Thursday, August 30, 2007
Another document I found....
When I had finished reading the Vera Moody, anyone remember her? Glossy leaflet from last year, I Continued to look through some documents concerning this issue. I found an absolute peach!
It was a press release issued by the Labour group last year, shortly after our meeting in the Coatham Bowl, where over 430 people attended.
It is headed “BACK TO THE BOARD CALL OVER COATHAM PLANS”. The document is scanned on a topic on Redcar.Net called "the labour groups come off the fence" if you want to see it, as I do not have a scanner working at the moment, but I will quote what it says exactly for you.
“Labour members on Redcar and Cleveland Council say that, whilst they remain committed in principle to the regeneration of the Coatham area of Redcar, they believe that increasing uncertainty over the proposals backed by the current coalition administration on the authority ‘demand an URGENT NEED TO GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD’.
“That was the demand from councilor Sheelagh Clarke, spokesperson on culture, leisure and Tourism, and Labour leader Group leader George Dunning after a special group meeting with Redcar MP Vera Baird to discuss the latest position over the controversial Coatham Enclosure scheme”.
“Said Councillor Clarke “However much the coalition try and hide from reality, it is becoming increasingly clear that many of the things they have promised for this project are little more than hot air”.
“There have been attempts to dismiss the protests over the scheme as the actions of just a few hotheads, but that is difficult to justify with increasing numbers attending public meetings-well over 400 at the most recent last month-and a protest march planned in a few days’ time”.
“What makes people so concerned is that the scheme changes literally by the day with the trend clearly going in the direction of more housing and less of the leisure facilities which were seen as the key benefit of the project”.
“We now face the very real possibility that the promised leisure facility will never materialize, that the dance floor, so popular with local people, will vanish and that, far from improving the environment of the area, we will see the seascape blighted by a block of flats”.
“Added Councillor Dunning “it is absolutely clear that the coalition do not have a clue about what to do with the Coatham Issue. They have failed miserably in communicating with local people-hence the continuing public opposition-and the finances for the project seem in a state of chaos despite the fact that the administration has had the benefit of new borrowing rules”.
“Obviously times have changed since the Coatham vision was first launched under the previous Labour administration and, whilst remaining committed to the scheme in principle, we recognize that there is a need to review the current situation, to keep the public fully informed-something that the coalition has failed to do-and, if necessary, seek a public enquiry if that is what is required to resolve the morass now surrounding the project”..........
I knew that the Labour Group had released that press release and I remember it being in the paper, but what I had forgotten was just how strong the Labour group had been in their condemnation of the scheme. How they can make statements like that, obviously because like all the other parties they were frightened by over 430 people attending a public meeting against the scheme and so consequently they knew how much opposition there was to it in the town, BUT THEN GO BACK ON EVERYTHING THEY SAID IN THAT PRESS RELEASE SINCE THEY TOOK CONTROL OF THE COUNCIL, is just beyond me and it should be beyond anyone who values the truth.
They said that the scheme needed to go back to the drawing board, but have not once even attempted to do so.
They said that things that had been 'promised' were little more than hot air, but they have pressed ahead with the hot air scheme regardless.
They said that attempts to dismiss protests to the scheme were difficult with over 400 people attending meetings, but that’s exactly what they are doing now. Infact they are now using the paper thin ‘silent majority’ argument, to try and dismiss the protests themselves. How can they one minute say we have to listen to the protestors because they aren’t such a small number after all, then the next minute say the protestors don’t matter because ‘we know’ the silent majority are in favour of the scheme when no adequate communication with the public has been carried out to see exactly what they think? Something else that they have condemned in their press release.
They admitted "the trend is going towards more housing, that the leisure is featuring less and less, that there is a very real danger that the promised leisure centre will not materialize" whilst they were in opposition, yet not once have they not warned people about these things since they took control of the council in May? Signs of the leisure centre and pool not materializing are actually showing now, with the revelations that Persimmon homes haven't signed any 106 agreement with the council tying them to providing any leisure, with no funding, with borrowing looking unlikely because of a £12,000,000 black hole in their budget, with the leisure centre and pool being moved back from phase one of the scheme where it has always been, to phase two of the scheme which isnt due to start until at least June 2009 as it was reported in a recent edition of the councils "people pride and passion magazine" and with George Dunning making a statement in a letter that was printed in the Gazette not long ago, where he clearly said that the providing of a pool would now be done through G.R.A.S.P (get Redcar a swimming pool) A talking shop that was set up before the Coatham Enclosure plans were up and running,to try and secure funding for a pool.They were unsuccesful.This was part of the councils justification for going with the Persimmon plan because as I have said before,they said that that was the only way we would get a pool as all other attempts to get one had failed!
