Of course, TDC doesn't have a lardy, crack-crazed alcoholic for a leader, like they do in Toronto. But nonetheless, we have still managed to carve out our own little corner of political notoriety here in the tip of Kent!
Readers with long memories will recall that it was ever thus. In the eight years I've been writing this drivel, I can barely recollect a day when I said 'Hurrah for TDC!'. That goes for both the reds and the blues.
True, there are some intelligent, dedicated and hard-working councillors around, albeit thin on the ground. And I'm sure that somewhere in the bowels of the administrative machine there are people beavering away, and trying to do their best. It must be extremely frustrating for them to have to deal with the numpties in their midst, but let's hope that sense prevails, and that we all live long enough to see TDC transformed into a modern, transparent, fit-for-purpose organisation that does what it's supposed to do - serve the voters who pay for it.
There, I've had my two pennorth! Now you can have yours by voting in my 7 day poll in the sidebar on the right!
100 comments:
How can we trust Thanet District Council when they allow their officers to accept gifts just under a hundred pound. Out of interest could they accept a gift from a planning developer and then the planning developer's wife, and then the planning developer's numerous children and have them count as separate gifts?
Seems The Bribery Act doesn't apply to Thanet District Council.
dunno about just 8 years, my dad is 89 and says much the same thing, LOL :)
Love your tags btw!!!! x
Thanet District Council has only existed for 39 years Bernie.
As I was saying to the planning officer on the balcony of my villa in Tuscany just the other day "Another drink?"
Is TDC really dysfunctional or is one individual in particular within the council seeking to create that impression at every opportunity in order to further his own political agenda.
I no longer live in Thanet, I am pleased to say, but still have a high regard for the old place. Be very careful what you believe and even more so what you vote for come 2015. TDC is being reduced to anarchy largely by one individual and things could get much worse if you do not watch out.
>Is TDC really dysfunctional
ummm.. seems to be!
>TDC is being reduced to anarchy largely by one individual
Assuming we are talking about the same individual one could argue ( correctly I think ) that far from causing anarchy he is about the only councillor who has spoken out on the Pleasurama fiasco and the TransEuropa scandal. If he has his own political agenda, so what ? I for one don't give a hoot.
3:35 Interesting that you promptly recognised the anarchist Allan was referring to. It might not bother you that he seeks only to further his own ambitions but it does me. Isn't the very thing we have all been complaining about to do with vested interest. Why should the vested interests of a political chancer be anymore acceptable than those of another.
I really enjoyed seeing Clive Hart interviewed on the TV. He was outraged by the results of the survey and told the interviewer that there was one councillor who definitely wasn't corrupt. He then seemed to realise what he'd said and hurriedly added that there were another 50 who weren't corrupt either. I wonder how he knows that his colleagues aren't corrupt. After all, none of them seemed to know that Ezekiel was on the make, did they?
Serious question - what would happen if we didn't have any councillors?
I see Councillor Driver has now posted the entire 1 hr 40 mins of the meeting on audio.
Elsewhere I see that Epps is claiming that Moores has never been in trouble with the council. Very selective memories these Tories!
The difference would be if you make a mistake you say sorry. I believe Simon has but I do not see the same from the people in charge.
A new song maybe "sorry is the hardest word"
6:28 See a typical out of context comment from you. What I said was that the council ruled that Simon Moores blogs as an individual rather than a councillor and therefore his posts are outside the remit of Standards.
His censor was for using a nickname to describe a councillor
although that nickname was in common usage. Hardly the most heinous of crimes.
By the way, why do you attack me here when it would be far more on thread to do so on the site where the comment was made. Does Michael have something against you?
Iris Johnston needs an effin Rotten Borough oscar roger and out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZfAg4u1XD4#t=2394
I see that the council which is accused of not being fit for purpose, is claiming that it is fit for purpose. No surprise there then? I reckon it's time for Mr. Pickles to send in his hitmen.
so a few irate bloggers are in charge?
a few!! seriously is that what you really think. You really need to get out more and talk to people
I have seen email evidence of councillors blogging anonymously on here by pretending to represent 'the people' when they are in fact, continuing to insult us and our right to be disgusted by their frankly abhorrent behaviour. 8:50, I am talking directly to you. I have a valid reason to comment anonymously, do you?
