The fortnight that ended....28 July 2013

This weeks post is covering two weeks as I went on holiday for a week last Friday.

I guess the most interesting part of the fortnight was the meeting of the Full Council meeting. To be fair to the mayor he had tried to bridge differences between Councillors to try and have a good meeting before the start of the meeting. Unfortunately, no fault of the mayor's, it probably wasn't one of the best. The issue is that the opposition, collectively, feel that certain officers of the Council are treating Labour Cllrs more favourably than opposition. This is not allowed under the code of conduct ( agreement that both Cllrs and officers agree too ). Until this situation is resolved I guess things will not get better soon.

For my part the whole issue started even before I was elected when just a few weeks prior to the election last year the Chief Executive gave Labour a letter and also put out a press release insinuating I was a liar on Ashfield. Proof that I wasn't is here where you can see in minute 13 that a Labour Cllr for Standish was updating the issue within the Standish Branch of the Labour Party. The interesting point here is that prior to an election there is a period called purdah. This is a period where government officers (both national and local) are not allowed to make statements that can give advantage or disadvantage to any candidates. When you see the Labour leaflet below it is clear that the Chief Executive broke the strict purdah rules.

What she should have done was keep out of politics and if Labour asked for the statement she should have refused, why she got involved I don't know. But that was the start and now she and Labour have brought new rules in at the last Council meeting whereby if the Chief Executive complains against a Cllr then that Cllrs Brighter Borough money is frozen. What on earth? Now the Council goes to new lows and goes against all English justice, which is everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but not at Wigan Council. It seems that now that Labour used their voting powers to bring in these new powers the Chief Executive can block funding to local community groups. Disgusting! I am looking at the legality of this as I am a firm believe that this is against English Justice.

So now I am back off my holidays I am working through a Tsunami of emails and messages and if you have emailed or left a message please bare with me whilst I work through these. I promise to answer everyone by Wednesday.

At today surgery it was busy. When I arrived there as several residents waiting and thank you to those for their patience for waiting. The issues ranged from planning issues to a number of residents complaining about the yellow school buses racing round the housing estates

BMX Event

Next Wednesday between noon and 3pm at St Maries Primary School on Avondale Rd there is a BMX event. This is where children can come, either with or without their bikes, and ride on the ramps. The event costs £2 so please feel free to bring the kids down and let them have a ride on the ramps.

OK so on a lighter note whilst out on holiday I was taking some time with a new hobby that I have gotten interested in, which is photography and one picture I am pleased with is the one below off a duckling scratching. Have a look and I hope you like it.

 

 

Well done to Wigan Warriors too for getting through to the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley.