Friday, January 12, 2007
Message from Chris Mcglade
It has been a few months since I have posted on this site because since the discovery in November 06 that the Primary Care Trust/council/Persimmon have added plans for a 5GP surgery with dentists and opticians,Something that the PCT are denying all knowledge of,to the Persimmon Planning application ready to be granted planning permission,I have been informing as many people as I can.The public knew nothing about this,the councillors and the relevant committees knew nothing about this.Nobody had been consulted nobody had been informed.Yet there are the plans in the planning application awaiting planning permission?
At the PCT's 'consultative' meeting on the 9th of January 07,they still maintained the line that theyknew nothing about it? How can plans for a GP's surgery be drawn up without the PCT being consulted? Also bear in mind that they have already stated that they knew about the option to move to the enclosure in December 2005 at least!
At the meeting on the 9th the PCT rep even stated that Persimmon and the council had made the decision to add the plans to the application and that they had jumped the gun! That comment drew gasps from the packed crowd. And what of the council? Vera Moody failed to tell everybody in August 06 in her glossy myth not fact letter about the new GP surgery at all.Yet there was project manager Ian Hopley,telling the board of governors of Coatham School that same month that it was DEFINATELY going ahead? In November 06,one of the grossest liars in the council Cllr Chris Abbott put out a Libdem focus newsletter listing all the things that were to be included in the enclosure but once again failed to mention the GP surgery.This is even stranger than Moody's failure to tell anyone, because the new surgery was added to the application in the same month as Abbott putout his focus newsletter.How could something so substantial go unannounced?
The thing is that the cabinet and officers knew about it all and had done for some time yet they deliberately said nothing.I have them in a letter stating that nothing was said out of confidentiality,but since when has the moving of a public facility like a doctors surgery ever been considered confidential and been kept secret from everyone.Since when was it the job of the public to inform councillors about the things that they should have been told by the council themselves? Even the Gazette have come off badly in this.I informed them of the GPs surgery in early December on the 4th or 5th. Why then was nothing printed in the paper until the 11th January some FIVE WEEKS LATER,conveniently after the PCT's meeting on the 9th of January and their official SPIN not consultation,had begun?
The whole lot once again stinks to high heaven with the PCT/council/Persimmon homes all scurrying around desperately trying to paper over the massive cracks.Consultation takes place before plans are drawn up,yet these plans were added to the application ready to be granted planning permission yet neither the councillors or the public knew a thing? What would have happened to the PCT's January consultation if the application had come before the planning committee in November and permission had been granted?
Another issue to come to light was Coatham beach being restricted.A letter appeared in the Gazette in early January stating that a deal had been done between the council and English Nature to restrict access to the beach.It baffled many people,myself included,how an unsubstantiated letter like that could get into the GAZETTE.I have taken things to the Gazette that couldbe proved with documents in my possesion,things that expose this councils deceit,yet nothing has happened.However, an unsubstantiated letter damning the council finds a way through?The following day the council countered theletter in the Gazette stating that it was untrue and no deal had been done,but this is only half a story. I phoned Mike Leakeyfrom English Nature the following day.He informed me that the council and English Nature ARE IN TALKS to RESTRICT USE OF COATHAM BEACH on a seasonal and spacial basis to the horse riders and the people who go kite buggying and kite surfing etc.So much for creating more parking spaces for horse boxes and so much for the biggest lie of all,turningthe Mungle Jungle into an extreme sports centre.Afterall, What use is an extreme sports centre without the extreme sports?
Talking of sports,an employee of the health centre approached me a week or so ago and told me that part of the conditions for TVLL getting their lease renewed was that two managers there Ian Lillystone and Fred Bino had to be sacked.Ian I classed as a friend.Fred Bino was just for Fred Bino.Yet ordering the sacking of people in order for a lease to be renewed shows the vindictive nature of this council.Most startling from the employee was the revelation that the "off peak gold card" set up to encourage the unemployed and low waged and the old to use the gym before 3 oclock had been abolished.There is only one tariff now. It costs a hundred pounds more than the off peak gold card and it is for a "gym and swim". This is scandalous.Not only are people who only want to use the gym being forced to pay for a facility they dont want to use,even if they wanted to use it they couldnt without travelling because WE DONT HAVE A BATHS IN OUR TOWN!!! The employee told me to tell everyone because members who only wanted to use the gym were failing to renew their memberships in their droves. For me its just another way to run the leisure centre down further.To discourage its use just as putting two bar staff on in the Bowl when there are 600 people in the room watching a band who want serving.Its absolutely disgusting. Actually,it isnt a hundred pounds more,its £75.00. Because when I posted the facts on Redcar.net,those in authority suddenly dropped a £25 admin charge for those paying cash.So now its either £250.00 or £300.00 if you pay by direct debit.As opposed to the £175.00 charge last year if you paid cash and £190 if you paid by direct debit.
