The Year that was........2015

Following on from my theme that I do on my blog throughout the year of the week that was ...... So for this post, the last of 2015 I think it is appropriate to do this for the year. Seems a good idea.

In fact talking of good ideas my blog and the theme of the week this is now copied by the Labour Candidate of Standish. Funny how she calls me for everything but then follows my ideas, which I am not bothered about. Obviously another good sign people are looking and reading the blog. It is so funny when we speak with people and the like's of Cllr George Fairhurst tells someone something and they go I know I saw it on Gareth's blog.

Expenses Scandals

OK, let's get to it so the beginning of the year saw ex Labour and Tory Cllrs with fiddling their expenses conclude and update. The Ex Labour Cllr Emma McGurrin was jailed for her actions and whilst it was myself that reported her for taking freebie gifts and then that started her to be investigated.
 Then we learnt that Ex Conservative Cllr Judith Atherton had claimed for mileage to meetings she didn't even attend.

However, when she was investigated it was decided that she didn't have car insurance. the investigation concluded this because no insurance certificate was given to the investigator. So therefore under the rules you have to have a car, car insurance and a driving licence to claim mileage expenses. Even worse was she claimed for meeting that where in the future, then the Council paid those expenses and then she didn't attend the meetings. For example she put a mileage expenses in say for meetings in June/ July of that year and then she was paid by the Council in June, even though they didn't wait to see if she attended the meetings. Because of this massive issue she was told to pay the money back. It has been revealed that out of all of this she has only paid £48 back over  4 year period. Shocking!

Abuse Scandal in Wigan Children Care Homes

It was earlier in the year I sat in a scrutiny meeting and we were going through a report and I noticed that there were millions in a holding area. when I dug a little deeper it was because Wigan Council are away that in the past there are history of abuse to children in the care of Wigan Council. We all know about the Rotherham scandal.

Anyway for me it disgusts me that they know about it but don't want to proactively go and address the issue because it will cost them millions in compensation and instead they are just wait for the claims to come in.

Here is the blog post I wrote about it.

Ashfield

This issue had taken a large part of my life for 3 years and in January of this year it was decided that the public inquiry should be set for April. April is a busy month with it being an election period but the public and community of Standish had waited long enough so I agree to it, even though it would be very busy.

In February the Council then said that they wanted to cancel it and then after months of going back and forth it was agreed that the hearing would happen the first week of September. The public inquiry was scheduled to last 4 days but on the first day the Council's barrister said that for the most of the application they would not contest all our witness's. Therefore we didn't need the 4 days and we were able to complete the public inquiry in 2 days.

During the 2 days the main and only argument was whether the Council had given the people of Standish permission to use it for recreational purposes. For our argument it was discovered that years ago the Council only documented plan for Ashfield was to rent the fields out to football teams. And then I guess when there was no football match on then they were not bothered about the use. The difficulty came with if the council had given permission to use it for recreational purposes and at the same time rent out the fields then who would have the priority?

Once the inspector had heard both side of the argument it took him a number of weeks to conclude and he said that he was siding with the Council on a legal precedent case. Quite difficult to understand the legal case but I can say it was disappointing that we did not secure Ashfield future forever. However, the Council has said that they will not develop on Ashfield lots of time in the press and leaflets. But they said that about Mere Oaks and they sold that for houses, as we all know.

I would like to thank again everyone that helped over the years. We will have to wait and see if they do sell the fields off next year. If they do it will only be after May and the local elections.


House raided for Drugs

Police carrying out their raid.

In March of this year a house in the Ashfield Area was raided for drugs. The owners and occupiers where arrested and sent to court. After months of waiting the verdict came back and it was a community order and suspended sentence for the guilty parties. That original story can be found here and the verdict and sentences are here.

For me it is sad that in an area like Standish we have a drug house. People don't expect that here and nor should they. Where drugs are involved I have a firm belief that anyone making, farming or selling drugs should be sent to jail. We shouldn't be soft of this kind of crime.


Big Clean Up

Litter off the line litter pick. 

In March of this year the council organised a Big clean up. I often critise the Council for things like the number of houses and lack of money that comes back into Standish. However, I do believe this was one of their better idea and simple. Cllrs in each ward were asked to organise a Big Clean up. We got a skip in and did a big litter pick up along the line. It was amazing the people that attended and helped but also the rubbish we found. everything to the kitchen sink, literally. Here is that story if you missed it. I do hope the council organise another one next year. If they do I can assure you that we will be doing something, although many areas of walks will be covered by building works for all the houses that we are getting.


