Coatham Protest

Well it looks as though the project manager in charge of the Coatham Enclosure is going.Yes...advertised in the Evening Gazette in the sits vacant close to the advertisement for the chief executives post is the position of Regeneration project manager which I believe is none other than Mr Ian Hopley.Project manager for the Coatham Enclosure Scheme going before the project is complete? Another well paid council officer leaving our excellent four star rated authority?
Why should he do something like that? What ever is he doing that for?

Could it be that the cats out of the bag and we all know theres no funding for the leisure side of the scheme? Could it be the three court cases coming up regarding Coatham,One of which regarding the planning committees TAINTED,to quote the leader of the council George Dunning,planning decision? Or Could it be something to do with a TWELVE MILLION POUND DEFECIT IN THE COUNCILS BUDGET having something to do with money being spent on Coatham in ways that it shouldnt have been trying to prop this doomed scheme up?

Whatever the reason,he is another council officer directly linked to the Coatham scheme to have left within a short time of each other.

Joan Rees,Peter Ellis,Bob Barnes,Nick Matthews,Colin Moore and now I believe Ian Hopley.Why should so many officers all suddenly want to retire or move on or claim ill health?

Once again.You draw your own conclusions.The facts are there though.What I find incredible is that in the ads for the job of project manager and Chief Exec,in both cases the candidates are invited for a 'confidential discussion' with the person that is leaving.Never has the person leaving ever had anything to do with the taking on of their successor,why should this be happening here?

Why is the council and the new leader of the council allowing this?

I'll tell you what my opinion on the massive deficit is shall I?

I think that you'll find that a large portion of that money has been spent on the Coatham scheme in one way or another, possibly in ways that shouldnt have been. I mean look at all the money that they have spent on it so far. Also look at it this way, they have already taken the absolutely unprecedented step of paying for the richest builder in the countries' legal fees and consultancy fees havent they? That in itself, when this defecit in the budget was obviously there, when this unprecedented decision was made,and the council was struggling financially,is unbelievable. A local authority with a multi million pound defecit paying all the legal fees and half of the consultancy fees of the richest builder in the country? DOES THAT MAKE SENSE TO ANYONE???? Youve also got to bear in mind,that if one of our council sources hadnt leaked the confidential yellow cabinet papers that showed this,then no-one would have known.

I think that when Mr Dunning announced to all the world in the press on Friday 20th that the £12,000,000 hole was there, someone told him to be very careful as a lot of that money had been spent on Coatham,possibly in ways that it shouldnt have been and any investigation would show that fact up, so putting the whole lot at risk.

Knowing now, as we all do, how much Mr Dunning wants the Coatham scheme and how he has no intentions at all of following what his group and his MP said in the press and in their election literature, namely to take it back to the drawing board and reduce the number of houses, I think he has thought, "well... we cant afford to risk this housing scheme so we wont say anything more about the defecit,infact we'll say that everything is alright now and not as bad as we made out".

I may be right I may be wrong, but at the end of the day,the facts are there and there has to be some reason why he backtracked so massively in the press just four days after the damning revelation.
Just look at all the lies and the deceit that have been exposed about Coatham.Look at the way it was forced through and the way the decision was made.A decision that Dunning himself called tainted.Look at how even though he knows the planning meeting was defective possibly illegal and the decision tainted,and has said so,he hasnt authorised any investigation into that either? The investigation has had to be initiated by us,the people of Redcar by taking the council to Judicial review.

Look at all these things and when they are all put together,and you can see the bigger picture,then I personally dont think that Im too wide of the mark. What you have to ask yourself now is,is that my opinion or has someone come forward and told me that in response to my plea on our blog the other night?

You all make your own minds up.

For three years now,the normal everyday employees of the council and in some cases people who are higher up the ladder,have been coming forward and offering information to me and our group so that the truth about just what exactly is going on within our council can be made public.
It would be practically impossible for anyone to read this blog site from start to finsh and not reach the conclusion that something is most definately wrong at the highest level of our council.

All of the postings on this site can be backed up with documents and witnesses.I have done this both on this site and on Redcar.net for three years now thanks to the information given to us by those in the council who like us,are sick to the back teeth of the abuses that are being carried out within our council and the contempt that is being shown almost on a daily basis now, by those in charge at the council, for the general public.It has to stop.It has to be cleared out once and for all.

If anyone looks at the last few postings about the £12,000,000 hole in the councils budget,not only can you see how we are not a four star authority,not only can you see that there is there something massively wrong that needs a full independent investigation,surely you can see that rather than initiate that investigation the powers that be are trying desperately to cover everything up and put on a solid front so as to make out that everything is ok when everyone knows that it isnt.

