RED TROUSER GATE: If Bristol City Council made lager …

Posted on November 22, 2008 by The Bristol Blogger

If there’s ever a competition to find the crappest investigation in the world. Ever. Then Bristol City Council should enter their Complaints Manager, Tim Sheppard’s absolutely pathetic attempt to investigate the circumstances of the sale of Railway Path land at Greenbank to developers Square Peg and their red trousered buffoon of an architect, George Ferguson.

After another month of waiting, it turns out Sheppard’s investigation was nothing of the kind. Instead he’s had a cosy chat with the the man at the centre of the scandal, the council’s Head of Planning, David Bishop, published exactly what Bishop said without question and has called it an investigation. Pathetic.

The full transcript of the fiasco is available on Vowlsie’s blog with a useful commentary added by the campaigner. However the key statement is:

Discussion about the proposed land sale and the questions that it raised, was had with Transport, Property and senior Culture & Leisure Services staff

Note the term “discussion” as opposed to “meeting” or “reports obtained” here. And where are the minutes of this “discussion” leading directly to a delegated (from elected politicians) decision?

And this is interesting too:

If such a [development] came to fruition … more people would be attracted to cycle and walk along the path in future. Bristol’s residents would get healthier as a result and any traffic modal shift would make a contribution to reduced congestion and enhanced air quality, all aims the Council is vigorously pursuing.

I wonder if there’s an evidence base for any of these assertions? Or is this just what Ferguson and the developers told them? Vowlsie describes it as a sales pitch, which seems fair enough. To hype a “traffic modal shift” to cycling at a new development with 250 car parking spaces sounds unrealistic to say the least.

And that’s about it for the investigation really. A mysterious and secretive “discussion” between senior officers, a couple of evidence-free assertions and there goes our protected park land and the much-touted Parks and Open Spaces Strategy,

The Blogger understands that a further Freedom of Information request will now be going in to find out the time, date, location and attendance at these “discussions” and to ask for any agendas, minutes and reports that might derive from them. Enquiries will also be made about the evidence base the officers were using to inform their decision.

This, of course, is all stuff that pointless-waste-of-our-money Sheppard should have obtained as a matter course during his “investigation”. Why hasn’t he?

Posted in Bristol, Bristol and Bath Railway Path, Bristol East, Cycling Demonstration City, Developments, Easton, Environment, Local government, Merchant Venturers, Transport | Tagged , , , , , | There are 18 comments

Local MP receives minor award for blogging that's barely worth mentioning really

Posted on November 21, 2008 by The Bristol Blogger

Frankly unbearable levels of smugness over on Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy’s blog today after she was given some Mickey Mouse award only open to MPs for her blog.

Since the news yesterday she seems to have given up any normal duties and has instead spent her time constantly bragging on her blog to her readership – which currently seems to consist of four members of the Libertarian Party and her mum – and trying to figure out how to plaster her site with an insufferable little winners logo.

What’s the big deal here? Kerry apparently won this award from the British Computer Society – amid rumours of a rigged pro-Labour jury I might add – for “engagement”. How hard is that when your competition is a bunch of clueless public schoolboys who don’t know anything about anything and think engagement is something you do with a young filly with a flat in Kensington whose daddy owns a bank and a large spread in the country?

Not that we’re bothered about gongs or anything here at the Blogger – where it’s award enough to know we’re selflessly serving the cause of truth and the public interest – but I wonder how Ms McCarthy would get on in a competition against some real bloggers like we’ve got here in Bristol rather than those ponces in Westminster?

Alas, so far there’s been no such awards available. Shame.

Posted in Blogging, Bristol, Bristol East, Labour Party, MPs, Politics | Tagged , | There are 9 comments

City of green syphilis

Posted on November 20, 2008 by The Bristol Blogger

by Keren Suchecki

Bristol has been named the only UK city short-listed for the European Green Capital award – news met with utter incredulity by most residents.

Bristol used its much-waved parks and green spaces strategy to bolster its bid. Despite massive public protest, this strategy advocates selling off huge chunks of green space in deprived neighbourhoods, which has now sparked an investigation into the practices of its most senior officers.

Bristol’s public transport performs appallingly and is prohibitively expensive – I live under a mile from the city centre and it costs £3.60 for a return journey, if the bus actually turns up. Plans for a rapid transport system collapsed under ridiculous bickering with neighbouring authorities. In recent years the city centre’s green space has been concreted over with a disastrously unclear road/pavement layout, resulting in the deaths of several pedestrians. The newly revamped bus station still sits a traffic-choked mile from the train station despite a vast expanse of derelict brownfield land immediately next to Temple Meads. And, even though traffic only flows in school holidays, the council scrapped its school bus pilot.