Allan Mallinson.
You no longer live in Thanet.
You no longer are in discussion with a wide range of people who live here on a daily basis.
You like many other people seem to not understand the word anarchy.
Leaving Thanet has given you the right to caution the people who live here and attempt to influence their voting decision at the next election.
You feel justified in repeating some ineffectual scapegoating and mobbing tosh spouted by Liz Green, Iris johnson and others too insignificant to mention.
You Allan Mallinson get tonight's windbag award!
Congratulations!
10.18 > well said Sir !
I think its hilarious they are blaming it all on driver. That's hardly the case. They were corrupt and useless long before he came along. But it's useful to blame all your shortcomings on the one true independent.
Councillors protest that they are being maligned, but Hamilton's identity hasn't yet been revealed. When the print outs of his comments are matched up with his real identity it'll keep the papers busy for weeks.
The issue, concerning Simon Moores blog comment, was that he made a statement concerning a local gun range which is subject to the planning control of TDC.
When challenged the protocol is set out by the Civil Procedure Rules. To comply with these rules required that he check his facts.
That would have required that he act as a cllr and check TDC records.
He was advised to be silent by Harvey Patterson the publicly paid solicitor of TDC.
This appears to be a case of Harvey, paid by public funds, advising a private blogger in a private capacity to break civil law.
When an FOI application was made to TDC to disclose their record of handing in ordnance evidence to police (Of activity at the range) TDC claimed to no longer have a record.
That would be the record Simon would have needed to check his facts.
Happily I did have a record which is Cllr Coppock's letter informing me that the evidence had been handed to police, on his direction, by a TDC Head of Dept.
I also have a record of police and planning dept correspondence at the time the range lost its licence a third and final time.
By the time a Standards process occurred 2001, concerning the planning issues and Cllr Hayton, the Terrorism Act 2000 was in force which makes certain knowledge about firearms reportable at law. It is an offence to have knowledge and fail to report to police.
In those circumstances three strands of reportable evidence were concealed from the Standards process.
The planning officer, who was a witness to machine gun fire at the range, was given a severance package.
Which brings in the 1967 Criminal Justice Act offence of accepting payment to conceal crime.
IF Harvey on the record searched for and disclosed such evidence to Standards, re MOORES, then accepting a gagging order would become a criminal offence.
This is the context in which publicly funded advice to be silent in contravention of Civil Procedure Rules appears to have been given. Followed by refusal to conduct a records search at TDC and a refusal to yield jurisdiction from Standards to Full council who should have had the jurisdiction to deal with complaint against Moores blogging and all its implications for TDC and the law of the land.
Rick
7:01, somewhere you lost me with your reference to Driver as the one true independent. There was me thinking he belonged to the Green Party which, last time I looked, very definitely had a political agenda well to the left of Militant.
Think you better remove your rose tinted specs.
Interesting how Allan Mallinson gets attacked because he no longer lives in Thanet after a recent move to the country, yet I don't doubt there are those lapping up Rick's alleged exposure of Simon Moores. Rick does not even live in Kent let alone Thanet.
No 10:42, no-one takes Rick seriously!
Err.. I came back to Thanet in 1993 so quite what Rick's history lesson has to do with me I really can't fathom as I was not even in politics until years after the range was closed for whatever reason at the time.
On reflection if Al Qaeda was running training courses at a Birchington shooting range, then I'm sure it was a matter for the security services and not TDC. Did anyone else notice these characters I wonder? AK47, Shemagh, bearded with bandoliers drinking at the village pub?
Sorry that was 2003 when I moved back.. Typo!
Well said 10:18 about Mallinson we can do without his rather unpleasant views. Unfortunately his stooge Cllr Epps has popped up here too. Where does Rick live out of interest? His views on the gun range are tedious but more interesting than these chumps.
William Epps, driver is a green as much as he is a labour/communist/militant/right wing/ ukip/Tory councillor.
What is does show is independent thoughts and actions, ignoring the party line and petty small minded rules and politics which belong somewhere in the last century .