I am once again appealing to all of the honest,decent hardworking employees of our council.If you have any information that you can offer that will lead to the investigation of this present regime,then I urge you to come forward and give that information.Someone at the top of this organisation must have solid proof of the things that everyone suspects.Please come forward and offer that information,your anonymity will be assured.

At the end of the day, I will understand if I dont get any responses.But to the people I have aimed this plea at,I ask that you search your hearts and see how important all of this is.I am 42 now and I have a 14 year old daughter.I want what is best for her in every way and that includes her having a truthful,decent,transparent system of both local and national Government that will govern her and her generation and not rule or bully lie or oppress.

Look at the postings on this site.See that thats exactly how this council have been behaving.No transparency,no democracy,no truth.For the sake of our children who will one day inherit the sysytem that we leave behind for them,I say to all of those within the council who know the truth and know how truly rotten it is,to come forward and help cut this cancer out once and for all.

Its up to you.

You can contact me (beefeater) via u2u on redcar.net.Leave your details and I will contact you.

Well heres a funny thing taken from Chris Abbotts web site which just shows how much contradiction and backtrackin there is with the whole issue of the £12,000,000 black hole in the budget...

Thursday, July 26, 2007 Lib Dem challenge to Labour Council Posted by Chris Abbott: "In view of the adverse publicity in the Evening Gazette and the damage it may have done to the reputation of this Council and its professional officers, Glyn Nightingale and I have written to the Director of Finance and Procurement and the District Auditor to request that a Section 151 report is produced as a matter of urgency and presented to a special meeting of the Council.

The report should outline the current financial pressures, explain the allegations of financial mismanagement made by the Council Leader and set out the details of what exactly the alleged £12m “black hole” amounts to as reported in the Evening Gazette. I am concerned that in one day the reputation of the Council and its professional officers, so patiently built back up over the past seven years, since the days when it produced the second highest Council Tax in the land, has been destroyed.

The silly allegations and misrepresentations made by Leader of the Council simply will not stand up to scrutiny and it is vital that members are provided with the real facts. On Friday 20 July we heard from the Redcar and Cleveland Council leader, that his administration have “a £12m black hole.” By Tuesday 24 July we read in the same paper that a proper Budget for 2007-8 is in place, the previous one had balanced with cash to spare going into reserves and the cash crisis was actually in the future.

Clearly they got elected, by the narrowest of margins, making promises to cut Council Tax and have found that their own Government, with its enforced economies and unfair allocation of grants, have made this impossible, so they invent a cash crisis as a way to deflect the blame when they put the Council Tax up. It has clearly backfired on them, hence the rapid back peddling in the Gazette on Tuesday.

They obviously didn't realise the effect it would have on the reputation of not just the politicians but also on the Council's professional staff who advise them, allowing the nasty smearmongers free rein. The Liberal Democrats election warning that Labour cannot be trusted has been confirmed within weeks of the election. The amazing thing about all this is that £5m of the £12m is the cost of implementing Labour's over the top election promises and nothing at all to do with the Coalition and the past four years.

This year the Labour Government gave £7.1m less than justified by its own assessment of needs. Next year Government financial stringency is likely to put even more pressure on Council finances"....



Note Mr Abbott says "The silly allegations and misrepresentations made by Leader of the Council simply will not stand up to scrutiny and it is vital that members are provided with the real facts" However,Colin Moore himself told Mike Findley and the independents on the day of the count at the Bowl, that the council had a £6,000,000 to £7,000,000 black hole in its budget!
So how can Cllr Abbott claim that they are 'silly misrepresentations' made by the leader of the council when his 'professional' Chief Executive has already admited it himself?

For once though I'll actually agree with Mr Abbott and say well done for high lighting the massive contradiction between the first front page newspaper article that stated everything was in a mess and the second,four days later,that made out everything was ok? I posted on my blog calling it a whitewash.He has admitted as an opposition Cllr, what I and everyone else saw.Now all we have to find out is why Cllr Dunning backtracked so massively?

What this post on Cllr Abbotts blog shows, is that the politicians are trying to use this to score points politically against each other.However,whilst they are doing this,the people who are responsible for this obvious financial mess,the officers,are getting away with it all scot free! They aren't even being mentioned.Once again you have to ask yourself why?

The whole lot are obviously in complete and total disarray and chaos.First you have a chief executive on the day of the count admitting to a black hole in the budget. Absolutely NOTHING is said for over two months then the new leader of the council,after we had been highlighting the black hole in the budget regularly on this site,issues a press release to that effect.Only the black hole is bigger than the Chief Executive had led people to believe.

