Cheshire West & Chester Council (#QuackCWaC) Watcher

Chester Cathedral Square: Another QuackCWaC Council cock up?

2012-01-28T17:46:00.000Z

The Cathedral Quarter Phase 1 Chester Cathedral, Chester Renaissance and Cheshire West and Chester Council - are working together on a visionary initiative to find new ways of ......Wasting taxpayer's money? [an alternative, more accurate statement of what they are actually doing]

A WATCHDOG recently slammed a council-funded project at Chester Cathedral which cost taxpayers more than £750,000.

Cheshire West and Chester Council's own public accounts scrutiny panel found the consultants who earned hundreds of thousands of pounds designing the scheme appeared to be the ones driving the project.

Here is an extract from a recent article by Chester Walls

In late 2009, we heard the first of a £7.5 million plan "to make Chester Cathedral more visitor-friendly". Why so? Was there, then, something about the place that made it visitor-unfriendly? Aside from those intimidating admission charges of course. The stated aim was "to attract another 130,000 visitors a year".

Behind the scheme is a partnership of the Cathedral authorities and the quango Chester Renaissance; well-funded and powerful, the latest in a tiresome succession of fiddlers with Chester's precious heritage hailing from somewhere far away. Project management is co-ordinated with Building Design Partnership's (BDP) Liverpool office, designers of ultra-modern office blocks and shopping centres, including the vast and vile Liverpool One. So perfect for Chester then.

Another fervent advocate of the proposals, CWAC spokesman for regeneration Councillor Herbert Manley, who represents Hartford, some miles from Chester, is continuously being quoted as claiming the 'improvements' "could result in another 130,000 more annual visitors visiting the cathedral". Could? Martians could land in Town Hall Square but the likelihood seems just as remote.

As no shortage of concerned correspondents to the local press, suspecting that they are being taken for fools, have been asking recently, in direct challenge to Cllr Manley, "where on earth did these figures come from? Please furnish us with the evidence." One suspects they'll be waiting for some time.

By November 2011, things seemed to have gone somewhat pear-shaped for architects and project managers, the mighty BDP who have already earned themselves hundreds of thousands of pounds from you and I, the Chester taxpayer.

15th November 2011: Despite being, predictably, recommended for acceptance by planning officers, the Cathedral proposals were unanimously, and to the joy of many, thrown out by the Cheshire West & Chester Planning Board tonight! Some quotes from the councillors who took part:

Ellesmere Port Councillor Keith Butcher: "Spending £2.5 million at this time is criminal".
The Chester Civic Trust: "The proposals lacked a feel for the city and sensitivity to local character".

Chester City Councillor Samantha Dixon: "This is a facelift but what the patient really needs is a heart transplant".

Councillor Norman Wright: "It would be an absolute shame to remove the green space from the war memorial... it would be asking for trouble in the future".

Councillor David Armstrong: "unacceptable to the people of Chester".

Chairman Councillor Ralph Oultram: "there should have been more dialogue along the way".

The same issues of the local press also reported that the Cathedral's Chief Executive (who would have thought such creatures existed within God's House?) Annette Moore, had, purely coincidentally, left her post "to pursue other interests"...

In early January 2012, painful facts about the scandal started to be made public. As many as twenty three officers from the three 'partners' worked on the proposals, headed by Council Regeneration Director Charlie Seward, Chief Executive of Chester Renaissance Rita Waters and Chief Executive of Chester Cathedral, the now-departed Annette Moore. Project managers BDP earned themselves- wait for it- £520, 545 for producing the pretty drawings. Cheshire West and Chester Council's own Public Accounts Scrutiny Panel have expressed the view, unfortunately embarrassingly too late, that "BDP appeared to be the ones driving the project". Make of that what you will, dear reader. Total costs are conservatively estimated to have been at least an eye-watering £750,000! That's three quarters of a million pounds of our money utterly squandered.

Asked about repercussions for individuals or organisations given this shocking waste of yours and mine hard-earned, the council made nary a mention of sackings or legal demands for restitution but, rather, responded, "The council is currently working with the Cathedral and Chester Renaissance (the three 'partners' directly responsible for the scandalous loss, remember) to review the project and consider next steps and any decisions arising will be taken in the new year."

So some hope then. Less than helpful, however, were the remarks of Chester Renaissance Chairman Broomhead. On the matter of the failed Cathedral Square proposals, his expert opinion? "There were too many trouble makers and people interfering".

My comment: Good job there were a few trouble makers and people interfering otherwise we would have had an even bigger cock up costing the taxpayer many millions. As you should know Mr Broomhead, scrutinising what taxpayer's money is spent on is called democracy not troublemaking or interfering.

Whilst Midas had the golden touch, CWaC Council - or at least the Executive, have clearly developed the cock up touch. Good job the Council they control is a taxpayer funded institution otherwise they would have been out of business long ago.

"The council’s own public accounts scrutiny panel found the consultants who earned hundreds of thousands of pounds designing the scheme appeared to be the ones driving the project."

Let's all hope that our Council Executive will now stop doing what consultants and other third parties want and start doing what's best for Cheshire West and Chester.

Read the full story from the source Chester Walls

Links to additional information

The Cathedral Quarter Phase 1 Chester Cathedral, Chester Renaissance and Cheshire West and Chester Council - are working together on a visionary initiative to find new ways of ....[Wasting taxpayer's money?]

29th September 2011 Chester Cathedral square MKII is unveiled The project is a partnership between Chester Cathedral, Cheshire West and Chester Council and Chester Renaissance.

Failed Chester Cathedral scheme cost £750K A WATCHDOG has slammed a council-funded project at Chester Cathedral which cost taxpayers more than £750,000.

CWaC Council: Gold plated pensions for some councillors?

2012-01-27T15:00:00.004Z

The Taxpayer's Alliance have just released the results of their research on council pensions.
Surprisingly many councillors have also jumped on the pension gold plated pension bandwagon.

"At a time when public sector pensions are under the spotlight, the TaxPayers’ Alliance can reveal the true cost to taxpayers of ‘employer contributions’ to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). The equivalent of £1 in every £5 of council tax raised in the UK is spent on council pensions. This report also details the explosion in the number of councillors claiming council pensions.1 Despite fulfilling a supposedly volunteer role, there are now 4,548 councillors on the LGPS, up by over 1,000 since 2007-08."

Read the full TPA report here.

The figures for CWaC Council are (Compare them with other councils by downloading the TPA report)

Total contribution 2010/2011 £21,473,000
Total number of residents 327,300
Cost of pension contribution per resident £65.61 (£262.44 for a family of 4)
Number of Councillor in the scheme 26
(The median average number of councillors on the LGPS is 4 and the mean is 11)

"Councillors’ Pensions

The purpose of a councillor is to represent the people of a local ward in their council. They are elected to bring their expertise and experience to address the specific needs of their local community. These duties are meant to be separate from their private and professional lives outside the council and their position is voluntary. Any payments they receive are not intended to represent earnings but instead to compensate them for incidental expenses incurred in fulfilling their duties in local government such as the use of their phones, transportation and office expenses. As these payments are described as reimbursements, the fact that many local authorities consider them to be pensionable pay calls into question the voluntary nature of participating in local government."

My comment: Whilst one can understand council staff being in the pension scheme, how an earth do councillors qualify? They are not employed by the council.

UPDATE 30th January 2012: I submitted a Freedom of Information request to confirm the number of councillors in the pension scheme and the cost to the taxpayer.

Once I have that information I will ask for the councillor's names and add this additional cost to their allowances and expenses. Pension contributions are available for senior staff so why not councillors?

UPDATED: Proposed Phone Mast in Caldy Valley Nature park

2012-01-26T15:05:00.000Z

Another CWaC Council cock up?

Campaign Press Release (Sent to me on the 26th January 2012) My update below 30th January 2012.

PROPOSED18 METRE PHONE MAST

AT PUMPING STATION, CALDY VALLEY NATURE PARK

Did you know that the council is proposing to erect an 18 metre phonemast in the dip of Sandy Lane where the nature park brook flowstowards the River Dee? It will be within the boundary of the naturepark and close to your house.

Please consider:

The inherent dangers of living near a phone mast. Only in the UK are weallowed to have these monstrosities close to homes and schools. InNew Zealand and other countries they must be 500 metres away. Therisks are actually worse between 200-500 metres due to the nature ofthe radio waves. Do some research on the internet if you can, thereis plenty of information there that the government do not want you toread because they are making billions of pounds from this e.g.http://www.mastaction.co.uk/news/Cancer-clusters-at-phone-masts/

The fact that Dee Banks School is within this radiation zone, yet havenot been notified by the Council. Children are at the greatest risk.

An 18 metre mast located here will significantly damage the view for allresidents and park users. It is a valley with a stream which leadstoward the Dee and an area of natural beauty. The erection of themast will have a negative impact upon this, not only for us but forpeople using the meadows.

We have a healthy wildlife population including woodpeckers, jays,kingfishers and bats. It is well known that mobile phone mastemissions affect the sonar of bats and therefore carry a very realthreat to them. All species of bats are endangered and therefore areprotected under British and International Law. Many birds and beesare likely to leave the park, “The Birds, the Bees andElectromagnetic Pollution”, A Goldsworthy (2009).

On top of all this your property will almost certainly be devalued.~~Please see overfor~~ an artist’s impression of what we will soon see if you donothing. [Added below]

Please take 5 minutes to join us in objecting to this. You can do thisonline at www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/planningapplications Reference 12/00110/TEL or type in “pumping” or write to PlanningService, CWAC, Wyvern House, Winsford, CW7 1AH. You must commentbefore 8^th February.

Youcan also write to your local councillor throughhttp://www.huntington-chester.co.uk or http://www.chesterconservatives.org/contact-us/or email Pamela Hall pamela.hall@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

Please don’t let this monstrosity go ahead for the sake of five minutes help from you. Justa couple of lines from every person in your household (even your children can object) will make all the difference.

PLEASE ALSO ATTEND THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING 20^th Feb 7.30pm VILLAGE HALL.

My comment: I am currently investigating various issues and will update this post as soon as possible. However, I didn't want to delay publishing details of the above campaign.

UPDATE 30th January 2012: Anger over Chester park phone mast plan

ANGRY residents have vowed to fight proposals to construct a phone mast near a popular Chester park.

Mobile phone giants Vodafone and O2 are behind plans for the 18-metre high structure on a site just off Chester Road, near Caldy Valley Nature Park.

Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) spokesman Ian Callister confirmed they had received an application for prior approval from the two telecoms companies.

He said: “We have received an application on behalf of Vodafone and O2 for prior approval. It is an 18-metre high mast including antennae.

“It’s at the water pumping station in Chester Road, Huntington.” He added consultations would be held.

Read the full story from the source Cheshire First

My comment: Many people were confused by the initial planning application notification and thought the water pumping station was situated at the water works. It isn't, it is much closer to houses and the schools than they initially thought. [See map below]

The original application also gives a different address to that quoted by the CWaC Council press officer in the article above. Why didn't CWaC Council give residents the full and proper address in all correspondence?

As far as schools are concerned I have been informed that Dee Banks, Bishop’s High and Noah’s Ark nursery are all within a few hundred metres of the mast, yet none were informed. Obviously not close enough as far as CWaC Council were concerned.

In addition CWaC Council should have had an LPA register but didn't. Most Councils do, or at least the good ones. After all it is a requirement under the Code of Good Practice. “Up-to-date mast registers should be held by all LPAs, to facilitate discussion between LPAs and operators. These should also be made available on the LPA’s website.”

As far as consultations are concerned why weren't the right councillors consulted?

No wonder they didn't receive any responses!

My investigation continues and further information will be added when I have the time but so far, like most things that CWaC Council do, it's turning into a right Charlie Foxtrot.

Why real scrutiny is essential

2012-01-16T16:28:00.000Z

POLICE are getting ready to submit a report over claims made against three Swansea councillors. [As I understand it regarding potential corruption & conspiracy charges against those involved.]

Leader Chris Holley, deputy leader John Hague and acting Conservative group leader Paxton Hood-Williams were reported to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales for allegedly breaching the code of conduct.

It is claimed, the Evening Post understands, spending in certain Tory wards was offered in exchange for support of the administration.The ombudsman investigation was put on hold while police officers decided whether a criminal investigation should be brought against the three members.

However, a spokesman for South Wales Police said: "A file is being prepared for submission to the Crown Prosecution Service and a decision will be forthcoming in due course.

My comment: I have always been concerned about the potential to misuse councillor's budgets. I would argue that councillors could, should they wish, quite easily bias their budget spend towards groups who are more likely to vote for them come election.

Now it would appear that a cabal within a council is doing something similar but on a much grander scale. They are buying the support of other councillors by offering to spend more taxpayer's money in their wards.

Which rather suggests that councillors scrutinising councillors is not the correct approach. For example, what if bribed councillors were also on the scrutiny panel which was scrutinising the decisions of corrupt councillor/s? ie. those who bribed them.

Read the full story from the source This is South Wales

CWaC Council's latest cock up, a dodgy website

2012-01-11T00:59:00.002Z

My comment: Earlier today I was sent an alert informing me of this particular news item, however, when I tried to access the article in a Crewe on line newspaper the article wasn't available (Page not found).

It has since appeared in other local on line newspaper so instead of just tweeting about it, as I did earlier, I decided to write this blog post.

Councillors call for delay on traveller site after problems accessing information

WINSFORD councillors are calling for a delay in a decision on a proposed gipsy and traveller site because of difficulties with viewing the planning documents.

Clr Mike Kennedy said: “I am getting a bit cheesed off at trying to download things from its website and not being able to access information that should be made available.

“The reason why we are here now is to comment on documents that we have not been able to read.

“We are suppose to be a front runner for a new up and coming online planning system but there is many days I’ve looked for planning applications and have had to try about five or six times, or some days they are not there at all.”

Clr Steve Smith agreed and said it was a problem he has discussed with residents in his ward.

My comment: Another CWaC council cock up? In addition, it must be bad when other councillors are criticising them. Neither is this the first time Winsford Councillors have criticised CWaC Council.

Read the full story from the source Winsford Guardian

Here are the two alerts I tweeted about earlier.

UPDATE 17th January 2012:

Even after being down at the weekend for maintenance the website is still causing problems with various pages returning different errors. Two below as an example. Screen shots taken at 10.48am 17th January 2012.

This screen shot was taken at 2.05pm on the 17th January 2012 so problems persist.

Is there a democratic deficit in Cheshire West and Chester Council?

2012-01-08T17:07:00.001Z

It is now easier to find democracy in your local town council, parish council or local voluntary groups than it is in Cheshire West and Chester Council.

Decisions appear to be taken within CWaC Council with no real consultation, debate, discussion or scrutiny.

Even the Cabinet appears to be no more than a front to hide the fact the the majority of decisions are taken by just a few people. One that could best described as an inner circle or cabal. Here is an example of how a cabal can use taxpayer's money to persuade other councillors to play ball.

CWaC Council as a whole is a now complete irrelevance because they are allowed to make so few decisions. The reason for this appears twofold

1) Such decisions would normally be made in public and allow any member/s opposed to a decision to apply some accountability, scrutiny and democracy. Something the inner circle (controlling body) within CWaC Council appear to like.

2) If the full council was not allowed to make any decisions then CWaC Council's inner circle would not have a thin veneer of democracy to hide behind.

Look at some of the evidence from last year alone.

Sham consultations

Winsford Town Council says it is being left out of major decisions affecting the town

What’s going on with Lion Salt Works? [Northwich]

Democracy in action CWaC Council style

A council that cannot come to terms with freedom of information

Putting pressure on our local press to bury bad news

Using defamation claims in an attempt to silence critics

Using gagging clauses to stop ex staff speaking out

From the above, together with many other events from last year, CWaC Council's inner circle appears to prefer to operate behind closed doors without any real accountability, full council scrutiny, involvement and without proper public consultation. One that also appears willing to try and bully critics into silence.