Houses for Standish

This is the biggest issue that Standish is facing now. Over the years the Council started in 2012 saying that they would not allow any houses in Standish. Then because of their weak plan this allowed developers to force through getting 1000 houses for Standish. The council said that was it, there would be no more. however, we know from this chart that we are now getting close to 2000 houses.

   

But the only traffic improvements that the Council are saying that they will do are traffic lights at Boars Head roundabout and Pepper Lane/ Preston Rd roundabout. Also we have recently learnt they are looking at putting traffic lights at Grove Lane. this, they say will allow the traffic to come out of the new houses estate at the bottom of Grove lane.

Standish could not cope with the houses that are coming, the schools, doctors and dentist will not be able to cope, never mind the road infrastructure. In 2016 we will be leading the way to objecting to the 2 latest planning applications that have come in. These two applications add another 200+ houses on to those that are already coming. Standish is well and truly full!!

The worrying thing is developers are still looking at putting more and more planning applications in and because the Conservative Government planning inspector and rules in favour of the developers and not local communities. Had the Council a stronger core strategy then it would be harder for these developers to get permission. But then again Wigan Council like blaming the Tory government and then getting the houses because they get more council tax out of Standish than any other area. we are just seen as a cash cow for Wigan Council.


Immigrants at the Britannia

Another big story that has hit the headlines are the growing number of immigrants at the Britannia Hotel at Almond Brook. The loony left always shout the racist card because then you get some raving right wing extremist trying to exploit the situation.

Local residents have a genuine concern over this issue and just because they moved into a white hard working class area then the Lefties try and make them feel guilty by calling the racist card. People should be allowed to live in the areas that they choose for the reasons that they want. Standish is a community of hard working people that have good strong community beliefs and do not want the area to change.

There are also issues over safety especially when students are getting off St. Peters bus and the immigrants follow the students direction on their way home. whilst they do not follow them to the door a number of parents have raised concerns with us and we have passed those genuine concerns to the Police.

Aldi Car park

Over the year as Standish is getting busier and busier and car parking is now a major issue. Gateway, Somerfield and the Co-op all allowed non shoppers to park on the car park. Aldi moved in and they have signs that say that it is for their shoppers and limited to parking just for 1.5 hours.

This is Aldi's official policy but the area manager has said non shoppers can park there but the 1.5 hours is not up for discussion. It became apparent people were parking there all day. Here is the story about the issue in more detail.

Internet Trolls

Years ago a good friend of mine was thinking of standing to be a Cllr. They would have made a great Cllr had they stood and won. However when it came to it they decided to not go through with it. When I asked if there was any one reason for it? They replied it was because of the public name calling Cllrs get. And it is true whatever your colours, or party you stand for they will be people that call you names. There will be people that challenge your decisions and to be fair that goes with the job I guess and there has to be a bit of tough skin you need to be a Cllr. If you someone like me that openly challenges Labour and this Council's policies in an open and hard hitting way. But there has to be a line where that has to stop. Just being a Mp or Cllr does not give you the right to go and put libelous, evil and twisted things on the internet - all behind fake names to hide. And why because they are cowards!

Some may remember that in May two fake twitter accounts were set up pretending to be me and saying I had done things with Jimmy Saville and what he has become to be known for of late. Those crimes are the most heinous ones and those issues cannot go unchallenged. I had to call the police and solicitors in. Here is the story. I did say that I had to allow the police do their work before I could name the two main suspects behind these fake accounts.

Then Rebecca McCarthy, maiden name Rebecca Chadwick of the Chadwick butchers, still goes out of her way to spread her evil lies around. These include that the money we raised to pay for the barrister who drew up the legal argument for Ashfield Village Green, that this was all a lie and I pocketed the money. On the basis the Public Inquiry has all the evidence in, including the name and chambers of the Barrister that drew the argument. Now I am told that she has recently put out that I only win elections by going into nursing homes and fill out their postal votes. These kind of things are not only lies it goes to show what evil I have to put up with. Not sure what this woman's and her friends problem is with me as she doesn't even live in Standish. Although at a recent meeting Chadwick's did say they would sell their field for car parking to Wigan council for £3.5m. this is because Wigan council has said they will use £5m  of the money from all these houses. it would appear that her issue is because I stand up for Standish resident, good value for money and 70% of the pot of money going to their family would not be, and finally because we win.

