Conservative In Touch - Nothing about the future

I thought I would review the Conservative intouch which came through my door recently. Apart from the lie over the toilets what else has this got to say?

Well the Conservatives want a chance.

And they also want to look after all your money. - Are they setting up a bank? Or will this be the result of the tax increases that may happen.

Joking apart the swimming pool seems to take prominence on the front page. I have to wonder whether the fact that Cllr Ursell (Conservative) is chairman of the Trust has anything to do with this.

As far as I can ascertain the land has yet to be sold.

On the bottom of the front page is an advert for Conservative Councillors. Since the candidates for the District Council have already been selected it is pretty pointless. The Conservatives may be still looking for candidates for Town Council. This is my take on the question posed:

On the inside we have a piece about the car parking charges. Nothing about their petition. Nor the fact that Conservative run HDC imposed these charges. Just shows how ineffective these councillors are!

Also on the inside is a piece on the Church Car park. Good that the Conservatives have finally gotten around to calling it what it is and not a community car park. Just because the Town Council has maintained this for 60 years doesn't make this right. Why should the council taxpayer subsidise this car park when the church had enough money to pay for it in the first place.

Hmm...On the last page Mandy Thomas still pops up as a Conservative Councillor. I supposed this leaflet was put to bed before Mandy resigned.

Finally I see this headline and I have to wonder.

Looking through this leaflet I see no pledges. No cuts in Council tax. No funds exclusively for Eynesbury Hardwicke. Nothing. So the message here is the Conservatives having made no pledges and going to deliver these non-existent pledges to the people of St Neots.

What of the flagship national policy of the New Homes Bonus? Utter silence. It is a though St Neots won't be seeing any of this money.

What sets out to be a good leaflet has, in fact, no specific content on what the Conservatives intend to pledge/promise to do for St Neots in the next 4 years. That is a pity and a missed opportunity by the St Neots Conservatives.

The Conservatives are devoid of anything to say about how they would take St Neots forward. The New Homes Bonus is missing. From this leaflet giving the Conservatives a chance will do little for St Neots.

Another Secret Meeting of the Town Council?

Well not so secret, though you would have to go down to the Town Council offices to find out about this because it isn't on the website.  The press and public are excluded from part of the meeting as it is to discuss the proposal to tarmac over Shady Walk Open Space for a cinema car park.

So what is so secret? The terms of sale/lease of the land of course and the amount of the land which the Town Council gives away to the developer. All this will be able to be kept secret until the developer puts in the planning application. So much for transparency.

As it says on the Forward Plan version 3 on the website:

Maintain and protect green space provision is not turning any of the green space at Shady Lane into a car park!

The meeting is on Thursday 24th March at 7pm. As with all Town Council meetings the residents are given 10 minutes to have their say on any matter under the Town Council at the start of the meeting. Then the press and public are excluded from the bit that matters.


We all know the Town Council is going to give away this piece of land. So why make this secret?


Is this how a "Quality Town Council" is supposed to work? Meetings added to the noticeboard but not added to the website! Obviously those at CPALC including Ian Dewar and Steve Wilkinson and his Accreditation Committee think this is how a Quality Town Council should operate as they bunged the Town Council the Quality Status. A meeting that is virtually kept secret from the people in the hope this goes through without as much as a mutter from those affected by this decision by the Town Council. Quality Town Council indeed. CPALC should reconsider their verdict that St Neots Town Council is a Quality Council.

Liberal Democrats asking what St Neots wants?

On their webpage St Neots Liberal Democrats have put up a survey. In the preamble it says this:

"Four years ago we asked residents what they wanted for our town. We prepared our manifesto accordingly. It's not been easy, but we've achieved a great deal, despite endless attempts to obstruct us and the actions of the District Council, such as doing away with free parking and closing toilets. We've built the new £1.2m Eatons Community Centre, refurbished the Priory Centre and all our playgrounds. Put in new Christmas Lights and bus shelters are made real progress towards a new pool and a cinema. This survey is designed to ask you what our priorities should be if you re-elect a Lib Dem Town Council in May.

The phrase: "despite endless attempts to obstruct us...." needs examination. The only people obstructing the Liberal Democrats have been the Liberal Democrats. With a majority of 8 (Liberal Democrats 13 - Conservatives 5) on the Town Council the Liberal Democrats should have been able to push through their programme without any opposition. They didn't and therefore the Liberal Democrats can only blame themselves for 4 wasted years.