George Dunning has accused the coalition of not communicating with the public and failing miserably in this task, yet when people have emailed him questioning this scheme since he became leader of the council in May this year, he’s boasted about the ‘consultation’ that the council has entered into in taking the details of this scheme out to the public? How dare he accuse the last coalition of failing miserably to communicate with the public, when the council that he was in charge of DID NOT INFORM, IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE ERRECTION OF SEVEN FOOT HIGH STEEL FENCES AROUND COATHAM COMMON THAT BARRICADED UNSUSPECTING MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC INTO THEIR HOMES!!!!!!!
He has called for a public enquiry if that is what is needed to resolve the morass surrounding the project, yet he, even though he had the authority to contact Government Office North East to tell them to call the scheme in because of the morass surrounding the scheme, DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, AS DIDN’T OUR MP, WHO HAD BEEN GIVEN 1000 CALLS FOR A PUBLIC ENQUIRY BY THE PUBLIC!
What is more astounding is that Labour councilors who sat on the Coatham Planning committee, knowing that their leader and another prominent member of their group had said all these things in this release, STILL voted in favour of the scheme and for some reason extolled the virtues of the scheme by saying how wonderful it was going to be. How could anyone vote in favour of something when the leader of their group and his sidekick had made those kinds of statements publicly? Infact how could George Dunning ABSTAIN from voting on that planning committee when he had spoken out against it in such a manner? How could he do anything other than vote against it after saying those things?
We cannot comprehend this two faced behaviour because as decent people of the borough we know the difference between right and wrong and the truth and lies.
How members of the Labour group must be red faced and reeling at the sight of such facts, when they know that the things that were said before the election, have not been adhered to by the same people that said them, after the election.
How they must be secretly dying with embarassment at the fact that their leader has called the Coatham planning meeting and decision tainted, but has done nothing to have it investigated.
How they must be shaking their heads in disbelief at the leader of their group calling for the chief executives investigation TWICE before the election when in opposition, but has done quite the opposite and not been able to praise the chief executive enough, now that he is leader of the council.
These facts are there. They show these people up for what they really are. Do you think that the people of Redcar and Cleveland deserve such hypocrisy and contempt being shown to them?
It was a press release issued by the Labour group last year, shortly after our meeting in the Coatham Bowl, where over 430 people attended.
It is headed “BACK TO THE BOARD CALL OVER COATHAM PLANS”. The document is scanned on a topic on Redcar.Net called "the labour groups come off the fence" if you want to see it, as I do not have a scanner working at the moment, but I will quote what it says exactly for you.
“Labour members on Redcar and Cleveland Council say that, whilst they remain committed in principle to the regeneration of the Coatham area of Redcar, they believe that increasing uncertainty over the proposals backed by the current coalition administration on the authority ‘demand an URGENT NEED TO GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD’.
“That was the demand from councilor Sheelagh Clarke, spokesperson on culture, leisure and Tourism, and Labour leader Group leader George Dunning after a special group meeting with Redcar MP Vera Baird to discuss the latest position over the controversial Coatham Enclosure scheme”.
“Said Councillor Clarke “However much the coalition try and hide from reality, it is becoming increasingly clear that many of the things they have promised for this project are little more than hot air”.
“There have been attempts to dismiss the protests over the scheme as the actions of just a few hotheads, but that is difficult to justify with increasing numbers attending public meetings-well over 400 at the most recent last month-and a protest march planned in a few days’ time”.
“What makes people so concerned is that the scheme changes literally by the day with the trend clearly going in the direction of more housing and less of the leisure facilities which were seen as the key benefit of the project”.
“We now face the very real possibility that the promised leisure facility will never materialize, that the dance floor, so popular with local people, will vanish and that, far from improving the environment of the area, we will see the seascape blighted by a block of flats”.
“Added Councillor Dunning “it is absolutely clear that the coalition do not have a clue about what to do with the Coatham Issue. They have failed miserably in communicating with local people-hence the continuing public opposition-and the finances for the project seem in a state of chaos despite the fact that the administration has had the benefit of new borrowing rules”.
“Obviously times have changed since the Coatham vision was first launched under the previous Labour administration and, whilst remaining committed to the scheme in principle, we recognize that there is a need to review the current situation, to keep the public fully informed-something that the coalition has failed to do-and, if necessary, seek a public enquiry if that is what is required to resolve the morass now surrounding the project”..........