It seem because she doesn't work for the family butchers no longer and works in Manchester she is taking her attack out of Northern Rail, so maybe a bit of a rest bite for me.....lol..... I doubt it.

But I stand up to bullies and these people should be exposed for what they are evil trolls.

Election Win

As I have stated the opposition don;t like that we win and no one like losing. But the steps they go to is too far and I know that the residents of Standish don't like these kind of people neither.

However this year say two elections on the same day, national and local elections. When there is a national election the turnout goes from about 30% to over 60%. Obviously the 100%+ increase is because people are voting for the main election but they will then just vote for the main parties in the local election too. this being the case the two main political parties make the biggest gains on those day and it was the case in 2010 that Labour got the disgraced Ex Labour Cllr Emma McGurrin elected. But because of the hard work that all the Standish independent Cllr's do and especially Cllr George Fairhurst he was able to do something that not many independents do when there is a General election on the same day and he won! Although the 2 main political parties increased their votes, for the reasons set out, in the end it didn't matter. For that we thank the residents of Standish for the loyal support.

Space

It is interesting that early in the year we had the eclipse and I know a number of people and school children wanted to see it safely and there was much exciting about it. Here is my picture of the eclipse.

Then just a few weeks ago we had Tim Peake go up into space and the international space station for 6 months and again the excitement about space is growing again.


Don't Blame the council - but we so do - especially now!!!!!

Wigan Council has become known this after this TV show.

I couldn't finish the year's blog post without not mentioning the infamous TV show that the Council did. Now first of all the Council just believe in spin. In fact there is so much spin in the Town hall I am sure I will bump into Alistair Campbell soon. :-) .  They are obsessed with PR stunts like believe this believe that and then they thought wouldn't it be good to have a TV show on us. Then we got a true insight into the Council People being lazy, people bunking off and going home and then come back at clocking off time and then tell their boss and they don't fire them. Shocking. No wonder the Council is in the mess it is with people like that. No I must say that many front line staff are not like that and many work hard especially now as the Conservative cuts have taken a massive hit to the number of staff there. It always interests me how people can earn over £100,000 - £200,000 and they never seem to get hit like the front line staff. Labour say they represent the working people. Given these huge salaries many resident that I speak to believe they are are only interested in their own pockets and not serving the hard working communities in Wigan.

Merry Christmas to you all

I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas. I hope that you have all have been good and get what you want off Santa.

Christmas is a great time of year and whilst the majority of us are having a good time please take a minute to think of others. Others that may not be as fortunate as us. Ones that are missing their loved ones. The people effect by the floods or other disasters and there will be other situations.

Christmas is one day of the year where we should put by gone be be gone's . Even the Nazi's and our troops did this on Christmas day in 1914 and if they can I am sure we all can.

Any way like I say I hope you all have a great Christmas.

All the best.

Gareth

Can we help Lydia for Xmas?

I have just heard and read about a little girl called Lydia. She has a rare brain condition called Alobar Holoprosencephaly. So her family are trying to raise £3,000 for some specialist equipment. The family are a little over half way there and with just 4 days before Xmas wouldn't it be nice if we could get them to their target of £3,000 for Xmas.

For all the details and to donate please click on this link.

Thanks

https://www.gofundme.com/9wcr6gc4

Wigan Council give millions to private developer

North Leigh Park Development Strategy

On this item Wigan Council have given huge amounts of lands, in the area of something like 175 acres away to a private developer for £1.That's right £1. Then just to really rub our noses in it and they then use our hard earn taxpayers money to give to the developer £8m to clean the land up.

The land which Wigan Council own is contaminated, so say Wigan council, and they want the land to be developed out. I have no issue with this if the land is useless and could be used for a better use for the local and immediate area. However, when they give away millions then I have issue.

Had the Council said the land is contaminated so we sold it for £1 because the developer will have to pay millions to clean the land up, that would be an argument. But then to pay them £8m to clean the land up I have issue.

