Should Nick Clegg get a Knighthood?

There is many people saying that Nick Clegg should not be getting a knighthood, as being rumoured. His pledge to getting rid of Student Loans was the biggest howler ever that I can remember. Also how many times over the decades have the Lib Dems sat on the fence and actually made a decision - rightly or wrongly? Wishy washy!

As you can tell I am not the Lib Dems biggest fan. HOWEVER, I must say that had they not got into bed with the Tories in 2010 when it was a hung parliament then I do think the Tories would have hurt the Country more. I do believe that when they where in the corridors of power in London and George Osbourne wanted to go after more money and make lives worse it was the Lib Dems that held them back a little.

Also they lost the Student Loan pledge ( that is never going to happen under Lib dems or labour ) but got something in that has made an impact and that is raising the tyax threshold to £10,000 for the first time ever. So popular was the policy that the Lib Dems got in that years later Tory George Chancellor nicked it for himself and raised it further and claimed it was his idea. I don't think so!

Therefore all the faults of the Lib Dem I do believe that nick should be honoured in this way, if he fits the criteria set out - which I am presuming he does. After all Labour gave one to RBS Boss Fred Goodwin known as Fed the Shred.

Merry Christmas

Can I take this opportunity of wishing you all 

Labour Cllrs, Charities and your money stage 2

Some of you may remember the stage one complaint that i put into thew Council on how they are give funding to Charities and groups that are run and controlled by Labour. My biggest issue was that the Council give due process to due diligence with regards this matter. Here is that story.

So the Council said they would launch an investigation. So after weeks of waiting this so called investigation has simply brought more questions than answers. Also the Council - I believe - have waited deliberately for the run up to Christmas to send their response thinking this is a good time when people will not be interested on the matter and with the run up to Christmas they would be right but for me this is some quick cheap publicity issue but a serious one that involves your money.

Back to the response and the Council they have sent a couple of nicely drawn process charts, standard stuff but nothing that would come out of an investigation. Then they add that anything over £10,000 is approved by a small committee headed by 2 Labour Cllrs. So now we have evidence from the Council that Labour Cllrs are approving their colleagues funds request of £250,000, £400,000 or other large amounts.

On the matter of the Council giving Sunshine House getting tens of thousands that is then channelled through a layering process into the Council's Chief Executive boyfriends pocket. On this matter the council have said that they I will get a response from the group that go it the money. I don't want their response I want the council who we pay our taxes too to answer it as it is their responsibility to address the issue. This demonstrates the Council's inept at being able to and be trusted with our taxpayers money if they use it in this way and then try and hide it.

So what happen now? I have sent my response back to the Council and said that I am not satisfied and put in a stage 2 complaint. The Council therefore has one more chance to investigate and answer the matter that i raise otherwise I will then take the matter to the Ombudsman and external auditors of the Council. Whether the Council like it or not they have serious questions to answer whether it is to me or the Ombudsman they will answer them!

12 hour wait for A&E Acceptable?

Local health officials have put out another message that ONLY life threatening and emergency situations should attend A&E. This is because the waiting times has risen to 12 hours. Is this really acceptable and whose fault is this? Labour are trying to come out with the blame that it is icy conditions that are making people visit A&E. Maybe if the council gritted the roads and paths maybe then people wouldn't go. But seriously no one will believe they are so many falls due to the icy conditions as it was not icy today so why has the wait time gone up?

I guess from the part of the question whose fault is it is not important but it is both the Local Labour Parties in Greater Manchester and last Tory Government. This is because the last Government under Cameron and Osbourne did a deal with Greater Manchester local authorities to say that Central Government will give Greater Manchester Local Authorities collectively (called AGMA) a large sum of money and in return that then stops Westminster running the health services in Greater Manchester. This was called DEVO MANC Deal. That way the nTories do not have to worry about the NHS in Wigan as Labour run it under this deal.