Labour blame the old coalition the old coalition blame labour,but the ones who are responsible because they have been running the council on delegated powers for the last four years, dont even get mentioned? Four days later,the new leader of the council backtracks massively and tries to make out that everything is ok? Not only does he give the Chief Executive what our source told us he requested at a cabinet meeting, namely to be relieved of his normal council duties in order to try and sort the situation out,the new leader states that instead of trying to find out how they have a defecit of £12,000,000 and launching an investigation,instead they are going to sell off council assets to try and plug the hole! And then once more heaps praise on the culprit and tries to make people believe that we are actually a four star authority.

Two days after that,we have the leader of the Libdems blaming the Labour group for basically conjuring the whole story up and states that there is no black hole at all? But this is after Colin Moore already admitted that the defecit was there on the day of the count and has not once denied it in the press since the story hit the front page of the Gazette last Friday! The leader of the Libdems as with the leader of the Labour group heap undeserved praise on the officers?

Now forgive me for being a tad disbelieving of all of them,but none of this is adding up??? It is obvious that the new council leader has told the truth about the defecit in the story that hit the front page of the Gazette on the 20th of this month. Then 'something' has happened to pull George Dunning back into line or someone has had a 'quiet word' in his ear hence the massive backtracking on Tuesday and Cllr Dunning trying to make out that everything is fine.How you can go from financial ruin to being a four star authority again, within the space of four days, is just beyond me???

Meanwhile you have Cllr Abbott denying,probably because his council were actually supposed to be running the council at the time the defecit appeared,something that the Chief executive hasnt denied,has asked for time off to pursue, and actually admitted to councillors on the day of the count!

The whole lot are just an absolute laughing stock! They are dragging the name of our council and our borough down into the shit.It is obvious that the deficit is there.It is obvious that for some reason, both the old coalition and the new are trying to protect the people who are responsible,the officers, by not starting an immediate independent investigation into the whole affair, by not hauling any of the guilty parties over the coals and by trying to blame each other and score points in a game of political football that is shifting peoples attention from the ones who are responsible and by both actually praising the officers as much as they can when they should be facing some investigation or disciplinary hearing.

The fact is no matter how much Cllrs Dunning and Abbott try in their own ways to blame the other in order to try and smooth things over, and shift the emphasis away from those responsible,the things that they are saying in order to desperately save face and not bring the whole house of cards crashing down, just arent washing with anyone because none of the things that they are now saying add up and the truth is already out there,it has been for some time now and not once has it been denied by the Chief Executive.He cant really when he's already admitted it.

These are desperate measures,in desperate times, being carried out by desperate people and it wont belong before they all start to crack.

It has just come to my attention today, through the efforts of others, about the existence of something that is known as the LSP (The Local Strategic Partnership).This body is a part of the council,it has its own constitution,it handles funding and is totally unaccountable to anyone in the council.Indeed,as it shows in the information that I have seen today,EX-cabinet member Eric Empson stated that "In short,no they dont report back to the council".He goes onto say that basically, if they want to then members of the LSP can report back to the council,but when handling funding,shouldnt reporting back to the council be enforced?

Its more or less like a council within a council.An exclusive club that is making decisions but saying nothing to anyone.

This is this councils idea of being open,transparent and accountable and once more it is an absolute disgrace.Bearing in mind that the officers of the council,in particular the Chief Executive are responsible for a TWELVE MILLION POUND HOLE IN THE COUNCILS BUDGET, just what is their role in this LSP? What part have they played or playing? If anything was ever open to corruption then an unaccountable body within the council, with its own constitution and no obligation to say anything to anyone surely is.

When you see this kind of thing going on,bodies within the council with their own constitution,accountable to no-one,you can understand perfectly why the Chief Executive Colin Moore,didnt even get a slapped wrist publicly for being in charge of a council that just cant seem to account for a twelve million pound defecit.

How much more has to come to light before this council, and its activities, are investigated?

When you think about it,the Jimmy Willis case going up to the High court in Newcastle is another massive blow for the council and their botched and tainted,to qoute the Labour MP and the Labour leader of the council,scheme in Coatham.

No funding for any leisure.struggling to borrow the money that they were going to so that they could prop the scheme up because of a £12,000,000 hole in their budget.

Leisure facilities now not a part of phase one but phase two, which isnt due to commence until June 2009.

A new village green application going in that, now that the law that they took advantage of in 2003 has changed and the signs which defeated us at the first village green inquiry no longer mean a thing,could see Coatham Common being registered as a village green.

They have also been notified of our intent to take them to Judicial review over the defective Coatham Planning meeting which the Labour leader of the council himself has described as tainted.He also stated that it would come back to haunt the council...he must be clairvoyant because it's going to!

And if that wasnt bad enough for them they are trying every which way they can to get out of building a sea defence in Coatham BEFORE the houses are built on a recognised flood plain at a time when half of the country is submerged in water because of servere floods!

