I absolutely love being a student. I never forget what a privilage it is to get University education, especially here in London. I am three quarters of the way through my post-graduate degree, and still cannot believe I have not been kicked out yet.
This course contributes points to a Masters in Public Administration, and we have just completed some study on employment law and good governance. The tutors are excellent, and I really enjoy the company of the other students. It has really been a big help in understanding my role as a councillor and my only regret is I did not have the chance to do this course a year or so after being elected as a councillor a life time ago.
The more I study the more I realise two things.
1. Rushmoor is a very well run Council, with first class officers.
2. Borough Councillors have been stripped of too much power and ability to lead and represent properly their communities. Too much policy and directives come from Whitehall, and not enough is coming from the ground up - so no wonder it often does not work or meet the needs of residents.
More power and authority needs to be devolved down to Borough Councillors, and we need to play a greater role in making local decisions and setting local policy. Too much power has been taken further away from the people that power effects.
It is time for the tide to turn.
8 comments:
A well run council is not an expression commonly heard on the street. Many expressions are used to describe this council, 'well run' is not one of them.
This is a council that has lost two million pounds of our money.
- Rushmoor's Finance Director's letter to Councillors
- Rushmoor loses £2 million
Asked of the missing millions, a councillor, a cabinet member no less, responded, and I quote
I'm not bothered.
Drawn to his attention that chief executive Andrew Lloyd had blatantly lied when he claimed Icelandic bank Glitnir was A-rated and that finance director Peter Gardner had misled when he claimed they were closely monitoring the financial situation and he and his team were not aware of the situation in Iceland, the councillor responded with the following lame response and again I quote
I can only listen to what my officials tell me.
This is what constitutes good governance in Rushmoor.
- Learning how to govern
The situation in Iceland had been known for months, some advisers were warning of the situation at least two years ago.
Homeless are denied housing by the council. The council denies there is a problem of homelessness in the borough.
We have slum estates in the borough, slum on which criminals act with impunity. The council denies there is a problem and claims the estates are well run.
In North Town it must be bad as the local councillors are off their backsides and making a fuss. Not actually doing anything useful mind, just making a lot of noise.
The street parking in North Camp is unlawful, and probably elsewhere in the borough. The council knows it is unlawful, knows it is causing problems for local residents and traders, but continues to take money on the back of an unlawful scheme.
- North Camp traders suffer
- North Camp street parking
Farnborough town centre has been destroyed, people at Firgrove Court driven out of their homes. Those kicked out of their homes at Firgrove Court are still fighting to receive compensation. Jean Jean, a family business of thirty years, will close its doors for the last time in the New Year. All the other long established family businesses have long gone. Since the summer, three retailers have gone into administration. The one remaining shoe shop will shortly be closing down. One of the charity shops whose lease is due for renewal in November will in all likelihood pull out unless they get a substantial reduction in rent as the shop is failing to meet its targets.
Both Farnborough and Aldershot have all the indicators of failing town centres, card shops, charity shops, junk food shops, boarded up shops, yobs hanging about.
Aldershot town centre is all but dead. Even the charity shops are pulling out. The retail development being pushed by the council, next to the edge-of-town Tesco superstore, will kill what little is left of the town centre stone dead.
- Aldershot Westgate Scandal
- Aldershot ghost town
- Aldershot town centre regeneration
The only good news coming out of Farnborough is that The Developer from Hell, as St Modwen is known across the country, is heading towards bankruptcy.
- St Modwen Credit Crunched
- St Modwen financial meltdown
Last year, several thousand households had their lives made a misery for 6-months when they were forced onto fortnightly waste collection. Now, as a punishment, households are to be issued with half-size wheelie bins at a cost to the local taxpayer of at least three-quarters of a million pounds. None of which has anything to do with waste reduction or recycling, but will lead to a lot of fly tipping.
- Rushmoor wheelie bin madness
- Rushmoor defends crass half-size wheelie bin policy
- Rushmoor's Waste Management Panel's recommendations
- Statement to Sunday Telegraph
A quick straw poll in Asda: does this council do anything useful, is it well run? The answer was a resounding no.
A well run council is not an expression commonly heard on the street. Many expressions are used to describe this council, 'well run' is not one of them.
This is a council that has lost two million pounds of our money.
- Rushmoor's Finance Director's letter to Councillors
- Rushmoor loses 2 million
Asked of the missing millions, a councillor, a cabinet member no less, responded, and I quote
I'm not bothered.