So many believe that the hospitals here in Wigan are run by the Tory Government but it is not it is under Labour Control. But Labour doesn't mind people still believing that the NHS is run in Wigan by the Tory Government. Headlines and waiting times like this will help them get back in power. But this issue should not political as it is too important.

Irrespective of who is running it the system should never be allowed to be run in such a way that the system gets to a point where waiting times are half a day long. This is simply not acceptable!

In 2015 I said this deal would never work and services would be cut and waiting go up. Even by my standards I didn't believe that it would go to 12 hour waiting times in A&E. If you have a life threatening issue if you have to wait this long you could well be dead by the time they get to you. I also believe that because standards are now such at dangerous levels in Wigan Hospitals that this area of health should be taken out of Labour's control as it shows that they simply cannot cope with the matter. Yes the national situation may not be perfect and needs more investment and improving but the average wait times national is not at 12 hours, like Wigan's is. Labour target for wait times is a max of 4 hours so this 12 hour wait is 3 times as long. Lives are being put at risk and when you next see Labour MP's and Cllrs saying save our NHS. Tell them yes we agree get your hands off it because you are killing it in Wigan, which is killing us.

It will be interesting to see how, when and if people realise that Labour is running the Wigan hospital into the ground and if so will they continue to vote for them?

Politics a side are you happy to wait 12 hours at A&E? If not stand up and make your voice heard, whilst you have one!  The real emergency is our lives!

Shevington with Lower Ground by-Election

So the votes are in and Labour won the By election. They got 765. Janet Brown - Shevington Independents came 2nd with 552, just 213 behind. Last elction we were 400 behind so it is clear we are closing in on Labour and beat the Tories again, even though they worked the ward and did so much and still came 3rd.

Janet would like to Thank all the voters that supporter her and voted in this miserable weather. Turnout was just over 18% so very low.

The next election is in May and Janet and the Shevington Independents will be working hard from now.

Labour were out all day on the council estate getting people to vote. So congratulations to their candidate but May will be a normal election with normal turnout.

Labour refuse Shevington a Voice on Parish Council

It has long been discussed why Labour refuse to allow Shevington residents a referendum on whether to keep the Parish Council, where they pay EXTRA TAX. In the last Parish Elections more people collectively voted for the referendum BUT still Labour refuse them their voice. Sounds like the Spanish Government on Catalonia.

There are even some that want to keep the Parish council but want to have a referendum so the argument can be resolved once and for all but Still Labour say NO!

With the extra tax do residents get any more for their money? NO!
They simply pay twice. The Labour Run Parish Council have lost £10K on a bowling green ran up £00,000's of debt. This can not go on. If allowed to continue the tax will have to rise further.

In this by election ALL the other candidates support the Parish Council and demand that Shevington residents should pay more than any other residents in the whole of the borough.

Janet Brown is the ON

VOTE JANET BROWN - SHEVINGTON INDEPENDENTS - 14th DECEMBER 2017

GIVING YOU A VOICE

Residents angry at 3 weekly Bin Collection

During the Shevington By election residents have made it crystal clear that they are very angry with this Labour Control Council moving the bin collection to 3 weekly and many suspect it is just a stepping stone to monthly collection, which will becoming soon.

The idea the council say is to encourage recycling but many can't store all this waste for that long. But bin men are refusing more and more bins due to weight and contamination and some residents are telling us they will not recycle because the council are not being far and they are doing this in protest to them on this policy.

If elect Janet Brown, Shevington Independents candidate, vowed to fight for a fortnightly collection as this is clearly what residents want and are paying for.

What residents in Shevington do on 14th December 2017 is BIN LABOUR

VOTE JANET BROWN - SHEVINGTON INDEPENDENTS

Labour Closed Shevington Community Primary School

Some may remember the so called consultation with regards primary schools in Shevington. What a farce! Parents said that the decision had already been made by the Labour Council. The original story was covered here.

At the end of it all Shevington Community Primary School, which had outstanding from Ofsted, was closed whilst other schools with lower grades remained open.

