for car parking! (Wrong! It is for Transport/Parking. There is nothing to say any money was spent on Parking. Jon Mountfort is distorting the truth.) Nice one!
But it doesn't end there! There are three other executive officers employed by this second-tier Council (remember it's not a County Council), who each get over 100,000 pounds a year. How can it take so many expensive people just to empty your bin? (Jon Mountfort deliberately misses out on the other services HDC provides) And talking of emptying bins, our poor dustmen have been cut back and cut back so often, they now have to run to do their job! This is so the fat-cats can say they are being more efficient. When was the last time they ran to work?"
I looked up scraphdc and savestneots on google and found these are pointing to a site called classic car tests. A bit of a weird site which tests two cars and has many photos of a woman called "Alex".
Those who are going to march on a Sunday to stop the charges, 20 pence an hour/£1.50 a day, free in evenings and Sundays, should think where the cuts will fall instead. Here are some options: Citizens Advice Bureaux or Huntingdonshire Volunteers.
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