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Written by John Franklyn
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Tuesday, 26 February 2008 |
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Politics and the Human Element
A critical element of politics has been missing for sometime, that critical element is
“The human element”
The most recent element and longest running example of politics loosing touch with the human element, is Sutton Hill.
This problem is only enhanced by access to media coverage and that being within the Shropshire Star, unfortunately there is no other local choice and residents more often than not, get, at best, a very limited voice in this paper.
One route residents can have their say is via the “letters page”, even that will get withdrawn if you criticise inaccurate bias reporting.
To show how long this bias has been happening is,
February 5th 2003 – JB Caractacus places a letter on the letters page entitled
“The Rise and rise of Council Tax”
On February 7th 2003 the the Council Chief Phil Davis responded and was given a large profile coverage
This reporting bias continues with the Shropshire Star never giving balanced reporting and fair inclusion of the resident.
Former resident, serviceman, school governor and Magistrate John Barnes, who features in an excellent pod cast interview conducted by George Ashcroft, campaigned for years on behalf of Sutton Hill residents.
I have copies of letters published in the Shropshire Star going back as far as August 2002, but never was he given a large coverage as was afforded to the then, but now fallen leader Phil Davis.
For years, John Barnes campaigned, writing to MP’s, Councillors, arranging meetings, estate walk rounds, only to be let down by the then elected members – including the likes of Cllr Mckenzie.
Despite no investment and inadequate representation, the residents still faced increasing council taxes.
Recent events have managed to redress the balance, but not with the Shropshire Star though.
Websites, blogs and online videos now give residents an alternative and one that is needed to enable a more rounded view and give the little man a voice.
Telford and Wrekin Council now promises to get tough with the owners of “neglected properties”.
The following comment under the topic BBC MIDLANDS TODAY really sums a lot up,
So, after ALL this time
“One of the best performing authorities in the West Midlands”
Isn’t capable of recognising the horrendous problems faced by residents, except when it’s being rammed down their throats by a private individual from the other end of town?
And how much do they spend researching and consulting on the views of the local residents?
Every decision made by politicians, regardless of their level or seniority affects people, maybe, just maybe, the “Human Element” will become an increasing factor in politics, rather than cheap point scoring and back stabbing.
The following article is well worth reading
http://www...uk/blogview.html?blog=38
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Written by John Franklyn
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Tuesday, 26 February 2008 |
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Residents have given 'high levels of support' to Telford & Wrekin Council’s proposed budget for the next three years.
This is shown in the results of a consultation on the draft budget the Council has published.
*The Consultation was for up to 1000 residents who apply to be on the community panel and selected if they fit a certain criteria
Since the draft budget was unveiled in January, it has been developed and informed by extensive community consultation.
This has included a major survey of the Council’s Community Panel of more than 1,000 residents and other people who have signed up to ‘get involved’ in Council consultations.
*I have signed up to get alerts about consultations on the councils web site and in 18 months never received one alert, notification, consultation.
Other ways the public’s views have been sought are a web-site questionnaire and ‘Council Tax Challenge’; a Question Time event attended by almost 200 people at The Place, Oakengates, and a similar breakfast question and answer session for local businesses.
*Out of 200 attending, not all received a hand set to cast a vote
There have also been meetings with community groups such as the Senior Citizens Public Forum and Telford & Wrekin Council for Voluntary Service Executive.
*When the Senior Citizens were asked if they trusted the Council only 4 said yes with one later changing their mind.
Findings from the consultations will be considered by the Cabinet on 25 February as it looks to finalise its budget plans. Key messages from the Community Panel consultation include:
· 88% of people agree that the Council has identified the right priorities for extra investment
· 93% support the proposed package of investment
· 72% support the proposed 4.3% Council Tax increase for 2008/09. 57% supported this at the Question Time event
· 78% are satisfied with the way the Council is running things and planning the Borough’s future.
*How Many of the questionnaires sent out were returned and how do the Council account for additional written comments made by the individual or are they just ignored.
Council leader Andrew Eade said: “These results are very positive. As we have developed our budget proposals over the past five months, we’ve made great efforts to consult and involve local people, community groups and businesses.
*Consultation is still at best poor with the questions asked being very leading.
“As a result, I believe that we are putting forward a Budget that has broad support because it will benefit the borough.