With all these things going against our 'excellent four star authority',can anyone possibly explain why they are still trying to make people believe that everythings going according to plan?
Can anyone possibly explain why they are still flogging the tired,worn out,laughable council spin that this superb scheme is going to regenerate the town and make us a visitors destination of regional importance,when it wont because all it has ever been is a coastal housing estate?
Can anyone possibly explain why,when its practically dead and finished,are this bunch of cowboys that are running our council,throwing public money at something that isnt going to happen and that should have been scrapped some time ago?

Yesterday justice and truth won the day.At the case management meeting at Teesside combined court for Jimmy Willis' hearing on August 31st, which would give Jimmy Willis,the camper on Coatham Common,his chance to be heard,the judge decided that it wasnt as black and white as was at first anticipated,and has sent it up to the chancery court before a chancery judge in Newcastle.

Jimmy's defence against the application to have him removed from the land, was that he had always used the land for recreational purposes in the past,even camping with his children when they were younger and no one had ever prevented him from doing this, so why now? His defence was also that having seen the covenants that protect the land,covenants that the council have admitted are there,they give him the right to use the land for recreational purposes.

I told the judge that the only reason for the fences being errected around the common was that they wished to have some legal challenge to our second village green application and that is why Jimmy camping on the land,and people using the land. is now a bone of contention where it never has been before.I told the judge that in short,the council were trying desperately to stop people using the land so as to give themselves some chance at the village green public hearing,which means,now that the law that defeated us in 2006 has changed and the signs that were errected by the council in 2003, no longer mean a thing,that there is a strong possibility that the land could now be registered as a village green, after we proved without doubt at the last village green inquiry that the land had been used for recreational purposes for many, many years.

The council had omitted to put the Jugdes requests from the last hearing last month in the actual notices.The judge could not understand why,when the council knew the identity of Jimmy Willis,had they applied to have person/persons unknown removed from the land? The councils barrister conceded that he should be named on the next notice but then argued why other people should be able to make objections against the council applying for a possesion order of the land.
We informed him that we are the persons unknown that the council referred to in the application.Indeed,the judge herself pointed out to the councils barrister, that on the notices that were errected on the fences when they first went up,the council had stated that the public were prohibited from using the land.THE PUBLIC being prohibited from using the land meant that the public had the right to object,the public were the persons unknown.

Because there was far more to this than just the council applying for a possesion order to have Jimmy removed from the land,the judge decided to send it all up to the chancery court in Newcastle for a chancery judge to hear the case.The councils barrister did not want this.The council do not want the issue of the covenants that protect that land,covenants that they have admitted to, being heard in a high court.But sadly for them,now they are.When it was obvious that the sign that the council errected on the fences when they first went up gave the public the right to object, because it was the public that had been prevented from using the land,the judge remarked that the council "had brought it all upon themselves".

So now its up to Newcastle we all go.Submissions and applications have to be into the court in Newcastle by August 29 and a case management meeting will be held in the court up in Newcastle sometime in mid September.It will be decided then when the hearing will take place I believe.

This is the second time that the councils barristers have been defeated in court by myself and other local people who have spoken the truth to the judge.Yesterday we even told the judge how the council have not only fenced the whole area off,they are watching it 24 hours a day with cctv cameras and having community wardens and the police patrol it too! I dont think from her expression that she could believe what we were telling her,infact she said to the councils barrister "can you get a flavour why these people are here now?".

When we first went to court a few weeks ago about this,the councils barrister just thought that the application for possesion would be made and granted,Jim would be removed and that would be that.Can you actually believe,that when we went to the court on that morning,the councils barrister informed us that we couldnt come in to make our plea to the judge! When we told him we were going into the court and he couldnt stop us,he then demanded to know what we were going to say!

We weren't phased then and the judge, after kindly giving us permission to say what we wanted,decided that everyone had a right to be heard in a British court of law and Jimmy Willis was no exception,and he had that right too.

In a way I actually felt sorry for the two barristers who were asked to represent the council because they had been totally misinformed by the council and not given the correct information,but when I think about it in the tribunal case of RCBC v Williams and others the council didnt tell the truth or give the full facts to the solicitor/barrister who represented them on that occasion either.With this record for leaving their legal people in embarrassing situations,I'd be surprised if they could find anyone to represent them! The first barrister a few weeks ago thought the land being occupied by Jimmy was the Stray! The second yesterday thought that the covenants that are on the land said that the land was to be kept as a stray and point of access,when in reality they clearly state that the land is to be kept as a stray and open space for recreational purposes.

I shook the hand of,and comiserated with,a very embarrassed council barrister and we left the court jubilant that justice had been done.