The reasons why I have issue is if Wigan Council used the £8m to clean the land up they then could sell that land for more than the £1 they are getting now. This is ridiculous and to make things worse Wigan Council knew I was going to raise this and therefore moved the meeting room, so I didn't know which room it was in. Then when I asked they show me the room they blocked me to the point that once we found the room the item had been discussed and moved.

The tactics demonstrates how corrupt Wigan Council are. These kind of policy's and practices amount to contempt of the democratic process and tax payers funds. They hate being found out and hide information as much as possible.

But had Wigan Council used the £8m to clean the land up and then sold it then I have been told that kind of land would have sold possibly for about £20m - £30m. That now means that Wigan Taxpayers are out of pocket for about £20m.

Advert

All the houses for Standish

Story so far, as we know Standish was ear marked for 2000 houses - Wigan Council in their core strategy said this will be restricted to 1000 houses.

So now with yet another planning application in for a further 150 houses it will take it to nearly the 2000 that Wigan Council said we wouldn't get.

Below is the full table include the 2 live applications. Question is not if we get any more but where?

Xmas present from Developers - more houses for Standish

Here we go again. So the age old issue. Whilst we keep getting told, even to the point of the other day when a resident asked a member of the public formally asked the Cabinet how many houses where coming to Standish and they replied approx 1000. This is even after we all know that the figure is now nearing 2000.

So we get even closer to the figure of 2000 when I inform you that yet another planning application for a further 150 houses has been received by Wigan Council for Rectory Lane. This application is, as you drive down Rectory Lane away from Standish you drive passed the Himor site that is currently being built out.  From the bottom of that site this new application start at that point carry's on towards the railway line.

Rectory Lane has already been allowed to have 650 new houses to be built, so to allow a further 150 houses would completely wreck the area. Not to mention the issue of the extra traffic.

Residents can rest assured that the 3 Standish Independents, who are elected to represent Standish will be voicing their concerns and calling the application before the planning committee and asking them to refuse this application.

If you want to see all the houses passed and proposed in a table click here.

Get Involved

May 2016 will see the last election for 2 yrs. Normally there are elections each year but one year in 4 years there are none.

So in 2016 we will be working in a number of Wards, these included Standish, Shevington, Orrell and Wigan Central.

There are a number of ways to get involved from standing as a candidate, help deliever leaflets and canvasing to simply just having a poster in your window at Elections. Also we hold regular meetings.

So if you want to get involved in any ways in way of the Wards mentioned just drop us an email at garethfairhurst@gmail.com

Can't wait to hear from you.

Sentence for Drugs bust

In March of this year I wrote and also it was in the paper about a house in Ashfield Area being raided for drugs. Here is that story. I can report that yesterday the three that were arrested have been in Liverpool Crown Court.

I have had a number of people saying that they have heard that they all got suspended sentences but this is not the case. I can report the outcome below.

Edward Clayton - Community order for 12 mths 180
Jill Clayton - As above but for 120 Hours
Philip Clayton - Suspended sentence for 2 Yrs and community order for 250 hours.
Source Liverpool Crown Court

I know many that have emailed and rang are outraged that some one that is growing cannabis has not been sent to jail but I don't know what their defence was and the circumstances.

Labour to stand cheating Cllr again

Labour have a pop at me and other opposition Cllrs for a number of things. They try and say this and that. They even tried to accuse me of stealing money but when the heat was turned on them from a legal point of view they soon shut up with their lies.

So some may remember the disgusting trick Labour Cllrs and members have done over the years, which there are many, including having illegal children pictures on their PC's, stealing benefits and also expenses. These are just a small few examples and some have rightly gone to jail for their offences some have got away with it.

One such Cllr because technically she didn't break the law but many where disgusted at her tricks was Joy Birch. What she did was move to Ireland and turn off her Email and Telephone so she couldn't be contacted. Many may think she simply moved and resigned but that's the thing she did no work but carried on taking her Cllrs pay even though she was living in Ireland. I broke the story here.

Once I exposed her she quickly resigned. However after this she is now trying to get back on as Cllr for Orrell in next year's May elections. What a disgrace that Labour are allowing someone that did that trick to get back on as a Cllr. I believe the people of Orrell will be disgusted and I have been contacted by a resident who has asked if they can stand because they are disgusted at this. I have said that they can go forward for the selection and we will work to keep sleaze out of Orrell.