Drawn to his attention that chief executive Andrew Lloyd had blatantly lied when he claimed Icelandic bank Glitnir was A-rated and that finance director Peter Gardner had misled when he claimed they were closely monitoring the financial situation and he and his team were not aware of the situation in Iceland, the councillor responded with the following lame response and again I quote
I can only listen to what my officials tell me.
This is what constitutes good governance in Rushmoor.
- Learning how to govern
The situation in Iceland had been known for months, some advisers were warning of the situation at least two years ago.
Homeless are denied housing by the council. The council denies there is a problem of homelessness in the borough.
We have slum estates in the borough, slum on which criminals act with impunity. The council denies there is a problem and claims the estates are well run.
In North Town it must be bad as the local councillors are off their backsides and making a fuss. Not actually doing anything useful mind, just making a lot of noise.
The street parking in North Camp is unlawful, and probably elsewhere in the borough. The council knows it is unlawful, knows it is causing problems for local residents and traders, but continues to take money on the back of an unlawful scheme.
- North Camp traders suffer
- North Camp street parking
Farnborough town centre has been destroyed, people at Firgrove Court driven out of their homes. Those kicked out of their homes at Firgrove Court are still fighting to receive compensation. Jean Jean, a family business of thirty years, will close its doors for the last time in the New Year. All the other long established family businesses have long gone. Since the summer, three retailers have gone into administration. The one remaining shoe shop will shortly be closing down. One of the charity shops whose lease is due for renewal in November will in all likelihood pull out unless they get a substantial reduction in rent as the shop is failing to meet its targets.
Both Farnborough and Aldershot have all the indicators of failing town centres, card shops, charity shops, junk food shops, boarded up shops, yobs hanging about.
Aldershot town centre is all but dead. Even the charity shops are pulling out. The retail development being pushed by the council, next to the edge-of-town Tesco superstore, will kill what little is left of the town centre stone dead.
- Aldershot Westgate Scandal
- Aldershot ghost town
- Aldershot town centre regeneration
The only good news coming out of Farnborough is that The Developer from Hell, as St Modwen is known across the country, is heading towards bankruptcy.
- St Modwen Credit Crunched
- St Modwen financial meltdown
Last year, several thousand households had their lives made a misery for 6-months when they were forced onto fortnightly waste collection. Now, as a punishment, households are to be issued with half-size wheelie bins at a cost to the local taxpayer of at least three-quarters of a million pounds. None of which has anything to do with waste reduction or recycling, but will lead to a lot of fly tipping.
- Rushmoor wheelie bin madness
- Rushmoor defends crass half-size wheelie bin policy
- Rushmoor's Waste Management Panel's recommendations
- Statement to Sunday Telegraph
A quick straw poll in Asda: does this council do anything useful, is it well run? The answer was a resounding no.
Participatory democracy, now that would be a fine thing!
Thomas Paine introduced the revolutionary idea of representative democracy, so revolutionary that he was forced to flee the country for his life.
His idea, at a time of absolute power, was that if men of good sense from all parts of the country put forward their ideas, as one did in a revolution, then it would be a good thing.
It was a step in the right direction, but ultimately it was a failure. That is why fewer and fewer people bother to vote as it is a waste of a vote.
Representative democracy has failed. Corruption and bribery is the norm.
A planning official asks for something for himself, something for his boss. Small businesses are harassed, big business given subsidies. A chief executive of a local authority, a leader of a council, an elected mayor, all work closely with developers to promote their agenda. Sleazy politicians slum it on a yacht belonging to a Russian billionaire with alleged close links with the Russian mafia. Cabinet ministers when abroad pimp for arms dealers. The US Ambassador intervenes on behalf of Coca-Cola when their bottling plant in Kerala in southern India (one of the driest states) was depriving local farmers of water.
Locally, Lib Dem councillor Paul Bowers is even more unpopular than the unpopular neo-Labour non-entity councillor he unseated. No sooner was he elected, than he made a complete fool of himself. He ran to the local comic and said the retail development next to Tesco should go ahead. Had he talked to his constituents, talked to the few remaining retailers in the town centre, he would have learnt the development was not wanted as it would kill off what little remains of Aldershot town centre. Since elected in May, he has not been seen. He fails to take up cases, fails to respond let alone act upon e-mails and telephone calls. Invited to tour one of Aldershot's slum estates to see at first hand the problems experienced by tenants, he failed to turn up when ordered not to attend by the borough chief executive. Invited to participate in a media interview on the disastrous waste collection policies in the borough, he pulled out at the last minute as he had been ordered not to participate by his party and he did not want to be in trouble with his party. But the film crew managed to catch him. He refused to talk with them claiming he knew nothing about rubbish!