So now we are preparing for the next round in Newcastle.As Im sat here now,in my mind I can see those misleading Lib/dem focus newsletters that stated the covenants dont matter.I can hear Vera Moody's monotone,droning voice stating that the covenants are there,the council have always known this, but they didnt say anything to anyone because they didnt think that they mattered so why say anything?

Mr Abbott,Mrs Moody,George Dunning and Colin Moore,I suggest you think again.Because yesterday a judge deceided that they do.You dont have to think again though do you Colin because you ALREADY KNOW that the covenants mater.Thats why you kept the barristers opinion,that publicly funded document, a document commissioned for the public,secret from the public and the whole council.

Brought to you by your court correspondent Chris Mcglade.

It is now a time for people in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland to stand up and be counted.Every last person who cares about this area and truth and decency has to try and stop the massive cover up that is taking place within our town hall.Instead of investigating the situation of the £12,000,000 that has gone missing from the councils budget,the council are instead going to do nothing apart from try and sell off our assets in order to try and recoup the money.Instead of bringing the people who are responsible for the disappearance of the money,OUR MONEY in the first place,the council are now entrusting the chief executive with the job of trying to raise another £12,000,000 to plug the defecit!

The one who is ultimately responsible is now being put in charge of trying to sort the situation out! How Moore must be rubbing his hands together and laughing up his sleeve that these weak politicians are letting him off scott free and not even calling him in for a bit of a talking to.

This situation is completely crazy and worthy enough to be included in the Donnygate scandal about ten years ago.Its time for this all to stop.Its time that the tax payers of this borough sent out a massive message to the people running our council in order to make them stop.I will not allow this type of behaviour to flourish and prosper and the guilty to go unchallenged.I will be calling a full public meeting soon.Its time this whitewash stopped and stopped now.I will announce the date and time and venue soon.

Never more has the borough needed as many people from the borough to stand up and be counted.

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/news/tm_headline=redcar-cleveland-council-s-budget-battleplan%26method=full%26objectid=19510081%26siteid=109975-name_page.html


Feast your eyes on this article that appeared in the Evening Gazette tonight.After overseeing a council that has a £12,000,000 black hole in its budget,the new Labour led council is allowing Mr Moore to devote all of his time to trying to find ways of plugging the hole up!!! No mention of any inquiry or investigation.No mention of what an absolute shambles the whole lot is,just more glowing reccomendations by the Labour leader of the council for Mr Moore and the 'excellent four star authority'. How many four star authorities do you know that have a £12,000,000 hole in its budget? How many have a £12,000,000 hole in its budget,not investigate it and then charge the person who got the council into the mess with the job of getting the council out of it,so letting him off completely.

How many things can Mr Moore now cover up before he leaves in December? How much can he sweep under the carpet,how many facts can be lost forever because this weak leader of the council has given into the Chief executives request,made at the cabinet meeting a week or so ago as I reported in one of my last postings recently,and allowed him to be relieved of his ordinary council duties to try and sort this situation out.How Moore must be laughing at them all.

Its time for us all to stand up and be counted and make sure that every relevant body is informed of exactly what is going on in Redcar and Cleveland.

Ive just read the post I made last night and I feel,as Im sure a lot of you do too, so disgusted at the lack of 'bottle' and professionalism, shown by those who have created this whole sordid,shabby mess within our council.

Instead of being big enough and men enough and professional enough to hold their hands up and say "look we've made huge mistakes,theres something drastically wrong here,we're to blame and we will carry the can",what do you get instead?
George Dunning blaming one side and Glynn Nightingale blaming the other whilst the officers who have actually been running this authority under delegated powers for the last four years,and who are ultimately responsible for all of this stinking mess, saying nothing! Unbelievable!!!
No wonder Moore wanted relieving of his daily council duties before he 'retires' in December.No wonder that senior officers Rees,Ellis and Barnes all got out within a short time of each other.Heaven knows why the assistant chief executive Nick Matthews was suspended? But whatever the reason for all of them leaving or being suspended,none of them want to face the music or answer questions about their part in this whole shabby saga.The only saving grace in the Nick Matthews story,is that he was told to clear his desk by the Chief Executive so that can only mean that he has does something that Moore didnt agree with, like tell the truth or act decently perhaps?

What really causes me to feel the contempt for them that I do, is that although they are to blame, although OUR COUNCIL,OUR TOWN,OUR BOROUGH,OURSELVES are suffering because of all of their incompetence and corruption, instead of admitting that they are wrong which we can all see that they are,Glynn Nightingale in yesterday's paper cynically tries to keep us believing that we are a 'four star authority'!!!

How many four star authorities do you know that have a £12,000,000 to £15,000,000 black hole in their budget?

