Ahoy, Captain Sensible!

Fellow Blogger Rog T has unfairly criticised Deputy Council Leader Matthew Offord, whom he describes as Captain Useless. Earlier this year Cllr Offord did make a rather foolish remark by suggesting that the council tax rise was actually a tax cut because it was lower than the rate of inflation (which it wasn’t), but on this occasion the prospective parliamentary candidate for Hendon has made some rather sensible comments in his blog on the Barnet Times.

Matthew is taking part in the Fastnet sailing race and as someone who has never attempted anything more daunting than the paddle boats at Alexandra Palace, I admire his courage.

In his blog, Matthew says: “A criticism of politicians is that many do not have any interests outside of politics – making them very one-dimensional. This leads to a cerebral paralysis where they can’t see anything but what they are doing and often cannot accept that other people’s experiences are just as, if not more, valid than their own.”

This is a refreshingly frank admission from an aspiring MP. There are far too many politicians who have no life whatsoever outside of the political village, whose only friends are politicos who only ever want to talk about politics and their socialising consists entirely of cosy Friday night dinners with fellow members of their little clique.

Mathew concedes that having outside experience makes politicians better at their jobs and he also acknowledges that those of us who live in the real world do generally know what we are talking about.

Cllr Offord’s blog also contains a coded message about the value of teamwork. I wonder who on Earth he could possibly have been referring to when he said that no single person can do everything?

All change at the top

You may have noticed, dear Readers, that there have been a few changes to the layout of this blog. The “Not The Barnet Times” logo has moved from the side panel to the masthead, with the “Barnet Council Watch” logo moving in the opposite direction.

The reason for the change is that I have started a second blog called Not The Telegraph and marketing people tell me that it is important to create a brand image.

This blog will continue in the same format as before an can be accessed through the usual addresses of www.barnetcouncilwatch.org.uk and www.notthebarnettimes.co.uk

If you subscribe to this site using RSS, you shouldn’t need to change anything!

Not The Telegraph will deal with national issues. It will not replicate the work of the many hundreds of other blogs already in existence, but will instead discuss current issues in a slightly non conventional way. I hope you will enjoy it - and continue to enjoy Barnet Council Watch / Not The Barnet Times as well.

I write this blog under the pseudonym “Don’t Call Me Dave”. Not The Telegraph is written under the name “The Grim Ripa”. This is a reference to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act - known as RIPA for short - a piece of anti-terrorism legislation introduced by Tony Blair but which is now widely abused by local authorities across the country. It has become a snoopers charter for civil servants and I hope to play my part in having this legislation repealed or amended to keep public officials in check.

If you look at the right hand panel to this blog, you will see that I have now included a list of some of my favourite blogs which you might also enjoy. I have not included The Leader Listens because he doesn’t. If/when he does, I will be happy to add a link.

Richard Cornelius Sees The Light

When Barnet Council announced the closure of Totteridge Library, local resident Richard Cornelius stepped up to the plate and put himself forward for election. But despite the rookie candidate knocking veteran councillor Brian Coleman into second place in the poll, Richard was unable to save the library.

Once elected, and with a few tasty allowances tucked under his belt, Richard soon discovered that the council was not quite as bad as he had previously thought. Speaking to the Totteridge Residents Association last year, Cllr Cornelius said:

“Once I joined the Council almost two years ago, I had to overcome one big misconception. I found that the Council is competent in most things that it does.”

Like investing £27.4 million of taxpayers money in Icelandic banks, contrary to the council’s own investment guidelines?

Or overspending £4 million on the Aerodrome Road Bridge project?

Or buying £1.4 million worth of near obsolete laptop computers, with half of them still in storage 12 months later?

Or spending over £91,000 on audio visual equipment (including £14,000 on wide screen TVs for chief officers) in order to save £4,400 annual hire costs?

Just imagine how much worse things would be if the council was run by incompetent fools!

Mind your language!

This week Barnet Homes is running an open day for non English speaking council tenants.


Barnet Council has a translation and interpretation policy which states:

“Communicating effectively in English is believed by Government to contribute to the creation of strong and cohesive communities who have shared values and experiences as defined by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion.”

“The Government recently issued guidance on the translation of publications which emphasises the importance of the universal use of English, and recommends that translations should only be used in a selective and targeted way, be part of a wider communication strategy for communities, and act as a stepping stone to encourage people to learn English. Barnet’s draft policy is consistent with this guidance.”

This is a particularly delicate subject because obviously the council does not want to discriminate against any residents or be considered racist. On the whole, I think the council has got this policy right.

Tracey Lees, Chief Executive of Barnet Homes said: “We aim to provide services that meet the needs of all our tenants and to make everyone feel welcome and included.”