The 3 MALE LABOUR Cllrs did nothing to help and one even said he was a School Governor of another school, which stayed open surprisingly, so he could not help. Why didn't he resign the school governors position so he could help all concerned and he wouldn't have been biased?

The real issue is that Shevington Community Primary school closed and this is on prime development land. At first the council said they would not be selling the land. Now the school is closed, guess what? Yes the Labour Run Council are looking to dispose of the land. Surprise surprise.

If elected Janet Brown will work for ALL the residents, young and old, and will work to make sure the right decisions are made for the people of the ward and not for the Labour run Council pockets.

Janet has been a teacher before retiring and is all to aware how important education is.

Shevington By Election Update - Major Parties agree residents should pay more

So we are now in the middle of the by election in Shevington and all 3 Major Parties, Labour, conservatives and Lib Dems say that Shevington Residents should pay more AND not be allowed a voice.

All of them agree for more development in the area and also less services.

It is clear that there is ONLY ONE candidate that is for Shevington Residents should have a say and pay less, should not be over developed and should get better value for money and that is Janet brown.

Janet said, " I cannot believe that the other parties all agree for more taxes for residents in Shevington, More houses  and less services. If elected I will be opposing all of these and saying the residents should have a voice, pay less and no developments. It is seems there is no difference between the major parties."

In the last parish council elections over 50 % of people voted to have referendum to get rid of the Parish Council and then pay less tax. All 3 Major Parties support the PC going and want it to grow meaning more taxes. The PC has lost £10k on a bowling green and put the Parish council into hundred's of thousands of pounds worth of debt.

VOTE JANET BROWN
SHEVINGTON INDEPENDENTS

14th DECEMBER

Corbyn calls Tory's for Spin doctor then hires one

You couldn't make this up Corbyn said last week this about the Tory Government,  "continual preference for spin over substance". However, him calling the Tory's for having spin doctors must have stopped now and he has changed his mind. Why? Because this week he is advertising for a spin doctor for him self with a salary of £65,000.

Says one thing and does another which leads nicely into what I have said about the Labour Party, do I say not as I do. Double standards or what ?

Seriously if the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn want to be taken seriously they cannot call the other side and then go and do it themselves, it completely knocks any credibility out of the water. It is like Tony Blair all over again - just this time with a Communist leader. 

Labour Cllrs, Charities and your money

So I have been looking at taxpayers money and where it is going. There has been a lot of discussion on Social media about alleged wrongs regarding money which has lent me to look into this matter.

The Deal is Donna Halls brain child and labour have certainly used this well.  I did the first story here on the 20th Nov. Looking further into it it gets worse.

There are a number of Labour Cllrs first and foremost that do not declare that they are directors of businesses.  Wonder why that is? However, some are trustees of Charities too. When we look at minutes of Council and Cabinet meetings we can see that Labour Cllrs have voted for the deal, they have allowed the money to be spent. Then later on their charities/groups have applied for grants of the deal. Just a quick adding up of the figures and you can see that Charities whereby Labour Cllrs run them, or Ex labour Cllrs get vast amounts of money.

Let's look at a Charity called Compassion in Action. A Charity that says helps women that suffer domestic abuse. A Nobel cause. However this is run by a former Labour Cllr.  In the rules of the charity the director and chief executive have to rotate every so many years. This is a practise to stop any one person running it solely. But in this case? This Charity has had a quarter of a million pounds of your money. The Chief Executive is a former Labour Cllr and she gets paid for this role. Also their son is the director of it had gets paid. In fact the income for the charity has dropped over the last year but yet his salary has gone up 25% in just one year. So there we have a former Labour Cllr and son getting your money. We can see what the Director gets paid and asked the charity how much the former the Chief Executive gets? They did not answer.

Next we have a serving Labour Cabinet Labour Cllr Cunliffe, who fails to declare on his interests that he is a Director of a Charity. The Charity Fix It also gets a grants totalling £300,000. Wow this is large sums of money we are talking about. When we see who else is the director of the company there is another Ex Labour Cllr. Would this charity get funding to this sum if had it not been Labour Cllrs running it? Only thsoe charities seem to get these large sums. Wonder why that is?

