Yep, the city council’s vile and incompetent Labour regime has quit after their budget was laughed out of the Counts Louse.
That’s the good news.
And the bad news? That ridiculous home counties snob Babs Janke has just been voted leader. The Lib Dems are back …
BB
Surely the better the devil you know than the ones it was clear there was no trust.
I heard this in stereo, from El Barlow & Jolly Jon Rogers on the ol’ Twitter đ
what a sad state of affairs!!!!
does one of the c’s in BCC stand for circus? đ
Redzone
Have you not heard it is the latest trend!
Cabot Circus, Partnerships Circus, Political Circus.
Some of the worst Circus acts in this country are coming to the City, Laugh a minute Ormandroyd ( did anyone see her performance at Full Council when the LibDems put forwards their incinerator amendment (I could have died laughing the look on her face! didnt she know it was coming?)
The Laughing policeman, class act, he can jugle two jobs now none related to policeing.
The City Clerk,Bell ringing when there was no call to do so!!! Just to gain a few laughs on who exactly had voted in favour of the incinerator ammendment.
Oh yes the greatest Circus in the world right now… The problem it isnt really remotely funny.
At last… and good fucking riddance!
“vile and incompetent” – couldn’t have put it any better. Bunch of egotistical corrupts who give contracts to friends and family and waste so much public money. Let’s hope they don’t get voted back in during the June election by the misguided citizens who have some romantic ideal about the long lost era of industrialisation.
JANKE?
MOAR LEIK PLANK M I RITE?
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SRSLY.
Almost feel sorry for the Lib Dem’s who clearly wanted to wait until the elections to take over.
We shall see…..
Oh no not ‘Babs’ again.
Helen and Babs the Pinky and Perky of local council politics!!!!
Yin & Yang, shurely?
Cannon and Ball?
More clown than wise đ
Good riddance to Labour, anyway.
*(God, saying that depresses me)
So, to summarise…..the red-tories resigned to be replaced by the yellow-tories, with the help of the blue-tories.
As a result the incinerator might not go ahead (but then again it might), schools will still be closed south of the river, healthcare will continue to be privatised, and the Cycling Doctor might veto 20mph zones and rpz schemes (and fulfil the role of 2 councillors, and fight an election).
Meanwhile, 70% of voters won’t take any notice of the local elections and we will wonder why they are so disinterested.
Red, Yellow, Blue – I obviously need a new graphics card coz they all seem grey to be – corporate grey.
You forgot poor old Charlie Bolton
Well that isnt so hard to do is it Paul almost as easy as you seem to forget what you campaign on and then alter to suit the mood.
Warning Everyone… Grey Candsidate warning.
Well excuse me folks surely Labotimised Labour didnt resign they abandoned ship!!
Incinerated even !!!
Paul,
Were working hard so Charlie won’t be on his tod after June! ( He wouldn’t be the lone Green now, if it wasn’t for Labour Party porkies)
(“He wouldnât be the lone Green now, if it wasnât for Labour Party porkies”
Well partly, but the main reason Tess Green didn’t join Charlie on the Council in 2007 was that the Green Party took their eye off the ball.
Instead of making sure the second seat in Southville was in the bag, they wasted money and time putting leaflets out in places like Easton and Bishopston that they had no chance of winning.
If that effort has gone into Southville they’d have got those extra 7 votes easily. A Green Group of two would have been much more effective and influential. I hope the Green Party have learn’t their lessons, but somehow I doubt it.
Still at least the Lib Dems will cancel the Incinerator, even though Lib Dems in other places have built them. The Bristol and Bath Lib Dems do seem quite green (small G), but those in South Glos and N. Somerset less so.
Green eyed Monster
It was such a tiny majority that almost anything would have swung it! Ifs and buts….
Hopefully we can be a bit wiser as to where we concentrate on.
However it is important that we are not just a party for Southville. – We just got the balance wrong last time. It is a different situation this time as Southville is not up for grabs – Its no secret as to what are the main wards we will be concentrating on this time.
I was just over at Proper Charlie Boltonâs blog looking at his post on the changes in the Countâs Louse. The first comment under his posting is written by someone claiming to be a council officer⌠it says it all really. There in city dev, they are apparently sad to see Bradshaw go, because, he was âlike one of the teamâ. City dev are also apparently upset at being abused by the Lib Dems. This is the best news Iâve heard for ages. I for one donât think that our elected representatives should get too cosy with a bunch of council officers. The officers on the other hand should be doing what theyâre told by our elected representatives, rather than coming up with their own mad schemes (selling off land next to the cycle path, promoting the pet plans of George Ferguson and Steve Storey for example).
