HBC at it again

[Guinness]

Don't you just love councillors!

Volunteers 'cut off' from having a say on Great Harwood regeneration plans (From Lancashire Telegraph)

A group of volunteers work hard for years to improve their locality and just when they finally start to get things moving, officialdom rears its ugly head and tells them that 'they are subsidiary', and that 'they are a sub group' of something called 'an area council'. For the unenlightened, an area council is a sub group that is subsidiary to the borough council, (which is pretty much, as a councillor, something else you can put on your expense forms for attending), unlike the subsidiary, sub group, local volunteers who are paid nothing yet are prepared to get their hands dirty, go out in the rain and try to do things that benefit the area where they live.

Now I know who I would trust between :-

a) a bunch of unpaid people who want to better their community and give their time and effort for free

and....

b) a bunch of overpaid planners and think tanks paid for and overseen by paid jobsworth councillors with a minority mandate (using my money, not their own)

I hasten to add that I have nothing to do with the community volunteers, I'm far too lazy, but I know that Great Harwood has a nice little thriving town centre with a nice variety of shops, a very cheap petrol station, three supermarkets and a mini supermarket. It's free from all the malaise of Accrington town centre, the local police station is active, high profile and very responsive, because in the main the council have left it alone, except when they decided to close the tip against all advice.

The market leaves something to be desired, but recently the monthly farmers market appears to be going from strength to strength...no doubt the 'subsidiary' and 'sub group' councillor Molyneux will claim responsibility for this, after all him and the Jones boy are always around for a photo shoot when things are going well but mysteriously disappear and go quiet when things do not.

Funny how a couple of years ago the usual labour suspects were on this board slagging off Britcliffe for using everthing as a photo opportunity, but it's all gone quiet since the labour council leader, and our MP are doing exactly the same, but in Spades!!

[Ken Moss]

Firstly, the old chestnut about expenses has reared it's head and you are dead wrong. See this table for who does and doesn't claim plenty of expenses:



Secondly, this 'sub committee' phrase is more likely to be an unfortunate misinterpretation of a simple expression. They were set up in several wards under the previous administration to keep an eye on how the Area Council was spending its money after one ward was successful in a bid for several hundred thousand pounds. This apparently did not go down well with certain other people, after all it was a success story that they were't involved with and couldn't get their hands on.

In Rishton we dissolved ours as soon as we took control as the poor committee members had been misinformed that they were somehow elected representatives on the Area Council. We cut all ties with them and they made far better headway as a standalone group, bidding for money and simply getting on with tasks around the village, free from the shackles of HBC. It improved them no end.

I'm not entirely sure what the Great Harwood situation is but one news report is hardly a verbatim Google Page Rankingécis of events. I know that the clock tower is being renovated as part of a bid for Pennine Reach money and the same goes with Towngate. Everyone has been pushing for the market to be revived for years and so it is, once a month there is a Farmers Market and it is doing extremely well. We have even invested in log cabins for smallholders to attract more businesses and it has worked.

There is already a Town Centre Committee and has been for some time. Any groups are welcome to make representation to HBC at any time if they have a viable idea and know how to implement it, it's the best way to thrive.

Things are going very well in Great Harwood all told, I really don't see what the problem is.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

.....I know that the clock tower is being renovated as part of a bid for Pennine Reach money and the same goes with Towngate.....

Not sure I understand why renovating a clock is part of Pennine Reach. I thought that was the rapid bus transport system that most sane people were against due to barmy bus lanes and urban clearways preventing cars stopping outside local shops on the way to work in the morning.

Is the other work some sort of bribe to get people on board with the bus scheme?

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by Neil

Not sure I understand why renovating a clock is part of Pennine Reach. I thought that was the rapid bus transport system that most sane people were against due to barmy bus lanes and urban clearways preventing cars stopping outside local shops on the way to work in the morning.

Is the other work some sort of bribe to get people on board with the bus scheme?

I'm not entirely sure of the precise details but it's along the lines of showing that we are investing in our own borough as well as applying for money from elsewhere.

It's not bribery at all, it's just that the age of free handouts is over.

[Less]

Originally Posted by Neil

Not sure I understand why renovating a clock is part of Pennine Reach. I thought that was the rapid bus transport system that most sane people were against due to barmy bus lanes and urban clearways preventing cars stopping outside local shops on the way to work in the morning.

Is the other work some sort of bribe to get people on board with the bus scheme?

Benito Mussolini wanted the trains to run on time (don't think he succeeded), perhaps work on the clock is so the drivers know how far behind the time-table they are?

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Less

Benito Mussolini wanted the trains to run on time (don't think he succeeded), perhaps work on the clock is so the drivers know how far behind the time-table they are?