The main problem has been finance and the inability of the Liberal Democrats to balance the budget for much of their term in office. So who was obstructing from within the Liberal Democrats? Cllrs Giles and Thorpe are prime candidates. The idea of setting up a Policy and Resources Committee was a good idea, but badly carried out. The idea of having a Council Leader was a good idea but was also badly carried out. The Town Council descended into financial crisis which was covered up for a time with not holding Policy and Resource Committee meetings and when they did eventually hold a meeting it was not to discuss finance. The only obstructions the Liberal Democrats encountered were their own.

Another phrase the needs examination is: "..the actions of the District Council, such as doing away with free parking and closing toilets." What has car parking to do with the Town Council? Now closing the toilets did put extra spending on the Town Council of £30,000 pa but shouldn't have deflected the Town Council from its course. The Town Council didn't have to takeover these toilets. Again deflecting the blame for the Liberal Democrats own problems.

Also: "refurbished... all our playgrounds." What about Shady Walk/Lane? This hasn't been refurbished. Turnstone Estates are looking to turn the whole area into a car park! Hardly refurbishment! This statement is saying something that hasn't happened.

Lastly: "This survey is designed...".There is something the Town Council produces which is called the Forward Plan. This plan says where the Town Council is going for the next 4 years. Were the public consulted over the formulation of this plan? Of course not. The Liberal Democrats put this through Town Council without asking what the public thinks of the future. Also when the Town Council was in financial crisis Cllrs Giles and Thorpe dumped the essential Town Plan, something which could have been used to point the way.

The preamble is about shifting the blame from the Liberal Democrats to somebody else. This is a classic tactic.

Whilst having a blast at the Liberal Democrats it should be noted the St Neots Conservatives have done nothing yet. At least the Liberal Democrats have done something. The Conservatives have closed their local website and the Huntingdon one doesn't have much to say about say about St Neots.

All change at Huntingdonshire District Council

Hunts Post reports: Ian Bates, current Council Leader, has decided to not to become Executive Leader after the local elections on 5th May 2011. Deputy Leader Mike Simpson isn't standing in his Huntingdon East ward in May so he is out of the picture. With the Chief Executive retiring (£139,000 payoff) and his role not being replaced HDC will be a bit rudderless for a time.

In part of the his statement Ian Bates says:
Cllr Bates reflected thus on his term as leader: “Through our financial prudence this district council has and is offering our residents a high quality of service, at a very low cost, and the quality of life which we all enjoy is second to none.”

The very low cost was achieved by demolishing reserves. The reserves are running out and Ian Bates is retiring from as Leader just before they do.

Who will replace Ian?

With 37 Conservative District Councillors there should be a wider choice. But there isn't. If the Conservative District Councillors don't have their heads in the sand it isn't obvious who will want to replace Ian Bates.

Starting with the St Neots Conservative District Councillors:

Rodney Farrer - Also a County Councillor. He threatened to resign from the Conservative Group over car parking charges at the Riverside but didn't.

David Harty - Also a County Councillor where he is Executive member for Education.

Mandy Thomas - Doesn't turn up to Council Meetings but likes the pay cheque.

Andrew Hansard - HDC Cabinet member. Currently member on of the Eynesbury Councillors and therefore not in a safe seat

Paul Ursell - Up for election in Eynesbury in 2011. Not the best attendance record at HDC.

Barry Chapman - New boy on the block. Not in the Cabinet and not in a safe seat.

There are two other District Councillors who represent the Love's Farm part of this Town via the Gransden and The Offords Ward.

Richard West - I know little about this person. Not in the Cabinet but is in a safe seat.

Barbara Boddington - Lives in South Cambridgeshire.

None of the St Neots Councillors are really up for the job as leader.

What of the current Cabinet?

Ken Churchill - Little Paxton ward. He is also a Magistrate. Would he have the time to put into being Leader? He is in a safe seat. He is a County Councillor.

Douglas Dew - St Ives South ward. Certainly a contender.

Jonathan Gray - Kimbolton. Certainly a rising star. Certainly a contender.

Colin Hyams  - Godmanchester. Was considering resigning over the toilets. But didn't.