Further efforts to strangle the planet include trying to elbow through plans for a waste incinerator at the same time as landlords of recycling facilities are removing them due to mountains of rubbish piling up because of infrequent emptying. The council also wants to build a park and ride on urban allotments whilst advertising the non-job of food policy officer to tell Bristolians how to eat healthily.

At this rate (and I’ve barely scratched the surface) you might wonder how Bristol got itself short-listed for this ridiculous PR exercise. Maybe it’s to do with Bristol being home to a host of very politically savvy organisations like Sustrans and the Soil Association (and, more embarrassingly, the Heather Mills-endorsed, Viva!). But being overrun with hoards of publically-funded eco warriors doesn’t mean you’re green, any more than having syphilis means you’re sexy.

This article first appeared in ‘New Start’ magazine. Keren Suchecki was a regeneration worker in South Bristol, now she can be found in South Bristol boozers spending the redundancy money.

Posted in Bristol, Environment, European Green Capital Award, Global warming, Local government, Politics, Recycling, Temple Meads, The Centre, Transport | Tagged , , | There are 17 comments

RED TROUSER GATE: Council contradicts itself within 2 minutes

Posted on November 19, 2008 by The Bristol Blogger

A Bristol City Council spokeswoman said: “The developer of the chocolate factory is negotiating with the council, which is finalising an in-principle agreement to sell a small strip of land so that some houses could be accessed by bikes from the cycle track.
Bristol Evening Post, ‘Bristol City Council questioned over sale of land for homes’, 19 November 2008, 2.19pm

The confusion being caused is that there is an appearance that the council has agreed to sell the land in question to the developers of the Elizabeth Shaw factory site. No agreement has in fact been reached to sell the land
Email from Jane Greenaway, BCC Acting Parks Strategy Coordinator, 19 November 2008, 2.21pm

Go figure …

Posted in Bristol, Bristol and Bath Railway Path, Bristol East, Bristol Evening Post, Developments, Easton, Environment, Local government, Merchant Venturers, Politics, Transport | Tagged , , , , | There are 11 comments

RED TROUSER GATE: The Cancer runs with it!

Posted on November 19, 2008 by The Bristol Blogger

Finally after months of prevarication the Cancer is forced to acknowledge the emerging Red Trouser Gate scandal.

Interesting comments from the council too:

A Bristol City Council spokewsoman said: “The developer of the chocolate factory is negotiating with the council, which is finalising an in-principle agreement to sell a small strip of land so that some houses could be accessed by bikes from the cycle track.

“The agreement is subject to planning permission and the resolution of all legal issues.

“A planning application is due to be considered by the council so it would not be appropriate to comment further about the merits of the application itself at this stage.

“It is important to stress that the land sale proposed is subject to planning permission and that the environmental impact and any concerns raised from any quarter will be considered at the appropriate time by the area planning committee.”

They seem to be trying to conflate the issue of the planning application and the land sale, suggesting it is the job of a planning committee to agree land sales.

It is not. They are separate issues. And need to be dealt with separately. Indeed the question of the land sale and how it was conducted needs to be settled before the planning application is decided. A Planning Committee has no statutory or city council constitutional power to agree a public land sale. It is not their job.

Why are Bristol City Council pretending it is?

Posted in Bristol, Bristol and Bath Railway Path, Bristol East, Bristol Evening Post, Developments, Easton, Environment, Local government, Politics | Tagged , , | There are 38 comments

More CONsultants joy

Posted on November 18, 2008 by The Bristol Blogger

City council PR boss Simon Caplan is cross-dressing again. For this week’s edition of PRs in their eyes Matthew, Simon’s going to be education spokeswoman Julie Walton. And what joyous news she brings under the catchy headline, “Council and schools move forward to seek partner organisation”:

Bristol City Council today announced the next steps towards working with an external partner to further drive up standards in schools, giving thousands of children a better start in life.

A better start in life for our children? Driving up standards in schools? Can’t argue with that. But what’s this “external partner” stuff about?

Ms Caplan explains:

Under the council’s Excellence for All programme, a leading UK children’s services support organisation will be recruited to work alongside the council’s own specialists.

“A leading UK children’s services support organisation”? … Or CONsultants as we usually call them … “to work alongside the council’s own specialists” … That’ll be Education Director Heather Tomlinson and her little gang of management losers won’t it?

Right. And how much are we spending on these external CONsultants to come in and run our education department because the current bunch of city council fat cat management no-hopers can’t?

Here’s Julie Caplan with the gory details:

“The contract with the external partner is expected to be in place for the start of the new school year in September 2009. It will run for six years, with the potential to extend it for a further two years, and be worth £15.1 million per year. The council’s investment is expected to be £6.3 million, matched by funding from schools.”

So that’s £90m of our money going to external CONsultants to do the job Education Director Heather Tomlinson (£120k pa) and her £1m a year senior management team should be doing already.