There are just a dozen charities/ groups that total £615,000 from this one pot of money alone. This is shocking that Labour Cllrs use charities for political reasons and then some of them are getting paid from them. When we add them up to the other story I mention at the beginning of this blog we can see approx £1m of your money is going to Labour and their cronies causes. When we see if the external auditors have mentioned any extra due diligence or if the charities or the council themselves have done this we can see none.

One group on the list that has got funding got taxpayers money via way of a grant and then used 50% of that money for their election leaflets. The Police took no action because they said the Cllrs had paid the money back. O really well one of them is on social media bragging he hasn't.

Some may say keep digging and find out what the true cost of what Labour and their Cheif Executive waste in Wigan. I shudder to think but we can see that it would be well into the millions if this is how they treat your money.

Yobs run Riot in Shevington

Residents in Shevington and throughout the ward are sick to death of yobs ruining their streets with their anti social behaviour. After the yobs have taken the streets, as a number of residents say, the Council have put up CCTV.

If elected Janet Brown, Shevingotn Independents say that she will push for the police to hit the streets and take back the streets to allow residents a quiet, peaceful and law abiding community.

Residents are sick of this Labour run council talking about the issue and doing nothing about it. The time for talk is Over and the Time for Action is now!

On the 14th December Shevington Residents will be able to show they are sick of it by voting someone in that will tackle the issue - Janet Brown - Shevington Independents. 

Shevington Labour run Parish council losses more

It has long been discussed in the area of Shevington, Appley Bridge and this blog how Labour continual losses money on the Parish Council. It has now been disclosed that a simple bowling green that they run in Appley Bridge has lost over £10,000 in just 3 years. This is just one green.

I know that this is run by Labour Cronies and have been told it is just used by just 3 local residents. Labour run parish council says that this is not a business and run for a profit - true - but to lose so much of taxpayers money is ridiculous.

If there was ever a need to get rid of this Labour run quango that sucks ten's of thousands of pounds out of taxpayers for them and their mates is scandalous and residents should be given the referendum that they want. Labour say that on the bases that they have 5 PC Cllrs and Shevington Independents 4 points to that more people don't want it is wrong. Why because at the last Parish elections if you add up the total for and against more voted against in total over all the wards. But Labour refuse to allow the residents a choice.

What next for Zimbabwe ?

Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe has resigned with immediate effect. Probably some kind of deal was done but the party that he represented was going to get him impeached for all the things which he has done in the past. But they were implicit in this as well. So hard to see how they could say that without taking some of the rap too.

So there is now going to be a "smooth transition". What does that mean. One would hope for the Country and people that it is but is it a case that the ruling party are just putting their person back in? Maybe free elections for the people to choose their way forward is good too?

In the past it has been other country's that have removed leaders of country's like Libya and Iraq etc rightly or wrongly but these country's have not turned out for the better. Hopefully in time they will but it is hard to see that happening any time soon yet their people suffer.

In this case though it is his own that has turned on him which maybe different and crate a smooth transition but it has to be for the better of the people and not just the ruling party.

What is going on with Tax Payers money 1

Something a little different on this one. Online at the moment there is a lot of chat about what tax payers money is being used for and where it is going. Here is just one example. Rather than do a lot of text I have done a screen with audio over it to talk you through it. If the audio doesn't play automatically then click the play symbol on the bottom right hand side of the picture.

Shevington By Election Update

So this was the first weekend of campaigning by all teams after the nominations were announced on Friday. With this election being a short one then you would expect all out and about.

OK I am biased because I am helping the Shevington Independents but ask any candidate it is hard to get all 5000 houses a leaflet in a short period. This weekend we have had a number of teams out and about and with the whole of Shevington Moor, Standish Lower Ground, Appley Bridge and a large part of Shevington done with just short of 3500 in a weekend is a great result.  The teams will mop up the remaining 1500 over the next couple of days. That will be their first leaflet out.