That Gary Hopkins bloke, heâs a big lad, and I know that some people have suggested that he likes to throw his weight about⌠well he can start by throwing a big fist in David Bishopâs face!
Put the bloody officers back in their place. Thatâd be a good way for the Lib Dems to get my vote in June.
Not only did Labour have no manifesto or plans when they grabbed power in 2007 (Oh, apart from “not privatising homecare” – HAHAHAHAHA!) but they also had two new councillors in the cabinet: Derek Pickup and Mark Bradshaw.
Without manifesto plans or experience they were easy fodder for officers in Education (who proposed closing schools) and transport (who proposed business as usual: more roads, more PFI, more bollox). Bradshaw and Pickup nodded it all through and then lapped up the warm praise they received from the “establishment”.
It’s not at all surprising that some officers are sad to see Labour go, because Labour were simply implementing the officer agenda and that of GOSW and the RDA!
Life could just be about to get a little less pleasant for some of these council officers. On the back of Bristol Council’s change – and we’ve now heard that officers are upset at being abused by the Lib Dems – comes the news that the National Gummint is concerned about the “remuneration packages” being received by council chief exexutives. They think that we, the people, should be told just how much pay, pension, allowances and bonus payments Jan Ormondroyd is getting.
Ok Jan, open up your desk draw and get out the pearl handled revolver… oh shit… Labour have banned the private ownership of handguns… better use poison instead!
Actually Mark Bradshaw made some welcome noises when he was first appointed. He was against the South Bristol Link Road and for the closure of Prince Street Bridge to motor traffic, but then he was nobbled, presumably by Bishop, and the next thing we knew he was proposing running buses down the Railway Path.
Will the same fate befall Jon Rogers? So far he seems to be making the right noises, but how long before he is seduced into accepting the officers’ agenda, like all the others?
The officers have seen it all before and they know a few tricks when it comes to taming the new Cabinet Member. It’s just a municipal version of Yes, Minister.
And let’s not forget it was Lib Dem cabinet member last time round, Dennis Brown, who started the ball rolling on BRT on the Railway Path while forgetting to tell anyone at the time and, apparently, forgetting all about it afterwards.
And building all over Castle Park emerged during the Lib Dems period in office …
The record is not good.
The Lib Dems in office did push through the doorstep recycling scheme, in spite of officer opposition. Gary Hopkins has also had to fight the officers as well as the other parties on the incinerator. Some Greens thought they didn’t really want to stop it, well it seems they will.
Jon Rogers is more tuned into public transport issues than Dennis Brown was, he’s also nowhere near as arrogant. I see Tim Kent is in their Cabinet and he has always opposed the South Bristol ring road.
Its a pity that ‘call me madam’ Janke won back the leadership though.
Lets see what they do in office, and how green they really are.
It comes down to the voters taking a stand and forcing the issues – we have to work with councillors of whatever political colour (red/blue, yellow/blue, blue/blue, green /whatever) and get them to make officers sit up and pay attention. It’s bloody hard work, but persistence can be rewarded. They’re all into personal aggrandisement, career advancement and/or electoral gain. therefore campaigners have to make those factors count by working to generate some public interest and get the rest of the idle population who are too seduced by day time tv and celebrity gossip to do something to change the way things are run.
“Life could just be about to get a little less pleasant for some of these council officers”
I sincerely hope so! Some of the tree officers certainly need to be axed as they simply don’t deserve to be in public office – Jon Bown, for instance. He’s the chap responsible for authorising the removal of many of the city’s trees by categorising them as “dead, dying or dangerous”. He’s even done this in natural woodland!
âLife could just be about to get a little less pleasant for some of these council officersâ
I damn well hope so there are some who seem to think they can beguile councillors and citizens with their blatant lies between
councillors and citizens. To say they lie! No it is worse than that.
Come on you libdems sort this bunch out
There’s a senior officer on the Cycling City project licking his wounds as we speak.
But the Lib-Dems are going to have to work with these same officers. They can’t sack them all (can they?), so they have to work with them, so they have to turn to them for information and support and so they eventually become dependent on them. How else could it be?