Deborah Reynolds - St Ives East. Currently executive member for Leisure which drains much money from dwindling reserves. Would Deborah actually defend the Leisure centres over cuts?

Terrance Rogers - Earith. Currently Executive member for Finance. Obviously in touch with the Councils' Finances. Would that work against him if he stood for leader?

Any others?

Jason Ablewhite - St Ives East - He is a contender. Safe seat.

Steve Criswell - Somersham - Safe seat. He is also a County Councillor.

In conclusion:

Out of the 35 remaining Conservative District Councillors there are a few names. These are: Ken Churchill, Douglas Dew, Jonathan Gray, Deborah Reynolds and Terrance Rogers. The outside choice has to be Jason Ablewhite.

What remains is who out of these Councillors really wants to be leader with diminishing reserves and some severe cuts to be made. Will the new leader really have the balls to hold a referendum over Council Tax?

St Neots Tories Shocked At Town Council Grant News

St Neots Tories Shocked At Town Council Grant News:

I thought I would look in a bit of detail at the political responses to the "racist playgroup" story.

The Liberal Democrats have been very quiet. The news story broke on Wednesday morning and yet the Town Council "rushed" out a statement late on Thursday night. It was a pretty pathetic statement:

"St Neots Town Council does not operate the ‘Making Links’ group which is organised by the Open Door Church. St Neots Town Council grants have been awarded to a variety of community organisations and groups including ‘Making Links’.
A £1000 grant awarded to this group was entirely within our rules and regulations for grant aid to the community."

But then that is what Councils do when faced with a story against them. When it is story a Council delights in then you can't shut them up.

Now I'm not having a go at the Town Council for making the grant. The Town Council has to trust that people will spend the money wisely and for why it was granted. Otherwise it is a new set of red tape which will cost the Council Taxpayer yet more.

Not that it was a cash grant. The money was paid to The Priory Centre so this part of the Town Council didn't charge Making Links for the use of a hall.

The Liberal Democrats have really not liked this story and have hidden from it. The Conservative response is different and goes to town on the Liberal Democrats. Well it is a good story. Why shouldn't they?

The Conservative press release:

St Neots Tories Shocked At Town Council Grant News  Wednesday, 19 January, 2011

St Neots Conservatives were today critical of the news that the Liberal Democrat led St Neots Town Council had awarded funding to a playgroup that excluded British parents and children from attending on the basis of their race.

Conservative Councillor, Paul Ursell commented, (Standing for election in May 2011)

‘I am astonished that in today’s society it is felt appropriate to provide services on the basis of race. I recall that when Making Links came to the Town Council and asked for their grant, the Conservative Group questioned who would have access to the group and were subsequently accused of having racist undertones to our comments.’

Andy Jennings, Conservative Action Team member for Eaton Socon added, (Likely standing for election in May 2011)

‘This story seems absurd and has made St Neots Town Council the laughing stock of the nation. I thought that this kind of attitude had died a death sometime ago and we are shocked an appalled that British children and mothers are not allowed to mix with other ethnicities.’ (Over simplification of what was going on)

Simon Burton, the Constituency Organiser for the Huntingdon Constituency said, (Organising the elections in May 2011)

‘It seems strange that the Liberal Democrats have been complicit in what can only be considered segregation by the back-door. (The use of the term segregation is wrong. This is not segregation in the strict or loosest term.)

‘I recall that when he was selected a year ago the Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesman, Martin Land, accused the Conservative Party of being full of ‘closet racists’. (Not actually full) Given that his party control the Town Council and have done for many years, his comments now seem even more ridiculous than they did at the time they were first made.’ (Town Council elections in May 2011)

This press release is a bit of jumping on the bandwagon. It allows both potential candidates for seats, where the Conservatives want to win, to get their names in the newspapers.

St Neots Conservatives finally delete their website.

 

The St Neots Conservatives have finally gotten around to deleting their website. I suppose it had become very embarrassing with Vote Conservative on 1st June 2009. What has also been very embarrassing is my use of the website picking up embarrassing bits of what was said by the St Neots Conservatives in the past.

The demise of this website means the Conservatives can hide what they have said before. Also it consigns to history all the work the Conservatives did in the run up to the 2008 and 2009 elections. Luckily I took a copy of the website before its demise.

With little or no political leafleting and the St Neots Conservative website deleted this is just another avenue for our local politicians have closed in communicating with their electorate.

As expected: HDC to charge for car parks.

St Neots News and Crier - 24/06/2010

As predicted, the Conservative run HDC Cabinet has gone ahead with the imposition of car parking charges. With a £4.7 million deficit and £6.1 million in cuts I didn't think they would do otherwise. As the main point, how would you replace the expected loss of income by not going ahead, wasn't answered by the protesters. Nor could it be as the Conservatives don't want to talk about the deficit.

HDC had earlier presented 2 petitions. Whatever happened to the Conservative petition? The 2 petitions contained 1,548 signatures and 645 were disregarded by HDC. Again these didn't argue where the axe could fall instead.

The Cabinet seemed to be a few short on the night. Three members abstained and four members voted it through.

What did the powerless St Neots Conservative Councillors Group do to stop this. Well, they helped by passing the budget in the first place. Essentially agreed with this at the start.

So how did the St Neots Conservative Councillors Group do?

Cllr Barry Chapman, new Conservative on the District Council says:

"The car park charges will damage St Neots." - See later.

Car Park would have an impact on local workers on the minimum wage. - Er..If they can run a car they can pay for car parking charges. Otherwise walk.

cause further pollution in the High Street - Like all the extra pollution at the Super Clinic?

lead to extra vehicles in the town centre. - Traffic jams outside the Super Clinic?

The car park was for a leisure facility, Riverside Park, has an impact on users. - Did Cllr Chapman oppose charging at Hinchingbrooke? No, he didn't.

Cllr Bob Farrer (said he would resign if all this went through - it has and he hasn't)

Informs us it is a leisure car park. - Hinchingbrooke will now be 50 pence an hour.

Charges will have an adverse effect on the Town Council. - See later.

Angry that local councillors were not involved from the beginning - except they were.

So what has the opposition Liberal Democrats got to say about all this.

Cllr Thorpe, Town Mayor, (also Deputy Leader of the HDC Liberal Democrat Group) was "appalled" and added "They don't care about the people of St Neots. They only car about getting extra money into their coffers." And where would you find the money?

The award for the Sound of sanity (also the see later part) goes to John Davies when he says: "But they (the retailers) were also realistic. I know the District Council has always been supportive of Town Centres and retail, which just shows how serious the current situation is...".

This rumpus is over:

None of the retailers have come forward to take this over an leave it as a free car park. Nor has SNTC or even some of the wealthy Conservative councillors come forward to keep this car park free. None have come forward with any real alternative cuts or funding.

All this just shows how powerless are the useless Overview and Scrutiny Panels are. Also shows just how powerless the St Neots Conservative Councillors Group actually are. No resignations over this issue and all those St Neots Councillors on Cabinet didn't resign from that body either. All this has been one big pantomime by the Conservatives.

Like the row over the Super Clinic, where loads of useless and wild objections were made, the argument of 20 pence an hour look ridiculous to the outside world.

Comments on some letters in the St Neots News and Crier - 06/05/2010

St Neots News and Crier - 06/05/2010

What are HDC up to? - Sue Hodsell is correct when she has a go at the Conservative run HDC. Sue is right to point out that HDC is simply forcing costs onto Town Councils. The Conservatives are quick to trumpet to the low Council Tax rise (capped by the Government) but the £6.1 million of cuts is hidden away.

The Great Takeaway? - Jon Mountfort is right to point out what HDC is taking away from the residents. I disagree with his interpretation of the 1974 re-organisation of local government. All the UDCs and RDCs were merged so the land was not given away. What does need to happen is there needs to be an agreement between the District Council and the Town/Parish Councils as to who does what. HDC has burned it bridges with the Town/Parish Councils.

Why are they annoyed? - Julia Hayward is right to point out the St Neots Conservatives inability to call a by-election. Instead of blaming everyone else the Conservatives should take this on the chin. This seems to be the St Neots Conservatives way of blaming everyone else for their own mistakes.

Parking Protest

St Neots News and Crier - 29/04/2010

The Liberal Democrats have finally got their petition into HDC. I haven't seen the St Neots Conservative Councillors Group get their petition in, yet. What worries me about the Liberal Democrat petition is: "A significant proportion of the signatures came from visitors to the Town." This means the Council taxpayer is yet again subsidising people from other Towns to use our facilities.