*Broad support based on narrow consultation levels and leading questions
“I believe it is a budget that’s good for young people, older people and families. It is good for the future of our borough towns, deprived estates and our rural areas. It is good for schools and local businesses.
*When will the closed youth clubs be opened. Where is community youth support at the times they are needed for a wider age group. Does a new shopping centre make a deprived estate better?
“While the overall support is very positive, there are also some issues where we are being asked to review our proposals.
*What issues are these, is it the weekly bin collections, with drawing from the City region, not selling chunks of the Town Park, giving residents a voice at full council, doing less policy U turns, keeping pre-election promises.
“When our cabinet considers these, I think people will see that we do not just consult, we are a cabinet that listens and strives to do the right things for the community.”
*How can they see, when you don’t tell them.
Ie:- why hasn’t the Cabinet Member for environment answered the questions about Stoney Hill?
Still too many questions not answered!!
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Written by John Franklyn
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Sunday, 24 February 2008 |
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 Having read Cllr Burrell report on the New Primary at Lightmoor, I notice there is a lack of detail about the hidden dangers at Stoney Hill from dumped chemicals, gas releases and around 1000 dumped bovine carcasses that were infected with BSE, although the carcasses had their heads removed, the spines were still in place.
Again, Cllr Burrell fails to mention that the Environmental Agency objected to this construction because of culverting flood risks.
I also believe that DEFRA are funding research into Stoney Hill and I believe the area has NOT BEEN GIVEN A CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH.
Why has Cllr Burrell not mention these vital issues and why has Cllr Bentley not answered questions put to him?
Would you be happy sending your child to this school?
A Piece by Cllr Adrian Williams
During the 1980s when this tip was being run by Shropshire County Council lorry loads of drums filled with who knows what arrived from Monsanto Chemicals South Wales often under the cover of darkness. When one considers the number of redundant coal shafts surrounding Monsanto it beggars the question as to why these materials were specially sealed with bitumenous compound into drums and transported at great expense to Telford.
The County Council have never had any great allegiance to Telford and the Officers monitoring this tip must have been aware that the drums to which I refer were simply bulldozed from the back of the lorries transporting them and crushed under the huge steel wheels of the tip mechanical shovels. The contents were allowed to run into the ground and were quickly covered with household waste. I personally witnessed this happening on one ocassion and can name the employees whose job it was to carry out these tasks. At that time they, SSC, were also burying the carcasses of cattle from which the heads had been removed presumably for scientific reasons. I am not talking about a few cattle either.
Despite repeated questions I still haven't been given the results of the tests that were carried out last year 2007 and for that reason I am deeply suspicious of them considering they were, I think, ordered and paid for by SCC.
Members of the public are aware of what was happening at Stoney Hill and some I know were never given a convincing reply when they requested answers.
I am fully aware that this is a problem not of the making of Telford & Wrekin Council but I think that we have a duty as councillors to ensure that it is dealt with properly and soon.
Councillor Adrian Williams
How officials in a hurry tried to bury BSE
The map on this page is a picture of desperation. It shows where between 1988 and 1991 the Government, frantically trying to dispose of the carcasses of cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or "mad cow disease", was forced to bury a total of 6,117 out of the 48,819 cases - 12.5 per cent - recorded in those four years.
The reason they were buried is that there were then too few incinerators to destroy them. Those then available were working at full capacity. After 1991, more incinerators came on line.