How many four star authorities do you know that have been found guilty of maladministration twice within a year?

How many four star authorities do you know that have a situation where the morale of ordinary council workers is shattered by them having redundancy and pay cuts forced upon them,whilst the senior officers award themselves huge pay rise after huge pay rise to the point now where the Chief executive, according to the latest figures, is taking home between £150, and £160,000 pounds per year.Thats more than the chancellor of the exchequer earns and is just short of the prime minister of this country!

How many four star authorities do you know that spin the myth that ''housing brings leisure'' when, after selling off nearly all of our open green space, hundreds and hundreds of acres, for thousands of houses to be built on, we HAVENT GOT ANY LEISURE FACILITIES IN REDCAR AT ALL,NEVER MIND ONES THAT WILL ATTRACT VISITORS.If houses means leisure then our town should be more like Disneyland Paris,yet sadly this isnt the case.
Infact think of all the houses that have been built in the entire borough and where are all the major leisure attractions that by rights we should have as a result of all those houses being built? When you read the Gazette last night you saw in black and white that they cant even maintain the leisure facilities that we have now, so how were they ever going to maintain the leisure facilities that they said we would get in Coatham? Its now obvious that they were safe there, because they have known for sometime that there was never going to be any leisure facilities there. Just houses.
How many four star authorities get all this money from all these builders building all these houses,yet put nothing back into the pot for the people who live here?

How many four star authorities let thriving high streets like Eston South Bank and Redcar become run down to the point that they are now?

How many four star authorities give out fast food licences out for kebab shops like confetti at a wedding to the point that Redcar has nearly 30 along and around its high street just to fill all the empty shops as a result of them going out of business?

How many four star authorities do you know that oversee a situation whereby approximately 28 independent shops went out of business in Redcar town centre in the space of a year and do nothing to halt the spiral of decline?

How many four star authorities do you know of that has a chief executive awarding himself and other senior officers eight EXTRA paid days holiday a year and all these rises in pay, when he has been found by two employment tribunals to have deliberately not told the truth,changed his evidence over night and found guilty of sharp practise?

How many four star authorities do you know that continue to employ people of this calibre when these things are known,instead of sacking him for bringing the councils name into disrepute?

How many four star authorities do you know where a leader of the opposition call for the chief executive to be investigated for his behaviour twice within months of each other,yet when he becomes the leader of the council, gives the same chief executive a glowing appraisal of his time spent at the helm of the council when he announces his retirement? This is particularly odd when at the time of him giving his glowing statement to the Gazette, not onlyhad councillor Dunning called for Moore to be investigated twice, he by then knew of the massive £12,000,000 black hole in the councils budget that Moore had overseen yet done nothing about! Why did Dunning knowing this not absolutely slam him in the press instead of saying how great he was?

How many four star authorities do you know where certain people within that authority send hate mail to councillors,one who suffers with MND and to members of the public?

How many four star authorities do you know of that sees officers defend councillors from the standards board when they have started untrue smear campaigns against the public,when they have failed to declare their interests over the private road adoption scheme,when they have lied to the public and when they have been caught in council buildings, on council time, cavorting with their secretaries? How many four star authorities do you know that sees councillors defend council officers when they have been found guilty of sharp practise,lying,bullying and intimidation?

The whole lot is just absolutely corrupt.For too long they have all been scratching each others backs in order for the status quo,their status quo,to be kept.One turns a blind eye to the indiscretions of the other.All very nice and convenient.Lets not rock the boat eh?

YOU ARE JOKING AREN'T YA'! Lets have it all investigating right now! Independently from someone outside this most rotten borough.We arent a four star authority.Our council has been dragged down into the shit by the same old names time and time again and its about time it was stopped.If the Labour group really want to build the publics trust back up then let them call for an independent investigation into all aspects of what is going on within the council.If a missing £12 to £15,000,000 isnt incentive enough to call for an investigation then I dont know what is? And lets make sure its independently investigated with no influence from any of the main players in our rotten borough council.I am informed that the 'panel' set up to determine whether we were a four star authority or not actually found that we werent,so they were removed and replaced with one that made sure that we were.

When you see and read the abuses and the corruption and the mismanagement above,then Im sure like me,you can see that what my source told me is more than feasible.

To Glynn Nightingale and all the other two faced charlatans who care only about their own image and position,if the above is your idea of a four star authority then lets begin any investigation by having those carrying out an investigation knocking on your doors first.

These abuses simply cannot be tolerated any longer and the guilty can no longer go unpunished.

Its been a while since I have posted, but Ive been so busy.However,the truth about the council having a twelve to fifteen million pound black hole in their budget hitting the front pages of the Gazette today, has spurred me on to post.