I have no argument with that guiding principle, but is it being unreasonable to ask that people who are in receipt of a council property should learn to speak English?

My paternal grandparents arrived in this country at the turn of the last century fleeing persecution. They were warmly welcomed into British society and, in common with most refugees at that time, they learnt to speak the language.

The United Kingdom has a long and proud tradition of accepting genuine refugees to our shores and, needless to say, I am in full support of that policy. But it almost goes without saying that unless they can speak English, they will never be able to fully integrate into society.

The danger is that if immigrants are perceived to be receiving special treatment, it can breed resentment amongst the indigenous population and gives an excuse to extremist groups like the BNP to whip up racial tension.

If people are entitled to benefits, they should receive them. But rather than spending what must be a small fortune on providing interpreters and translation services, wouldn’t the money be better spent teaching immigrants English?

The Barron Knights

Duke D'Mond (real name Richard Palmer), former lead singer of comedy pop group The Barron Knights, has sadly died at the age of 66.

The group had UK hits in the 1960s, 70s and 80s with satirical songs and parodies of the work of other artists. In their heyday The Barron Knights supported The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

Here is one of their songs from 1979 about the fuel crisis. It’s still relevant today.

Freer Condemns Smear Tactics

Somewhat belatedly jumping onto the bandwagon, Council leader Mike Freer has joined the calls for Finchley resident Damien McBride to be expelled from the Labour Party for his role in the shameful attempt to smear leading Conservative MPs, including David Cameron and George Osborne.

Mr McBride’s disgraceful behaviour was exposed by top blogger Guido Fawkes.

Following the condemnation of Mr McBride by Finchley & Golders Green MP Rudi Vis (himself no stranger to controversy following the disclosure that he effectively paid for his retirement home on the Suffolk coast at our expense), Mike Freer told the Ham & High Newspaper:

“Smear campaigns and gutter politics should have no place in the democratic process.”

Like Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Mr Freer was not elected leader by the people he leads, so we are unsure of his suitability to lecture anybody about the democratic process.

However, in the light of Cllr Freer’s comments, Barnet Council Watch wonders whether "Assassin in Heels” Spin Doctor McGearson will be receiving her P45 anytime soon?

Barnet’s Green Belt Saved!

Barnet has a new hero! Step forward Mr Michael Dawson, whose letter to the Cabinet forced them to ditch Cllr Melvin Cohen’s proposal to scrap the council’s right to determine its own green belt policies.

You can read Mr Dawson’s full letter here.

Poor Melvin sat isolated at the cabinet table trying to defend the indefensible report drawn up for him by officials. The rest of his colleagues knew that it would have been political suicide to vote down their own manifesto pledge.

Officers had argued that the council’s green belt policies could be scrapped because they were identical to national policies. Mr Dawson’s forensic analysis showed that this was simply not the case.

You can convert a house into flats and then back again, but once you concrete over the green belt, it is gone forever. Tonight, Barnet Council Watch raises a glass to Michael Dawson, saviour of the green belt!

Memo to Melvin Cohen: Next time, read the papers your officials send you before they are published on the council’s web site.

Brian Coleman and The Angel of Death

Older readers will recall the sale of three cemeteries by Westminster Council in 1987 for the grand sum of 15p - only to buy them back five years later for £4.2 million.

Having increased child burial charges by 6.25% earlier this year, Brian Coleman now proposes to effectively privatise Hendon Cemetery & Crematorium. Could this turn out to be yet another expensive mistake at the taxpayers’ expense?

According to the report being considered by the Cabinet Resources Committee tomorrow night, the council proposes to

“enter into a partnership contract for external investment in, and operation of, the crematorium and cemetery and the maintenance of redundant cemeteries in order to enhance and protect the future operation of the service.”

Read further into the report and the reason for giving up responsibility for the cemetery becomes clearer:

If the Council continues to manage and run the service in-house, it will need to make investment in the site, including mercury abatement equipment by 2012, and in the medium term to the gatehouse, the costs of which are estimated to be in the region of £1.5m.

You don’t need to be a genius to figure out that if a private company has to splash out £1.5 million on improvement works, they will have to recoup the money somehow, and the only way to do that is by increasing burial fees and charges, or cutting back on tending the grounds.

Now at this point, I must declare an interest. A very close friend of mine died last year and is buried at Hendon. The idea that the grounds will be maintained by a for-profit company makes me sick to my stomach.

Whilst I believe in the free market and a small state, I also believe that there are some services which should not be operated on a commercial basis, and this is one of them. Barnet Council, however, sees cemeteries as a way of making money. According to the report:

“…the aim is to retain a significant financial return for the Council whilst reducing the risks on income and cost.”

