All change at NTC? Options

[massifheed]

User23 often says more people should get involved on local politics, but when they do, he quickly resorts to tactics that he himself would object to.

I think RG makes himself an easy target. He only ever seems to appear on the forum when he's trying to drum up support for something he's involved in or when there's a whiff of a vote in the air.

For someone who seems to want people to believe he wants to make a difference and not be seen to be like every other politician, he ends up looking like every other politician.

[Strafin]

To be fair he has been doing other things, he can't be fully "on" as a politician 24/7

[Andy Capp]

I think RG makes himself an easy target. He only ever seems to appear on the forum when he's trying to drum up support for something he's involved in or when there's a whiff of a vote in the air.

For someone who seems to want people to believe he wants to make a difference and not be seen to be like every other politician, he ends up looking like every other politician.

That is fine, and it is reasonable to put people who wish to stand for office under scrutiny, but what user23 did just now was seemingly attempt to paint RG as an illegitimate candidate, even though I suspect user23 knows roughly where he lives.

[dannyboy]

User23 often says more people should get involved on local politics, but when they do, he quickly resorts to tactics that he himself would object to.

why would anyone want to get involved?

it won't make no bleeding difference.

[massifheed]

...what user23 did just now was seemingly attempt to paint RG as an illegitimate candidate...

Or, perhaps, someone who will stick their oar into anything and say all the right things about making a difference and how passionate he is about <insert place name here> and its people if it gets his name in the press.

After all, assuming the Richard Garvie in User23's link is the same as "our" RG, then most of the sentiment in the "I-have-no-hidden-agenda" letter he has repeated in relation to Newbury in one form or another.

And if you cut through all the frilly language in his open letter to the good folks of Spalding, he says himself that his motivation is to build himself a career.

[dannyboy]

he ends up looking like every other politician.

well he would, wouldn't he.

[Andy Capp]

why would anyone want to get involved?

it won't make no bleeding difference.

I quite agree, but another argument, and is also a move a way from democracy.

[Andy Capp]

Or, perhaps, someone who will stick their oar into anything and say all the right things about making a difference and how passionate he is about <insert place name here> and its people if it gets his name in the press.

After all, assuming the Richard Garvie in User23's link is the same as "our" RG, then most of the sentiment in the "I-have-no-hidden-agenda" letter he has repeated in relation to Newbury in one form or another.

And if you cut through all the frilly language in his open letter to the good folks of Spalding, he says himself that his motivation is to build himself a career.

That's 'successful' politicians for you!

[Simon Kirby]

RG does seem to have missed the biggest issue facing Victoria Ward in the near future - the demolition of Highfield Avenue, the bus station and two car parks to make way for a new 'urban village'.

And what, in the name of the Great Prophet Zarquon, has that to do with the parish council? With the distinguished exception of Cllr Pick, the parish council knows zip-all about town planning. Yes, I understand that the parish council are statutory consultees, but the district council is not obliged to take any notices of their ill-informed gibberings. The parish council should drop the Planning Committee and save us all the cost of the pointless exercise.

[Simon Kirby]

As for the Victoria Park issue - RG makes out that residents etc suffering from subsidence are unable to claim on their insurance without the report - which seems to me to be a ludicrous claim. Why can't they claim? It is up to their insurers to seek redress from SLI/Costain if they choose to do so, not the property owners (unless they weren't insured). If the insurance companies want to seek damages from SLI/Costain they can commission their own report or, more likely, come to a deal with NTC to share a joint action - which would give them access to the NTC report. In reality the insurers probably don't really care who is to blame - they end up paying either way (SLI/Costain will be insured against third party claims) - why add to the bill just to make lawyers rich?

Exactly so.

But there is still a need to see the hydrogeological report. The initial report was prudent and inexpensive, but it would appear that the council committed themselves to a story which the report didn't support, and they tried to dig themselves out of their hole, spending more and more money, and inventing excuse after excuse for not publishing the report. That ineptitude and mismanagement has cost the town many £thousands and there needs to be an honest accounting for that. I don't suppose we'll ever know how much it cost us, and they'll obfuscate it in the books, but I have an uncomfortable feeling that the £250k the council borrowed will not end up improving the park.

[Simon Kirby]

Just seems as bit strange to refer to The Labour Party as independent.

As my previous answer comprehensively addressed: The immediate problem at NTC is the Lib Dem and Tory party-groupthink, and as Richard is independent of those two parties he would be a good choice as parish councillor as he has a solid track record of challenging the establishment and asking the difficult questions.

As it is I don't particularly like the idea of party politics at the parish level and that goes for Labour just as it goes for Lib Dem, Tory, or for that matter UKIP or Green. Parish business is all about the local issues and has nothing to do with national party agendas. To some degree the Tory party brand is meaningful at the parish level because you might expect a Tory candidate to be a pro-establishment middle-class professional reactionary social conservative, and if that's your bag then that's as useful a brand at the parish level as it is at the national level, but I'm not sure the other party brands mean that much at the parish level.