So bollocks to you
Rick lives in an institute for the mentally ill in Devon.
...and thanks for reminding me where I can stick my rose tinted spectacles when I take them off
11:36 & 11:38, you really are charm personified and if bollocks to you is your idea of winning a debate then so be it. As for your rose tinted specs, I simply said to remove them, but, if you wish to stick them up your ample arse, please be my guest.
See, we can all talk dirty if that is your idea of discussion.
I think Epps' posting (above) is a classic example of the low class of local politics in Thanet. Councillor Epps, do you really think it is appropriate to be using this kind of language and to be addressing another poster in this way? A person of real stature would rise above it and would not respond to such rubbish.
Off topic but is that a KLM plane swerving over Ramsgate several times today?
And what happened with scheduled flights and passengers at Manston? We had 7 cargo flights but confirmed as 5 but then supposedly 13 flights? And no info on LM passenger levels?
Concerning too that Infratil were flying KCC delegates to a water monitoring and filtering conference in Amsterdam?
12:19, well since you wrote the rubbish I was responding to, perhaps you should put your own house in order first. Being a councillor does not debar one from calling a tit a tit.
Why must Cllr Epps post on everything? Almost nothing he says is useful and is essentially petty insults and could feature on his own blog.
12:19 is correct that this kind of low class squabbling has ruined Thanet.
Could be a KLm flight on bump and go training flights?
Passenger levels flying from Manston (and every airport in the UK) are compiled monthly by the CAA and readily available to anyone with the capacity to use a keyboard in conjunction with a search engine like Google..
What manston water conference?
Utter rubbish Rob 1:56: the banned flights into Manston are not recorded by the CAA. Nor the air pollution for the UK air monitoring network.
Both are extremely dangerous and the latter TDC's doing.
You are a serious dickhead 2:00 PM for if the flights were banned they would not be taking place. You should get out more, possibly to tart up your overgrown garden if you really want to sell!
I think 2:00 is referring to the flights by aircraft which have been banned from flying within the EU.
The way safety regulation works is that the CAA does a deal with another country's aviation authority. We let their planes fly in here if they let our planes fly in there. In theory the CAA is supposed to ensure that they don't agree to this unless those countries adhere to the same standards as the UK. Unfortunately, the CAA personnel aren't in those countries and they can't do the same checks they can do over here. In addition, the CAA's remit is not confined to safety and they are obliged to promote the economic interests of the UK. Consequently, there is always economic pressure to allow flights and there are always question marks over the safety of aircraft from some countries. Worse still, even when they do get round to banning aircraft from a country there are circumstances where the banned planes are allowed to to fly in e.g. for maintenance or for aid flights.
It's all very well pretending that there are no problems, but those who have bothered to look into these things in more depth are fully aware that some dodgy things have gone on at Manston.
2:48 is naive as well as stupid. Of course banned flights have landed at Manston eg Afghan Air and many more. This Manston at all costs idiocy is embarrassing. 3:27 isn't right at all either. There is an EU list of banned aircraft that must not fly within EU/UK -it's as simple as that. Infratil have repeatedly flouted that and the CAA has proven itself largely ineffective too often although the planes do get seized and destroyed eventually as with MK. No doubt the same will happen with Cargolux and KLM over the missing fines.
William Epps, debate with a thanet councillor is pointless. Might as well just go straight to insults as it's how you all operate. Do what the party says, so no need to think for myself , take my expenses and bollocks to the electorate .
See you next Tuesday.
You prattling over here now, sunshine. Timmy in the Times, falls about laughing, what a card you are. How do you reconcile your obsession with Manston aircraft pollution and your flights to Vietnam? Only joking because we all know it is a load of bollix.
Who's the numpty at 4:53? How would they get to Vietnam? Walk?
Looks like Tim has another weird stalker.
@ the anon who blurted at 2:00pm... how can the CAA numbers for passesngers flying from Manston be rubbish?
Your blather seems to be more about delayed freight flights into/out of Manston at hours that you dislike yet are, from my reading of the rules, completely above board.