Meanwhile new political education boss Hopeless Hammond tells us:

“Head teachers have asked us to develop a coherent package of support services to schools from a single provider.”

Which is a straightforward description of a competent Local Education Authority isn’t it?

This latest news comes in just as the Blogger receives the latest expenditure details from the council’s education department. During the first six months of this financial year Heather & Co have already splashed £1.5m on CONsultants to do their jobs for them.

That includes money spent on – ho, ho, ho – “Leadership Development”; “Strategic Communications Project Consultancy”; “Strategic Consultancy from Barnardo’s” and “Strategic Strategy for Strategists” (I might have made that last one up).

So they’re already on target to spend £3m this year on CONsultants. Now we learn they’ll be spending a further £15m a year on them plus, of course, in excess of £1m a year on the current management team. That’s nearly £20m to get work done that should be the job of exceptionally well-paid in-house so-called “specialists”.

I wonder, will Heather and her team be taking a pay cut to reflect the fact that they have failed and will be doing precisely bugger all from now on? No sign of such an announcement from Kylie Caplan so far.

Posted in Bristol, CONsultants, Education, Labour Party, Local government | Tagged , , , | There are 7 comments

Car crash blog post of the week

Posted on November 16, 2008 by The Bristol Blogger

Take a bow Bristol’s only Green Councillor, Charlie Bolton.

In an extraordinarily misjudged outburst on his blog, Charlie managed to put not only a large dent in his credibility and raise huge questions about his personal integrity, he’s also effortlessly managed to bring his strongly emerging party into disrepute.

The purpose of Charlie’s post appeared to be to lend unconditional support to his friend and former employer, Red Trouser Gate’s pantomime villain, George Ferguson.

However, it’s probably not the best idea for a politician to lend their support to a property developer at the centre of an emerging public land sale scandal is it?

But Charlie didn’t stop there. He also thought it’d be a good idea to launch an ad hominem attack on Green Bristol Blogger, Chris Hutt and, really oddly, his own South Bristol Green Party colleague Glen Vowles. Coincidentally two bloggers that have been instrumental in exposing – and placing in to the public domain – the details of the controversial Ferguson/Bishop Railway Path land deal.

A deal, which if halted – as is becoming increasingly likely thanks to these two bloggers – could have serious financial implications for Charlie’s friend, George Ferguson.

Since his post on Thursday, Bolton has tried to row back a bit on his position saying:

I have merely given my opinion on George Ferguson, based on the personal contact I have had with him over the last few years.

Before laughably claiming:

I have not followed the Chocolate Factory development in any detail

Which rather raises the question of why has he gone to the effort of publicly attacking two people who have been following and researching the matter very closely indeed?

So much for the Green Party’s new politics then. It all looks rather like sleazy old politics-as-usual doesn’t it?

And politics-as-usual, in the guise of Bristol’s Lib Dems, hasn’t been slow to spot how easily seduced Charlie apparently is by the charms of money. Perhaps potential power will act as a similar aphrodisiac?

So who should crop up in the comments of Charlie’s blog as his staunchest defender but our friend Lib Dem bruiser Gary Hopkins gushing:

suggesting Charlie may be guilty of a cover up is unfair in the extreme

Then here he is again today toadying to Bolton on this very blog:

I do think even though he might be in a different party that C[harlie] B has integrity

All of which, roughly translated from Bristol Lib Dem into English, actually means, “you’re a soft touch with a vote that could put us in power next May and keep us there”.

And what an excellent prospect a Lib-Dem/Green coalition is for the city. Judging from Hopkins’ recent comments, it seems secret public land sales to local developers arranged by private phone call to senior officers will continue as they have been for years but will be tastefully rebranded as “lobbying” to make it sound more legit.

Posted in Blogging, Bristol, Bristol and Bath Railway Path, Developments, Environment, Green Party, Lib Dems, Local government, Merchant Venturers, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | There are 26 comments

Bye by George?

Posted on November 16, 2008 by The Bristol Blogger

What’s happened to By George, George Ferguson’s saturday column of self-regarding drivel in the Evening Cancer?

It was there last week and this week it’s gone! Surely it can’t have anything to do with Councillor Ashley Fox tabling a series of questions at the next Full Council Meeting that are acutely embarrassing to the great columnist and giant of local journalism?

If that’s the case, it would certainly be another own goal for gaffe prone Cancer editor Mike Norton and his flaky judgment. Is it really wise to employ a part-time columnist with such a wide range of local business and property development interests of the kind that obviously have the potential to end up in the pages of his newspaper?

Will Norton now bite the bullet, do the decent thing and tell the public about Red Trouser Gate, the story that’s been slowly festering on the spike at the Lubianka for nearly two months now?