[dannyboy]

I quite agree, but another argument, and is also a move a way from democracy.

it is a move towards anarchy for sure.

[dannyboy]

Exactly so.

But there is still a need to see the hydrogeological report. The initial report was prudent and inexpensive, but it would appear that the council committed themselves to a story which the report didn't support, and they tried to dig themselves out of their hole, spending more and more money, and inventing excuse after excuse for not publishing the report. That ineptitude and mismanagement has cost the town many £thousands and there needs to be an honest accounting for that. I don't suppose we'll ever know how much it cost us, and they'll obfuscate it in the books, but I have an uncomfortable feeling that the £250k the council borrowed will not end up improving the park.

surely you don't mean that NTC were lead down the garden path & were convinced that Costain's dewatering was the cause so spent ££££ on a report that proved this wasn't the case.

I guess that is what you get of believing a bunch of armchair experts who pontificate on the internet.

what a bunch of idiots if that is the case.

[user23]

That is fine, and it is reasonable to put people who wish to stand for office under scrutiny, but what user23 did just now was seemingly attempt to paint RG as an illegitimate candidate, even though I suspect user23 knows roughly where he lives.

I just thought it a bit weird to be confessing one's undying love for Spalding whilst serenading Newbury at the same time.

I wonder which other towns have also been wooed?

[Andy Capp]

But there is still a need to see the hydrogeological report. The initial report was prudent and inexpensive, but it would appear that the council committed themselves to a story which the report didn't support, and they tried to dig themselves out of their hole, spending more and more money, and inventing excuse after excuse for not publishing the report.

Is that a fact (see highlighted text)?

[Andy Capp]

I just thought it a bit weird to be confessing one's undying love for Spalding whilst serenading Newbury at the same time. I wonder which other towns have also been wooed?

Well his pitch is hardly going to say: 'WTF, I'll go somewhere else if I don't get this job.'

I see RG as a Labour activist and is looking to dislodge anything that would disrupt Tories and Lib Dems prospects. Whether that helps the parish or not is debatable, but many would see the Lib Dem/Tory control on Newbury has lacked scrutiy, and his ham fisted, but vociferous energy might just be something local politics needs.

[dannyboy]

Well his pitch is hardly going to say: 'WTF, I'll go somewhere else if I don't get this job.'

I see RG as a Labour activist and is looking to dislodge anything that would disrupt Tories and Lib Dems prospects. Whether that helps the parish or not is debatable, but many would see the Lib Dem/Tory control on Newbury has lacked scrutiy, and his ham fisted, but vociferous energy might just be something local politics needs.

I'd tend to agree, but the gatling gun approach seldom works in politics, at any level. Concentrating on one issue & doing that issue justice often gets local support above & beyond the merits of the actual cause.

[x2lls]

I think RG makes himself an easy target. He only ever seems to appear on the forum when he's trying to drum up support for something he's involved in or when there's a whiff of a vote in the air.

For someone who seems to want people to believe he wants to make a difference and not be seen to be like every other politician, he ends up looking like every other politician.

So are you saying if someone wants to make a difference, they have to attend registration and report to the forum on a regular basis?

Twaddle

[x2lls]

I just thought it a bit weird to be confessing one's undying love for Spalding whilst serenading Newbury at the same time.

I wonder which other towns have also been wooed?

Are you for real?


A fantastic twisting of words. You are obviously in the wrong job. Why don't you put yourself forward and put your fairy tales into operation?

[Simon Kirby]

Is that a fact (see highlighted text)?

That's how it appears to me, but we can't know without seeing the hydrogeological report.

They have changed the story about the non-appearance of the report a couple of times. The story about the report containing commercially privileged information appeared very late; in the early weeks of the hoo-ha the council had commissioned a report and there was every expectation that it would be published as soon as it was received. Then once they received it they starting talking about not publishing the draft until some further data were received from Costain, and then they repeatedly blamed the delay in publication on Costain, and finally the story about the report containing the privileged information.

The initial report cost (from memory) £4k, and that would have been a prudent investment if the council had incurred damage to uninsured assets worth several times that amount. The council has continued to spend and spend - declared costs were something like £25k last year, but that was before all the posturing about court action so the full cost could easily be £100k by now if they've been in negotiations through their lawyers. None of that includes the council officer time which has been extensive.

It's not clear to me what damage the council was responsible for repairing - a couple of bags of top soil for the playing pitches, but the supposed damage to the toilet block wasn't the council's to repair, and as the toilets aren't there now is hardly an issue. The cracks to the perimeter wall clearly had been going on for many years with evidence of previous repairs so not only is that a lack of evidence to support the dewatering hypothesis, it's positive evidence that the parks has historically been subject to ground movement - the park sits on peat which shrinks badly in dry summers. It's also not clear to me that it's the council's responsibility to repair the perimeter wall - they don't own the free-hold, they lease the park from WBC, and there is ordinarily a repairing obligation on the freeholder, and in any event if the council has insurance (and it would be reckless if it hadn't) it's for the insurers to argue the toss with Costain, not NTC.