The administrator of redcar.net removed me for speaking of the shitty tricks that this council has played on me and other people in our campaign.He then removed Rachel yesterday for presumably telling the truth about Colin Moore,he even removed her posting.To be honest,I cant blame him as he has been threatened by Colin Moore as I have.However,all the things that she said were the truth.The truth hurts people like Colin Moore.He dosent like the fact he was in charge of a council that was found guilty of maladministration TWICE in a year, coming to light.He dosent like the fact that he was found by two tribunals to be deliberately not telling the truth,to be changing his evidence overnight and being found guilty of sharp practise to the point of abusing certain processes,coming to light.He dosent like the fact that he was pushing the Coatham enclosure scheme from the head of the council whilst his wife Veronica,was pushing certain aspects of the Coatham enclosure scheme from within the primary care trust as a non executive board member,coming to light.He dosent like people knowing that a few weeks after we made this fact public,she for some reason,resigned her position.

He dosent want people to know how he has bullied ordinary council staff and intimidated,smeared and lied about members of the public.And he didnt want people to know that this council is in absolute financial mess.He has sat at the top of this council watching it go further and further down the pan financially.yet has done nothing to try and stop it.Infact knowing the financial mess that we are in,he has authorised public money to be spent on things that it should never have been spent on,probably most notably is spending public money to aide private interests by paying the consultancy and legal fees of Persimmon homes,one of the biggest and richest builders in the country.He crows about our council being a 'four star authority',yet he has watched it go further and further down into the mire and done nothing and said nothing to try and stop it.No wonder this little tin pot dictator put his house on the market and announced his 'retirement' recently.He isnt the first.He is just one in a long line of senior council officers who have all jumped the sinking,stinking, ship.Joan Rees,Peter Ellis,Bob Barnes,the assistant chief executive Nick Matthews who is currently suspended,all gone.The senior people in this council all gone.How convenient.Its not as much retiring as it is a get away.

This council has no money at all.It has been in this desperate financial position for sometime.It pushed through the Coatham Enclosure scheme promising this leisure facility and that leisure facility when all along because of the scale of the financial mess that they are in,they have known that they wouldnt be able to deliver any leisure facilities at all.No wonder that the first phase of the development which was due to be the pool and leisure centre and 102 houses,has suddenly become 'doing the boating lake up a bit' and 102 houses!!! You cant believe it can ya'? On March 16th in the Gazette they even denied that the regeneration of the boating lake was even part of the scheme! Now we learn in the ''people,pride and passion'' rag that suddenly the tarting up of the boating lake is phase one! Along with 102 houses dont forget.
Suddenly the wonderful leisure centre and pool are now in phase two which isnt due to begin till JUNE 2009!!! Theyve known all along that the only thing that would ever materialise are the houses.The council were that desperate for money to help deliver their/Persimmons' un-deliverable plans for Coatham, they were going to borrow £8,000,000 to help deliver it.Now, when they have admitted after heaven knows how long of knowing, a twelve to fifteen milion pound black hole in their budget,how can they possibly borrow anything?

Why have they used such vast amounts of our money trying to keep Persimmon homes interested? Why have they pushed the scheme in Coatham and lied about the leisure facilities that we were supposed to get when they have known for so long that they werent going to deliver anything? Why did the Labour group call the planning decision for Coatham 'tainted' in their press release that never made the papers,and the MP call the scheme botched, only to then push it as eagerly as the last coalition when they knew that the funding for the leisure side of the scheme isnt,nor ever will be there? If they thought the decision was tainted and the scheme was botched before the election, why have they not had it investigated now that they are in power?

The whole lot stinks.From lies about leisure in Coatham to a chief executive abusing his position.From a tainted planning decision to this council being found guilty of maladministration TWICE in a year.From deceit,secrecy and stealth to a TWELVE TO FIFTEEN MILLION POUND BLACK HOLE IN THEIR BUDGET.How much more do the people of this borough have to suffer this at best incompetence and at worst downright CORRUPTION.

They have all abused every facet of their positions,yet all along they have awarded themselves payrise after payrise,paid jolly after paid jolly.How can that be right? Our local authority is sinking into a stinking pit of sleaze and corruption.They pay a top London Barrister £12,500 for 25 minutes to defeat in court,we the people of the town, who are fighting to save our town and the home that we love,yet they say they cannot find £12,000 to honour the memory of Mo Mowlam?
They pay hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money trying to keep Persimmon homes' interest in Coatham when they are the biggest and richest builder in the country,yet they have a deficit of twelve million pounds that will mean massive hikes in our council tax? They have such a huge deficit in their budget, yet they are paying thousands and thousands of pounds of public money not only errecting fences around the land in Coatham just to give themselves and Persimmon homes some slender legal challenge against our 2nd Village green application now that the law has changed,but also thousands and thousands of pounds of public money patrolling and watching,24 hours a day,the same fenced off 18 acres of open green land.