Making money out of the dead and the bereaved is about as low as you can get.

The proposals in the report were developed by Sector Projects, a company owned by Capita Group - or Crapita as it is known to Private Eye readers. Sector give the following reason to justify their recommendation:

“The management of the whole business by a private operator provides the best way forward for the service as it is likely to be managed by an organisation that understands the service better than the council…”

This cemetery has been in operation since 1899. What the council doesn’t know about operating it, isn’t worth knowing.

Taxpayers have paid for consultants to produce a report about a very sensitive matter yet we are not being consulted for our views. But, then again, since when did Brian Coleman ever care what the public thinks?

Green Belt under threat in Barnet

Another Barnet Council Watch Exclusive!

If there is one policy, above all others, for which the Conservatives in Barnet are justly proud, it is their relentless determination to preserve the green belt. Indeed, it was former Chipping Barnet MP Sir Sydney Chapman’s resolute defence of the green belt which persuaded me to join the local party.

In the 2006 Election Manifesto, Barnet Conservatives pledged:

• We will protect our Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Space from the plans that the Government has to develop every piece of land.

• Protecting the green belt has been paramount and no planning permissions have been granted by the Borough in the last 4 years that breach our commitment. We happily re-state that commitment.

You can’t get much clearer than that, so it is with absolute horror to discover that Cllr Melvin Cohen, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environmental Protection, is proposing to give up the council’s right to determine the fate of Barnet’s green belt land.

Previously, Barnet operated a Unitary Development Plan (UDP) which was effectively a rule book for all planning, development and regeneration decisions. Every council created its own UDP based on its own local requirements.

But the government just can’t help interfering in our lives and fixing things which aren’t broken, so UDPs are set to disappear to be replaced by Local Development Frameworks.

However, councils do have the right to save policies from their UDPs by making an application to the Secretary of State for Local Government. On 22nd April, the Cabinet will be considering Cllr Cohen’s report which contains a list of policies to be scrapped and, unfortunately, protecting the green belt is one of them.

Why? Well according to the Cabinet papers, it is because green belt land will instead be protected by national policies. What this means in reality is that Barnet will no longer set its own green belt policies but will rely on the policies determined by the government. This is not acceptable.

Decisions which affect Barnet should be taken locally in Barnet. Otherwise, what is the point of electing a council?

Even if, as many of us hope, a Conservative government is returned to power next year, central government should not be able to determine Barnet’s green belt policies.

Just as Parliament has abdicated many of its powers to Brussels, so Barnet Council seems to want to give up its powers to Whitehall. It would then only be a matter of time before some jumped up European official told Barnet to build a tower block on the green belt and the council would be powerless to stop it.

The Conservatives were elected in 2006 on a clear promise to protect the green belt. No iffs or buts. Any Cabinet Member who votes to remove the green belt from local control will be named and shamed on this blog.

Coleman attacks G20 protestor assaulted by Police officer

Barnet Council Watch strongly supports freedom of speech and the right to protest. We also support the right of Brian Coleman to make an idiot of himself with his increasingly tiresome comments.

Following the incident at the G20 protests, when Nicola Fisher was slapped across the face by a police officer and then battoned to the ground, Cllr Coleman issued the following statement: “Nicky Fisher turned up to this protest, which everyone said could be violent. She put herself in this situation and lo, she was hit. It’s like going gambling and then complaining that you’ve lost money.”

Barnet Council Watch wonders how many people attend demonstrations expecting to be hit in the face by a policeman?

Nobody disputes that the Police have a very difficult job to do. Most people agree that the overwhelming majority of officers diligently perform their duties to a high professional standard. But it is important to remember that no officer joins the force expecting it to be a quiet 9-5 desk job with an expense account and taxi on call. It is a tough job and officers will frequently be required to act under pressure. At a demonstration, it is to be expected that tempers will run high. Most officers act with restraint.

That an officer acted disproportionately should not be grounds for condemning the entire police force. But, as the saying goes, one bad apple can spoil the entire barrel and it is right that he has been suspended pending an investigation.

Speaking to the BBC, Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, said: “Have we changed the culture of policing protests in Britain so that officers now believe that their job is to crush dissent rather than manage it?”

You can see the extent of Nicola Fisher’s injuries on the Daily Express website.

Brian Coleman, referring to the protestor, said: “All right-thinking people will have little sympathy for her.” Once again, Mr Coleman is completely out of step with public opinion.

On the Conservative Home blog, the following comment was posted by Mr Nigel Fletcher: “Someone please lock Brian in his office before he finds his way to a microphone or camera. You know it makes sense.”

Mr Fletcher used to work for Coleman and is probably better qualified than most to comment.