Council Leader Mike Jones "So I made it very clear to all the staff I come into contact with, including senior management conferences with question and answer sessions which I did in July 2008, that we were to create a new council which would have its own identity and we would build a new culture which would be our own way of doing things."

It would now appear that this new culture is not one based on a democratic model but one more akin to an Autocratic model.

Democracy in its purest or most ideal form would be a society in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives.

Autocracy is a system of government in which supreme political power to direct all activities is concentrated in the hands of one person.

As a result I would strongly argue that at the moment we have a serious democratic deficit in Chester and Cheshire West.

Especially when you take into account the auditors report regarding the sale of County Hall. "Cheshire West did not make their Counsel aware of a second valuation of the building and that both councils could have done more to involve local people in the decision to sell the building."

New Year resolution suggestions for QuackCWaC Council

2011-12-22T20:09:00.000Z

Stop the sham consultations

Show some respect for Rembrance Sunday

Don't cock up the Xmas lights switch on

Stop turning a blind eye to illegal markets

Don't allow staff to misuse taxpayer funded internet access

Try and improve staff moral

Ensure councillors declare indirect interest with suppliers

Sort out the billing system

Improve democracy

Stop being stupid

Stop ignoring highway problems

Stop wasting cash

Stop making a hash of elections 2 3 4 5 6

Stop paying for the CEO to be a member of SOLACE

Protect open spaces, parks and play areas

Stop wasting money on reputation management, propaganda and spin

Stop getting involved with crap initiatives

Stop wasting money on consultants

Stop wasting monet wrapping trees

Stop wasting money on the LGA propaganda and lobbying machine

Stop wasting money on no hope legal challanges

Stop staff altering records and paperwork

Stop putting pressure on the local press to bury ban news

Stop paying councillors when they live in another country

Stop wasting money promoting CWaC to other councils

Don't increase member's budgets

Stop adding gagging clauses to compromise agreements

Stop bringing defamation claims in an attempt to silence critics

Stop recruiting staff who have worked in a failing council

Reduce the number of councillors on the gravy train

A disappointingly long list so I hope the executive are rightly ashamed of their performance so far. No wonder many people regard them as a quack council.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2011-12-17T19:47:00.001Z

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Quack Council, Quack consultation

2011-12-13T14:17:00.000Z

Council's Sham "Consultation" As Handbridge Green Space Under Threat.

We know that many residents will want to have their say on this and Cheshire West and Chester Council proposes a consultation. However, the views of those people who really count will not be heard because the council plans to EXCLUDE RESIDENTS AND PARISH COUNCILS FROM THE CONSULTATION.

If residents and parish councils are not being consulted, who is? We strongly expect that developers, and other financially interested parties, will be invited to have their say. As before, the proposed Council "consultation" is no more than a paper exercise and difficult to describe as anything other than a sham!

My comment: Can Quack CWaC Council do anything right?

Read the full story from the source Handbridge.com

A Christmas message to a CWaC Council

2011-12-04T23:21:00.001Z

See previous post for why I thought this Christmas message was appropriate.

Will Quack CWaC Council ever stop being CWaC-Cers

2011-12-04T19:31:00.001Z

It has come to my attention that CWaC Council has told staff to stop referring to them as Quack (CWaC) Council.

Apparently any staff calling CWaC Council Quack Council will be disciplined.Which rather goes to prove that CWaC Council is a bit of a Quack Council.

Were they worried that their name makes it easier for people to ridicule them or were the worried that some may confuse them with Wil cwac cwac the Welsh cartoon series?

Below is a You Tube video introducing Wil cwac cwac. Would you be confused or do you think CWaC Council are just a little bit quackers?

70,000 years to clear social housing backlog in CWaC

2011-11-18T12:44:00.001Z

MORE than 17,600 families in and around Chester face years of waiting for somewhere to live, a new report has revealed.

It is estimated that it would take more than 70,000 years to clear the backlog of Cheshire families waiting for social housing because of the ‘broken’ housing market, the National Housing Federation has highlighted.

Jon Longden, the National Housing Federation’s lead manager for the North West, said: “Caught in an impossible can’t buy/can’t rent dilemma, families face life-changing years on social housing waiting lists. With the lowest number of new homes for 90 years, the only things we are building up are long-term problems for schooling, health and jobs.”

The National Housing Federation is calling on the Government to renew its commitment to building new homes at scale and to restore the £300 million annual funding to regenerate inner-city neighbourhoods across the region.

My comment: So by my reckoning we will have enough social housing by the year 702011. I wonder how many cock ups CWaC Council will have racked up by then :-)

Read the full story from the source Chester First

CWaC Council: Remembrance Day, Lest we forget....to charge!

2011-11-14T12:40:00.001Z

Yet another example of CWaC’s incompetence or lack of caring… this is feedback I’ve had this morning.

Chester should be rightly proud of the very many veterans, service personnel, citizens and visitors who came to pay their respects at the remembrance service and parade at the Chester War Memorial on Sunday 13 November.However CWaC are being accused of insensitivity by making money by charging for parking at the nearby Princess Street car park early on a Sunday morning.

One veteran said “the Council makes an exception for free after 3 on weekdays, but did not for this very important occasion in our city at a time when the car park is normally empty?”

My comment: First they charge soldiers on a homecoming parade for refreshments and now veterans for parking to attend Remembrance Sunday services.

What have CWaC Council got against the armed services? Or is it just another example of their incompetence.

Remembrance Sunday screen shot CWaC Council (http://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/)

If you would like to view some photos of Remembrance Sunday don't bother wasting your time with Cheshire West and Chester Council's Go Cheshire Flickr pages because there aren't any. However, the Chester Chronicle did a fine job even if our council couldn't be bothered.

Neither did the Go Cheshire Tweet anything about it so it's a good job the Chester Chronicle and others did.

Cheshire West and Chester Council lest we forget they forgot!

For further info see what a Google search throws up on the CWaC Councils website about Remembrance Day and then try all other councils. It would appear that CWaC Council are in the minority, if not alone, regarding Remembrance Day publicity.

Dim CWaC Council cock up Xmas lights switch on

2011-11-12T20:39:00.001Z

Normally the Chester Christmas Lights Switch On is an enjoyable family occasion, but not this year. Instead of holding it in the tradition place of Town Hall Square where there is plenty of space, CWaC, in their infinite wisdom decided to hold it at the Cross.

So imagine, an open top bus adjacent to the wall of St Peter’s Church, a stage in front of that, how much room is left for people?

See some of the comments that were on Twitter:

@MarkCarline: The cross is packed out, people cant see anything, totally stupid place to switch lights on in #Chester. Town hall next year@ChesterChron

@VforChester: Whose idea was it to put the stage at the most inaccessible location ever! What was wrong with outside the town hall like in previous years.

@ChronRachel: Gave up on the Chester Christmas light switch on almost got pushed off the rows as everyone heaved to the front.

@ChesterChron: We have had loads of reaction to the #chester #christmas light switch on on our #facebook pg. Seems like the majority of u weren't impressed.

@JamesFarley: @ChesterChron @MarkCarlin: and don't even get me started on the fireworks! I had bigger bangers for my tea last night!

@ChesterChron Chester Chronicle: @JamesFarley sounds like everyone agreeing it should have been somewhere else...like @MarkCarline said the town hall would have been good.

Chester Chronicle: "HUNDREDS of people flocked to Chester last night for the traditional lights switch-on.

But from the comments we have received on our Chester Chronicle Facebook page and Twitter, many of you were disappointed with the evening.

Wrong location, no celebrity guest and no Christmas tree were the common complaints posted on our Facebook page.

Hannah Turner posted: "I was stood on the corner by Northgate and Eastgate Street. I couldn't hear a word anyone was saying. What we were meant to be doing? What song was being sung - it was so squashed! Lights didn't come on properly (in true Chester style)!" [My emphasis]

Read what spin Cheshire West and Chester Council put on the disaster here.

Read more and view the Chester Chronicle Picture gallery here or more pictures from Cheshire West here.

Legal Response to Cheshire West and Chester Council Over Issue of New Contracts

2011-11-12T20:08:00.001Z

UNISON solicitor tells Cheshire West and Chester Council: ‘We believe you will be acting unlawfully if you then take steps to dismiss and re-engage those employees who do not sign up to these new terms.’

Neil Todd for Thompsons, who are acting for West Cheshire UNISON, wrote a letter to Cheshire West and Chester Head of Human Resources, Euan Murdoch-Hollies, last week. In the letter Mr Todd pointed out that what started out as proposals to harmonise terms and conditions following a reorganisation of Councils within Cheshire was being used as an opportunity to make cuts.

Neil has looked at the financial position of Cheshire West and Chester and has concluded that it is very questionable, given the financial reserves that the Council have in place (which have recently been increased by £12 million), that it does have a sound, good business reason to justify such dismissals.

My comment: Sound business reasons don't appear to enter the equation when CWaC Council reach a decision.

Read the full story from the source West Cheshire Unison

Is CWaC Council turning a blind eye to an illegal market?

2011-11-12T11:50:00.001Z

MARKET traders in Winsford have voiced serious concerns over what they claim are illegal stalls in the town centre. They say that the eight stalls effectively make up a small market and, as such, infringe local market rules.

Niel Hodkinson, chairman of the local Market Traders Association, said: “Winsford market traders are very concerned at the number of stalls that are setting up in the town centre.

“At the last count there were eight. This constitutes a market and is illegal under present law.

“The market rights are council-held and, as such, markets cannot be set up in the area without their consent.

My comment: Most well run markets/shopping centres try and protect their permanent stallholders/shopkeepers by minimising the number of 'here for the Christmas trade and gone by New Year' part time traders.

It's the full time traders who are there in January and in all weathers who are the backbone of any market/shopping centre. So it's both short-sighted and unfair to allow part time traders to cream off their business during the best trading weeks of the year.

Whilst this short-sighted approach gives the management/organisers extra income from stall rents over the Christmas period it has serious repercussions for both themselves and the permanent stallholders/shopkeepers. Firstly the loss of business forces many permanent stallholders/shopkeepers to question their motivation for being there through the all bad trading months and many decide it's no longer worth it. This means the market/shopping centre is only part occupied and loses the management more income than they made through part time stalls/pop up shops.

Unfortunately, when faced with such a crises many management companies/organisers decide to allow even more 'here today gone tomorrow' traders in an attempt to boost their income to balance the losses from less and less permanent stallholders/shopkeepers.

Management and organisers end up in a vicious circle. Year on year they allow more and more 'here today and gone tomorrow' traders because there are less and less permanent traders to balance their books.

Put yourself in a stallholders/shopkeepers position, would you like to invest tens of thousands of pounds in stock and rent, spend months barely breaking even only to find that when the best trading days are approaching someone with a paste table sets up in competition just a few yards away?

If the Council and Shopping centre don't get a grip there will be no market or shopping centre left.

I would also like to add before anyone comments, this is not about traders griping about competition, all traders constantly compete with other traders, this is about unfair competition.

Read the full story from the source Winsford Guardian

Will the new CWaC service provide long-term support for stroke sufferers?

2011-11-11T21:42:00.001Z

New service will provide long-term support for stroke sufferers.

Cheshire West and Chester Council is working with the StrokeAssociation to provide a new long-term service to provide supportfor stroke sufferers.

In West Cheshire alone there are around 380 people diagnosed ashaving a stroke each year and an estimated 3,188 people living withits effects of which 1,020 have moderate or severe disabilitycaused by a stroke.

The new service means that patients are now supported beyond aninitial six-month intensive re-ablement programme.

Read the full story from the source CWaC Council

My comment: Will they live up to their promise or is it just more spin? Read an email I recently received from a correspondent and reach your own conclusions.

"I'm one of the stroke sufferers (mild one in June 2007) and what support have I been offered? I approached both their predecessor CCC and CWaC and got nowhere. I am MEANT to have an Outreach Worker, according to their spin, but was never offered one. If I hadn't got a supportive wife, children and wider family, where would I be now?

That's my personal experience of the councils. After 4 years, I'm mostly fine but have residual numbness on my left and some minor weakness. The main problem I have now is epilepsy as a result of the stroke."

Councillors Question Cheshire West Gypsy Site Process

2011-11-11T16:51:00.001Z

The Labour Group of Cheshire West and Chester Council has "called in" the decision by the Conservative Executive to withdraw proposals to establish two Gypsy and Traveller sites in Saughall and Neston.

Concerns have been expressed by members of the public in all parts of the Borough about the site selection process, which led to unsuitable sites being proposed in Neston and Saughall, before being withdrawn by the Executive on the 2nd November. The Labour Group is asking the Council's Corporate Scrutiny Committee to take a detailed look at the plans, to ensure that any remaining issues are addressed.

"The Executive has shown no contrition and given no apology for the upset and distress they have caused by the unnecessary identification of these sites. What is even more alarming is that one of the Executive members publicly admitted not reading the report upon which his decision was based." [My emphasis]

"We now face months of uncertainty while the Council find another site. Given the confusion their handling of the process has caused so far, how can our communities be confident they will handle this sensitive matter any better in the future?" he added."

My comment: I think it would be an interesting exercise to plot all the suggested sites against the addresses of the executive / decision makers. I hope they don't turn out to be NIMBY elected representatives.

Read the full story from the source About My Area

Ofsted publishes Children's Services ratings: CWaC Council POOR!

2011-11-09T12:26:00.001Z

Ofsted has published their verdicts for Council's Children's Services Departments.

It rates 28 councils (including Hammersmith and Fulham) as "excellent" in this area.

Councils judged to be performing poorly are Staffordshire, Gloucestershire, Slough, Birmingham, Calderdale, Cheshire West and Chester Council, Cornwall, Kent, Peterborough, Salford, Sandwell, Torbay, West Sussex and Worcestershire.

My comment: Yet another CWaC Council failure to add to their long list of failures.

Read the full story from the source Local Government

Also read the Improvement Notice

Extract

The report of the inspection of safeguarding and looked after children’s services carried out by Ofsted (published December 2010) which judged the overall effectiveness of Cheshire West and Chester Council’s safeguarding services to be ‘inadequate’. [my emphasis]

Failure to comply with this Improvement Notice by the assessment date may lead to:

The Secretary of State for Education using statutory power of intervention (s497A Education Act 1996) directing the Council to enter into an appropriate arrangement to secure the necessary and rapid improvements required in children’s services.

Also read CWaC Council's response to the report.

Council promises 'decisive action' following critical Ofsted report

Extract

Council leader Mike Jones and chief executive Steve Robinson, who is also chair of West Cheshire Children's Trust, said that "decisive action" was needed following the report.

During an unannounced visit in September inspectors gave the council's child protection service its most serious grade of "priority action needed".

My comment: Shows what a pathetic job the trust was doing. Also further evidence that you can't 'trust' CWaC Council to do anything right.

Also read Council promises decisive action

Extract

Dr Johns Stephens, Director of Children’s Services, said: “Thiscomprehensive and proactive review of all our cases demonstrates anabsolute commitment to do everything within our power to secure thesafety of our children and young people.”

My comment: Only CWaC Council could ever describe a reactive review (as a result of a damning Ofsted report) as a proactive review.

UPDATE 23rd November 2011

Read more here (Telegraph article Ofsted: children 'at risk' in fifth of local authorities)

Which also contradicts CWaC's spin.

Cheshire West and Chester Council: The 'Council From Hell'? Part 2

2011-11-07T23:32:00.003Z

Further to an earlier post I have just been informed that the website has just been updated.

Well worth a read if you are interested in how Cheshire West and Chester Council works (and how their predecessor Cheshire County Council worked).

Read the full story from the source Cheshire and Chester West: The Council from hell.

Can you influence how CWaC Council spends its cash next year?

2011-11-04T14:18:00.000Z

CHESHIRE West and Chester Council is inviting residents to have their say on draft budget proposals for the next financial year. Read the spin here

Here are my suggestions

Stop wasting money producing self promoting videos.

Stop wasting money producing council ~~newspapers~~ spin.

Stop wasting £398 a year paying for one senior staff member to be a member of SOLACE.

Stop wasting money on reputation management, propaganda and spin.

Stop wasting money paying way over the odds for old cinema buidlings.

Stop wasting £8 million a year on consultants.

Stop wasting £25,000 wrapping trees.

Stop wasting £69,293 on LGA membership

Stop wasting money on no hope legal cases yes, there was more than one.

Stop wasting £25,937.64 promoting CWaC Council to other councils.

Stop wasting money sending more people than necessary to events.

Stop wasting money paying councillors more than they are worth.

Stop wasting money on crap campaigns.

Stop wasting money paying councillors when they are in New Zealand.

Stop wasting money paying senior staff more than they are worth.

Stop wasting money allowing staff and members to use Facebook whilst at work.

Stop wasting money spending millions on repairing and refitting old buildings only to rent them out for a peppercorn rent that would hardly cover notional interest on the money spent let alone a decent return on the ~~investment~~ money thrown down the drain on vanity projects.

CWaC Children in care and adoption performance tables

2011-10-31T15:59:00.005Z

Children in Care and Adoption Performance Tables

Placements 1: 109=/152
Placements 2: 97=/152
Placements 3: 74=/152
Placements 4: unranked due to confidentiality

Adoption 1: 118=/152
Adoption 2: 93=/152
Adoption 3: unranked due to confidentiality

Attainment 1: 91/152
Attainment 2: unranked due to confidentiality
Attainment 3 15=/152
Attainment 4 43=/152

Leaving care 1: 140=/152
Leaving care 2: 119=/152
Leaving care 3: 12=/152
Leaving care 4: unranked due to confidentiality

My comment: A few too many low rankings?

More here Councils named and shamed over slow adoptions.

And here Cheshire West and Chester, Local authority adoption agency and local authority fostering services inspection reports.

Particularly the the latest unannounced inspection report

An old article in the Chronicle provides good background info. It will be interesting to see more recent reports from Ofsted when they are available.

CWaC Council staff misuse taxpayer funded internet access

2011-10-28T12:33:00.003+01:00

One member of staff sacked and four others disciplined due to internet misuse at Cheshire West and Chester Council.

The figures – obtained following a Freedom of Information request by the Chronicle – relate to incidents of internet misuse between April 2009 when the authority came into existence and August this year.

A staff member was sacked for ‘bringing the employer into disrepute’ after making a comment on a social media website.

The Chronicle also asked for the 100 most visited websites by council staff during the month of August.

Google proved most popular with 28,487 hits followed by Facebook with 24,769. Other frequently visited websites included the council’s own site (5,450)

My comment: Wow! Facebook visited nearly 5 times more than their own website.

Read the full story from the source Chester Chronicle

Staff morale ‘at rock bottom’ in CWaC council

2011-10-26T23:09:00.001+01:00

A COUNCIL worker from Ellesmere Port says morale is at an all-time low after new terms and conditions were announced last week.

Last week, council leader Mike Jones appeared on regional TV news to defend the move. But the employee we spoke to claims he will lose £50 a week under the new terms and slammed the ‘hypocrisy’ of council leader Mike Jones – who will not suffer any drop in salary.

The Streetscene team worker refused to be named, but insisted ‘morale is at rock bottom’ since news council cost saving would hit salaries.

He said: “Steve Robinson got a one-off payment of £60,000 just for overseeing the local elections.

“These two hypocrites are telling us to take pay cuts. Imagine how much it would save if they took even a 5% pay cut.”

My comment: Whilst that's an excellent idea unfortunately turkeys don't vote for Xmas.

Read the full story from the source Ellesmere Port Pioneer

Another CWaC cock up

2011-10-26T14:28:00.000+01:00

Cheshire West and Chester Council is contacting approximately 3,000 social care customers following an error in its billing system.

The authority has become aware that the latest bills, dated 14 October 2011, incorrectly charge customers for an eight-week rather than a four-week period.

Mark Palethorpe, Director of Adult Social Care and Health, said: “I would like to apologise to all those affected by this computer error that has now been rectified and reassure everyone that customers will not be charged twice.”

My comment: Computers don't make errors the people who use them do. This was a mistake by a member of staff. Nice attempt at spin though.

Read the full story from the source The CWaC spin factory

One Team One planet, One Councillor One question

2011-10-12T10:49:00.015+01:00

During 2010, Mike Jones leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council (in partnership with a Kevin McLeod), started a Solar Energy company called One Team One Planet Ltd .

He rightly declared his interest in the register of interests.

On the 6th July this year he removed his interest as a shareholder/partner but retained a directorship in the company.

If you type oneteamoneplanet.co.uk in your browser...

You are automatically redirected to a company called Maxiflow, another Solar Energy Company. UPDATE: Since this post was published this auto redirect from One Team One Planet to Maxiflow has been removed. I wonder why?

Which also has the same address as One Team One Planet Ltd.

If you search Who is for the owner of the domain name 'oneteamoneplanet.co.uk' you will find it was registered by Maxiflow Ltd in March 2010.

On their website Maxiflow list Cheshire West and Chester Council as one of their clients.

If you check out the directors of One Team One Planet Ltd you will find Mike Jones and Kevin McLeod listed as directors. (They originally started the company as a 50%-50% partnership). Kevin McLeod is also listed as a Director and shareholder of Maxiflow. (Details correct when checked 1/5/2011.)

If Mike Jones is employed as a director of One Team One Planet Ltd, as the latest register of interest suggests. Then he is employed by a company which, when I checked, was partly owned by a director and shareholder of Maxiflow. Maxiflow is a company used by Cheshire West and Chester Council and other councils for contract work.

(Still waiting for companies house to confirm who now owns Mike Jones 50% of One Team One Planet Ltd. This should be available after they receive the One Team One Planet annual report.)

Therefore, my question to CWaC Council is, why don't you insist that councillors declare these types of indirect interests in addition to the more obvious direct interests?

On Company Director check Mike Jones' directorships past and present are shown.. (Scroll down the linked page to obtain specific details. ) [Please note: Information may be out of date, just because the company is shown as active doesn't imply he is still a director. It may not be the same as the register of interest for a number of other reasons. They are updated at different times, I don't think the register of interests apply to unpaid directorships and they could contain errors. Errors which I will gladly highlight if and when they are brought to my attention.]

For more information about A.S.C. Developments please read my earlier blog post.

CWaC Council leader 'Speaking at public meetings'

2011-10-11T14:22:00.006+01:00

Further to my previous post Democracy in action CWaC Council style

Below is a video featuring 'We've moved on now Mike' telling the public how they can speak at council meetings. At no point does he mention his right to 'overlook' them when it comes to their turn to speak. Which basically means this video is just council spin.

Democracy in action CWaC Council style

2011-10-11T13:40:00.015+01:00

The following was sent to me by a reader.

"I am watching this online. Breathtakingly arrogant behaviour by Mike Jones showing blatant utter contempt for the public.

He “missed” (accidentally or otherwise) a public speaker who was on the agenda to speak on the travellers site who was due to speak following Cllr Brian Crowe. When the man pointed this out Mike Jones said “we’ve missed it so must move on”. When he further protested, Mike Jones threatened to have staff remove him if he continued.

Then the rest of the public gallery audience protested accusing him of looking after his own interest and then one said “there’s plenty of green belt in Hargrave, why don’t you put it there?”.

They were seething as they walked out shouting abuse at him. Prior to this Cllr Brian Crowe (Saughall and Mollington) made a good speech criticising the “consultation” as almost non-existent. Cllr Crowe had just reminded Mike Jones and the Executive their obligation to the electorate.

There were a lot of angry people there, many Tory supporters. I think this one will hit the press but you are welcome to publish my account which is from the webcast. "

Below is a short extract of the webcast to illustrate the issue. Featuring 'We've moved on now Mike', leader of Cheshire County Council.

My comment: This isn't democracy in action this is autocracy. Shame on the other councillors present for not following Cllr Brian Crowe lead when he tried to speak out in support of the member of the public who was wrongly denied the right to speak. Hat tip to Brian Crowe, a Councillor to be proud of.

Want to know what your rights to speak at a CWaC Council meeting are? Watch this video by "We've moved on now Mike" himself, Mike Jones.

Teacher sacked over sex and race slurs wins five-year battle to clear her name

2011-10-09T19:06:00.004+01:00

A teacher who was sacked over accusations she abused pupils has spoken out after being cleared five years on. When Alison Addison was accused of abusing the special-needs children in her care, she thought she would quickly be cleared.

The claims – that she had physically abused the children, used racist words and had sexual intercourse with the caretaker in her school's pool – seemed too outlandish to withstand any scrutiny. Cheshire police dropped the investigation after interviewing 10 members of staff.

Despite the police decision, Cheshire County Council appointed an independent investigator who questioned the school staff.

Instead, the teacher waited five years to be free of the slurs made by a colleague that ended the career she had loved for 24 years.

She was finally cleared by the General Teaching Council for England last month when it ruled that her accusers were "not to be relied on", after hearing that she had been the victim of a "conspiracy".

Cheshire county council was split in two in 2009. One of the new authorities, Cheshire West and Chester council, said: "This case was heard by two sets of governors and was the subject of an independent investigation. This authority has no reason to doubt the actions taken at the time by Cheshire county council."

My comment: Just how stupid are CWaC Councillors? Police dropped the case and it was only pursued by an idiot from Cheshire County Council (who may, for all we know, still be working for CWaC Council). Ignoring the fact that her accusers were invited but failed to give evidence, just what part of 'her accusers were not to be relied on' don't CWaC Council understand?

I know from experience that if an officer from Cheshire County Council or Cheshire West and Chester Council said two plus two was five councillors would believe them.

Read the full story from the source The Telegraph

CWaC Council let down residents over Ways Green inquiry

2011-10-04T18:13:00.002+01:00

RESIDENTS have accused the council of backing down in the fight against controversial plans to build 93 homes on land off Ways Green, in Winsford.

At a two-day public inquiry last week - following Anwyl's appeal - the council revealed it had withdrawn its highways objection and instead would fight the plans on the issue of appearance.

Celia Grant, who lives in Weaver Street, said residents feel hugely let down by the council. She added: “It feels like a kick in the teeth - what are we fighting for now?

My comment: The council often ignore highway problems when it suits them. To suggest that they will now fight the plans on appearance is ludicrous. Highway objection could have stopped the development in it's tracks appearance won't. The $64,000 question is what 'exchanges' took place for them to remove the highway objections.

Read the full story from the source Winsford Guardian

CWaC Councillors come under fire after waste plant meeting

2011-09-21T23:37:00.002+01:00

A NORTHWICH man has expressed his ‘disgust’ at the lack of council representation at a meeting to discuss plans for a energy from waste plant.

Both town councillors and borough councillors came under fire from pensioner Harry Rea, of Bowden Drive, who spoke of his disappointment at the lack of representation at the meeting.

The 71-year-old said: “I have got to express my disgust that some of the councillors weren’t there. Clr Malcolm Byram and Clr Lynn Riley did attend the meeting.

SID member Kenton Barker said: “I was slightly disappointed at the turnout from CWAC.

My comment: The promise of a photo opportunity together with free food and drink would have secured a higher number of councillors attending.

Read the full story from the source Northwich Guardian

Postal votes in Davenham and Moulton branded 'a scandal'

2011-09-20T20:03:00.007+01:00

POSTAL voting for the last election has been branded a scandal by a Northwich councillor after voting statistics were revealed.

Town councillor Brian Jamieson, from Northwich’s Labour group, said only half the expected amount of postal votes were returned in one of the town’s major wards because residents did not get their packs until it was too late.

The average return for postal votes in the Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC) area in May was between 60 and 70 per cent but in the Davenham and Moulton ward it was just 31.4 per cent.

The elections were organised by CWAC’s electoral services department.

Clr Jamieson said: “It’s an absolute scandal.

“Some people didn’t receive a postal vote and some got it late – we know because we asked them.

A CWAC spokesman said: “Cheshire West and Chester Council remains committed to ensuring everyone eligible is able to exercise their right to vote.”

My comment: CWaC Council can talk the talk (spin the spin) but unfortunately they can't walk the walk (actually do what they promise). More about their election cock ups here, here, here, here and here.

I recently submitted a Freedom of Information request to identify how much CWaC Council paid the returning officer for the last 3 years. Maybe they should consider asking for a refund!

Read the full story from the source Nortwich Guardian

UPDATED 23/9/2011: Response to my Freedom of information request arrives.

2009 – fee for the European Election - Â£11,963
2010 – fee for the General Election - Â£12,676
2011 – fee for the Borough and Parish Elections - Â£31,952.30
Fee for the Referendum - Â£13,129

Total paid to returning officer over 3 years £69,720.30

My comment: Not a bad extra income on top of a fat cat salary.

Council pays for CEO's membership of SOLACE

2011-09-20T16:49:00.000+01:00

Following a recent Freedom of Information request I have identified that CWaC Council are paying £398 per year for the Chief Executive's membership of SOLACE.

SOLACE Society for Local Authority Chief Executives. Membership is open to Chief Executives, Senior Managers, Middle Managers and Graduates of all UK local authorities and related public sector organisations.

SOLACE research shows that 60% of the thousands of members who contact us every year are looking for personal advice and support.

The question is, why are Cheshire West and Chester Council paying their Chief Executive's membership fees when it is clear that the main use of SOLACE is for personal advice and support?

Don't rely on CWaC Council to protect our open spaces, parks and play areas

2011-09-18T17:25:00.007+01:00

RESIDENTS are being asked to nominate land to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC) is joining in a national programme that will see areas of land becoming dedicated Queen Elizabeth II Fields.

The project sets minimum criteria around quality and accessibility of land as well as protecting the sites as public open spaces. Read the full story from the source Northwich Guardian

The question is, will CWaC Council protect our open spaces, parks and play areas in the future?

Here are a couple of examples of them failing to do so, I am sure there are many more.

Example 1: The First Duke of Westminster gave Edgar's Field Park in trust to the Council for use forever by the residents of Chester, in particular those of Handbridge. However the Ship Inn, a private business, appear intent on encroaching on the field.

Example 2: In order to obtain planning permission for their Pinetree/Firtree/Linwood estate Barratt had to incorporate an open space and play area into the development. These should have been completed to standard and gifted to the council before all the houses were occupied. All the houses were occupied way back in 2001 yet when I last checked just a few months ago the play area and open space were still owned by Barratt.

So the question is can you trust CWaC Council to protect our open spaces, play areas and parks? I don't think their track record looks good so far!

Video shows CWaC people how to generate their own electricity

2011-09-16T18:52:00.015+01:00

PEOPLE in Cheshire West are being encouraged to reduce their carbon footprint by generating their own electricity.

A new video produced by Cheshire West and Chester Council entitled Solar Panels for Your Home features interviews with homeowners in the area who have had solar panels fitted to their houses.

The film outlines how the technology works and shows the installation process, which usually takes no longer than a day.

My comment: This must be wonderful news for solar energy companies and their staff. All the extra business generated through CWaC Council's efforts must be a boon to solar energy companies during this current economic climate.

I just wish I had the foresight to have started a solar energy company last year so I could now capitalise on all the business this CWaC promotional material will no doubt generate. I wonder if anyone in CWaC Council did.... or has a job with a solar power company?

Read the full story from the source Chester Chronicle The link given in the Chron article is for a CWaC spin video NOT the solar panel video. One of the downsides of accepting council press releases without validation.

Here's a link to the video in question

And a link to my Freedom of information request in an attempt to find out how much this video cost and who paid for it. Particularly since it appears to benefit solar panel companies.

CWaC Council reputation management, propaganda and spin

2011-09-07T16:11:00.006+01:00

On the 22nd August 2011 I posted the following

CWaC CEO cost taxpayers an extra £17,000 last year

Steve Robinson, the chief executive of Cheshire West and Chester Council, saw his total remuneration rise by £17,000 to £235,000 last year, including pension and benefits.

His total packet took him to 14th place in the list of the country's highest paid council bosses.

My comment: The gravy train keeps on rolling!

Read the full story from the source The Telegraph

On the 24th August 2011 I submitted the following Freedom of Information request to Cheshire West and Chester Council.

I would like to know the amount you paid to the returning officer for each of the last 3 years together with an explanation as to what the payments were for.

PS: I have searched your website for the information but can't find it.

I am still waiting for a response to my FOI, however,

On the 24th August 2011 Cheshire West and Chester Council left the following comment on my blog post.

STATEMENT RE: CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S SALARY

Council spokesman, Ian Callister, said today: “The Chief Executive of Cheshire West and Chester Council has not received any salary increase since his appointment in July 2008.

“Total reimbursements recorded in the authority’s Statement of Accounts also include repayment of travel and subsistence expenses; the agreed rise in pension payments as required by the Fund’s External Actuary and the Government’s regulation payment to all Chief Executives who acted as returning officer during the last general election.

“All the above are recorded as ‘salary’ in the Council’s Statement of Accounts, as required by financial regulations. His pay has not changed.”

On the 24th August 2011 I updated my blog post with the follwoing statement

UPDATE 24th August 2011: Irrespective of what spin the council tries to put on it the Chief Executive cost taxpayers an extra £17,000 last year.

and left the following response to CWaC

You mean you actually paid someone for managing this years election shambles?

http://bodgedroad.blogspot.com/2011/05/residents-fury-as-postal-votes-fail-to.html

http://bodgedroad.blogspot.com/2011/05/another-election-cock-up.html

http://bodgedroad.blogspot.com/2011/04/cwac-fails-in-its-promise-to-do-better.html

In addition on the 31st August 2011 the following article appeared in the Ellesmere Port Pioneer.

Cheshire West and Chester Council chief justifies extra £13,000 payment.

COUNCIL chief executive Steve Robinson received an extra £13,000 for acting as returning officer at last year’s General Election, despite a fiasco which saw voters denied their right to vote.

Mr Robinson earned his £180,000 annual salary plus £13,000 for organising the election in Cheshire West and Chester according to the accounts.

The council’s accounts show Mr Robinson’s benefits in kind, including his car allowance, rose from £1,000 to £2,000 last year and his employer’s pension contribution rose from £37,000 to £40,000 resulting in an overall £17,000 rise in his financial package of £235,000 compared to the previous year.

It would appear that, in common with many other councils, Cheshire West and Chester now prefer to concentrate on reputation management, propaganda and spin.

Still no response to the question I posed in an ealier post.

Does Cheshire West and Chester Council put pressure on our local press? [(1) To promote positive stories and excuses for the council. (2) To ignore any negative stories and turn a blind eye to their pathetic excuses.] Other councils do!

Corporate hospitality and the Bribery Act

2011-08-26T21:18:00.001+01:00

The Bribery Act 2010 came into effect on 1 July 2011. It is amongst the toughest anti-bribery and corruption legislation in the world.

You can continue to provide bona fide hospitality, promotion and other business expenditure. The intention of the legislation is to catch hospitality which is really a cover for bribing someone.

In a commercial context for there to be an offence, the prosecution must show that the hospitality:

(a) provided an advantage to another person and

(b) was offered or given with the intention of inducing the person to perform a relevant function improperly or in the knowledge of acceptance of the advantage would in itself be improper performance.

It should be understood that improper performance of a function is a performance which amounts to a breach of an expectation that a person will act in good faith, impartially or in accordance with a position of trust. Functions both in the private and public sectors are covered.

The best protection for companies, to ensure they do not infringe the Act, is to publish clear written policies prohibiting gifts, expenses or hospitality which might influence or be seen to influence a contractual or material matter.

My comment: Please contact me if you have any information regarding any potential breaches of the said act by CWaC council members or staff or any of the companies they deal with.

Read the full story from the source Shoosmiths

Cheshire West and Chester Council: The 'Council From Hell'?

2011-08-25T12:15:00.017+01:00

I am Peter Johnson, a Cheshire pensioner who faces financial ruin, the loss of my home and a lengthy jail sentence. All this came about simply because I carried out what HM. Government advised me to do, in order to defend and prevent my property from Flooding!

Since that time the corrupt ‘Council from Hell’, Cheshire West and Chester Council, (formerly the Chester City Council) has pursued what amounts to a personal vendetta against me for the last eleven years.

Read the full story from the source The Council from Hell

My comment: In my case, Cheshire West and Chester Council (formerly Vale Royal Borough Council and Cheshire County Council), went out of their way to bodge a class 3A road at my expense because they had wrongly allowed a developer to build and sell over 60 houses knowing that the developer could never complete the road to adoptable standards. When the developer went bust the council decided to offload their problem onto me (and other road users to a lesser extent) and just bodged the road instead of completing it to the planned and approved standards.

Funny how standards can change when the council is trying to extricate itself from self created difficulties due to earlier incompetence or wrongdoing.

A planning officer misplacing an important document just long enough for the developer to build and sell all the houses they shouldn't have been allowed to sell before the class 3A road was competed to standard. (Would you believe he eventually found it in the bottom draw of his desk.) You make your own mind up, simple incompetence or something much much worse?

The highway authority department at the council was even worse, giving the developer certificates of completion when they shouldn't have done. Doing work without planning permission on an unadopted road etc.

Even now, after adoption, there is still missing lamp posts on the road, no elevation on the bend etc. Loads of stuff they would normally refuse to adopt a road for. Adopting the road to get themselves out of their self created difficulties prove that they have double standards. High standards for others and very low standards for themselves.

It looks like all the skeletons are now falling out of the closet at CWaC Council as more and more stories about them are published.

UPDATE 25th August 2011: Looks like this post has grabbed their attention :)

CWaC CEO cost taxpayers an extra £17,000 last year UPDATED

2011-08-22T09:04:00.005+01:00

Steve Robinson, the chief executive of Cheshire West and Chester Council, saw his total remuneration rise by £17,000 to £235,000 last year, including pension and benefits.

His total packet took him to 14th place in the list of the country's highest paid council bosses.

My comment: The gravy train keeps on rolling!

Read the full story from the source The Telegraph

UPDATE 24th August 2011: Irrespective of what spin the council tries to put on it (see comment below) the Chief Executive cost taxpayers an extra £17,000 last year.

Councillors should consider the number of empty premises

2011-08-12T19:07:00.006+01:00

This is an extract from a letter published by the Northwich Guardian

"Should Cheshire West and Chester Council not be aware, the country is experiencing a period of extreme austerity. Interestingly, neither the article nor in the information available at the Memorial Hall is there any mention of cost for the proposed scheme.

We have seven supermarkets in Northwich and for a study to conclude that there is ‘an unmet demand for food,’ presumably supermarkets, is unbelievable. Our politicians should look in the town and consider the number of empty premises and proliferation of charity outlets."

STEVEN BARRINGTON Antrobus

Read the full letter here or use the link above

My comment: CWaC Council appear to have the money to spend £8 million on consultants and another £2.6 million to buy the Odeon in Chester.

What I can't understand is when Cinemas around the country are closing down, ironically the Odeon in Chester is a good example. Who would consider building a new one a few miles away? Similar argument goes for the more shops argument, towns are awash with empty shops at the moment and whilst national companies may be able to afford the fancy rents new build attracts many of the smaller shops, the life blood of the community, can't.

The $64,000 question is why are our councillors so keen to plough money into consultants and plans for new developments and not into the existing community, especially during a recession?

UPDATED 17th August 2011: This is an extract from a letter published by the Winsford Guardian.

I CANNOT understand why Cheshire West and Chester Council persists in spending millions of pounds in the present financial climate.

The money involved could surely have been used to reduce council tax or some of it spent on maintaining Northwich.

JANE BROWN Northwich

My comment: CWaC Council only appear to have a one track mind, out with the old and in with the new. Selling county hall and replacing it with the HQ premises was the start, same goes with the Chester and Northwich plans. They appear to have swept away any consideration of maintaining and improving what we have and decided the only way forward is expensive and at the moment, unnecessary grandiose plans.

Let's face it of CWaC hadn't come to the rescue the HQ building would have been a white elephant for years to come. In addition companies like MBNA could move out of Chester at any time, retail companies are failing at an alarming rate yet CWaC want to build even more capacity rather than improve what we have.

Mike Jones, Leader of CWaC Council & ASC (Developments) Chester Ltd

2011-08-12T00:30:00.014+01:00

Register of interests Councillor Mike Jones (6th July 2011)

1. Name of Employer and/or of any business carried out by you.(This includes any self-employed business partnership or company)

ASC (Developments) Chester Ltd

3. The name of any company for which you are a remunerated director.

ASC (Developments) Chester Ltd

5. Name of any company or body (which has a place of business or land in the area of Cheshire West and Chester) in which you hold (or are held on your behalf) securities that exceed the nominal value of £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of the company (whichever is lower). (NB: nominal value means “face value”, not market values.)

ASC Developments (Chester) Ltd

8. List and describe all contracts for goods, services or works between Cheshire West and Chester Council and:- (a) yourself, or; (b) a firm in which you are a partner, or; (c) a company of which you are a remunerated director; (d) a company in which you have shares that you have registered in Section 5

ASC carries out work associated with DFG and house renovation grants

Cheshire West and Chester Council leader’s firm wins £46K contracts (March 24th 2011)

THE council leader's company was paid £46,000 by Cheshire West and Cheshire Council in 2010 for work done on adapting homes for the disabled.

A Freedom of Information response shows Saltney-based ASC Developments (Chester) Ltd, in which Cllr Jones and his wife Suzanne are directors, received £46,725 in 2010 for that part of the adaptation work covered by a Disabled Facilities Grant administered by the council.

Read the full story from the source Chester Chronicle

Petitions to Wind Up (Companies) (26 May 2011)

("The advertising date is crucial, if the petition is advertised the bank could freeze the company’s accounts.")

A.S.C. DEVELOPMENTS (CHESTER) LTD (Company Number 01890400)

'A Petition to wind up the above-named Company, Registration Number 01890400, of Units 4&5, Facit Glen Industrial Estate, River Lane, Saltney, Chester CH4 8RH, presented on 16 April 2011 by the Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs, of Bush House, Strand, London WC2B 4RD, claiming to be Creditors of the Company, will be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2A 2LL, on 8 June 2011, at 1030 hours (or as soon thereafter as the Petition can be heard).'

The case was dismissed because the matter had been settled.

Chester Chronicle Thursday 11th August 2011 (page 8): Cheshire West and Chester Council leader Mike Jones’s company has survived a winding-up petition raised by HM Revenue and Customs after a settlement was reached.

A spokesman for ASC Developments (Chester) Ltd said: “It is common knowledge that the recession has not been kind to many small companies in the building industry. However whilst this company has experienced some problems these were successfully resolved some months ago.

My comment: Petition presented 16th April, advertised in the London Gazette on the 26th May, resolved by 8th June. This suggests it was resolved between the 26th May and 8th June 2011. If it had been resolved earlier surely the advert would not have gone ahead. The London Gazette publishes each working day.

Company House information suggests that ASC is wholly owned by Hargrave, another company wholly owned by Mike Jones and his wife.

Register of interests Councillor Mike Jones (6th July 2011)

Last year Councillor Jones revealed he dealt with the sale [of County Hall] and the purchase of part of the HQ building as he would as a business. “I AM DEALING with the council finances as I would as a business,” says Cllr Jones.

My comment: WOW!

What is a winding up petition

"A winding up petition is by far the most serious action that can be taken against your company. Often the company has broken any trust the creditor had, payment deals have failed, cheques bounced and generally the directors have not kept their word to pay".

Chester becomes one of the first to have a 'Responsible Drinking Zone'

2011-08-11T15:06:00.000+01:00

Chester has become one of the first in the country to have a designated ‘Responsible Drinking Zone’.

Backed by law and Cheshire West and Chester Council, it aims to tackle alcohol-related crime in and around the Chester area.

My comment: All we need now is a responsible Councillor zone, may I suggest County Hall.

Cheshire West and Cheshire Council buys ex Odeon Cinema building

2011-08-11T14:37:00.003+01:00

Cheshire West and Cheshire Council are buying the Odeon Cinema building in Chester for around £2.6 Million with no firm plans for it's end use.

A defunct Cinema, just what every Council needs when times are hard, the previous owners must be laughing all the way to the bank.

Who you gonna call........ when you can't sell an asset?.............. CWaC Council.

I wonder if one of the consultants they spent £8 million on suggested the idea?

Cheshire West and Chester Council paid £8m in fees to consultants

2011-08-11T12:45:00.000+01:00

A TOTAL of £8m was spent on consultants by the cash-strapped Cheshire West and Chester Council last year.

The council had originally refused to answer a Freedom of Information request about consultancy fees, saying it would cost too much to compile the data, but was forced backtrack after The Chester Chronicle, the sister paper of the Pioneer, won on appeal.

My comment: If their staff need consultants to do their job they should sack the staff and recruit those who are capable of doing the job without recourse to consultants.

Read the full story from the source Ellesmere Port Pioneer

Chester West and Cheshire Council have wasting money all wrapped up

2011-08-11T11:08:00.003+01:00

Cheshire West and Chester Council spent £25,000 wrapping trees and lampposts with polyester.

WRAPPING Chester’s trees and lampposts with colourful stripy polyester cost £25,000, but brought a ‘festival feel’ to the city, a local authority has revealed.

Cheshire West and Chester Council has revealed that the colourful material decorations, used to entice visitors to the city centre, cost the authority £25,000.

My comment: Please consider a councillor wrapping event next year, I am sure many people would offer to do it for free.

Read the full story from the source Chester Chronicle

UPDATE 5/10/2011: Common sense prevails.

Tree wrapping has been rejected as part of festivities for Chester.

CONTROVERSIAL colourful tree wrapping will not be returning to Chester after councillors decided it was not in keeping with the city’s festivities.

The decision comes less than a month after the trees and lampposts lining the streets and roads of Chester city centre were stripped of the stripy polyester for an initiative which cost £25,000.

My comment: Note the spin, 'not in keeping with the city's festivities' when all they had to say was it was a crap idea and we won't be doing it again. Whenever will wrapping trees like the one above be in keeping with a historic city. They ought to wrap the person responsible for wasting £25,000 in the first place and send them to Timbuktu.

Read the full story from the source Chester Chronicle

CWaC Council: Local Government Association (LGA) Membership costs

2011-07-29T15:19:00.003+01:00

The Local Government Association (LGA) is a voluntary lobbying organisation acting as the voice of the local government.

Cost of membership for CWaC Council

2009/10 = £81,850 (net of VAT)

2010/11 = £79,220 (net of VAT)

2011/12 = £69,293 (net of VAT)

As of January this year there were 433 councils in the UK, of which 371 were members of the LGA. Many are leaving this year

Bromley, Torridge, North Somerset, Kings Lynn and West Norfolk have already withdrawn from the LGA and a further nine councils have said they are leaving.

Amber Valley to leave local government lobby group

Cotswold District Council could leave Local Government Association

"Cotswold District Council claims the Local Government Association's £12,500 subscription fee is not value for money."

My comment: I agree, why should councils use taxpayers money to fund an organisation that just lobbies government for even more taxpayer's money.

Where is council cash being spent?

2011-07-29T13:12:00.004+01:00

OPPOSITION Labour Group councillors have asked for more openness about who is spending what and where they are spending it following publications of details of the member’s budget.

Councillors on Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC) are given a budget each to spend on local organisations to benefit the areas they represent, This year’s budget has doubled to £10,000 for each of the 75 councillors.

However, Labour councillor Ben Powell is worried about some of the items on the list. He said £2,500 was spent on 500 Royal Wedding commemorative mugs, which were distributed for free to residents in one small area just before the election.

My comment: I raised my concerns, about the danger of member's budgets being wrongly used to buy votes, two weeks ago 'Member's budgets could be used to buy votes at the taxpayer's expense'.

Read the full story from the source Northwich Guardian

Cheshire fails in legal challenge to PFI cuts

2011-07-26T16:51:00.005+01:00

Further to an earlier post of mine review in to waste cash. A Judicial Review claim against the government's decision to withdraw £100m of credits from a household waste PFI in Cheshire has failed.

Cheshire West & Chester and Cheshire East Councils claimed the department for environment, food and rural affairs used a flawed methodology to assess the merits of Cheshire's 25-year scheme to dispose of around 180,000 tonnes of waste annually.

Both local authorities also said ministers under-estimated benefits which would have accrued from the scheme.

Mr Justice Langstaff sitting in the High Court in Leeds

dismissed the councils' case on all five counts put to him.

Both authorities have applied for permission to appeal.

My comment: A judicial review was a waste of time and money. They should have put the money to better use....like training their legal departments. Seeking leave to appeal is just another waste of money. Just how many times does CWaC Council's legal department need to be proven wrong before someone starts asking serious questions! They are beginning to make the old Cheshire County Council legal department look positively competent.

Read the full story from the source Place North West

Does Cheshire West and Chester Council put pressure on our local press?

2011-07-25T14:39:00.027+01:00

A story about CWaC Council staff altering papers hit our local press on the 23rd June 2011. [Date amended, please see correction from David below, however, this doesn't change the thrust of this post] Unfortunately this was old news because the story had been broken by the Scottish press a week earlier.

Why did it take longer for a negative news item about CWaC Council to find it's way into our local press, then only one paper, and why does it appear there are so few negative stories about CWaC Council in our local press?

A story about Copeland Council may hold some clues. When the Whitehaven News wanted to run something negative about their council, the council threatened them with legal action. When this didn't work they threatened to withdraw their co-operation on future stories and advertising.

That case gives us an insight into the three tools available to all councils should they wish to put pressure on a local newspaper to 'do as they are told'. Tactics which would be more difficult to implement with larger newspapers that had no connection with CWaC or our local press.

Legal threats/action:

Councils are funded by the taxpayer and accordingly can waste vast sums on legal action/threats. The legal threats against the Whitehaven News is an example of that, as is South Tyneside Council's threats and legal actions against Mr Monkey. Also see UPDATE 24th January 2012 below.

Advertising revenue:

Local Press often rely heavily on Council advertising revenue and the last thing they need, especially in these difficult times, is for the Council to remove this valuable income stream.

Co-operation:

Fortunately for the press this tactic has a serious downside for the council. Whilst our local press needs the co-operation of the Council the Council also needs the co-operation of the local press.

For where would the Council be if the local press didn't print their positive spin press releases? In addition, would Councillors like it if the local press stopped printing their vanity photos every time they attended a none event? No, they wouldn't, like triple zzz list celebrities councillors need the oxygen of positive publicity.

Another example can be found with Barnet Council and the MetPro scandal. With Barnet we have a council that ignored it's own rules, employed an unlicensed security firm without a formal contact, failed to carry out checks on MetPro's financial status, its insurance or criminal records of staff but still paid them £1.2 million. However, this scandal was NOT exposed by their local press but only by the determined actions of a few local bloggers. WHY?

Here are a few stories which I believe should have received much wider coverage and investigation by our local press. I will leave it to the reader to make their own mind up as to why they didn't.

The comments made by the leader in his message to staff (2009)

The sale of County hall

Our council wants to charge for all FOI requests

Cheshire West and Chester Councillor who lives in New Zealand

Member's budgets could be used to buy votes at the taxpayer's expense

Whistle-blowers, compromise agreements, bullying and pay offs

Unlawful gagging clauses?

FOOTNOTE: The Barnet Bloggers were praised by Eric Pickles for their efforts in exposing the MetPro scandal.

UPDATE 26th July 2011: The story which is still available at the Chester Chronicle and in much greater detail from national on-line sources was removed from a number of other local newspapers within days of it first appearing.

The Bearsden Herald (Johnston Press PLC)

Lancashire Evening Post (Johnston Press PLC)

The Leigh Reporter (Johnston Press PLC)

Wigan Today (Johnston Press PLC)

Lancaster Guardian (Johnston Press PLC)

Lytham St. Annes Express (Johnston Press PLC)

UPDATE 13th September 2011: Liverpool City Council is another council which doesn't like negative press. So much so they are willing to stop 'working proactively ' with any local paper that dares to print anything negative about them.

UPDATE 24th January 2012: Papers "gagged" by legal costs, MPs are told.

MP Gisela Stuart said the situation was “deeply troubling” and questioned whether it was undermining regional newspapers trying to carry out investigative journalism.

Mr Wallace replied: “Absolutely. To my mind the essentials of policing courts and local councils is absolutely critical to local media.

“Many of these councils and police forces have very high-powered PR machines and lawyers who make it very difficult for regional editors to go about their business and to hold government in particular to account.”

My comments: My sentiments exactly.

Read the full story from the source Mirror

There's 28 wheels on CWaC Council's gravy train and it keeps rolling along

2011-07-23T15:39:00.006+01:00

During 2009 Cheshire West and Chester Council attended the Local Government Association's annual Conference/Exhibition.

Margaret Eaton, Chair of the Local Government Associations states in her opening address......

"We’ll be asking how can we improve the public perception of councils? How can we best help our residents in a recession?"

1 Council (CWaC)
1 Conference/exhibition LGA Harrogate 3 days
4 Members (Leader plus 3 others).
7 Officers (CEO plus 6 others).
1 Hotel (11 people for 3 nights each. Total 33 nights).
7 Cars (4 for the members 3 for the officers). [hence 28 wheels :)]

Total cost £25937.84 plus LGA annual membership fees.

CWaC Council's objective of attending the 2009 LGA Conference/ Exhibition was, and I quote, "to promote the Council’s ambition and achievements to 2,500 delegates (Members, Chief Executives and senior officers) from councils across the UK."

If the above is what CWaC Council consider helping their residents in a recession then God help us all. It certainly doesn't help improve the public's perception of CWaC Council when they spend such vast sums of money just to influence other council's members and officers whilst ignoring the LGA's message about helping their residents during a recession.

More details here, here and here.

£25937.84 to promote Cheshire West and Chester Council to other Councils!

2011-07-21T17:20:00.011+01:00

What started out as a simple query regarding a couple of items I spotted after CWaC was forced to publish details of all council spending on credit cards has now turned into something much more interesting.

Following information gleaned from another FOI request which itself led to a third FOI request the full cost of CWaC attending the 2009 Local Government Association can now be disclosed.

Total cost of attending the 2009 Local Government Association conference/exhibition.

Accommodation costs at the Old Swan £2878.50

Registration fee £2984.25

Cost for stand space at the exhibition and the development, design, build and dismantle of the stand: £18,251.53

Cost of promotional magazine to give away on stand: £1,354

Reimbursed petrol costs (officers): three cars for distance of 192.6 miles (Chester to Harrogate return): £ 156.76

Members travel cost total: £312.80 Individual details below

Councillor Mike Jones: £92.80

Councillor Derek Bateman: £97.60

Councillor Les Ford: £79.20

Councillor Malcolm Gaskell: £43.20

Total costs identified so far = £25937.84 and that excludes CWaC's annual LGA membership cost and staff wages.

LGA Annual membership 2009/2010 £81,850 net of VAT.

When you consider Cheshire West and Chester objective for having a stand at the exhibition it brings into question whether the £25937.84 was value for money as far as taxpayers are concerned.

CWaC Council's objective was, and I quote, "to promote the Council’s ambition and achievements to 2,500 delegates (Members, Chief Executives and senior officers) from councils across the UK."

Who an earth decided that it was worth spending all that money promoting Cheshire West and Chester Council to other councils?

It would have been cheaper just to mail a press release together with a £10 note to every single delegate.

Member's budgets could be used to buy votes at the taxpayer's expense

2011-07-15T12:48:00.008+01:00

Details of Cheshire and Chester Council Member's budgets

Over the past two years Members - given £5,000 a year for their own personal member budgets totalling £790,000 - funded 770 schemes for 465 organisations.

The figures were revealed when the annual report of the Members Budgets Expenditure Report went before the Executive last night (Wednesday).

This year’s Member budgets have increased to £10,000 for each of the 75 Councillors and Council Leader Mike Jones hopes that over the next four years they will rise to £60,000 per member. [My comment: That's £4.5 million for councillors to spend on individual pet projects which could be used to boost the number of people who vote for them.]

“I put £3,000 into a £50,000 project for nets for the young people in the local area and they have got a first class facility for cricket in Tattenhall now.

“So its what a local member sees as important. It allows local members to be innovative in working in some fantastic schemes going on in your community and to really be an enterprising force in your communities.”

My comment: Whilst there is no doubt member's budgets can be used for good causes there is a serious risk that some members could use them to indirectly buy votes. The council as a whole should award money to good causes not individual councillors.

Read more information from the source Cheshire West and Chester Council

UPDATE 26th July 2011: Looks like Telford & Wrekin Council is following in CWaC's footsteps.

Telford councillors given £1,000 each for community projects

My comment: I wonder how long it will take them to realise that given more money councillors could persuade more people to vote for them at the next election?

UPDATED 3rd August 2011: Cheshire West and Chester Council spokesman Laura Johnson said:

"How a member chooses to spend their member’s budget grant is completely down to them.”

My comment: And therein lies the problem. It allows councillors, should they wish, to buy votes at the taxpayers expense and that can't be right under any circumstances.

Read the full story from the source Ellesmere Port Pioneer

Whilst in Stoke on Trent City Council Councillor Mick Salih says "I don't think we need to have it at all, but if we do retain some kind of ward budget system for next year then it must have proper criteria in place to ensure the funding is not misused for personal or political gain."

My comment: If a Councillor is worried that member's budgets could be misused then all taxpayers should be worried.

Read the full story from the source This is Staffordshire

Corporate hospitality must be reasonable and proportionate

2011-07-11T18:37:00.002+01:00

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) will look at five factors when considering whether corporate hospitality breach new anti-corruption laws, it has said.

The Bribery Act, which came into force on 1 July, does not criminalise genuine hospitality, but Government guidance (45-page / 380KB PDF) indicates that more lavish expenditure in relation to travel or accommodation is likely to be regarded with suspicion.

This could affect invitations extended to clients and suppliers to high-profile events such as the 2012 London Olympics.

The inference that the hospitality was intended as a bribe would be strengthened if there were unjustifiable 'add-ons', for example with regard to travel or accommodation, or if it occurred around the same time as some actual or potential business was being decided with the recipient - particularly in a competitive context, the SFO said.

The five factors are listed below.

The SFO’s five factors

Here is what the SFO have said:

Where the SFO is considering whether any particular case of corporate expenditure appears to fall outside the bounds of reasonable and proportionate hospitality, it will be looking to see whether:

1. the company has a clear issued policy regarding gifts and hospitality,

2. the scale of the expenditure in question fell within the confines of such policy and if not, whether special permission for it had been sought at a high level within the organisation,

3. the expenditure was proportionate with regard to the recipient,

4. there is evidence that such expenditure had been recorded by the Company,

5. the recipient was entitled to receive the hospitality under the law of the recipient's country.

The inference that the expenditure was intended as a bribe would be strengthened if it should transpire

(a) that there had been any unjustifiable ‘add-ons’, for example with regard to travel or accommodation, or

(b) that that the expenditure in question could be related in time to some actual or anticipated business with the recipient, particularly in a competitive context.

Read the full story from the source Out-Law

Lawyer has forced Cheshire West and Chester Council to back down over a ‘gagging clause’

2011-07-07T18:50:00.003+01:00

Ex-lighting engineer Paul Cardin is now free to request information from the council thanks to a successful legal challenge put together by his barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC, who represented the Manchester United star in the super-injunction case.

During his employment, Mr Cardin had raised concerns about a manager, sparking an external investigation.

Simon Goacher, the council’s head of legal services, responded to a letter from Mr Cardin’s solicitors by accepting he can now make such requests but not that the clause is unlawful.

Council leader Mike Jones confirmed in a letter to Mr Cardin, from Wallasey, that the authority may employ similar clauses again in future.

Mr Cardin, a Falklands War veteran, said: “Cheshire West and Chester Council’s long term attempt to muzzle an ex-employee and prevent them from asking important questions collapsed today.”

He added: “Despite the cave-in, they continue to maintain the clause banning FOI/DP was somehow ‘lawful’.

My comment: CWaC Council caved in when faced with proving Mr Goachers argument, that the gagging clause was lawful. The last thing they needed was case law proving them wrong because they wouldn't be able to threaten others with such a clause in the future. CWAC should be ashamed of themselves for resorting to such dirty tricks. CWaC Council is typical of all bullying organisations, threaten people then back down when their bluff is called.

Read the full story from the source Chester Chronicle

Read more about Paul Cardin's battle against gagging clauses.

Cheshire West and Chester Council staff payments to be cut

2011-07-01T13:46:00.003+01:00

THOUSANDS of council staff will see their allowances and overtime payments slashed in a bid to save money.

The 7,000 employees at Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC) are being consulted on plans to overhaul the terms and conditions of their employment.

My comment: I bet the cuts don't have much impact on the pay and conditions of senior officers or their ability to swan around en mass at taxpayers expense to none events like the LGA conference etc. Neither do I expect the councillors to cut their own allowances, which swallows up 25% of what they are trying to save. Turkeys don't vote for Christmas and boy are some of our councillors turkeys.

Read the full story from the source Northwich Guardian

Defamation claim against Sheriff of Chester UPDATE

2011-06-24T23:50:00.007+01:00

Further to my original post Defamation claim against Sheriff of Chester

THE Sheriff of Chester accused the Tory-led council of intimidation after a watchdog backed his right to speak out over the controversial sale of County Hall.

Labour’s Cllr Reggie Jones is now free to speak out after the Standards for England watchdog cleared him of defaming the council’s chief lawyer Simon Goacher in a letter to the Press and a motion.

Mr Goacher made an official complaint after Cllr Jones of Blacon alleged ‘a catalogue of financial and legal bad practice’ in the authority’s handling of the sale of County Hall and purchase of HQ following an auditor’s report.

Cllr Jones has since found a stray print-out of an email dated March 17 in which deputy council leader Les Ford told his Tory group he had ensured ‘our officers put pressure’ on the Labour group to withdraw the motion.

My comment: More shenanigans between ruling councillors and officers in an attempt to derail democracy. I hope Les Ford is going to resign over his role in these false allegations.

The motion they used officers to put pressure on the labour group to withdraw was "Labour’s Cllr Reggie Jones brought a motion before Cheshire West and Chester Council criticising the Tory-led authority following a district auditor’s report which examined the handling of the sale of County Hall and purchase of HQ."

More information about the dodgy dealings during the sale of County Hall.

Read the full story from the source Chester Chronicle

UPDATE 26th July 2011: Text of the Standard for England decision notice now publicly available on the What Do They Know Freedom of Information website.

Under section 58(2) of the Local Government Act 2000, as amended, SfE has decided that no action needs to be taken in respect of the allegation.