The whole problem behind the introduction of charges is the Conservative run HDC has no real strategy on reducing the £6.1 million deficit. This and other piecemeal decisions will just keep making for bad publicity for HDC. The Council needs to have a proper strategy which includes off loading many services to the Town and Parish Councils.

No by-election for councillor

St Neots News and Crier - 29/04/2010

What is up with the St Neots Conservative Councillors Group? It is obvious they can't even call an election correctly. Cllr Bird said: "We thought the deadline was April 20 but it was April 10." The Conservatives knew Cllr Birks had resigned. They knew they would have to call an election for one to be held. Cllr Bird comes up with the lame excuse that the deadline was not made clear or well publicised. The notice was published in the prescribed way.

The St Neots Conservatives have made a right mess of calling a by-election and want to blame everyone else for something that they should have easily done.

The St Neots Conservatives simply failed. The St Neots Conservatives aren't worthy!

Gardener Leaflet fails to talk about the £6.1 million deficit.

I received a Conservative leaflet for their candidate in Eynesbury - Ian Gardener. Good looking leaflet though I do have some issues. The Conservative run Huntingdonshire District Council is looking to cut £6.1 million. Why is there no mention of this in this leaflet?

My priority is to find out how the Conservative run HDC is going to cut £6.1 million from spending. So where are these cuts going to fall?

So Ian will lobby. No promise to reverse this decision? Why not promise something like I will not support a budget until this is reversed? Lobby is very feeble.

Er...This was a decision by the Conservatives at HDC. So the St Neots Conservatives managed to save something by getting the St Neots Council taxpayer to pick up the bill!

Nothing about money being put aside as your colleagues want? Not disappointed that the Conservatives is using Town Council money to keep the toilets open which HDC were going to close.

What does "fully supportive" mean?

I expect this list to be adhered too and will hold the Conservatives to account over this list.

The reason the Council tax level is so low is Conservative run HDC is propping up the budget through the use of reserves. A few years ago the Conservatives were willing to jack up the Council Tax by 80%. They still need to find £6.1 million in cuts to maintain this level of Council Tax. This fact the Conservatives are almost silent on.

Huntingdon Conservatives not working

Can the Conservatives make more of a mess of their campaign. Yes they can! I received my first leaflet of this campaign from the Conservatives. I will have more to say on it in a later blog. The St Neots Conservatives have a new campaign website at: http://www.hcca.org.uk.com. 

When I entered this web address into my web browser I found the following:

So the Conservatives are pointing electors to a campaign website that is Under Construction. Can this campaign get any worse? Of course it can! No wondered I voted for Steve van de Kerkhove.

Co-opting for the vacant Town Council seat!

There is a vacant seat on St Neots Town Council. Fiona Birks (Liberal Democrats) resigned her Eaton Socon seat in March and the vacant seat has been advertised. The by-election would have been run on 27th May 2010. I would have thought the Conservatives would have been champing at the bit to fight the Liberal Democrats at Town Council level. Obviously not. Instead of a by-election the vacancy is now going to filled by co-opting someone onto the Town Council. Further information here.

If the St Neots Conservative Councillor Group are to be taken seriously they need to fight by-elections to show the strength of public feeling is backing them. Obviously, the Conservatives feel they would lose.

Are the St Neots Conservatives worthy?

I have to ask: "Are the Conservatives worthy of our vote?" I have to ask this because minutes have now been produced for the meeting on 17th February 2010 (nearly 2 months ago) of the Huntingdonshire District Council.

What was missing from this Council meeting was anything from the St Neots Conservative Councillors Group (SNCCG) about the car park and public conveniences they have whinged on so much in the papers both before and after. Yet at this council they were silent and the proposals were voted through. In fact it was Cllr Thorpe who raised the issue of car parking charges and public conveniences as uses for the 60 pence a year extra the Liberal Democrats wanted on the Council Tax bill.

According to the minutes the Conservatives stayed silent on these issues. Which of the St Neots Conservative Councillors Group were at this Council meeting? All those on the District Council did. These were:

Councillors

Ken Churchill

Robert Farrer

Andrew Gilbert

Andrew Hansard

David Harty

Mandy Thomas

Paul Ursell

In the Council minutes, a frustrated Cllr Ablewhite admonished the Liberal Democrats for bringing forward amendments to the budget at this late stage. He referred to the budget procedure saying these amendments could have been brought up at Overview and Scrutiny (Economic Well-being).