As for dodgy dealing with the CAA and other countries aviation authorities by the anon after you.. well I await the evidence other than the "tin-foil hattery" that is prevalent on Thanet blogs.
Well if Timmy has a stalker he knows where to find him - in the Times offices! Falls about laughing again.
1 o clock Rob says doesn't believe it if he can't see the evidence. The evidence is all there Rob. You just don't WANT to see it. You're probably one of those councillors who thought Ezekiel was innocent.
Yawn.... I hear that Asda are 2 for 1 on their extra strength tin foil this weekend, better get yourself down there mate.
Alternatively produce something that backs up your, as of now, ludicrous insinuations.
Poor old Rob. The council is imploding and he still thinks that denial will work. I don't need to back anything up Rob. The truth is seeping out all over the place and no amount of denial can change it. I wouldn't be surprised if TDC was put in special measures before Christmas.
OMG!
Please go back and READ everything I've written, you will see that I haven't mentioned TDC once!
*shakes head*
I would not be surprised if this implosion were part of a deliberate ploy, this thing is happening in central government and probably all across the country.
I expect there will be calls for governmental reform, followed by a costly enquiry and before you can say sieg heil!, we'll find ourselves directly under the yoke of an EU style bureaucracy.
Rob is a TDC employee so perhaps keen to cover up the Manston mess. A lot of people with unnecessary pollution.
Lmao...
Yesterday on Kentonline I wrote this..
Clive and all at TDC, you can be hard working Councillors, but if all that hard work brings little result then what was the point of it all?
Having lived in Thanet since 1978 all I have ever seen is one dysfunctional Council after another, each one bickering and blaming the one before. When will someone at TDC realise that the people are fed up of it all and actually do something?
Don't feel bad Clive, TDC is no worse than KCC and no worse than the Government... The problem is apparent surely, just look at voter turnout, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the problems, it just takes someone brave enough to do something about them... are you, your colleagues and your party that person?
... and I work for TDC? 'kin hilarious!
Tdc need to get savvy about their perception on social media such as FB, Twitter and blogs. They could learn a lesson or two from Tesco. A recent twitter assault from some regular users of its haggerston metro store about cleanliness! empty shelves and long queues were met with a swift response of more resources.
I'm sure if we started a #tdcdogpoo campaign picturing and addressing the multitude of steaming piles adorning our isle! the council would eventually get round to doing something about it by 2025, assuming they didn't just blame Ian driver for it.
12:57, so you have seen him out walking his dog around Sea View Road. If you have evidence, report it.
Tut, tut, Peter, fancy calling your photos rubbish. How unkind!
#tdcdogpoo seems an excellent idea.
Tesco can bring more resources to bare when called out by it's customers, that's the ability they have with annual profits greater than £2 billion. TDC on the other hand with its ever decreasing budget isn't quite so lucky... so don't expect such a swift response!
Rob seems determined to downplay TDC failure. They are not as bad as other councils but one of the worst. And why TDC'S £60M budget is not enough for dogs poo is beyond me.
What was the manston water conference?
Downplay TDC failure? What drugs are you on...
As I posted in my quote yesterday I've yet to come across a TDC whether blue, yellow, green, red or purple that seems to be able to do anything properly! The same applies to KCC and the Government!
Relating to their budget and their ability to collect dog poo well that depends on what other services they are providing, if one of the following had to be cut back to provide this service which one would you vote to face the axe:
a) Sure Start Centres
b) Allotments
c) Coastal Flood Defences
d) Homelessness
I have half an allotment and I have to pay £37 per year. I dig it, mow the grass and clear any rubbish from my pitch. I don't know what TDC does because I pay my money to Ramsgate Town Council. In fact, TDC has off-loaded most of its allotments to the town councils. So, I don't know what allotment costs you are referring to. If anything, the allotments are generating income for the council.
The work on flood defences is the responsibility of the Environment Agency.
So that just leaves us with Sure Start centres and homeless people from your list. I don't know how much money the councils spend on these things and so I can't really comment on whether there are savings to be made.
However, why do I have to choose something from your list? Your list doesn't include all of the things which the councils are wasting money on.