Posted in Bristol, Bristol and Bath Railway Path, Bristol Evening Post, Media | Tagged , , , | There is 1 comment

RED TROUSER GATE: Fox goes hunting

Posted on November 15, 2008 by The Bristol Blogger

Over on Charlie Bolton’s blog you can currently find Lib Dem and Green councillors mincing around, mutually patting each other on the back and assuring the public what thoroughly decent chaps of the highest possible integrity they and their wealthy international architect friends really are.

They’re also keen to assure us that any doubts we might harbour about their planning boss David Bishop’s idiosyncratic approach to selling public land to their wealthy friends is down to our own ignorance.

Yes. Silly old public. We don’t understand about high-powered things like “lobbying” like these important councillor insiders do.

Apparently, so these thoroughly decent councillors of the very highest integrity claim, it’s perfectly normal for millionaires like George Ferguson to directly contact well-paid council decision-makers like Bishop, ask for a bit of public land to build a tower block on and be gifted it two weeks later without the need to defer to council policy or muck about with any of that messy old paperwork stuff.

It’s called “lobbying” dontchaknow?

No worries then. It’s official. From councillors supposedly at the progressive end of politics in the city. It’s just business as usual at Bristol City Council. There’s nothing to see here. Please move along now …

Well thankfully there’s at least one councillor who thinks this is a complete and utter load of twat.

Step forward Tory Councillor Ashley Fox, who’s spotted what’s going on with Bishop and Ferguson and has tabled a series of incendiary questions about Bishop and his unorthodox approach to public land sales to influential local developers at the next Full Council Meeting on 2 December.

Ashley’s questions are available in full on James Barlow’s blog. However there’s a few that are particularly striking:

Does the Cabinet Member agree with me that the apparent informal and unrecorded manner in which this property sale was transacted could leave the Council open to accusations of impropriety or favouritism?

Does the Cabinet Member agree with me that the apparent manner in which the recent sale of parts of the embankment of the Bristol-Bath Railway Path was transacted warrants further investigation?

Will the Cabinet Member undertake to remind all Officers engaged in the disposal of Council-owned assets of the importance of the principle of Integrity (within the Code of Conduct for Employees) that “holders of public office must not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might influence them in the performance of their official duties”?

These questions seem, albeit in Ashley’s rather high Tory lawyerly fashion, to be raising the question, that has consistently been put on this blog, as to whether there might be an issue with corruption at Bristol City Council in relation to land deals.

Thank god at least one councilor has a basic understanding of the principles that need to underpin the workings of honest government. It’s been a long time coming.

Ashley’s questions are politically quite adept too. The Labour administration – who have for months now studiously buried their heads in the sand on an emerging scandal that they could have easily strangled at birth by simply rescinding the blatantly unconstitutional land sale – are now in a bind, particularly as Chief Exec Bum Disease seems to have played a dummy and landed the ball directly at their feet.

They’re basically being publicly invited to either back or sack the deeply unreliable Bishop.

If they back him, is there potentially more damaging material still to come and how much damage will that do to their administration now they’re directly involved? Certainly a number of bloggers have more information that’s yet to enter the public domain …

Or do Labour sack Bishop? Totally undermining all credibility in their expensively assembled £1m a year new senior management officer team that’s been promising a lot for ages but would be delivering an embarrassing mountain of sleaze.

I think this is going to be fun.

Posted in Bristol, Bristol and Bath Railway Path, Bristol East, Conservatives, Developments, Easton, Environment, Green Party, Labour Party, Lib Dems, Local government, Merchant Venturers, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | There are 10 comments

RED TROUSER GATE: The latest desperate cover-up attempt

Posted on November 14, 2008 by The Bristol Blogger

News is coming in that at least one Bristol City Councillor has demanded an explanation and a legal view on David Bishop’s dodgy Railway Path land sale from the city solicitor Stephen McNamara.

McNamara has replied by providing no opinion whatsoever and instead invited the councillor to a mysterious and private off-the-record meeting with himself and the culprit David Bishop where – as usual with anything to do with Bishop – no minutes are intended to be taken and hence no public record kept.

This is odd. Any legal opinion to a councillor on a city council matter should be the independent product of the city solicitor, McNamara. It should not be done in cahoots with the character under investigation. Surely NcNamara needs to maintain and be seen to be maintaining his independence? Hardly the case if he’s chummily sat there next to the object of his investigation to gang up on a lone councillor.

If the councillor has any sense at all he’ll turn up with his own team to face this pair of jokers, apparently intent on doing some kind of unattributable intimidation/spin exercise job on our democratically elected representatives.

Indeed if I were the councillor I’d turn up with a tape recorder, slam it on the desk in front of these six-figure salaried self-serving bullying bastards and get them on the record where public servants belong.

Posted in Bristol, Developments, Easton, Environment, FOI, Local government, Merchant Venturers, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | There are 8 comments