THEY ARE AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE!!!

They arent representing us.They are representing themselves and their own selfish ends and looking after the interests of a developer like Persimmon homes.Ask yourselves why,when the financial situation is such in our council,is so much public money being spent trying to keep the interest of a massive private company like Persimmon? Why did Persimmon,who are a leading house builder answer in 2002 the councils brief for Coatham when it was a leisure brief? Why did this council ignore a total leisure plan for Coatham,from a leisure developer, that had no reccomendations for any housing,to go instead with a massive housing developers plans for a massive housing estate to be built on our coastline that has never,nor will never,deliver the leisure facilities that they havebeen deceiving the people of Redcar into thinking they are going to get?

Our high street is an embarrassing,kebab shop,pound shop,charity shop and boarded up shop,filled disgrace. It makes my heart feel so heavy with sadness to see it in such a mess.It makes me so angry though when you hear the people who have orchestrated this mess,who have been in charge of it all,then try and con the people of this town into thinking that firstly, building the houses in Coatham will solve all our towns problems and then secondly try and con them into thinking that we will get all these leisure facilities that we are desperate for,when they know that they have already turned down a total leisure scheme from a leisure developer who delivers leisure facilities and resorts in 35 different countries around the world and when they know that they havent got any money to deliver the 'token' leisure facilities that are part of the Persimmon housing estate.

We deserve better than this.That is why we are taking this council to the high court over the tainted,defective planning decision that was reached by a biased,loaded planning committee when the scheme for Coatham was pushed forward before the planning committee in April.That is why we are going all the way to the high court if need be to fight our second village green application.I urge every last person who cares about this town to support us in this fight.We have to stick together to let these few incompetent,corrupt individuals who have been abusing our money and their positions of power know, that their days of just getting away with what they want are over.

The funniest thing is that according to a source,our wonderfully 'four star' 'whiter than white' chief executive actually asked the cabinet recently to be relieved of his daily duties at the council until he leaves in December,so that he can focus all his efforts on sorting this situation out.One wonders exactly what that entails dont you?

Ive also spoken with a local builder who informed me that whilst the council paid approximately £1,300,000 to privately adopt 19 dirt tracks in the borough,FIVE of them were around ex-cabinet member Steve Kays house in the tiny hamlet of Moorsholm,the real cost was in the region of £200,000! Hence the investigation into the private road adoption scheme as reported in the Evening Gazette a couple of weeks ago.

Its late now and Im signing off.For three years Ive been telling the people of this borough the truth about what is going on within the council.I have been supplied with information from very reliable council sources for the best part of three years now and have provided documents and evidence in every instance.Those in power have tried to discredit me,smear me,threaten me,bully and intimidate me.They have sent me hate mail according to Cleveland Police,and I believe,even issued death threats to me,via another person, over the telephone.This happened on the day that their exhibition started in 2005.They have done everything they can to marginalise me and make people turn away from the truths that i am given and make public.I remember when I made it public the Liberata and the council were parting company.Colin Moore actually phoned me up to tell me how wrong I was and how I didnt understand this and that.

What of the Liberata/council relationship now? ENDED. I have posted on this blog for nearly a year and never been prosecuted or sued or taken to court.Cleveland Police on behalf of Councillor Dave Fitzpatrick have tried to do this because I told the truth about him from the CCTV footage I have in my possesion.They spent SIX MONTHS trying to find and fit an offence to me posting that truth on my blog when in actual fact no offence has been committed.All I have done is speak the truth and state my opinion.They have done this to try and stifle free speech and the truth from being made widespread knowledge.The funniest thing of all is that they have wasted precious police time and public money representing a councillor over a civil issue and yet all the things that I said have already been aired in a British court of law and therefore are in the public domain already.

They just didnt want you to know.

Look at the headlines in the Gazette and see the missing £12,000,000 there in black and white.To all those who have supported me and our campaign for the truth and justice and fairness and decency to prevail, I say a massive THANKYOU.I urge you to carry on and I urge others too, to join us in our campaign to stop our town from being killed off completely and to have the truth about Coatham and this councils exploits known totally.

To all those who, on behalf of those in the council who are affraid that their grip on power is loosening and to those in the council themselves, who have smeared and threatened and lied and intimidated and bullied and decried and ridiculed me and our group and branded us liars you too take a good look at the front page of the Gazette and know in your hearts THAT YOUR DAYS OF TAKING THE PISS OUT OF THE PEOPLE OF REDCAR AND CLEVELAND ARE OVER!!!!!

The cats well and truly out of the bag.