Monthly Archives: July 2011

The Experts Agree: Bolsover’s Councillors Have Been Too Greedy

Posted on July 16, 2011 by | Leave a comment
PRESS RELEASE FROM CLLR DUNCAN KERR, BOLSOVER DC

Councillor Duncan Kerr

16th July 2011 not embargoed

In a late report just released by Bolsover Council the expert members on the Council’s remuneration panel have unanimously backed Cllr Kerr’s claim that the Bolsover’s members have granted themselves excessive allowances and have called for these payments to be slashed by 46% saying “their work cannot be substantially different from members of other authorities”, precisely the point that Cllr Kerr has been campaigning about. Commenting on the development Cllr Kerr said:

“I am grateful that the experts on this panel have been brave enough to stand up and speak the truth that Bolsover Councillors, led by its Labour administration, have been helping themselves to far too much of the tax-payers money. By my reckoning during the four year term of the last council members took in total over £1M more in allowances when compared to some other authorities. This is money that could, and should, have been spent on delivering services. We will wait and see whether the Council accepts this report and apologises to the people of Bolsover.”

Whilst Cllr Kerr is supportive of the Panel’s view on basic remuneration he is concerned to see that they propose substantial increases in the “Special Allowances” paid to some Councillors such as the Leader, Cabinet and Committee Chairs by 31% in some cases and 94% in others. Commenting on this Duncan said:

“Whilst the panel have collected data from six other similar authorities near-by to make their recommendations they do not appear to have taken any account of the fact that all these authorities have significantly higher populations (on average over a third higher) than Bolsover. If this had been taken into account several of these special allowances would not go down not up, so I will be asking them to reconsider their recommendations”.

Ends.
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Cllr Duncan Kerr is a Green Party Councillor representing the Whitwell ward on Bolsover District Council. He was elected in May 2011

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Tel: 07522116609 or 01909 726349

The Bolsover Council meeting is at 10am on Wednesday 20th July, in Sherwood Lodge, Bolsover. Agenda item 14 refers and it was issued on the 14th July, three days after Cllr Kerr’s question was submitted.

Further information on other activities and a copy of the question Cllr Kerr has placed on the Council agenda for the 20th July is on his blog www.greeninbolsover.blogspot.com

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Posted in Derbyshire, Political Reform

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Bolsover: The Rotten Borough

Posted on July 12, 2011 by | 2 comments

PRESS RELEASE FROM CLLR DUNCAN KERR, BOLSOVER DC

Councillor Duncan Kerr

13th July 2011 not embargoed

Duncan was elected for the Green Party to represent Whitwell on Bolsover Council two months ago but has been appalled by the selfish practices of the controlling Labour group. He will be calling Cllr Eion Watts the Leader of the Council to account by posing a question at the Council meeting in Sherwood Lodge, Bolsover on Wednesday the 20th July.

Duncan said “I am determined to expose the scandalous practices that have turned Bolsover into a rotten borough to the embarrassment of residents, the MP Dennis Skinner and the leadership of the national Labour party who will be as shocked as I was to learn that:

  • The basic allowance that Bolsover Councillors have voted themselves is over £10,000 pa, higher than all the other 300+ District Councils. Similar Councillors in Derbyshire take less than half this although their house prices and cost of living are higher.
  • Not satisfied with double pay, up to half the Labour members get even more money for chairing Scrutiny Committees because they have ignored recommendations from their own government to hand these roles to opposition Councillors.
  • Although Bolsover is one of the smallest, and poorest Councils in Derbyshire the greed of its Labour Councillors makes the total cost of Democratic representation and management over £1.1M that’s nearly £1 in every £5 collected in Council tax for the District.
  • Public confidence in the Council is so weak that in the last 10 years no-one has ever attended a Council meeting to ask a question. Unlike local Parish Councils the over-paid Labour Councillors refuse to help hard working people by meeting in the evenings.
  • Cllr Watts talks endlessly about the need for cuts and redundancies but his own financial plans show that in the next two years the Council will increase its balances by at least £4M to over £10M as it pockets the £4.2M transition grant from the government. This should be invested not in another Icelandic bank but in insulating homes, generating renewable energy and creating new green jobs.
  • Whilst Council staff have been told to budge-up so their offices can be rented out, the Labour group have abused their position by turning the members areas into a private, under-used social club for their members only leaving new non-Labour councillors without a dedicated desk or PC let alone an office.