Reasons for decision

Standards for England accepts the Standards Initial Assessment Sub-Committee’s reason for referring this to Standards for England, that the status of the complainants would make it difficult for the complaint to be considered by the local standards committee,

While that the auditor’s report is by no means as critical as Councillor Jones suggests, at the same time it is not as supportive of the two councils as the complainants suggest. Although the auditor says that she was satisfied, in general, by the decision-making process adopted by the councils and that the sale did represent value for money for council tax payers, she also made a number of adverse comments. For instance she was concerned that interim advice given to members was provided verbally and not documented, that Cheshire West did not make their Counsel aware of a second valuation of the building and that both councils could have done more to involve local people in the decision to sell the building.

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights gives protection to the right of freedom of expression, a right which the courts have strongly upheld in cases involving the expression of political opinion. Councillor Jones’ comments to the press and his motion to the Council are protected by Article10. In any event, the targets of his criticisms include not only officers of the Council but also its political leadership. I do not think that it is possible to construe his letter or the motion as being personally disrespectful to officers even if, by implication, it challenges some aspects of their performance, as indeed, does the auditor’s report.

Victory for gagging clause campaigner against CWaC Council

2011-06-24T22:59:00.003+01:00

Cheshire West & Chester Council’s long term unlawful attempt to prevent an ex-employee from asking important questions collapsed today.

The climb down was complete when a letter arrived signed by Simon Goacher, Head of Legal and Democratic Services. This tried to put a brave face on a clear capitulation - but they’re not fooling anyone!

The public need to keep a watchful eye on this council.............more

My comment: I agree, I have also experienced CWaC's shenanigans and I for one intend to expose them at every opportunity.

Visit the campaigner's website to read the full story

CWaC Council spending on Credit Cards UPDATED 13/07/11

2011-06-24T12:28:00.015+01:00

Further to my previous post on the subject I have just received a response to my freedom of information request about £2878.50 spent on credit card for Hotel Accommodation at the Old Swan Hotel.

1) How many people were accommodated at the Old Swan? 11

2) For How long were they accommodated at the Old Swan? 3 nights

3) What was the reason for staying at the Old Swan? LGA conference 30 June 2009-02 July 2009

4) What mix of officers/councillors were accommodated. Chief Executive and 6 officers, Leader of the Council and 3 Councillors.

5) Was the payment for anything other than accommodation? Payment was for bed and breakfast.

The response raises a number of questions,

Why did CWaC Council send 11 members and officers to the conference especially since the registration rate per delegate alone was £519 plus £77.85 VAT – total £596.85? Please note – the delegate registration fee does not include bedroom accommodation costs.

Why did they spend 3 nights at the Old Swan when the conference only lasted 3 days which would have only required 2 nights accommodation?

Why did they pay more than double the cheapest available accommodation rates available?

To me it looks more like a swan out to the Old Swan at taxpayer's expense!

I have submitted another freedom of information request to clarify the amount spent on the registration fee. I have also asked a number of other councils how many people they sent to the conference because 11 appears to be far more than necessary.

UPDATE 29th June 2011: Response to my FOI request "Further to your enquiry about the registration fee for attendance at the 2009 LGA conference/exhibition I can confirm that the registration fee only applied to the Chief Executive, Leader and Councillors as officers attended as exhibitors. The registration fee was £596.85 per delegate (inclusive of VAT). Total registration fee was therefore £2984.25."

Therefore, the cost so far identified are £2878.50 accommodation cost plus £2984.25 registration fee = a total of £5862.75 plus travel costs for 11 people plus the wages for 18 officer days (6 officers * 3 days).

UPDATE 2 13th July 2011: Just had a response to a similar Freedom of Information request I sent to another council for comparison. Suffolk County Council sent 6 people to the same conference, 1 officer and 5 members. Other councils to follow.

This can be applied to CWaC Council senior staff

2011-06-19T19:28:00.003+01:00

THE outside business dealings of senior town hall staff could soon be made public after Bolton Council was issued a High Court threat by the country’s information boss.

The threat comes after transparency campaigner John Greenwood asked for details held on the council’s register of interests in a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

When the council refused, Mr Greenwood, from Breightmet, reported the council to the government’s Information Commissioner.

The commissioner has now ruled that the details of the register of interests should be released. The register records the name of council officers and any personal interests they have, such as ownership of property, family associations, business interests, shareholdings and membership of organisations that may conflict with their decision-making role.

My comment: Not before time. Many senior officers have outside interests that could conflict with their council role. I can feel an FOI request coming on :)

Read the full story from the source The Bolton News

Sixth officer leaves Stoke City Council for new job with former boss

2011-06-19T11:34:00.006+01:00

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

A TOP officer is leaving Stoke-on-Trent City Council after landing a job with his former boss in Cheshire.

Mark Palethorpe, who is the council's head of adult services and partnerships, becomes the latest senior figure to leave for Cheshire West and Chester Council, where he will be director of adult social care and health.

Cheshire West and Chester Council is run by former city council manager Steve Robinson, who left Stoke-on-Trent in October 2008.

He was followed within weeks by director of central services Julie Gill and adult social care and health director Steve Wilds.

And early last year the authority also lost its then head of housing, Alan Slater, head of human resources, Euan Murdoch-Hollies, and head of citywide and neighbourhood services Helen Bailey to the Chester council.

Mr Palethorpe is the first senior officer to leave for Chester in the past 18 months, and will replace current director Mr Wilds.

It is not known how much he will earn in the new role, but the salary is likely to be well above £100,000 a year, compared to about £80,000 for a head of department at the city council.

My comment: Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Sun Tzu

Read the full story from the source This is Staffordshire

Sample Comments below the article.

“I bet Cheshire West will be wondering where all these duffers came from, well my my its the merry go round from Stoke, is Robinson a Trekkie I wonder?”
Report."

“I have no doubt in my mind that these people are chasing pay rises, and also avoiding copping the blame for serial failures. And who knows... maybe the new guy has a "mate" in line for that job. Its all one big merry-go-round for these people.”

CWaC Council staff altered papers UPDATED

2011-06-17T19:46:00.011+01:00

Staff at Cheshire West and Chester Council altered records relating to the care and treatment of a disabled man and "fundamentally affected" the course of a High Court case, a judge has said.

The judge said records were rewritten after a High Court hearing. He described the "misconduct" as an "extraordinary incident" and said it had "seriously impeded" the court process.

Details of the alterations emerged in a written judgment of a High Court dispute about the care of the disabled man - referred to as "P" by the judge.

My comment: I wonder what else gets altered/rewritten in CWaC Council when nobody's looking?

Read the full story from the source Bearsden Herald

UPDATE 23rd July 2011: The story has now bizarrely disappeared from the Bearsden Herald but appeared in the Chester Chronicle.

UPDATED 24th August 2011: Misconduct by council employees in DoL case "seriously impeded" court process, says judge. A fuller account than that ever reported by local press can be read on the Local Government Lawyer Website

My comment: Is this the reason why so few negative stories about CWaC Council are ever published in our local press and even when they are they are nothing more than short extracts from a bigger story? Compare the Chester Chronicle article with the Local Government Lawyer one.

Review in to waste cash

2011-06-14T10:50:00.000+01:00

A JUDICIAL Review opens in the High Court on Thursday into the Government’s decision to withdraw more than £100 million of support to Cheshire’s proposed household waste disposal scheme.

Mr Justice Longstaff, sitting in Manchester, will hear the case brought by Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East Council following meetings with Defra and advice from leading counsel.

My comment I just hope CWaC Council has obtained better legal advice than they normally rely on. Otherwise they could be wasting cash on a review of waste cash..

Read the full story from the source Cheshire First

Rich List 2: The Councillors

2011-06-05T21:05:00.007+01:00

The Taxpayer's Alliance published a Rich List which included the remuneration of all council staff who cost the taxpayer over £100,000 per year.

From that list it can be acertained that 13 CWaC Council staff receive a total remuneration package of over £100,000.

Following an enquiry I decided to do something similar for CWaC Councillors. Fortunately the information is available from CWaC Council. However, this lists all councillors and I was only interested in those who cost the taxpayers the most.

Therefore, I decided to extract all those who, during the financial year 2010/11, cost the taxpayer more than £20,000.

1) JONES, M: £42,472.27

2) FORD, L: £27,553.35

3) BATEMAN, D: £27,402.30

4) DOWDING, B: £26,582.79

5) MANLEY, H: £26,355.02

6) RILEY, L: £25,233.82

7) HARADA, A: £24,265.97

8) SHORT, R: £24,241.12

9) HOGG, M: £20,879.72

10) DAWSON, A: £20,425.48

11) OULTRAM, R: £20,309.22

12) STORRAR, A: £20,050.92

Total for these 12 councillors = £305,771.80

75 CWaC Councillors 2010/11 total = £1,147,581.01

Yet only 2 years ago 72 Pre CWaC Councillors 2008/9 total = £503,590.21

I will make further comparisons as time permits but in any event will compare this list with 2011/12 when the figures are available.

There are now some 75 councillors at CWac Council who can claim allowances during 2011/12.

UPDATE 6th June 2011: Thousands of local councillors have seen their allowances soar in the past five years, astonishing figures reveal.

The town hall payouts have risen by up to 150 per cent to a total cost of more than £200million a year.

Expenses were first made available to local politicians in the 1970s – and in the 1990s, allowances, or pay, for councillors were introduced to reimburse local councillors for their time. But the effect has been to produce a generation of professional town hall politicians.

Read the full story from the source Mail on Line

Old credit card habits die hard

2011-05-31T21:32:00.008+01:00

In 2009 Cheshire County Council and a number of Borough Council were replaced by two new Unitary Councils, Cheshire West and Chester Council and Cheshire East Council. Many of the Councillors and staff are now with the new Councils. The information and photo above are located on Cheshire County Council's Facebook page.

I have been informed that Tom was the old Director of the Environment at Cheshire County Council – before Steve Kent took over the post for CWAC

CWaC Council Fly-Tipping 'On The Rise' As Charges Soar

2011-05-28T12:12:00.004+01:00

Cash-strapped councils are hiking up prices for bulky waste disposal - with fears it has sparked a rise in fly-tipping.

A survey of 148 council boroughs across the UK reveals the price of skip permits has risen by as much as 650% over the past five years.

Over the past couple of years fly-tipping has fallen in some boroughs but it is predicted to soar again as the increased costs of waste disposal and cost-cutting initiatives have an impact.

Experts suggest there is a direct link between fly-tipping and the cost of waste disposal.

A survey conducted by AnyJunk found skip prices in Bradford rose by 100% between 2009-2010, in Glasgow by 89% and in Bristol and Bath by 67%.

Cheshire West and Chester Council, said: "I don't think increased prices should give anyone a reason to fly-tip.

My comment: Can you imagine a private company saying that increasing their prices should not be an excuse for customers try an alternative.

What does one reporter say to another? If you are looking for someone to make a stupid comment about an issue ring CWaC council :)

Read the full story from the source SKY NEWS

A comment by Sky reader 'apache2009' sums up the issue.

"The comment by David Lennon of Cheshire West and Chester Council, !I don't think increased prices should give anyone a reason to fly tip" says it all really.

Councils seem to believe they can increase charges by 100%, or more, and people will simply say, OK we don't mind.

GET REAL! Most people have a finite amount of money to spend and are likely to have far more important things to spend their money on (such as feeding their children, and keeping a roof over their heads) than on tipping charges.

I forcast fly-tipping will increase exponentially unless there is a reversal of these ridiculous charges.

How much does it cost to clear up after fly tippers? I suspect a lot more than would have been raised if the rubbish had been disposed of "legally", so the system is inherently flawed and self-defeating."

CWaC Council spending on Credit Cards

2011-05-28T00:06:00.016+01:00

Councils have spent tens of millions of pounds on taxpayer-funded credit cards with local authority executives and councillors treating themselves to first-class travel to foreign destinations and stays in five-star hotels, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

An investigation by The Daily Telegraph has uncovered details of apparently questionable spending decisions by councillors and local government officials, with more than £2 million spent on travel over the last three years, including flights to Thailand, Kenya and Bermuda.

A total of another £500,000 was spent on gifts such as Tiffany jewellery, Gucci products and pure silk ties, while online shopping sprees racked up bills of more than £300,000 at Argos and £150,000 at Amazon.

Hospitality bills totalling £2.6m were paid on the cards, including dinners at Claridges, one of Britain’s most expensive hotels, hog roasts and champagne receptions, as well as tens of thousands of pounds spent booking tables at award ceremonies.

Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, charged with overseeing local authorities and cutting waste described the spending as “wild”.

Details of Cheshire West and Chester's spending over £500 on credit cards.

My comment: Which includes £2878.50 for Hotel Accommodation at the Old Swan Hotel on the 25th June 2009. Paid for on the Chief Executive's & Leader's Office card. Which begs the question how many were accommodated, for how long and for what reason?

Investigation so far suggests that it may have been an advance payment for the LGA Harrogate Conference 30th June 2009 to 2nd July 2009, the Swan Hotel was one option on the LGA booking form. Although there was a Queen concert on the 25th June 2009 :)

The LGA offered accommodation for less than £40 a night, the Swan Hotel was the most expensive at £145 per night. Another possible question should the LGA conference turn out to be the reason for the spend.

Details of all Councils spending over £500 on credit cards.

Read the full story from the source Telegraph

UPDATE 31st May 2011: On the same day I received an acknowledgement for my FOI request CWaC Council visited my blog twice before lunch for a total of 48.5 minutes. :) I wonder why they are still using the old Cheshire County Council branding. PS I have captured quite a lot of these visits over the years, I must add up the total time one day.

Please investigate loss of postal votes

2011-05-26T19:35:00.002+01:00

ALONG with other readers of the Guardian, I did not receive my postal vote documents, so I called in at my local polling station only to be told that nothing could be done, and I could not cast my vote.

Having read the article, Guardian, May 11, it started me wondering just how many people had been affected, and what has happened to the missing post?

The Royal Mail is legally bound to deliver letters to their destination even if they are late. So how come my documents have not as yet landed on my doormat?

My comment: I doubt CWaC Council will investigate because they prefer to bury any problems rather than expose them to public scrutiny.

Read the full story from the source Northwich Guardian

Defamation claim against Sheriff of Chester

2011-05-26T12:20:00.005+01:00

THE Sheriff of Chester has been reported by his own council to the Standards for England local government watchdog.

Labour’s Cllr Reggie Jones wrote a letter to the Press and brought a motion before Cheshire West and Chester Council criticising the Tory-led authority following a district auditor’s report which examined the handling of the sale of County Hall and purchase of HQ.

My comment: Not only do Cheshire West and Chester gag ex employees now they are trying to gag elected representatives. The reason why Eric Pickle decided to scrap the Standards for England local government watchdog was because councils were using it in attempt to silence any criticism rather than for legitimate reasons. Read more about an earlier political spat about the sale of County Hall and the purchase of HQ. Stoke on Trent are another insecure council trying to gag elected representative.

Read the full story from the source Chester Chronicle

CWaC Council, full of crap as usual

2011-05-18T12:53:00.004+01:00

Cheshire West and Chester Council promotes benefits of ‘real’ nappies.

This week, May 16-22, is Real Nappy Week, and in light of this, to give parents the opportunity to get on board with the scheme, Cheshire West and Chester Council is offering them one month free nappy laundry service worth £45 and a maximum of £25 cashback on reusable nappy purchases.

My comment: As Usual CWaC Council is behind the times. "Town halls have spent £3million in the past five years trying to persuade parents to use washable nappies.

The taxpayers’ money was poured into ‘real nappy’ campaigns even though the notion that re-usable nappies are better for the environment was discredited years ago. Councils have continued to sink funds into nappy campaigns despite overwhelming evidence that they are pointless.