Morning all
Interesting few days! One or two officers have blanched when I said I intend to carry on posting to blogs and trying to twitter, but most are up for it!
My first meeting as “Transport and Sustainability” lead was the Cycling City Stakeholder Executive Board on Thursday evening. This time I was not thrown out (http://bristol-libdems.org.uk/thrownout) and indeed had invited my Labour and Conservative opposite numbers to attend (they didn’t).
Before you ask, I would have asked my Green party chum Charlie Bolton but he has previously declined to be involved in Cycling City governance as he feels he has a conflict of interest working for Lifecycle.
The meeting was frank but cordial and we are meeting again on Tuesday 3rd March 4pm and Wednesday 11th March 4pm to review the Cycling City project in more detail. If, like me, you felt excluded from the Stakeholder Executive Board then please let me know and I will see what I can do!
Lots going on behind the scenes. My default position is that information should be public domain, unless commercially confidential or given in confidence, and we shouldn’t hide behind confidentiality when what we mean it is easier to keep quiet. People shouldn’t need to use FoI requests to know what is going on in their local Council!
My impression in three years as a councillor and 3 days on the Cabinet is that we have some fantastic officers on the council. Most do their jobs diligently, efficiently and effectively. Sadly we are losing some good people, including Colin Knight.
Don’t expect major changes in Transport policy over the next few weeks, but I have supported investigation of getting some traffic lights to flash amber at quiet times or to have a much shorter “red light” time in light traffic. All part of our “improving moving” agenda!
Have a good weekend all. I’m off to London for my Dad’s 90th birthday!
Jon
What with Bristolâs Labour cabinet already blown away (bang goes March 2009âs edition of Our City; already out of date) just how strong is the curse of Jonah Brown? Can there more to come for Bristol as the Prime Mentalist descends to give a speech at Labourâs Policy Forum today in the face of angry postal workers? Citizens of Bristol might be advised to stay home and keep all doors and windows tightly shut!
Jon – Firstly, congratulations on your appointment. It’s good to have someone in touch with the reality of cycling at the helm! (pun intended)
Stakeholder Executive Board:
I see this meeting was held at the Marriott Hotel, presumably for delegates’ comfort and to reduce the need to travel. However, if this was at any expence to the council taxpayer would it be possible to hold future meetings at the Council House and ask delegates to walk there? It’s a lovely short walk through Castle Green, alongside the River Avon. This might also help promote walking, which I feel gets less air-time than the promotion of cycling.
Traffic lights & road signage:
Are there any traffic light and road signage pilot removal schemes being planned for Bristol? I’m sure you’re aware of the national campaign FiT (Martin Cassini) which indicates our roads would be safer and less congested if we were free of traffic lights, as well as reducing expenditure. This also feels more in-line with a Liberal Democratic moral philosophy, don’t you think?
I must say, as a long-term user (pedestrian, cyclist and driver), the city centre at Broad and Narrow Quay seemed far more free-flowing when it was a roundabout ten years ago. The grass was better too, and it required less maintenance than these fountain-thingies!
Better still – pedestrianise the whole lot!
Cheers, and good luck đ
FiT
http://www.fitroads.org/
Continental signage removal
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2143663,00.html
The end of traffic lights?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533248/Is-this-the-end-of-the-road-for-traffic-lights.html
Road accident solicitors
http://www.crystal-claims.co.uk/road-accident-news/remove-traffic-lights.html
p.s. Also, I hope you’ve heard about ‘green’ speed bumps. They convert vehicle pressure into electricity, which could run the street lamps. Beaufort Road would be a good pilot scheme for this. I lived in St George for many years and am highly aware of the speeding and rat-run issues which were raised at full council via a petition a few months ago.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/08/alternative-energy-speed-bumps
Thanks Martyn
To reassure you, the second Stakeholder meeting on Thursday was held at the Council House. It was the first Stakeholder meeting that was held at the Marriott Hotel and I was not even allowed to observe!
The links and suggestions are useful. I suspect that removing traffic lights might gum up the city at rush hours, but I will certainly ask questions.
Do keep the ideas flowing! I suspect I will be able to make very little difference in the 2 months before purdah starts, but I will do my best.
Jon
I wasn’t suggesting removing ALL the city’s traffic lights – that would be a disaster!… just where it is a viable benefit to ALL road users, as well as saving on expenditure or facilitating investment in greener schemes as mentioned.
Cheers đ
Labour sunk as they abandon ship.