Hindley Green

Also Labour have always had a go for a number of me family standing as Cllrs and in fact they won and they work hard. I don't care which party has family members in so long as they work hard  but it seemed an issue for labour yet here in Hindley Green Labour are putting wife of Orrell Cllr Steve Murphy up as their candidate against Independent Bob Brierley. Labour Cllr Steven Murphy (Orrell), who has his son as a Cllr for Pemberton, is now putting his wife forward for Cllr in Hindley Green. Given that Steve Murphy is one that has attack us for having a number of the same family in as Cllr you would have thought he wouldn't be trying to get all his family in as Cllrs all over Wigan.

I guess the elections have started early this time seeing as Labour are trying to win back opposition seats.

Wigan Council plan to move Council meetings forward an hour

Wigan Full Council meetings are normally 7 pm and can  last no longer than 3 Hrs. So simple maths everyone is out of there at 10 pm. However, Labour are now looking to change this historic time and start at 6pm. Reason they say is the committee meetings all start at 6 pm. For me the different is that members of the public come to full council meetings and not committee meetings.

Also people that work find it hard to get there by 6 pm so starting at 7 pm gives Cllrs that work and members of the public that extra hour to get there.

For us 7 pm starts are still the way forward as there is not a compelling reason why to change what has always worked. There is a n old saying, if it ain't broke then don't try and fix it.

Labour should kick out their Cllr that make treats. Will they?

At the last Full Council meeting, which are 8 weeks apart, I was talking about an issue which Council was discussing. This was about striking NHS staff. In the speech I made I said that if I or one of my family where in hospital I would want to be treated. A Labour Cllr then said that they could arrange for me or one of my family to get put into Hospital. Really what a comment to make.

The Cllr concerned is Labour Sharratt. She is a Cllr for Ince and I wonder what her resident think of her. This Council should not tolerate any threats from anyone, including elected members. I did report her to the Mayor at the time she said it to get an apology. The Mayor did nothing.  Maybe she didn't hear it but she should have listen to what I said.

I now am demanding a public apology at the next Full Council meeting from this Cllr, but I have also reported her to the Labour Party and they should take action by throwing her out of the Party as well, or at least suspend her.

Now this is not the first time this Councillor has gobbed off so too speak. One local business report to me how she went round complaining about them and saying she was a Cllr and could get them closed down. What a disgrace! Let's see what Labour do and let's see if she does the right and decent thing and make the apology.

Why can't Wigan Council build a by-pass?

In the last couple of days residents in Standish would have received Wigan Council's Borough Life magazine. What a number of residents have asked is in the magazine Wigan Council says they are building a link road, that dreaded word in Standish, from Orrell right across the borough to Leigh and the Atherleigh Way road.

Residents are angry that Wigan Council believe they can build such a but fail to tackle or solve the congestion in Standish. With nearly 2000 houses coming more traffic will come and residents want answers on where and how the Council will deal with the issue of traffic congestion in Standish.

Residents raise a good point. This scheme that the Council are saying they are doing is ambitious and huge but if they believe think they can deliever such a scheme why can't they solve the issue in Standish. With that I will write to the Council and ask them just that and post the answer here.

The week that ended.....06 Dec '15

So here we are at the end of another week and there are not many left for this year.

So at the beginning of the week we had the vote on Syria. A big test on whether we would go to war with ISIL in Syria. The Labour Party was the talk of the event as the Labour Leader tried to put the whip on his members to vote no. However, when it became clear he would have issues he allowed his members to have a free vote but said officially the Labour Party policy is no. I wrote a blog post on how I believe that Parliament has got Syria right over the last 3 yrs. If you missed that post here it is. I ran a poll on how you would vote and people that took part said no in the main by 2 votes. Close call for me I would have voted for bombing on ISIL in Syria.

A number of residents have contacted me over the week saying they are sick of seeing Labour Cllr George Davies
in the Paper for saying he is doing this and that in Standish when he is the Cllr for Wigan Central. They are saying he is missing in action. Well I doubt he has done any action. However, Wigan Independents will be fighting hard in Wigan Central showing how many times he has said he has done things in Standish showing to them he doesn't care for them just himself.