Dont let them get away with these things and the lies that are being told to us.For over two and a half years the council have been telling everybody how Coatham is going to be a leisure led development.However,we all know now that thats bullshit.Even the MP has come out publicly on radio and stated that there'll be no visitors centre or extreme sports centre because theyve attracted no funding.All it is is a housing estate with a bog standard pool and leisure centre in the middle of it.A pool thatwe could have without the houses because they are BORROWING £8,000,000 to prop the scheme up.They arent giving us anything more or different than weve already had than theyve already taken away from us.They are just replacing what they have already taken away from us.And when you consider that people who cant afford the increases in prices for the use of a gym and a pool that we dont even have in our town,do you not think that the pool/leisure centre could be aimed primarily at the people who will be moving into the big,private town houses and luxury apartments which surround it.
Ask yourself this.Since when were 359 Persimmon homes,which will probably end up being more than that, when the visitors centre dosent get built because of a lack of funding and the mungle jungle is knocked down and the extreme sports centre dosent get built because of the same reason.So when was all this housing,with an estate row of shops,an estate pub,an estate creche,roads,roundabouts,a 5GP surgery with dentists and opticians and pharmacy ever considered as being leisure facilities? When were these things ever regarded as being visitor attractions that would make us a visitor destination of regional importance? If you were to believe the councils/persimmons official spin.
This isnt about leisure it never has been.It is about creating a new coatham.It dosent matter if its not in keeping with the old coatham,one of the oldest areas of the town, because eventually the old will be shoved out by the new.
This scheme is being forced by unscrupulous officers,who have been proven to have lied time and time again.None more so than the chief executive COLIN MOORE who has already been found guilty by two tribunals of deliberately lying and changing his evidence over night,and of sharp practise on the verge of abusing certain council processes.The whole lot is corrupt and decietful and it needs investigating now.
On the way to London this Wednesday,I got speaking to a group of architects on the train who were sat next to me. I asked them if they had ever heard of a local authority paying half of the consultancy fees and all the legal fees,which is an undisclosed amount,for the biggest and richest builder in the country, just to keep their confidence."Enlighten us" one of them said so I told them thats exactly what our council had done for Persimmon homes.The man in the corner asked "Is this in Redcar?" surprised that he knew I said "yes".A broad smile came on his face as he looked directly at the architect opposite and said "dodgy,very dodgy". "Have you heard of this type of thing before" I said "very rarely" he replied "Its just very,very suspicious indeed"
People in the building field from Newcastle have heard about this scheme.Not only that their reaction to the information I gave them says it all.Wake up people of Redcar and Cleveland.Its your money that was committed last March to pay for half the consultancy fees and ALL of the legal fees of the biggest and richest builder in the country just so they didnt pull out of the scheme,when we the public are told constantly that we cant have this or that because theres no money available? Wake up and ask yourselves why a liar like Colin Moore and the officers who jump to his every command,should propose spending public money to pay for the richest builder in the coutries fees so they dont pull out, when we are supposed to be strapped for cash.WHY???
At the PCT's 'consultative' meeting on the 9th of January 07,they still maintained the line that theyknew nothing about it? How can plans for a GP's surgery be drawn up without the PCT being consulted? Also bear in mind that they have already stated that they knew about the option to move to the enclosure in December 2005 at least!
At the meeting on the 9th the PCT rep even stated that Persimmon and the council had made the decision to add the plans to the application and that they had jumped the gun! That comment drew gasps from the packed crowd. And what of the council? Vera Moody failed to tell everybody in August 06 in her glossy myth not fact letter about the new GP surgery at all.Yet there was project manager Ian Hopley,telling the board of governors of Coatham School that same month that it was DEFINATELY going ahead? In November 06,one of the grossest liars in the council Cllr Chris Abbott put out a Libdem focus newsletter listing all the things that were to be included in the enclosure but once again failed to mention the GP surgery.This is even stranger than Moody's failure to tell anyone, because the new surgery was added to the application in the same month as Abbott putout his focus newsletter.How could something so substantial go unannounced?
The thing is that the cabinet and officers knew about it all and had done for some time yet they deliberately said nothing.I have them in a letter stating that nothing was said out of confidentiality,but since when has the moving of a public facility like a doctors surgery ever been considered confidential and been kept secret from everyone.Since when was it the job of the public to inform councillors about the things that they should have been told by the council themselves? Even the Gazette have come off badly in this.I informed them of the GPs surgery in early December on the 4th or 5th. Why then was nothing printed in the paper until the 11th January some FIVE WEEKS LATER,conveniently after the PCT's meeting on the 9th of January and their official SPIN not consultation,had begun?
The whole lot once again stinks to high heaven with the PCT/council/Persimmon homes all scurrying around desperately trying to paper over the massive cracks.Consultation takes place before plans are drawn up,yet these plans were added to the application ready to be granted planning permission yet neither the councillors or the public knew a thing? What would have happened to the PCT's January consultation if the application had come before the planning committee in November and permission had been granted?