Cash has gone on employing ‘real nappy’ officers, press and broadcast advertising campaigns, and subsidising vans to pick up dirty nappies and deliver freshly washed ones back to mothers.

Among the councils subsidising nappies, Southend in Essex, Pembrokeshire , Gloucestershire, Norfolk and Lancashire. One council, Stroud, ran a nappy campaign for 18 months up to April 2009, offering mothers £30 worth of washable nappies free of charge. Only one mother took up the offer." Read more from the source Mail on Line

Read the full story from the source Ellesmere Port Pioneer

CWaC Council watching me watching them, ha, ha

2011-05-09T20:08:00.002+01:00

CWaC & Stoke-on-Trent: Councils with more than gagging orders in common

2011-05-09T16:35:00.010+01:00

Stoke-on-Trent Councillors Asked To Sign ‘Gagging Order’. Newly elected councillors in Stoke-on-Trent are being asked to sign what is effectively a gagging order that prevents them ‘criticising’ the City Council.

Cheshire West and Chester Council now also use gagging orders/agreements. What is the common denominator? Answer - Steve Robinson (CEO) and many other senior staff used to work for Stoke-on-Trent.

I wonder if Stoke on Trent cock up elections as well? Both CWaC and Stoke are guilty of wasting money to identify ways in which to save money.

Read the full story from the source Public Authority Watcher

UPDATE: On my earlier question, I wonder if Stoke on Trent cock up elections as well? The answer is YES

Residents fury as postal votes fail to arrive

2011-05-07T11:43:00.005+01:00

RESIDENTS were fuming when their postal votes did not arrive in time for them to have their say in the local council elections or referendum.

Duncan Penn, from Kingsmead, said: “Today is polling day, but for some off us voting by post we haven't received our postal vote forms because of a printing error.

A Northwich woman, who did not wish to be named, said: “Mine never arrived and I’m not the only one – there were six people in one street in Eddisbury and one woman who had hers but her husband didn’t have his, the council sent another but it was for her and not her husband. “I’m absolutely disgusted."

My comment: Just how many times are CWaC Council going to make a hash of elections before they do something about it and sack the person responsible? This is not a one off mistake, it now appears to be the norm with CWaC! I was under the impression that the CEO was given extra pay to organise elections, it that is true then it's about time they replaced the CEO or at least demanded their money back.

Read the full story from the source Northwich Guardian

Tory majority slashed in West Cheshire and Chester Council

2011-05-07T10:58:00.010+01:00

THE Tories were returned to power in West Cheshire – but with a substantially reduced majority.

In May 2008, elections for the new unitary Cheshire West and Chester Council saw the Conservatives storm to a massive majority of 38.

But with four Members deciding to stand as Independents and one for UKIP this time, a further eight losses – all to Labour – narrowed that margin to just nine.

Council Leader Mike Jones said: “It was inevitable there would be some reaction to the Government’s highly necessary, but painful, cuts, and we expected to lose some seats in marginal wards.

My comment: Mr Jones' excuse does not stand up to close scrutiny. No, No, No Mr Jones, the real reasons are that your council (and the previous one that your 'gang' controlled) was too keen to insult constituents, pay a councillor allowances even though they lived in New Zealand, charge homecoming parade soldiers for cups of tea, ignore the impact of a significant increase in student numbers , pay thirteen staff over £100,000 per year, spend £20Million on shiny new headquarters whilst ignoring the needs of Northwich, gag ex employees in an attempt to keep potential whistle-blowers quiet, gripe about the cost of FOI, sell off the family silver, fail to deliver on promises, cut grants but consider silly schemes, waste money identifying ways to save money, keep appointments from proper scrutiny, spin the truth, cause confusion, over charge the elderly for home help, bodge a class 3A road and if that wasn't enough you cocked up elections on not one, not two but on three separate occasions. You reap what you sow Mr Jones, you reap what you sow!

Read the full story from the source Liverpool Echo

Another CWaC council election cock up

2011-05-05T19:28:00.006+01:00

Northwich Guardian article time and dated 3:35pm Thursday 5th May 2011.

Cheshire West and Chester Council advice for people who have not had their postal vote.

VOTERS are worried that they may not get chance to have their say in today's local elections because their postal voting packs have not arrived.

A spokesman for Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC) confirmed that some residents had not received their packs and advised them to travel to the council's Chester HQ before 5pm.

My comment: At 3.35pm an article is published about voters needing to travel to Chester HQ before 5pm to pick up their voting packs. Yet another CWaC election cock up. Can't they do anything right?

Read the full story from the source Northwich Guardian or more about their other election cock ups here and here.

An extract from a comment on the Northwich Guardian article hits the nail on the head. "We have postal votes for a reason we are both disabled, and my mother is unable to leave the house she is 92 and has early onset alzheimers, and I work full time - we CANNOT get to Chester. This council is a joke.."

CWaC councillor claims allowance whilst in New Zealand

2011-05-04T10:09:00.012+01:00

The CWaC councillor received an annual allowance more than £17,000 ' even though she spends three months every year in New Zealand'. Tory Jan Mashlan, from Northwich, has come under fire at Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC).

She sent apologies for full council meetings held last December, and in February and March, according to the town hall's online attendance record. But she says she's been able to keep in touch with local people by email while she's 12,000 miles away on the other side of the world.

Council leader Mike Jones refused to accept her resignation, saying her absences are a 'non-issue'.

My comment: If the council leader thinks this is a none issue he is clearly not fit for purpose and should be voted out at the next election, which is tomorrow! If the council leader is not your councillor consider voting against your councillor if they were one of those who selected him as their leader. Remember this is the councillor who insults critics and the council which wanted to illegally charge for Freedom of Information requests, use dodgy compromise agreements to silence potential whistle-blowers, promised to do better organising elections then failed, wasted millions on shiny new headquarters, charged homecoming solders for tea and coffee, failed to manage the growth of student numbers, has 13 staff on over £100,000 per year...... and the list goes on.

Read the full story from the source Mail On-Line

In addition, note what Jan Mashlan says Mike Jones told her 'Cllr Jones said he would rather I stayed until the next election then it won't cause a by-election.' and then the reason given by Cllr Mike Jones 'I didn't want her to resign because I didn't want to lose her expertise.

UPDATE 5th May 2011: Council switch to damage limitation mode with the help of their friends at LocalGov.

CWaC fails in promise to do better

2011-04-21T16:22:00.005+01:00

Last minute panic for aspiring Northwich councillors. Brian Jamieson, from Northwich’s Labour Group, said this caused issues for prospective candidates because the wrong Electoral Register had been sent out, which candidates need to fill in their nomination forms.

Brian said: “It would have been a problem if I hadn’t intervened because they’d issued all the registers in the old wards.”

Brian had a list of the new wards from the Boundary Commission but some candidates were still working from a list of the old wards, which had been provided by Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC).

A spokesman for Cheshire West and Chester (CWAC) said: “There was an issue with the candidates because registers were sent out containing the old ward names.

My comment: They sent out some wrong registers last year, just what is the problem with Cheshire West and Chester Council? They even promised to do better because of the debacle last year. This article appears to prove they have failed miserably.

Read the full story from the source Northwich Guardian

May elections: CWaC council, we promise to do better

2011-04-21T10:37:00.007+01:00

Cheshire West and Chester Council has offered this assurance after eating humble pie in 2010 when 157 postal votes weren’t processed in time and some polling stations were supplied with an out-of-date electoral register.

At the last general election some areas of the country saw queuing outside polling stations in the run-up to the 10pm deadline resulting in some electors not being allowed to vote.

My comment: Steve Robinson, the returning officer and chief executive officer didn't prevent the chaotic organisation of the 2010 elections nor stop incorrect electoral registers being sent to some polling stations. Doesn't give me confidence that CWaC Council is being run properly. Especially since this last few months we have seen his 'solutions team' wanting to illegally charge for FOI requests and the Council inserting potentially illegal terms in compromise agreements.

Read more about CWaC council's voting cock up from the source Chester Chronicle

What has CWaC Council done for us?

2011-04-19T21:08:00.002+01:00

THE local elections are almost upon us and will probably be greeted with voter apathy as usual.

A while ago, the Guardian carried an article on the front page showing pictures of the Northwich CWAC councillors and asked what had they done for us. I think that question is still as relevant today.

This is the same, council that thought it was a great idea to spend £20 million (of your money) moving into a shiny new headquarters.

I don’t care who you vote for but please consider exactly what CWAC has done for us over the past three years.

My comment: £20 million?.... Plus the money they are going to have to be spend within the next few years on repairs and maintenance. An FOI in a few years will prove if the new headquarters were as good a buy as they now argue it is.

Read Simon Barnes' full letter from the source Northwich Guardian

‘Gagged’ ex-employee of CWaC Council mounts legal challenge

2011-04-16T21:03:00.003+01:00

A FORMER council employee is taking legal action against Cheshire West and Chester Council over a ‘gagging clause’ he signed on leaving the authority.

Paul Cardin, a former lighting design engineer, had previously raised allegations about a senior council manager sparking an external investigation.

My comment: Why have so many councils attempted to silence potential whistle blowers? Wirral Council, Brent Council, Suffolk County Council and Cheshire West and Chester Council to name but a few. Just what have they got to hide?

Read the full story from the source Chester Chronicle

CWaC charge homecoming parade soldiers for tea and coffee

2011-04-15T16:51:00.005+01:00

The soldiers were supposed to be given free drinks at the hall, run by Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC), but an administrative error meant the instruction did not reach staff until it was too late.

My comment: As I stated in a previous post CWaC Council couldn't organise a binge in a brewery let alone a cup of tea for our soldiers during their homecoming parade.

Read the full story from the source Northwich Guardian

City university and council chiefs criticised over student housing

2011-04-14T16:25:00.001+01:00

CAMPAIGNERS have accused the city’s university and council chiefs of failing to control ‘spiralling’ student numbers in Chester following a heated public debate on the matter.

“On the night the Bell Developments proposal was subject of both opposition and support, but it was the council and university that were the subject of strong words of criticism for what residents from across the city generally agree was a failure to control a spiralling increase in student houses in multiple occupancy in Chester’s residential streets.”

The statement from Chester Communities Together added: “The independently chaired meeting saw speaker after speaker from many areas of Chester voice strong criticism of CWAC for what they claim is a long standing failure to audit and responsibly manage this growth in student numbers by way of planning and delivering dedicated student accommodation away from residential streets.

My comment: CWaC Council couldn't organise a street party for the Royal wedding, or should that be a binge in a brewery?

Read the full story from the source Cheshire First

Another gaff by air guitar playing Cheshire West MP Graham Evans

2011-04-13T14:15:00.002+01:00

AN MP launched a scathing attack on Northwich’s Labour Party candidates in Parliament after they organised a petition against car park charges in town.

Now the Labour group will write to the Speaker of the House of Commons to demand an apology from Weaver Vale MP Graham Evans.

“We’re going to write to the Speaker because we want an apology for the people of Northwich – why should Graham Evans say we’ve done things we haven’t done?

“We never said there was going to be charges – Mr Evans has completely misrepresented the consultation petition signed by 1,200 Northwich residents in Parliament.

“It is he who should apologise to the people of Northwich and the House of Commons for so openly misleading them."

“Mr Evans has obviously never seen our public petition, for the record it is worded: ‘A response to Cheshire West and Chester Council’s consultation on the possible introduction of charges on the council’s Northwich town centre car parks. I object to the introduction of car parking charges for Northwich town centre car parks’.

My comment: I think he should stick to playing the air guitar in Parliament.

Read the full story from the source Northwich Guardian

Thirteen bosses at CWaC Council are in the £100,000 club

2011-04-13T12:37:00.003+01:00

ALL top 13 managers at Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) are receiving financial packages worth more than £100,000. The Taxpayers’ Alliance has published its annual Town Hall Rich List for UK local authorities in 2009/2010.

Heading the CWaC payroll is chief executive Steve Robinson with a salary of £180,000 plus pension contributions and benefits in kind totalling £218,000.

My comment: I even got a mention in the article "Trevor Nunn, who runs the CWaC Watch website, said: “Thirteen staff paid over £100,000 last year by Cheshire West and Chester Council. £1,684,426 in total for just 13 staff, an average of £129,571 each. Who got the cream!” Read the post in question.

Read the full story from the source Ellesmere Port Pioneer

Youth workers label council 'clueless'

2011-04-13T10:40:00.004+01:00

SUPPORTERS of a popular summer scheme in Winsford, which has ended this year due to council cuts, have accused Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC) of getting its figures wrong. CWAC’s claims it will continue to contribute 25 per cent of the administration costs, as well as premises costs and staff wages.

Maggie Anderson, co-ordinator for the Winsford Youth Forum, said: “They are only contributing five per cent towards administration costs and 20 per cent on weekend youth work. “By removing the structure and stating that they are cutting back on office costs in line with council priorities is in fact removing activities for young people – as a local charity we do not have back office costs.

“Further to this, the Council do not pay for the Marina premises costs which is the building we will be vacating from.”

Mike Kennedy, chairman of the Winsford Youth Forum Action group has labelled the CWAC Council ‘clueless’.

He said: “I have sadly found that CWAC is about as believable and trustworthy as the old Cheshire County Council and that doesn't say a lot, at least with the old County Council you could see them coming before they mugged you.

My comment: Well said, I and many others also think they are clueless. Just like Cheshire County Council they are always spinning a line. It's just that Cheshire West and Chester Council are a little more devious than the old Cheshire County Council.

Read the full story from the source Winsford Guardian

Developer still cutting grass verges on Rookery Rise

2011-04-12T23:44:00.010+01:00

Cheshire West and Chester Council have, on numerous occasions, stated that Rookery Rise is fully adopted. However, within the last few days a private contractor working for a Developer has been cutting some of the grass verges on Rookery Rise (specifically between Pinetree and Beechfields), something they wouldn't do if the road was adopted because if it was it would clearly be the responsibility of the Council.

In addition the contractor also cut the grass on the open space and the play area adjacent to Linwood and Firtree, so the questions remains,

is this part of Rookery Rise adopted or not?
is the open space adopted or not?
is the play area adopted or not?

If they are adopted, then why is a Developer still carrying out maintenance work 10 years after they were completed? If they aren't adopted, it would explain why the Developer is still carrying out maintenance work but that would mean Cheshire West and Cheshire Council and their predecessors, have been lying over the adopted status of the road for the last 10 years.

Looks like the only thing Cheshire West and Chester Council have adopted is the deceitful ways of Cheshire County Council and Vale Royal Borough Council.

Unlawful gagging clauses?

2011-04-12T23:29:00.002+01:00

Cheshire West & Chester Council and Brent Council have both imposed restrictions which prohibit former employees making requests under the Freedom of Information and Data Protection acts.

My comment: Both Councils have been caught out in the past by bloggers when they tried to push the envelope of 'legality'.

Read the full story from the source Paul Cardin

Error-filled letter about English courses sent out by CWaC

2011-04-08T20:42:00.001+01:00

Private Eye features an error-filled letter about English courses sent out by Cheshire West and Chester Council.

Cheshire West and Chester Council accepts the letter, which contains four spelling mistakes and two grammatical errors, should have been checked.

My comment: It's not the fault of the person who sent the letter it's the fault of their supervisor. They knew the person responsible was dyslexic but didn't bother to check their work. Not the first time that those in charge at CWaC don't check things properly.

Read the full story from the source Chester Chronicle

CWAC Council still griping about the cost of FOI

2011-04-06T12:18:00.003+01:00

CHESHIRE West and Chester Council (CWaC) says the cost of answering requests under the Freedom of Information, Data Protection Act and Environmental Information Regulations is ‘significant’.