That's what I like about you Less you always see the positives in everything

[Guinness]

Many companies now have policies that comments made on employees personal social network sites should not denigrate the company. Apparently this doesn't apply to the publicly funded company of HBC.

A young girl employed as the youth consultant to the Police Comissioner was hammered earlier this year for a twitter comment she made and forced to resign after a media mauling......

Apology call over Hyndburn councillor's 'offensive remark' on Facebook (From Lancashire Telegraph)

I have no doubt that Cllr Pritchard was aiming this comment at a specific person and not the people of Ossy in general, however, as a politician she should realise that everything she says is open to public scrutiny and criticism. Just like the rest of us, she should have been aware that comments made on social media are NEVER private regardless of how you set your security levels...she screwed up...she should apologise instead of using the 'entitled to private life' argument, writing something on the internet is not the same as talking to a mate in a bar over a beer or two.

And the monitoring officer and council spokesman (is that an official job role or is it some weasel who wont put his head above the parapet?) need more training on the possible damage caused by social media.

[Neil]

Sounds like another storm in a tea cup and stinks of political back biting

[Guinness]

Originally Posted by Neil

Sounds like another storm in a tea cup and stinks of political back biting

No doubt, and like I said, I think she was having a go at some dipstick that had given her grief on the doorstep, but that aint the point. She should be careful what she puts in print, she screwed up. If you screw up, you apologise.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Guinness

No doubt, and like I said, I think she was having a go at some dipstick that had given her grief on the doorstep, but that aint the point. She should be careful what she puts in print, she screwed up. If you screw up, you apologise.

Was this alleged insulted persons mentioned in her facebook post? I didn't see it so can't say either way if it was or wasn't. If the comment was as stated in the newspaper it could have meant anyone. I assume the bloke named in the paper is admitting he made a pathetic comment on the doorstep so assumes the comment refers to him

[Guinness]

Originally Posted by Neil

Was this alleged insulted persons mentioned in her facebook post? I didn't see it so can't say either way if it was or wasn't. If the comment was as stated in the newspaper it could have meant anyone. I assume the bloke named in the paper is admitting he made a pathetic comment on the doorstep so assumes the comment refers to him

Erm..eh???

Nobody was named individually..(considering the arguments in the last couple of posts...whats your point????)

The bloke in the paper was a 'dear BBC, yours outraged viewer' type person..Cllr Pritchard says she don't know him, I got no reason to dispute this.

This is a local website, that Cllr Pritchard is a member of, I'm on her side here unbelievable as that may seem, its a perfect opportunity for her to state her case that won't be edited

[Neil]

I was trying to say that the bloke in the paper must think he himself made some pathetic comments if he is assuming she was referring to him.

Does that mean he is admitting to being pathetic?

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Guinness

This is a local website, that Cllr Pritchard is a member of, I'm on her side here unbelievable as that may seem, its a perfect opportunity for her to state her case that won't be edited

She doesn't need to, the legal types at Hyndburn Borough Council have said it's nothing to do with the Council and that the claimant accepts that.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Neil

I was trying to say that the bloke in the paper must think he himself made some pathetic comments if he is assuming she was referring to him.

Does that mean he is admitting to being pathetic?

Probably not but he certainly is down right pathetic, as are those in elected office that supported him, once again demonstrating stupidity to a fine art.

[Guinness]

Originally Posted by Neil

She doesn't need to, the legal types at Hyndburn Borough Council have said it's nothing to do with the Council and that the claimant accepts that.

As an ordinary Joe who posts occasionally, nobody would really mind if I called you an idiot, even though its abusive and kinda against forum rules, its pretty much accepted that you'd turn a blind eye as long as I don't sustain it on every post. However, if, as a moderator, you called me an idiot, that could be seen by your average professional moaner as an abuse of your position.

See where I'm going here? If you accept responsibility, you have to behave responsibly, and you also have to accept accountability.

It's easy for me to call Ken Moss, Graham Jones or Peter Britcliffe halfwits on this forum, they are unable to respond in kind. Ain't fair, but thats politics for you. I can post jibes, veiled insults and generally take the mickey out of them on a personal level, as politicians they know that they cannot do the same to me. Gordon Brown nailed his coffin shut at the last election for letting his guard down (bloody woman).

I've probably insulted the intelligence of Graham Jones more than most, does that mean it would be acceptable for him to write 'there are some right (expletives) on Accyweb', tarring everyone else for something I've posted?

The council monitoring officer has got this one horribly wrong, Cllr Pritchard should apologise, and she should also go through her facebook friendlist and block the muppet who put this nonsense in the public domain.