Another issue to come to light was Coatham beach being restricted.A letter appeared in the Gazette in early January stating that a deal had been done between the council and English Nature to restrict access to the beach.It baffled many people,myself included,how an unsubstantiated letter like that could get into the GAZETTE.I have taken things to the Gazette that couldbe proved with documents in my possesion,things that expose this councils deceit,yet nothing has happened.However, an unsubstantiated letter damning the council finds a way through?The following day the council countered theletter in the Gazette stating that it was untrue and no deal had been done,but this is only half a story. I phoned Mike Leakeyfrom English Nature the following day.He informed me that the council and English Nature ARE IN TALKS to RESTRICT USE OF COATHAM BEACH on a seasonal and spacial basis to the horse riders and the people who go kite buggying and kite surfing etc.So much for creating more parking spaces for horse boxes and so much for the biggest lie of all,turningthe Mungle Jungle into an extreme sports centre.Afterall, What use is an extreme sports centre without the extreme sports?
Talking of sports,an employee of the health centre approached me a week or so ago and told me that part of the conditions for TVLL getting their lease renewed was that two managers there Ian Lillystone and Fred Bino had to be sacked.Ian I classed as a friend.Fred Bino was just for Fred Bino.Yet ordering the sacking of people in order for a lease to be renewed shows the vindictive nature of this council.Most startling from the employee was the revelation that the "off peak gold card" set up to encourage the unemployed and low waged and the old to use the gym before 3 oclock had been abolished.There is only one tariff now. It costs a hundred pounds more than the off peak gold card and it is for a "gym and swim". This is scandalous.Not only are people who only want to use the gym being forced to pay for a facility they dont want to use,even if they wanted to use it they couldnt without travelling because WE DONT HAVE A BATHS IN OUR TOWN!!! The employee told me to tell everyone because members who only wanted to use the gym were failing to renew their memberships in their droves. For me its just another way to run the leisure centre down further.To discourage its use just as putting two bar staff on in the Bowl when there are 600 people in the room watching a band who want serving.Its absolutely disgusting. Actually,it isnt a hundred pounds more,its £75.00. Because when I posted the facts on Redcar.net,those in authority suddenly dropped a £25 admin charge for those paying cash.So now its either £250.00 or £300.00 if you pay by direct debit.As opposed to the £175.00 charge last year if you paid cash and £190 if you paid by direct debit.
Dont let them get away with these things and the lies that are being told to us.For over two and a half years the council have been telling everybody how Coatham is going to be a leisure led development.However,we all know now that thats bullshit.Even the MP has come out publicly on radio and stated that there'll be no visitors centre or extreme sports centre because theyve attracted no funding.All it is is a housing estate with a bog standard pool and leisure centre in the middle of it.A pool thatwe could have without the houses because they are BORROWING £8,000,000 to prop the scheme up.They arent giving us anything more or different than weve already had than theyve already taken away from us.They are just replacing what they have already taken away from us.And when you consider that people who cant afford the increases in prices for the use of a gym and a pool that we dont even have in our town,do you not think that the pool/leisure centre could be aimed primarily at the people who will be moving into the big,private town houses and luxury apartments which surround it.
Ask yourself this.Since when were 359 Persimmon homes,which will probably end up being more than that, when the visitors centre dosent get built because of a lack of funding and the mungle jungle is knocked down and the extreme sports centre dosent get built because of the same reason.So when was all this housing,with an estate row of shops,an estate pub,an estate creche,roads,roundabouts,a 5GP surgery with dentists and opticians and pharmacy ever considered as being leisure facilities? When were these things ever regarded as being visitor attractions that would make us a visitor destination of regional importance? If you were to believe the councils/persimmons official spin.
This isnt about leisure it never has been.It is about creating a new coatham.It dosent matter if its not in keeping with the old coatham,one of the oldest areas of the town, because eventually the old will be shoved out by the new.
This scheme is being forced by unscrupulous officers,who have been proven to have lied time and time again.None more so than the chief executive COLIN MOORE who has already been found guilty by two tribunals of deliberately lying and changing his evidence over night,and of sharp practise on the verge of abusing certain council processes.The whole lot is corrupt and decietful and it needs investigating now.
On the way to London this Wednesday,I got speaking to a group of architects on the train who were sat next to me. I asked them if they had ever heard of a local authority paying half of the consultancy fees and all the legal fees,which is an undisclosed amount,for the biggest and richest builder in the country, just to keep their confidence."Enlighten us" one of them said so I told them thats exactly what our council had done for Persimmon homes.The man in the corner asked "Is this in Redcar?" surprised that he knew I said "yes".A broad smile came on his face as he looked directly at the architect opposite and said "dodgy,very dodgy". "Have you heard of this type of thing before" I said "very rarely" he replied "Its just very,very suspicious indeed"
People in the building field from Newcastle have heard about this scheme.Not only that their reaction to the information I gave them says it all.Wake up people of Redcar and Cleveland.Its your money that was committed last March to pay for half the consultancy fees and ALL of the legal fees of the biggest and richest builder in the country just so they didnt pull out of the scheme,when we the public are told constantly that we cant have this or that because theres no money available? Wake up and ask yourselves why a liar like Colin Moore and the officers who jump to his every command,should propose spending public money to pay for the richest builder in the coutries fees so they dont pull out, when we are supposed to be strapped for cash.WHY???
// posted by Chris McGlade @ 5:06 AM 