I knew that the Labour Group had released that press release and I remember it being in the paper, but what I had forgotten was just how strong the Labour group had been in their condemnation of the scheme. How they can make statements like that, obviously because like all the other parties they were frightened by over 430 people attending a public meeting against the scheme and so consequently they knew how much opposition there was to it in the town, BUT THEN GO BACK ON EVERYTHING THEY SAID IN THAT PRESS RELEASE SINCE THEY TOOK CONTROL OF THE COUNCIL, is just beyond me and it should be beyond anyone who values the truth.
They said that the scheme needed to go back to the drawing board, but have not once even attempted to do so.
They said that things that had been 'promised' were little more than hot air, but they have pressed ahead with the hot air scheme regardless.
They said that attempts to dismiss protests to the scheme were difficult with over 400 people attending meetings, but that’s exactly what they are doing now. Infact they are now using the paper thin ‘silent majority’ argument, to try and dismiss the protests themselves. How can they one minute say we have to listen to the protestors because they aren’t such a small number after all, then the next minute say the protestors don’t matter because ‘we know’ the silent majority are in favour of the scheme when no adequate communication with the public has been carried out to see exactly what they think? Something else that they have condemned in their press release.
They admitted "the trend is going towards more housing, that the leisure is featuring less and less, that there is a very real danger that the promised leisure centre will not materialize" whilst they were in opposition, yet not once have they not warned people about these things since they took control of the council in May? Signs of the leisure centre and pool not materializing are actually showing now, with the revelations that Persimmon homes haven't signed any 106 agreement with the council tying them to providing any leisure, with no funding, with borrowing looking unlikely because of a £12,000,000 black hole in their budget, with the leisure centre and pool being moved back from phase one of the scheme where it has always been, to phase two of the scheme which isnt due to start until at least June 2009 as it was reported in a recent edition of the councils "people pride and passion magazine" and with George Dunning making a statement in a letter that was printed in the Gazette not long ago, where he clearly said that the providing of a pool would now be done through G.R.A.S.P (get Redcar a swimming pool) A talking shop that was set up before the Coatham Enclosure plans were up and running,to try and secure funding for a pool.They were unsuccesful.This was part of the councils justification for going with the Persimmon plan because as I have said before,they said that that was the only way we would get a pool as all other attempts to get one had failed!
George Dunning has accused the coalition of not communicating with the public and failing miserably in this task, yet when people have emailed him questioning this scheme since he became leader of the council in May this year, he’s boasted about the ‘consultation’ that the council has entered into in taking the details of this scheme out to the public? How dare he accuse the last coalition of failing miserably to communicate with the public, when the council that he was in charge of DID NOT INFORM, IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE ERRECTION OF SEVEN FOOT HIGH STEEL FENCES AROUND COATHAM COMMON THAT BARRICADED UNSUSPECTING MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC INTO THEIR HOMES!!!!!!!
He has called for a public enquiry if that is what is needed to resolve the morass surrounding the project, yet he, even though he had the authority to contact Government Office North East to tell them to call the scheme in because of the morass surrounding the scheme, DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, AS DIDN’T OUR MP, WHO HAD BEEN GIVEN 1000 CALLS FOR A PUBLIC ENQUIRY BY THE PUBLIC!
What is more astounding is that Labour councilors who sat on the Coatham Planning committee, knowing that their leader and another prominent member of their group had said all these things in this release, STILL voted in favour of the scheme and for some reason extolled the virtues of the scheme by saying how wonderful it was going to be. How could anyone vote in favour of something when the leader of their group and his sidekick had made those kinds of statements publicly? Infact how could George Dunning ABSTAIN from voting on that planning committee when he had spoken out against it in such a manner? How could he do anything other than vote against it after saying those things?
We cannot comprehend this two faced behaviour because as decent people of the borough we know the difference between right and wrong and the truth and lies.
How members of the Labour group must be red faced and reeling at the sight of such facts, when they know that the things that were said before the election, have not been adhered to by the same people that said them, after the election.
How they must be secretly dying with embarassment at the fact that their leader has called the Coatham planning meeting and decision tainted, but has done nothing to have it investigated.
How they must be shaking their heads in disbelief at the leader of their group calling for the chief executives investigation TWICE before the election when in opposition, but has done quite the opposite and not been able to praise the chief executive enough, now that he is leader of the council.
These facts are there. They show these people up for what they really are. Do you think that the people of Redcar and Cleveland deserve such hypocrisy and contempt being shown to them?
// posted by Chris McGlade @ 2:12 AM 