But this map may have more significance than just recording where the bodies - with their heads but not their equally infected spinal cords removed - were buried. It may also contain clues to the 17 cases recorded so far in Britain of people with the "new variant" of the fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Scientists are increasingly confident that the "new variant" CJD is caused by exposure to the BSE agent. What they are not sure of is exactly what form that exposure takes. The most likely form is through eating food made using the brains and spinal cords of BSE-infected cattle. But it could be made more likely if the infectious BSE agent - thought to be a misshapen protein called a "prion" - is present in the water, by leaching from a landfill site into the local water table. It is understood that scientists at the Government's CJD Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh have not yet seen the list of burial sites. But they are also thought not to have found any environmental link between the 17 victims so far. It may be significant, though, that Stephen Churchill, who in May 1995 became the first Briton to die of the "new variant" CJD, lived in Devizes, Wiltshire, just a few miles from the largest of the dumps in Pewsey, where more than 1,000 BSE-infected cattle were buried from 1988 onwards. Other CJD victims grew up near sites which had been used for landfill - though the correlation is weak. Last May, the independent advisory committee on BSE and CJD advised the Government that there was "little risk" that leakage from landfill sites presented any significant risk, and that there was "certainly no justification for taking heroic measures to excavate the sites". However, some members of the advisory committee have said privately that any infectious material in the cattle could infect water supplies. The scientific theories say that once the "prion" reaches the brain, it causes other normally-shaped prion proteins to become misshapen. This in turn leads to the death of the brain cells, causing the "holes" which give the dead brain a spongy appearance. According to this theory, the greater the exposure to disease prions, the more likely somebody is to fall ill. If prions leached from the spine of an infected cow buried in a landfill site, and into the water supply, they might tip a person's intake of prions beyond a particular danger level, and trigger the disease. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Environment Agency said last night that they were carrying out risk assessments of a set of the landfill sites used for the burials. British landfill sites where suspected BSE carcasses were disposed of in 1988-91 SITE COMMENT 1,000-1,200 carcasses Everleigh Tip, Everleigh, Pewsey, Wiltshire Closed 501-999 Stoney Hill Landfill, Horsehay, Telford, Shropshire Closed 401-500 Hill & Moor Landfill Site, Pershore, Hereford & Worcester 201-400 Wardle Landfill Site, Wardle, near Nantwich, Cheshire Closed Arpley Landfill Site, Arpley, Warrington,Cheshire Whites Pit, Arrowsmith Road, Poole, Dorset Closed Attlebridge Landfill Site, Attlebridge, Norfolk Welford Quarry Landfill Site, Welford, Northamptonshire Hirnley Wood Landfill Site, Lower Gornal, Staffordshire 101-200 Jameson Rd Landfill Site, Fleetwood, Lancashire Salt Ayre Landfill Site, Lancaster Winterton Landfill Site, West Haulton, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire Rock Cottage Landfill, Ripon, North Yorkshire Closed Gamblethorpe Landfill Site, Newsam Green Road, Leeds Closed 51-100 Taddington Landfill Site, Kalton Hill Quarry, Taddington, Derbyshire Closed Crich Landfill Site, Crich, near Matlock, Derbyshire Closed Gainsborough Lea Road, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire Packington Landfill, Little Packington, Meriden, Warwickshire 21-50 Butchersfield Landfill Site, Rixton, Warrington, Cheshire Blooming Heather, Broughton Moor, Cumbria Closed Clifton Marsh, Freckleton, Lancashire Rowley Landfill Site, Queen Park Road, Burnley, Lancashire Lackford Hall Heath, Lackford, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Bramford Landfill Site, Ipswich, Suffolk Closed Ryton Landfill, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire Closed Darrington Quarry, Darrington Leys, Knottingly, North Yorkshire Mickleby Landfill, near Whitby, North Yorkshire 11-20 Stretton Sugwas, Worcester, Hereford and Worcester Closed Whinney Hill, Accrington, Lancashire Kirkby-on Bain, Tattershall Road, Leadenham,Lincolnshire Leadenham Quarry, Porrergate Road, Leadenham South Thoresby, near Alford, Lincolnshire Closed Ingham, Thetford Road, Ingham, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Closed Searner Carr Landfill Site, Searner, North Yorkshire 6-10 Pluckley Landfill Site, Pluckley, Ashford , Kent Closed Kenwick Landfill Site, Kennick Quarry, Louth, Lincolnshire Seghill, Northumberland Barnstone Landfill Site, Works Lane, Lanham, Nottinghamshire Jarvis Landfill Sit, Hawton, Newark, Nottinghamshire Closed Dimmer Landfall Site, Castle Cary, Somerset Closed Wetherden Landfill Site, Stowmarket, Suffolk Acton Landfill Site, Bears Pit, Sudbury, Suffolk Closed Beddington Landfill Site, Lewes, East Sussex 1-5 Nantycaws Refuse Tip, Carmarthen Castletown Tip, Castletown, Thurso, Caithness Middleton Fors, Thurso Holiday Moss, Rainford, Merseyside Morley Greasework Site, Dewsbury Road, Leeds Closed Nettleton, Woods Hill, Nettleton, Lincolnshire Closed Stainby, Crabtree Road, Stainby, Grantham, Lincolnshire Slippery Gowt, Wyberton, Boston, Lincolnshire North Forr, Crieff, Perthshire Closed Bryn Posteg Landfill Site, Llandidloes, Powys Stoneyfield, Invergordon, Ross & Cromarty Burton Farm Landfill Site, Bishopton, Stratford-on-Avon Closed Lower Spen Valley, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire Sugden End Landfill, Crossroads, Keighley, West Yorkshire Shropps Landfill Site, Wheatley, Halifax, West Yorkshire Closed Wilson Road Landfill Site, Lowmoor, Bradford, West Yorkshire Closed
Are You Convinced That This area Is SAFE?