Representative democracy has failed. There is no accountability, no representation.
Look around England and there are no examples of participatory democracy. It is necessary to travel to Latin America to see participatory democracy in action.
The Cuban economy almost collapsed when the Soviet Union collapsed and they no longer had access to cheap oil. Something we will all face in the near future when oil runs out. State farms were broken up, the land handed to cooperatives or individuals. Urban gardens were developed, roof top gardens. Waste land was handed over, no tax, no rent, provided the land is productive. Cuba has more scientists than any other Latin American country. They were deployed to the task. Cuba has gone organic. The urban gardens are capable of feeding Havana. Cuba is now a net exporter of food.
- The Power of Community {DVD}
Gaviotas was established in the dry savanna east of the Andes in Colombia by visionaries. If a community could survive there, it could survive anywhere. Centuries ago, the arid savanna was rainforest. The community planted trees, millions of Caribbean Pines, the only thing that would grow. The trees are tapped for their valuable resin. The rain forest has reappeared. The community has developed their own wind turbines, submersible water pumps, hydro turbines, solar energy collectors, solar kettles and ovens, hydroponic gardens. Decisions are reach by consensus.
In Porte Alegre and Curitiba in Brazil, the cities are run through participatory democracy.
In Venezuela, a brutal massacre of civilians in 1989, led to Hugo Chavez mounting an unsuccessful army coup, for which he was imprisoned, then released following mass public protest. To date Hugo Chavez has been re-elected seven times. He has implemented a policy of participatory democracy.
- Venezuela Bolivariana
Venezuela controls a quarter of the world's oil supplies, but is is not that scares the US, that caused the CIA to mount a failed coup, it is the Bolivarian Revolution, and the fear that it will spread throughout Latin America. The same fear that caused Ronald Regan to attack the Sandanistas in Nicaragua. What Oxfam at the time called the threat of a good example.
In Argentina the economy collapsed, foreign capital fled the country, the banks were closed, factory owners abandoned their factories putting millions of workers out on the streets, popular protests removed half a dozen presidents in as many weeks. The workers have seized the factories and are running them more successfully than when they were owned and run by their former owners. All decisions are reached by consensus.
- The Take {DVD}
In the Chiapas autonomous region of Mexico the Zapatistas seized control. They have now been in control for a decade. All decisions are reached by the local community, men, women and children all participate.
Critics would argue that participatory democracy is inefficiency, long winded. Nothing is more inefficient than reaching the wrong decision.
Local people said they did not want fortnightly waste collection. It went ahead anyway. It was an unmitigated disastrous and the council was forced into a humiliating climbdown. Now the council is trying to push through half-size wheelie bins. Again not wanted but no one apart from David Clifford appears to be listening, let alone acting for local residents.
The street parking in North Camp, apart from being unlawful, is an unmitigated disaster. Local residents said it was not wanted, local traders said it was not wanted, but they were ignored. At a public meeting it was again reiterated that it was not wanted, to which was added the problems it was causing. Again everyone was ignored.
Representative democracy has failed. We have to move to participatory democracy. In Rushmoor, residents are lucky if they are even consulted, and then minds have already been made up, it is an exercise in going through the motions.
First class officers?
First class officers in the planning department who pushed through plans that have destroyed Farnborough town centre.
--- ditto for Aldershot ---
First class officers in the housing department who promoted a series of seminars on the new housing legislation, but held no seminars for tenants.
First class officers in the environment department who seem loath to prosecute Rachman landlords, loathe to deal with environmental noise and other nuisance. Failed to deal with burning of sofas and rubber in the street in Aldershot.
First class borough solicitor. Advised councillors how to avoid serious charges by Standards Board, sits on internal standards board as 'independent' member.
First class officers in the finance department who lost two million of our money in Iceland.
Would this money have been lost if we had participatory democracy? The answer is no as we would have been drawing on local expertise and someone would have drawn attention to the problems in Iceland, problems that were common knowledge but which somehow were unknown to our first class finance officers. Someone who works in the City (or did) shouting hey, don't you guys know Iceland is going down the tubes? Or even an ordinary member of the people highlighting the adverse press coverage of Iceland.
Same with planning. How many people wanted yet another superstore in Farnborough and fewer shops?
Participatory democracy works because the local community has a vested interest in making it work. The only interest of our first class officers is the size of their salary and pension package and councillors their allowances.