With what is good for the Liberal Democrats is good for the SNCCG. I therefore found the minutes for this meeting. I looked to find who from the SNCCG was at this meeting. Cllr Thomas was. Cllr Gilbert gave his apologies. No other SNCCG members were at this meeting. The only talk was the sale of The South Street toilets. That is all.

The whole Conservative Car parking campaign has been a PANTOMIME. When the SNCCG had an opportunity to try to change the budget, THEY DIDN'T. When it came to the crunch, all they did was vote along with their fellow Conservative Councillors for the closure of the loos and the car parking charges.
For the last few months St Neots residents have been treated to a Conservative PANTOMIME over these issues. A PANTOMIME which was there to divert the attention from the Conservative decisions over closures/car parks and try to blame the Liberal Democrats.

The more this goes on, the more comes out about this and other issues:

• Cllr Farrer going off on one by claiming he and Cllr Harty weren't consulted on the car park charges. Minutes show both knew of these charges and made their views known but were ignored.
• Closure of the Public Conveniences by Conservative run HDC meant the SNCCG had no influence over this decision. It was easier to blame the Liberal Democrats than to stand up to a decision taken by their Conservative party colleagues.
• Lest we forget. Cllr Hansard and Cllr Churchill are Cabinet members. Obviously the car park charging wasn't a resigning issue as they are still in the Cabinet!
• The annexation of Eynesbury Hardwicke Town Ward and Love's Farm + the area to the west of the A428 was decided by the Conservative run HDC. Cllr Harty and Cllr Gilbert were Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Election Panel reviewing these boundaries. Having decided to annex to SNTC these areas when the Council tax bills come through this is now apparently the Liberal Democrats fault!
• Cllr Farrer saying if the Riverside Car Park wasn't free for 3 hours he would consider going Independent. The Council didn't and, so far, Cllr Farrer hasn't gone Independent. I wonder why?

Great Campaign Start in Huntingdon! According to Jonathan Djanogly

In his post on his campaign website Jonathan Djanogly says he had Great Campaign Start in Huntingdon! What was also said was:

"In the evening we canvassed in Eynesbury. There certainly seems to be many people who are unhappy at the decision of the Liberal Democrats on the Town Council to use the funds from Eynesbury Hardwicke to subsidise the rest of the town!"

Err...What. Maybe they would be very unhappy with the fact the Conservatives changed the boundary so the Liberal Democrats could do this. You just can't trust politicians to tell the whole truth!

The Conservative Crosshall Road Roundabout campaign?

The Hunts Post St Neots - 07/04/2010 digital edition

In an article "Head backs fight on 'danger' road", the Head of the Crosshall Infants School backs Mark Jones campaign for a crossing at the Mill Hill Road/Duloe Road roundabout. What I don't understand is much of this should be under the Safer Routes to Schools programme.

If the school wants the crossing then the school should pay for the crossing. This seems to me to be budget protection by the Infants school and a raid on other departments spending. With spending cuts on the horizon this is going to feature more and more.

A petition was presented to the Joint Highways Committee way back in early 2009 on this subject. A report was prepared to the Committee and the decision was made not to proceed. Minutes of the Meeting + Report to the Meeting.

What I don't understand is the County Council spokesman. He told the paper "It had suggested it could be funded by St Neots Town Council, but not yet heard from the Town Council". Funny that. I can't find that in the minutes or report to the Highways Committee.

So the school who supports this programme doesn't want to pay for it. The Highways Dept. in charge of the roads doesn't want to pay. So who is to pay for all this? The St Neots Council Taxpayer, yet again!

And what of the St Neots Conservative Councillors campaign on this subject. This can be seen here. After the initial flourish the campaign has gone nowhere. The problem is the Conservatives are trying to be popularist by supporting campaigns. Someone in the St Neots Conservative Councillors Group needs to get a grip and only support campaigns likely to happen. Otherwise the St Neots Conservatives will look useless. Which they do!

Treading water in the pool of despair

The Hunts Post St Neots - 07/04/2010 digital edition

The Swimming Pool trust is in the papers again. This time, this unaccountable body, is pushing the pool out to the long grass. Cllr Ursell (St Neots Conservative Councillor) informs the public the land sale will be pushed back. The trouble is land prices will be depressed for a long time. Cllr Gordon Thorpe (Liberal Democrat) is diminishing expectations over the type of pool from a proper open air swimming pool to a splash/fun pool for children.