The council, in response to an Freedom of Information (FOI) request, says the cost is ‘very difficult to quantify’ because the number of enquiries received differs as does the complexity of each question.

Previously CWaC estimated answering FOIs cost about £250,000 per year in officer time when justifying a charging policy.

The Solutions Team, comprising one full-time and one part-time officer, handles such requests and also manages a network of about 90 ‘champions’ who disseminate complaints, correspondence and requests throughout their service area and collate the response. This role is in addition to the champions’ ‘day job’.

My comment: What the morons in charge don't appear to understand is the same applies to every service they are legally obliged to provide. Yet we never hear them gripe about the cost of those. Me thinks it's more to do with their fear of exposure than the costs involved. In addition if they published the information in the first place, as many good councils do, they would significantly reduce the number of FOI requests.

Read the full story from the source Ellesmere Port Pioneer

CWaC Council dodgy dealings over the sale of Chester County Hall?

2011-03-19T12:26:00.014Z

PRESS RELEASE: ISSUED BY REG BARRITT

SALE OF CHESTER COUNTY HALL

AND REPRESSION OF REQUEST FOR APOLOGY

Handbridge community champion Reg Barritt has slammed Cheshire West and Chester Council for refusing to acknowledge his request to their Full Council meeting of 17th March for an apology to be issued at that meeting to both himself and to his community for its failure to consult the public over the sale of Chester County Hall to the University of Chester.

A recently issued Audit Commission report has heavily criticised CWAC Council for variously failing to consult the public over this major asset disposal, for failing to brief members fully of what was going on over the sale, and for failing to apply best practice in delivering it.

After considering this report Reg Barritt recently wrote to CWAC Full Council via the Legal Officer criticising what had gone on and demanding a public apology be issued to himself and members of the community for these failing; which he says are a clear betrayal of Councils' Duty to Involve and its own Statement of Community Involvement. A claim he says is now backed up by the findings of the Audit Report.

He offered to attend CWAC's Full Council meeting and to read out his letter given an assurance that after doing so the obviously required apology would then be delivered. In response CWAC refused to confirm any apology would be forthcoming. Mr Barritt responded by insisted his letter be read by the Chairman to the meeting in his absence with a view to the meeting agreeing to provide an apology at the next Full Council meeting, which he promised to then attend with other community representatives to receive that apology.

The Chairman and Legal Officer refused that demand and his representationwas not even acknowledged in the meeting, with councillors left ignorant of it. Mr Barritt told us: "Clearly this is not democracy at work. What it is is repressive dictatorship, and that sort of leadership is not the sort I will be voting for at the coming local elections. I am appalled at the way my representation has been treated. It seems to me CWAC has paid lip service to the Auditor's criticisms in saying it will make changes to its procedures in matters like this in future, but in practice it shows it is utterly unrepentant over the undemocratic way it has behaved in this very questionable affair".

At the meeting CWAC's Labour group agenda listed an item asking for the Audit Report of this disposal to be debated but the Tory controlled council first voted to refuse the debate and then went even further in denying the right to much needed consideration of this matter by also refusing to refer the matter to its Executive or any other committee. Appalled at the lack of a response to the request for any open debate in the interest of accountable and transparent local government CWAC's Labour group then took the extraordinary step of standing up and walking out of the meeting in protest.

Reg Barritt says: "On behalf of the community that was so shabbily treated at the time and that continues to be so treated I applaud the actions of the Labour group in taking this necessary action. He added: "We need more local councillors like them and less like the group that stayed in the meeting and that endorsed this gagging action on freedom of speech and a much needed debate of this matter in the public interest".

The streaming video of the meeting including the Labour Group walkout can be seen via the CWAC website.

Read Reg Barritt's submitted letter. The best response CWAC's Legal Officer has offered is a private written response; the nature of which, given the letter has so far not been forthcoming, remains unknown.

My comment: An earlier post of mine on the subject.

Councillors storm out of Cheshire West & Chester Council meeting

2011-03-18T16:14:00.002Z

FURIOUS Labour councillors from Ellesmere Port stormed out of a full meeting of Cheshire West and Chester Council.

Leader Cllr Derek Bateman (Central and Westminster), his deputy Cllr Pat Merrick (Grange and Rossmore), Grange and Rossmore councillors Angela Claydon and Tony Sherlock, Paul Donovan (Sutton and Manor), Lynn Clare and Justin Madders (Central and Westminster) and other opposition councillors left the ruling Tories to themselves and the handful of Lib Dems as they were out voted in a bid to debate a controversial auditor’s report.

It involved the multi-million pound sale of County Hall in Chester and the purchase of the new HQ offices nearby which led to questions to the district auditor who recently issued a report.

They claimed the auditors had unearthed “a catalogue of financial and legal bad practice” and called on the council to issue “an unreserved apology” to taxpayers and to improve its procedures.

Cllr Jones said: “It’s beneath contempt how they treat any opposition to their plans. Transparency is an unused word here.”

My comment: Their track record proves they are as transparent as a brick wall. Even going to the trouble of trying to charge everyone for FOI requests in an attempt to stem the flow of information into the public arena. In addition their predecessors also had a track record of financial and legal bad practice. For more information see my early posts regarding Cheshire County Council.

Read the full story from the source Chester Chronicle

Cheshire West and Chester Rich List

2011-03-18T03:51:00.011Z

The Taxpayer's Alliance has, for our convenience, published it's annual Town Hall Rich List for 2009/2010. Here are the figures for Cheshire West and Cheshire.

(1) Mr S Robinson, Chief Executive - £218,000. Salary £180000; Benefits in Kind (e.g. Car Allowance) £1000; Pension Contribution £37000.

(2) Mr Steve Wilds (acting), Director of Adult Social Care & Health - £152,325. Salary £125000; Benefits in Kind (e.g. Car Allowance) £1325; Pension Contribution £26000.

(3) Director Area and Community - £108,670. Salary £70769; Benefits in Kind (e.g. Car Allowance) £390; Compensation for loss of office £30000; Pension Contribution £7511.

(4) Mr John Stevens, Director Children’s and Young People Service - £152,436. Salary £125000; Benefits in Kind (e.g. Car Allowance) £1436; Pension Contribution £26000.

(5) Director of Environment Service - £134,253. Salary £110273; Benefits in Kind (e.g. Car Allowance) £1043; Pension Contribution £22937.

(6) Mr Charlie Seward, Director of Regeneration and Culture - £134,493. Salary £110367; Benefits in Kind (e.g. Car Allowance) £1170;Pension Contribution £22956.

(7) Ms Julie Gill, Director of Resources - £151,258. Salary £125000; Benefits in Kind (e.g. Car Allowance) £258; Pension Contribution £26000.

(8) Head of Facilities and Asset Management - £104,451. Salary £86466; Benefits in Kind (e.g. Car Allowance); Pension Contribution £17985.

(9) Head of Individual Commissioning and Prevention - £117,896. Salary £74271; Benefits in Kind (e.g. Car Allowance) £1003; Compensation for loss of office £30000; Pension Contribution £12622.

(10) Head of Procurement - £104,782. Salary £85728; Benefits in Kind (e.g. Car Allowance) £1223; Pension Contribution £17831.

(11) Head of Regulatory Services - £101,979. Salary £83446; Benefits in Kind (e.g. Car Allowance) £1176; Pension Contribution £17357.

(12) Mr Alan Slater, Head of Strategic Housing and Spatial Planning - £101,648. Salary £83000; Benefits in Kind (e.g. Car Allowance) £1384; Pension Contribution £17264.

(13) Mr John Jeffrey, Head of Waste Management and Street Scene - £102,235. Salary £84250; Pension Contribution £17985.

Matthew Sinclair, Director of The TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Councils should be scouring every inch of their expenditure to identify savings, so taxpayers will be staggered that so many council employees are still getting such a generous deal. Councils insist cuts can only mean pressure on frontline services but they clearly have money to spend when it comes to paying their own senior staff.

It is crucial that some of these senior council executives set an example and ensure they have the moral authority to lead spending cuts by taking a pay cut themselves. Households have seen their Council Tax bills double over the last decade and deserve better value. Proper transparency is an essential first step so that residents can decide for themselves if town hall bosses are delivering the results to justify pay at these sorts of levels.”

My comment: 13 staff paid over £100,000 last year by Cheshire West and Chester Council. £1,684,426 in total for just 13 staff, an average of £129,571 each. Who got the cream!

Read the full story from the source The Tax Payer's Alliance

Ellesmere Port councillors attack Cheshire West and Chester Council budget

2011-03-09T14:43:00.002Z

Cllr Bob Thompson (Hoole and Newton) insisted the 90+ page budget report was ‘opaque’.

Claiming the Tory administration had not spelled out how proposed efficiency savings would be achieved, he described the budget as ‘incomplete, inadequate and ill conceived’.

My comment: I think the word 'opaque' just about sums up Cheshire West and Chester Council in everything they do.

Read the full story from the source Ellesmere Port Pioneer

How much longer does Ashley have to wait?

2011-03-08T23:18:00.002Z

A FATHER is pleading for swift action over plans to improve access for his disabled son at their Chester home.

Fed-up Malcolm Field has hit out at highway chiefs who he says are continually stalling over plans to create a car park facility outside his Blacon home which Malcolm says will aid access for his son Ashley, who is a Achondraplasia dwarf, and who suffers from spinal stenosis.

Taxi driver Malcolm, who says he has lobbied through councillors and highway chiefs for the past three years, said he was told the 20 space car park, off Blacon Point Road, close to the estate’s Healthy Living Centre, would be put before planning chiefs for approval at the start of this year.

It has dragged on and on and enough is enough. We were initially told the matter would be put before a Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) planning meeting in January, and despite my making constant attempts to find out from the council as to what the situation is, I am getting nowhere.

My comment: What CWaC promises and what CWaC do are usually two different things. Particularly in the highway department!

Read the full story from the source Chester First

Propaganda Together

2011-03-08T18:55:00.001Z

The latest spin from the public authorities of West Cheshire is now available for download.

Download your copy here.

My comment: Local government minister Grant Shapps said "few things have done more to undermine local democracy than the explosion in town hall pravdas bankrolled by hard pressed taxpayers".

"The age of wasting taxpayers' cash on pet projects like local propaganda sheets or employing lobbyists to push a certain agenda is over."

Footnote: ~~Talking~~ 'Propaganda' Together is published by West Cheshire Together, a partnership of Cheshire West and Chester Council, Cheshire Police, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, Cheshire Police Authority and NHS Western Cheshire.

Cheshire West MP Graham Evans slammed for air guitar in Parliament

2011-03-08T14:15:00.012Z

NORTHWICH’S MP is no doubt fretting after making national headlines for apparently playing air guitar during a Commons debate about 11,000 army job cuts.

Graham Evans, MP for Weaver Vale, was sat behind Defence Secretary Liam Fox in the House of Commons during the debate, which meant his every move was caught on camera.

This has struck a discordant note among fellow MPs, with Shadow Defence Minister Michael Dugher condemning his behaviour. The debate took place on Wednesday, March 4, with the footage quickly posted on the internet.

Jokers have even put music to it on YouTube and the footage had already had more than 39,800 views. (UPDATE: Now over 79,500 views)

My comment: Is this indicative of all elected representatives in this area? He was a Cheshire Councillor before becoming an MP at the last election! Watch the You Tube Video here.

Read the full story from the source Northwich Guardian

Police Station now a home!

2011-03-06T19:48:00.001Z

Comment found here.

In Chester the police station was moved to the worst part of the city ie Blacon who boasts the largest Council est in Europe one has to use the car or bus to get there its not manned you have NO access to this police station - the new building is now a hotel and shopping site with the top first floor looking over Chester racecourse reserved for County Council hierarchy - where has the money gone from the sale of our police station and the giving up of our wonderful County offices over looking the River now IMHO is part of a stupid university which used to be a college and still should be!

The CWaCC solutions team

2011-02-23T22:43:00.008Z

Whilst reading many of the on-line Freedom of Information requests I came across the following information about CWaCC's solutions team.

"Solutions Team was created as part of the Chief Executive's Office. This team was set up to handle customer comments, compliments and complaints, MP and general correspondence and FOI and EIR requests. Within this team there are 2 officers spending 100% of their time dealing with FOI and EIR requests (1 full-time and 1 part-time = 55hrs per week). The remainder of the team and Team Manager may also have some involvement with requests.

The Solutions Team manage a network of around 90 'Champions' to disseminate complaints, correspondence and requests throughout their service area and collate the response. This role is in addition to the Champions' 'day job' and we estimate that at least 25% of their time is spent on this, based on the amount of average time spent on requests. On that basis, we can assume that the Champions each spend around a minimum of 2 hours a week on FOI and EIR requests alone."

My comment: Their track record has not been all that great because CWaCC has been heavily criticised for, among other things, wanting to illegally charge for all FoI requests (Probably wanted to be self financing) and for attempting to block ex employees from using the FoI Act. More like a team that helps create problems rather than provide solutions.

Who do they think they are kidding?

2011-02-23T18:40:00.004Z

Extract from a letter by a local resident: "It is amazing how the prospect of Cheshire West and Chester Council elections on May 5 has galvanised local Conservative councillors into action.

I refer to the full-page advertisement placed in a recent edition of the Northwich Guardian.

How delighted we all must be to know that Northwich is now a step closer to getting a makeover aimed at boosting the town’s economy......Perhaps an idiotic salt arch as suggested by a lower authority.

Northwich taxpayers are footing the bill for this Tory advert in the guise of a council communiqué in these times of public spending cuts and economic hardship!"

Read the letter in full from the source Your letters Middlewich Guardian

CWaCC cannot come to terms with freedom of information

2011-02-22T20:15:00.006Z

There are many councils that seem unable to grasp the point of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act. One such local authority, the clumsily-named Cheshire West and Chester Council, has not only introduced charges but has taken its hostility to the FoI act to a new level.

It has prohibited a former employee from using the act by requiring the person to sign an agreement waiving his right to make an FoI request to the council. The gagging agreement also curbs his rights under the Data Protection Act (DPA).

The irony is that the agreement came to light because of a specific FoI request (carried in full on the WhatDoTheyKnow website) that asked the council to say how many "current employees/ex-employees who have agreed... to forgo their right to approach the council in the future with Freedom of Information or DPA Subject Access requests." The answer was one.

According to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the agreement is invalid. (And it may breach human rights legislation too).

A council spokesman, Ian Callister , told the paper: "I am assured by our senior solicitor that our compromise agreement with our ex-employee is entirely lawful and was agreed by that person's legal representatives.

My comment: Do you think Cwacc's legal department knows better than the ICO? The council that just a short while ago wrongly thought that they could charge for all Freedom of Information requests.

Read the full story from the source Greenslade Blog (Guardian)

CWaCC cuts services & grants but wants to waste money on bronze warriors

2011-02-20T23:55:00.010Z

A TREE-LINED boulevard ‘guarded’ by imposing bronze warriors could be the vision greeting visitors arriving at Chester Railway Station.

Council chiefs want to commemorate Chester’s 2,000-year military history in a spectacular ‘make-over’ for City Road as a key pedestrian link into the city centre.

Proposed military statues – all on impressive plinths – would begin with a Roman Legionnaire and end near The Bars roundabout with a Mercian Regiment soldier in Afghanistan combat gear.

Cllr Mike Jones, leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, said: “Chester has been a garrison town since the time of the Romans and we thought that a tribute to this proud part of our heritage would help set the scene for our visitors. My comment: Especially visitors from Afghanistan.

“The scheme is in its infancy at the moment but would almost certainly involve us seeking sponsorship for the various statues” said the leader.

My comment: I wonder how much it will cost for a feasibility study, planning, staff/councillor time and expenses, project management and marketing before they get their first sponsor? Buy one get one free?

Read the full story from the source Chester Chronicle