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 24 February 2008 )
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Written by John Franklyn
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Sunday, 24 February 2008 |
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UK COAL are still pressing ahead with their plans to butcher an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Whilst we as residents are expected to put up with more and more development squeezing us into every decreasing spaces and seeing our natural environment and wildlife disappear, there comes a time to say enough is enough, the time is NOW to say just that.
Below is a piece from Crystalgal.
People of the Region! Be aware – proposed opencast mining by UK Coal Mining Ltd in the Limekiln Woods, Black Hayes, Short Woods, Ercall, Huntingdon and New Works area of Telford is now in submitted application stage. If planning permission for this is granted by Telford &Wrekin Council Planning Board, this area of natural beauty which is an amenity and leisure area for us all will be devastated and cease to exist.
Much of the woodland in this proposed area is ancient – 400 year or older. A pathway that leads from Limekiln Lane on the Wellington side through the woodland and to the ridgeway above Willowmoor, Little Wenlock will be destroyed. At Willowmoor lie ancient Bronze Age burial mounds and other barrow mounds are recorded around this area. It is not impossible that other ancient remains lie in this proposed opencast mining site.
These woods are well known for their natural beauty, the annual bluebell display being something we should all see and show to our children so they too can pass on this joy of nature. Deer reside within these woodlands as well as badgers, foxes, squirrels and some bats in an old drift mine inside the wood.
Without your help all this will soon become just one more big hole in the ground and lost forever. Natural regeneration to today's quality of woodland could take thousands of years and we, the people of the region, will have seen one of the greatest attractions to this area lost forever.
With our government's stated policy of green energy, what sort of a carbon footprint will this proposal leave if permission is granted? Please use your democratic right and oppose this application for opencast coal mining.
A Planning Board decision on this issue could be taken as early as March 3rd 2008 which is around 5 to 6 weeks away.
We are very short of time to oppose this and we assure you every single letter of objection will count towards a victory for common sense. The common man's amenities that still do not cost us money to enjoy with our families and friends are a rare thing in this day and age. We are sure you will agree.
The Friends of the Ercall thank you.
If we all band together I'm sure that we can have an impact. The energies that even a small group of us has is incredible, so if there's more of us than that, then that can only help more!!
I am sure you will agree with these sentiments.
The Friends around The Wrekin have been instrumental in keeping issues that affect The Wrekin well and truly in the public eye. They have quite a following and a number of active members.
Keep an eye on their web site, if anything is going to affect theWrekin, they are usually the first to know.
http://www.wrekinfriends.com/ |
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Written by John Franklyn
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Sunday, 24 February 2008 |
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Our third public meeting is arranged with Mark Pritchard MP for the Wrekin and a range of speakers on Friday 29 February 2008, 6.45 - 9.00pm, at Wellington Methodist Church (by the bus station), New Street, Wellington, Telford TF1 1LU.
The speakers include Rev. Peter Clarke (Methodist Church), Jane Smith (Clerk, Stirchley & Brookside Parish Council), Sam Pickles (Environmental Management Officer, Telford & Wrekin Council), and Mark Pritchard MP for The Wrekin.
We are also showing an excellent short film produced by Greenpeace - Decentralised energy: What are we waiting for? For those keen to see the featured film it is available on the internet at:http://www...e/decentralised-energy-w as well as a new initiative EfficienCity, which shows how pioneering, real world communities around the UK are using decentralised energy http://www.../efficiencity/index.html
The intention of the event is to provide an opportunity for local people to contribute to the Borough Council’s consultation process on its draft first climate change strategy for the community of Telford & Wrekin. This is now open to consultation to the end of March. Further information is available at http://www...ord.gov.uk/climatechange
The chair for the event is Reverend Malcolm Carroll, Baptist minister, who is very knowledgeable about climate change issues.