We also had the Oldham West by-election. This was where the pundits said that UKIP may win or at least come a close second to Labour. When the result came in Labour killed all the other candidates off. Huge win. Many pundits are saying that UKIP is now finished and I may not completely agree but can see why people are stop supporting them now. Time will tell if they can pull it back together or not.

Cllr Surgery was very busy this week with a number of local issues and the Standish Independent Cllrs will picking them up this week and dealing with them.

The Co-op shop in pole street was broken into Thursday Night/ Friday morning. Thankfully this was whilst the store was closed, unlike in the passed when robbers tried to hold the store up whilst open. Thankfully good citizens of Standish went in and caught two of them. This time however it was over night and they stole scratch cards and the lottery machine. Here is that story if you missed it.

Finally, the Standish Independent Cllrs met with the Council this week and discussed a number of issues that they want to bring forward and do next year and this was a positive meeting and we are moving forward with those, so watch this space.

Finally as a Cllr you have to take the stick, in fact when you're a candidate you have to take a bit otherwise don't bother. Politics can be a nasty game. This I know from the internet trolls putting libelous about me on the internet, they will be named shortly. But when the Labour Candidate follows my kids to school and their route then that is not only weird but needs addressing. So when I put on that the previous Labour Candidate, Sam Murphy, who was a young lad from Pemberton came 2nd and beat the Tories and since she has been the candidate she has come 3rd every time, this is strange to a degree. I say this because as she lives in the ward you would expect the vote to go up from someone who doesn't. However, this has not been the case with her and this just demonstrates lots of people know the bad things she does in the ward, including following other people's children to school and the Police have had to be involved, then you can see why people don't vote for someone like that. For legal reasons I can't say anything further. But for me someone like that should not only be nowhere near children, she should be no where near elected positions.  

Co-op broken into over night

As the post below this morning the Co-op was closed due to a broken into overnight. There was a little damage and the store had to stay closed, which meant not only shoppers couldn't get there shopping but also people where not able to access their money at the Post Office which is situated inside.

The stroe was opened in the late morning after the police crime team had visited the store and carried out their work. The only things that were stolen was scratch cards and the lottery machine. Obviously not very bright who ever carried out the burglary as the cards will all have card numbers on, so they can be voided and the lottery machine has no money in. A lot of trouble for nothing.

Anyway good news is that is is business as usual now and everything is back to normal.

Co-op Closed

Many residents have contacted us this morning about the closure of the Co-op store on Pole Street. On the front shutter there is a note saying this store is closed till further notice. The issue for many residents is the fact that post office inside is not accessible and therefore people can't get access to their money.

We have been in contact with the Co-op and it has been told to us that the store was broken into over night and if this is the case the business will be working hard to get back open as soon as possible. They are asking for people to be patient with them and they will be open as soon as possible. Any updates we will post here.

Syria - How Parliament have got it right on Syria for 3 years.

Years ago David Cameron asked Parliament to vote to bomb Syria. This was to get rid of Syria's President Assad. Parliament voted against that. That was a bloody nose, many have said to David Cameron, however surely it was just someone asking something important and the people responding how they felt. Had we done that and been successful then when the President Assad had been overthrown then there would have been a void. That is what happened in Iraq and also Libya. There was no planning for what happens next. to be honest that is the hard party I guess for us. we can't go and put our people in because that is wrong but then if you leave them to sort it out themselves we get people like ISIL. So for me last time voting no was the right thing to do.

Now we move on to today's debate and I believe it is right to extend the bombing we are doing in Iraq into Syria and bomb ISIL. I believe it is right that this vote goes through as it would help stop and be part of just one element to stop and get rid of ISIL but it is not the only one. I agree that troops will be needed at some point and this should be local people.

Another point is to try and cut off their funding. ISIL are stealing oil and selling it over the border of Turkey. If we could get that border closed off then that will help cut off the funding.

As you see there are many things to consider but voting against bombing last time was right and voting yes for this one is right too. One issue is that Tony lair lied about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction and now people are wary of the advice that prime ministers give.

Will agree we the bombing I do feel it was wrong for the Prime Minister called the Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn, a terrorist sympathisers. Even though I think Jeremy Corbyn is a weak leader I do not believe the Prime Minister should call any other MP's just because they have a different opinion.

I have put a poll below to see what you think, so please take a few seconds and let us know how you would vote.

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