This is the trouble with having Councillors in charge of this project. This charity is far too close to the Town Council and should have independent trustees. This is shown with the bad reporting record to the Charity Commission.

Parish Boundary Review - How the St Neots Conservatives messed up.

It is easy to believe the Conservative Councillors that this review was something dreamt up by the Boundary Commission. In fact the review of Parish/Town Council arrangements fall squarely on the Conservative controlled HDC.

It came across to me very clearly that our St Neots Conservative Councillors Group were absent in the formulation of these boundary changes. I couldn't find one representation from the Conservatives to this review. The whole lot went through with only a murmur and that was from EHPC. 

So when the Conservatives complain about the hard up people of the annexed areas, they should stand up and inform those residents what they did. Because I can find nothing. The Elections Panel actually was chaired by D. Harty and A. Gilbert was made Vice Chairman during this process. The recommendations were approved by Council, of which all the Conservative District Councillors, at the time, were members.

Instead of standing up and informing the residents as to why they think this is a good idea, now the consequences are becoming apparent they hide or blame the Liberal Democrats. All very easy. Below, I've mapped out how this decision was made. 

This was a Conservative decision. There is no getting away from that.

The original decision was taken in March 2006. - No paperwork on that. The Elections Panel was charged with the job of looking at the boundaries and electoral arrangements.

Elections Panel 22nd August 2006

Elections Panel Minutes 22/08/2006

This sets out the reason behind the review (in legislation) and what the review could do.

Consultation Summary 22/08/2006 / Edit version here

This shows the Liberal Democrats were in the running. The "St Neots Conservative Councillors were nowhere!

The St Neots Conservative Councillors at this meeting were: D Harty, A Gilbert

Elections Panel 2nd October 2006

Draft Proposals - 2nd October 2006 / Edit version here

This set out the draft proposals for the new St Neots boundary.

Annex A - Electoral proposals

SNCCG - D. Harty and A. Gilbert

Elections Panel 19th February 2007

Elections Panel Meeting 19/02/07 Appendix

This appendix is a summary of suggestions from the Public. Not one was received from St Neots.

SNCCG - D. Harty. A Gilbert -apologies

Elections Panel 20th November 2007

Elections Panel Minutes 20/11/2007

This was the agreement for the changes to the St Neots Boundary.

SNCCG - D. Harty and A. Gilbert

The Final Report / Edit version

This set out the final version to go to Council

Parish Summary / Edit version

This a summary of the last representations.

Council Meeting 5th December 2007

Council 5th December 2007

This approved the new boundary!

Elections Panel 25th March 2009

Election Panel Minutes 25/03/09
Awaiting details of the confirmation

02/12/2009 Parish Orders Report

Huntingdonshire (Parishes) Order 2009
The Parish Orders.

Huntingdonshire District Council - Parish Boundaries
Link to webpage

My comments on letters in The Hunts Post - 31/03/2010

The Hunts Post St Neots - 31/03/2010 digital edition

It doesn't add up - Hanus Wolf is correct. What has happened is Conservative controlled HDC has moved you into SNTC. It s a pity that SNTC or EHPC didn't bother to inform residents of what was going on! Wouldn't it have been good for the annexed residents to get a welcome letter?

Against charges - Cllr Barry Chapman goes on the offensive. The open question I do have for Cllr Chapman is when was the Conservative petition presented? I can't find this at the 16th March Cabinet Meeting. Other minutes have yet to be issued.

Over the odds - Michael Van de Kerkhove is the right in having a go at the local Conservatives. Time and again we are being let down by the self styled "St Neots Conservative Councillors". He is also right to point out the potential cartel which arises from "local competition". I see Djanogly has gone missing on this subject.

On my doormat! This month's look at the number of political leaflets received

In the month of March on the lead up to the local elections and a very likely General Election I received 2 leaflets. 1 from Martin Land and 1 from the "St Neots" Conservatives.

Well that is now three leaflets in 2 months. Nearly a record. The current score is Liberal Democrats 2 - Conservatives 1.

Still waiting on the Djanogly's taxpayer funded Winter edition leaflet.