The intention is to start as soon after 6.45pm as practicable.
Hoping that you will be happy to promote this event on your website and you are of course very welcome to attend.
Draft programme for 29 February 2008
Introduction Rev. Malcolm Carroll
Telford FOERobert Saunders: how did we get here – setting event in context and local perspective
WellingtonMethodistChurch: Rev. Peter Clarke, church minister: church response to climate change, church ‘green team’, etc.
Parish council speaker: Jane Smith, Clerk to Stirchley and Brookside Parish Council: the developing response to climate change within a local parish council
Greenpeace film The Convenient Solution (18 min.)
Telford & Wrekin Council speaker: Sam Pickles, Environmental Management Officer: proposed climate change strategy, setting within work of the Council, how to respond to the consultation strategy, activity beyond the review of the consultation responses to draft strategy
Mark Pritchard MP
Discussion session with the speakers
END - Break for informal discussion
Flyer at the following link
http://www...ew/catid,120/id,363/#363
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 24 February 2008 )
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Written by John Franklyn
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Friday, 22 February 2008 |
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I believe now that Telford Council Watch can say that it is beginning to have some positive effect in campaigning.
On Monday 11th February BBC Radio Shropshire covered the needs of Sutton Hill and the severe blots that are like open wounds on the estate, Beacon Radio also gave coverage and placed a link to a video on their web site, I thank them both for their assistance and raising the profile of a community in need of regeneration.
Borough Councillor Eric Carter who is also Cabinet Member for regeneration said he would get the fly tipping in 103 Summer Hill Cleared up, I can confirm that almost two weeks later the situation has in fact worsened. Would this have been the case if this house was in his community or Newport, the question has to be asked. I also question just who is really pulling the strings, is it the Councillor or is it an officer?
Or is it that a feasibility needs to be done first?
Either way don’t knock anybody unless you are sure you can produce results, to date this is not the case.
Telford Council Watch can now confirm that we have written directly to the PM Gordon Brown and Housing Minister Caroline Flint forwarding them a copy of the video of Sutton Hill on the 14th February 2008.
It is with some pleasure that I can confirm I have today had a reply from Mr Adams confirming that the PM Gordon Brown is now formulating a formal response to my letter and video with regards the needs of Sutton Hil.
Further contact has been made to myself from Midlands today who now want to visit Sutton Hill to raise the profile even further.
Do you now think it fair that I John Franklyn a bog standard resident has achieved this in about a week when elected members cannot get fly tipping cleared from a derelict house garden?
Personally, I think the people responsible for the decay of Sutton Hill who over looked the needs of Telford’s oldest estate should at best be very embarrassed.
I believe now that Telford Council Watch can say that it is beginning to have some positive effect in campaigning.
On Monday 11th February Shropshire radio covered the needs of Sutton Hill and the severe blots that are like open wounds on the estate, Beacon Radio also gave coverage and placed a link to a video on their web site, I thank them both for their assistance and raising the profile of a community in need of regeneration.
Borough Councillor Eric Carter who is also Cabinet Member for regeneration said he would get the fly tipping in 103 Summer Hill Cleared up, I can confirm that almost two weeks later the situation has in fact worsened. Would this have been the case if this house was in his community or Newport, the question has to be asked. I also question just who is really pulling the strings, is it the
Councillor or is it an officer?
Or is it that a feasibility needs to be done first?
Either way don’t knock anybody unless you are sure you can produce results, to date this is not the case.
Telford Council Watch can now confirm that we have written directly to the PM Gordon Brown and Housing Minister Caroline Flint forwarding them a copy of the video of Sutton Hill on the 14th February 2008.
It is with some pleasure that I can confirm I have today had a reply from Mr Adams confirming that the PM Gordon Brown is now formulating a formal response to my letter and video with regards the needs of Sutton Hil.
Further contact has been made to myself from Midlands today who now want to visit Sutton Hill to raise the profile even further.
Do now think it fair that I John Franklyn a bog standard has achieved this in about a week when elected members cannot get fly tipping cleared from a derelict house garden?
Personally, I think the people responsible for the decay of Sutton Hill who over looked the needs of Telford’s oldest estate should at best be very embarrassed.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 22 February 2008 )
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