I would save money by not paying officers of the councils stupid amounts of money. I wouldn't sign up to golden parachutes and I wouldn't be allowing staff to resign with a pay-off when they should rightly be sacked. \I wouldn't pay them redundancy if they are retiring.
I would save vast sums by not giving businesses leeway to avoid paying fees or business rates that are due.
I would stop paying millions to consultants and I would make councillors properly accountable for decisions they make which have financial repercussions for the public purse. In this way, I would save millions by ensuring that they didn't squander our money on road schemes, and the like, unless there are clearly defined criteria for the success of the project. i.e. if it doesn't do what you said it would do, you are losing your job.
I could go on but I think I've already said enough to convince anyone with half a brain that there are vast sums to be saved by anyone brave enough to tackle council incompetence and waste.
Well said 10:31 and there are perhaps a dozen homeless people in Thanet so no vast saving from Rob s list of ways to avoid sacking overpaid clerks. We would have an even better idea if they released FOI
Jail for Mcgonigal and Moores would save a few quid
Really, smartarse, the cost of keeping people in jail is greater than letting them walk free.
As for allotment holder, most allotments cost more for the leasing than the rents collected from the users which are subsidised. £37 per year generating an income, just what planet are you from?
Quote Tin. or similar "Off topic but is that a KLM plane swerving over Ramsgate several times today?
And what happened with scheduled flights and passengers at Manston? We had 7 cargo flights but confirmed as 5 but then supposedly 13 flights? And no info on LM passenger levels?
"
The pax figures for Oct were posted.
KLM were doing training flights not 'swerving'
I did say that 17 freighters landed last week, most but not all are weekly scheduled ones.
If you didn't hear all 17 they clearly aren't as noisy and annoying as you think.
Anon 8:51, whilst with you I thought I should point out you are responding to someone in la la land. The poor chap is off with the fairies and just trundles out the same silly comments over and over again.
If you want a good laugh, put 'Tim Garbutt blog spot' in your search and then look at his twitter or blog. Close inspection with reveal that on the same day he is supposed to be in Vietnam he is also complaining about some over flight in Ramsgate.
A couple of pro_Manston loonies on the last posts and a grumpy allotmentowner.
Keeping people in jail is a punishment Gramps not a cost. It might be cheaper too in terms of reducing crime. Back toy your cabbages.
And the Manston cabbages seem unable to even say how many scheduled flights now. No wonder they're going bust.
Is it 5 scheduled cargo and 14 scheduled KLM or isn't it? It's not difficult.
And the flights over Thanet may be training but swerving they were too. Who will pick up the pieces when there's a crash?
My favourite is the weird chap who somehow thinks it's impossible to blog or be in touch from Vietnam or indeed anywhere else.
Presumably the same chap who think Tim wasn't interviewed in The Times or indeed even in Vietnam.
Then he gets muddled and you can almost hear him drooling with frustration at being so thick.
Tim's Twitter is @timg33 and I quite like it. More interesting than these chumps.
@ anon 10:31 I look forward to reading your manifesto when you decide to run for local Government.
"Is it 5 scheduled cargo and 14 scheduled KLM or isn't it? It's not difficult.
"
KLM fly in twice daily and out twice daily, no argument over that.
Last week (and currenly most weeks) there were 14 freight flights. Of those, the scheduled were: 6 Cargolux, 2 were Saudia, 2 were myCARGO and 2 were Atlas. Extras included TMA and ACT Cargo.
Ah last week...
So there aren't really scheduled cargo flights at all except announced the week before?
Hence the 7 and 5 and now 12 confusion?
How many scheduled flights say 3rd week in December for example?
And only KLM for passengers - but how many on board?
Sorry pressed the send button. At best this is only two cargo flights a day- and as before presumably mainly on Tuesday. What does the airport do most days - still closes to cut the wage bill?
I did slightly mis-write my message ..
They are planned months before, hence scheduled, figures for the 4 main companies quoted happen weekly (around 12) unless there is some sort of delay or cancellation. Extras can pop up at short notice. 5 extra flights this month carrying race horses for example.
4 freight flights on a normal Tuesday.
You have monthly KLM figures for Oct, divide it by flights per month and seats per aircraft.