Duncan says “I may be a single green voice in a sea of red but I believe that the best disinfectant is the glare of public opinion and I intend to carry on exposing hypocrisy until every Councillor in Bolsover understands that the public will not tolerate excesses here anymore than they have in Westminster. The Labour Councillors need to start putting the needs of communities first before their own pockets. Their actions are crippling residents with high tax bills, creating unnecessary redundancies and dragging down the good name of Bolsover.

If any member of the public or press shares my indignation at this scandalous situation I would urge them to come and show their support at the Council meeting at 10.00 on Wednesday the 20th July in Sherwood Lodge, Bolsover. I’m sure we will all be fascinated to hear what Cllr Eion Watts Leader of the Council has to say”.

Ends.

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Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Tel: 07522116609 or 01909 726349
Blog: www.greeninbolsover.blogspot.com

There will be a photo-call at 9.15am on Wednesday the 20th July at Sherwood Lodge, Bolsover when Duncan will attempt to present a bill for £1 million to the Bolsover Labour party representing the cost to residents of the over-payment of member expenses from 2006 to 2011.

A copy of the full question that is being put to Cllr Watts is available from www.greeninbolsover.blogspot.com

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Greens Defend Rail Jobs in Derby & UK

Posted on July 11, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Rally in Derby on Saturday 23 July

The Green Party has condemned the Tory/Lib Dem coalition government for giving a £3 billion order of new rolling stock for Thameslink trains to Siemens.

The rival bidder, Derby-based Bombardier, has laid off over a thousand workers, as the last remaining train builder in the country. The Bombardier factory in Derby is now under threat, and so are thousands more jobs in the Derby area in other rail businesses that supply the factory.

Green Party transport spokesperson Alan Francis said:

“We need more train carriages and more manufacturing jobs in the UK. Train manufacturing in this country should be expanded, not forced to close down. It is a dereliction of duty by the government to stand by and see the loss of skills and jobs.”

Derbyshire Green Party Chairman David Foster said:

“The coalition government is playing political football with the livelihoods of thousands of people in Derby and Derbyshire. One of the most worrying aspects of this deplorable decision is that it continues the trend of dismantling the whole engineering industry and technical know-how in this country. We have already witnessed the demise of the British automotive industry and rely heavily on foreign manufacturers. If we don’t wake up to what is happening, we risk losing our national engineering heritage. I urge the people of Derby and Derbyshire to show their opposition to this decision and come to the rally in Derby on Saturday 23 July.”

At a pre-general-election rail debate in Westminster in 2010 (1), Alan Francis was the only politician to argue not only for more train carriages for the rail network, but to also to state that they should be built in the UK to preserve British jobs.

Francis was on a panel with Chris Mole, then a Labour government transport minister, Stephen Hammond, then a Conservative shadow transport minister, and Norman Baker, then a Lib Dem shadow transport minister. The debate, before an audience of senior rail industry people, was chaired by the BBC’s Nick Owen.

When questioned about orders for new carriages, all of the panelists claimed that they wanted to see more carriages on the network. But Francis was the only one to talk about building those new carriages in this country. Alan Francis said today:

“This shows that all three of the main parties are so wedded to the free market, they are willing to sacrifice British manufacturing and British jobs. After the debate, I was congratulated by a member of the audience from a Derby rail company. He thanked me for being the only panellist to raise the issue of train building in this country.”
Notes
1) The Rail Debate, 17th March 2010, Central Hall, Westminster, see part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxuBUEorm_I&feature=related

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Posted in Derbyshire, Economy, National, Transport