Were the local community in control of this council at least half the officials would be fired and most of the councillors would be kicked out of office. And good riddance too.
Essential reading list for students of democracy:
Tariq Ali, The Duel
Sharon Beder, Global Spin, Green Books, 2002
Lester R Brown, Plan B 2.0, Norton, 2006
Noam Chomsky, Necessary Illusions, South End Press, 1989
Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy
Noam Chomsky, Hegemony or Survival
Noam Chomsky, Failed States, Metropolitan Books, 2006
Edward S Herman and Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent, Pantheon Books, 1988
Noreena Hertz, The Silent Takeover, William Heinemann, 2001
Paul Kingsnorth, One No, Many Yeses, The Free Press, 2003
Naomi Klein, No Logo, Flamingo, 2000
Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine
Ed Mayo and Henrietta Moore, The Mutual State, New Economics Foundation, 2001
John Pilger, New Rulers of the World, Verso, 2002
John Pilger, Freedom Next Time, Bantam Press, 2006
Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and its Discontents, Penguin/Allen Lane, 2002
Mark Thomas, As used on the Famous Nelson Mandela, Ebury Press, 2006
Mark Thomas, Belching Out the Devil, Ebury Press, 2008
Hilary Wainwright, Reclaim the State, Verso, 2003
Alan Weisman, Gaviotas, Chelsea Green, 1998
According to the local comic, first class officers in the parking department are to spy on mothers dropping off their offspring on the local school runs using CCTV and issue on the spot fines. [see Secret Cameras to target school run, Farnborough Mail, 28 October 2008]
Does this not smack of the Stasi in the former East Germany?
Goose-step forward Mike Bamber.
This little Hitler must enjoy being the bully on the block.
A few weeks back a disabled woman was hit with a fine of several hundred pounds for parking on a yellow line when the disabled parking bay was occupied.
The legislation allows discretion.
It is all too easy to scapegoat government.
The majority of crass decisions coming out of this council are as a result of dumb decisions by councillors, not through government diktat. Though if we look a little closer, we find councillors only pretend to take decisions, what they actually do is rubber stamp what officials put before them.
Did the government tell Mike Bamber to charge for the Salisbury Road car park, to introduce unlawful street parking in North Camp that is harming local traders and causing a nuisance to local residents. His latest is to target parents dropping off their offspring at the school gates. A policy that has been imposed, like all his other policies, with no consultation with the public.
- Big Brother targets the school run
It is not government that is demanding this. If you check out Neil Herron's excellent blog on car parking you will find that not only is this not coming from government, that government is not only highly critical but has said many of these schemes like the one in North Camp are unlawful, but the government has no power to intervene, it is for aggrieved local residents to pursue the matter through the courts. In Leeds the council is facing criminal prosecution for a similar scheme to that in North Camp.
- Neil Herron Blog
It cannot even be claimed Bamber is concerned at the school kids being run down. Parent dropping off kids is just an easy target for him to hit with more fines. Were he concerned, he'd be dealing with parking and bins on the pavement, eg Park Road in North Camp and Grosvenor Road in Aldershot. Mums with kids and buggies and toddlers at their sides are being forced out into the road into the path of oncoming speeding traffic.
Did the government tell David Quirk to put several thousand households on fortnightly waste collection, to issue every household with a half-size wheelie bin? We all know what the problems will be, but the councillors rubber-stamped what was put before them, then parroted what Quirk told them to say.
Do we have councillors or glove puppets?
Did the government tell the council to lose two million of our money in Glitner Bank?
The underlying problem is poor quality officials, many of whom should be fired, and low calibre councillors who are not fit for office.
There are too many councillors like Paul Bowers. Only too happy to collect his allowances, but not willing to do the work.
We need more councillors like David Clifford and Peter Sandy (forced out of office by officials). Councillors who take their role seriously and work hard on behalf of their constituents.
We also need devolved power. Not power devolved from Whitehall to local councillors who would only abuse that power, but power devolved down to the local community, ie participatory democracy.
I'm on the same course as David and I hope he'll allow me to add a comment to his blog.
David speaks about his community with great passion and commitment. He is by far the most enthusiastic student in our group and the star pupil for coursework. And he's doing the course to be a better councillor.
One of the things we do on the course is look at how well our councils are implementing their legal obligations. David's observation that his council's officers are 'first class' will be based on this work.
David - see you in London for the next module.
Susan
Susan
How kind!
An unexpected compliment from one of the courses real intellectuals. I will buy you a coffee next lesson break.
See you end of November.
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