The snag with your statement at 2.29, Dim, is that even posting from Vietnam being possible, how would he know a plane had just flown over the pad in South Eastern Road.
See also Sincerity Advertising are opening new offices all over the Far East, but just where is the head one in Broadstairs? If it is really there the council want your business rates!
You forgot to sign in Epps.
Sorry, but thought I was Holyer, or was it Checksfield or maybe even Mallinson, or Rick, or Barry. Could even be one of the Three Stooges, who knows. One thing is for sure, we ALL know who you are and you ain't Santa Claus.
I'm Richard Eastcliff.
See my name was taken in vain earlier. I wonder who by?
Pleased to see you at least know who you are Richard.
9:16 is indeed Cllr Epps. He has a fascination with Tim only eclipsed by Holyer. And anonymous smears/insults then denied. Are we really funding Epps from the rates still?
And an interesting point on business rates/council tax etc - at what point does it become illegal or immoral to fund a corrupt or incompetent or illegal council. Discuss.
Probably there needs to be an easier mechanism to refuse tax? Ferrygate or EKO or Manston are illegal acts and shouldn't be funded?
Fair enough 8:16 so how many scheduled flights in say 3rd week of December or jan?
You know the KLM figures? Do tell: how many passengers yesterday for example? You're not suggest Infratil are above board in their reporting are you given the banned aircraft and removed monitors?
Dec or Jan ..any week, .. same winter schedule is in place . . so scheduled still 6 Cargolux, 2 Saudia, 2 myCARGO and 2 Atlas .. not hard is it.
Pax figs for Sept are out not Oct, they were 3,821.
And for the umpteenth time . . nothing is currently banned that comes in..
Utter crap, the CAA will allow an banned aircraft in, the trick for the owners is to fly it out?
"an banned"?
12:02, lets get this sorted once and for all. I comment under my own name using a google account. It is you that is always anonymous and you attract other trolls of the same type.
I regard you as totally dim waste of space and have no problem telling you so. Why, therefore, would I want to hide my comments.
So the CAA let them in .. so no gripe with Manston then ...
But Manston takes any old crap that any other UK Airport does not want?
Epps i am going to give you a call about certain statements about nutters you and some others need to be educated to just whats been going on in Thanet and i only deal in facts. The other trolls on this site can go screw themselves, including that spiteful arrogant twat Hamilton.
Hamilton? I think he's only ever posted on this blog 2 or 3 times, and that was weeks ago!
Anon 9:38, thanks for the call and message understood. No offence taken, but, as discussed, try to get your friend to ease up on the blogging before he offends someone with a short fuse.
You really are getting tiresome Epps. What makes you think that I'm afraid of "someone with a short fuse."? For a start, they don't know who I am and so there's not a damn thing they can do about it. Secondly, it is illegal to use violence or to threaten someone with violence. Unless you know of someone who is likely to murder me over comments on a blog, I really don't think I'm in any danger. What I do think is that you are full of cr*p and that you are trying to stop me posting by inventing a threat from some mythical person with a short fuse. Hardly responsible (bit not surprising) behaviour from a councillor. It really is high time you stopped trying to police everyone else's blogs. If you don't like what's being posted, ignore it.
Somewhat bizarre comment, 10:55, for how do you know who I am referring to? I was responding to a gentleman who phoned me, but who had earlier posted an anonymous message.
Suggest we start trying to take the animosity out of these exchanges for they serve no purpose. As you have suggested I ignore your messages, how about you stop referring to me as well and then, presumably, we will both be happy.
Anon 10:55, let me try to help you if that is possible. You are anonymous, as you rightly say, nobody knows who you are, so, it must follow, that you are not being threatened.
The only people trying to shut you up are blog administrators who may spam or otherwise delete your comments
Message for 10.55 - I know who you are and where you live in South Eastern Road, so what is to stop others knowing. Stop being so smug.
Epps tiresome and full of crop sounds the perfect description of the former councillor 10:55. Does he need to post on everything and destroy debate. He makes me not want to vote Tory.
Full of crop?
Probably means he had oats for breakfast.
Or Epps is full of more wind than Gale. Who elects these idiots?
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