We had the last years' candidate for UKIP out with us on Saturday helping leafleting and asking his voters last year to support Janet.

They have also been canvassing and the response has been great. With the weather being lovely today people where out and about and in their gardens and we have picked up a large number of pledges, some that have not voted for years but when they say the result last time they will give us a go and see if we can get rid of a Labour Cllr.

The Tory guy doing leaflets on Friday was run out of the area as people just hate the Tories there. Interesting. They have done a couple of bits of the ward.

However, the main missing factor this weekend was Labour- nothing from them. When you look at their social media it is a few shots  of them holding posters up. It is clear that it was true that they couldn't get a candidate sorted in time and then couldn't get their leaflets down in time. Now they are playing catch up. Next week the weather is pouring down so i am glad we will be missing that but I bet Labour wished they didn't have to do 5000 leaflets in the rain.

We are trying a few new things in this election too and seeing what their impact is so keep your eyes out for them.

Nothing from Lib Dems or Greens either.

I have walked over 25 miles this weekend so it is tied feet time but feeling great at the performance from the team. Wednesday will see us move to stage 2 of this election.

And they're off.......

At 4 pm today was the close of nomination papers. Below is a list of the candidates.

At the last by election in Wigan the Lib Dems got 19 votes, so they are hoping to get a few more this time.UKIP have not fielded a candidate and their candidate last year is urging UKIP's supporters to support Janet. Add the two votes up and you beat labour.

The Shevington Independent Candidate, Janet Brown and her team were out today and had a great response from Shevington Lower Ground. New pledges given to her and also the Tory's are definitely not welcome there. One man said who is she and when explained the Independent Candidate he asked will she kick that Tory's arse? Reply have a look at that chart we came second last time and Tory's fourth. He came back love it I am voting her just to beat them Tory's.

Over the weekend the rest of Janet's 1st leaflet will be out throughout the rest of the ward this weekend. 

Be careful what you wish for....

Brexit is a word that many people are getting sick of hearing. Yes the UK public voted in favour of leaving the EU and whether it was close or not we have a system in this country and we all know it is first past the post system.

So the MP's that do not agree have tried to deal, block or what ever others may want to call it and ask and demanded that they have a vote before we come out of EU and that Parliament comes out. Not a bad idea but what they didn't think was that they would get it and then the ramifications of it.

David Davis, the Brexit Minister, who some describe as a master statistician has said once the deal has been concluded that parliament would get the final say in the vote and it is a yes or no. The problem now for those MP's that have been demanding this vote is if the Government gets a deal and these MP's do not like they they run the risk of a no deal situation because if they block the deal that has been done and then the time limits runs out in March 2019 then those MP's will be accused - rightly or wrongly - that they made the no deal situation. Damn if they do damn if they don't situation and I do think that they have out manoeuvred now on this.

Shevington Independents update - Tories Lies already

So as we know there is going to be a by-election on the 14th December and the Tories have put out a leaflet announcing their candidate - Callum Chadwick. Now you expect them to try and put a spin on it but to just come out and lie so badly is untrue.

First of all they have included on their election leaflet that they came second in June 2017 and only gthey can beat Labour. Well there was NO election in Shevington in June 2017. Then when there was a local election last in Shevington it was May 2016. In the last election the Tories came 4th, yes 4th. Below is a chart of the results of Wigan Council.

Now also what they claim was Callum has been a Parish Cllr in the past - which he has. Here is his record of attendance. 2011/12 - 51.6%. 2012/13 - 41.9% 2013/14 - 46.4%. What an absolute disgrace!  An average of 46.6%.

If Janet elected Janet will attend all meetings unless there are conflicting meetings where she can not attend both.

Elect someone that will attend - can win and will work for you!

Shevington Independents announce candidate

With the By-Election called for the Shevington with Lower Ground called the Shevington Independents have now announced their candidate - Janet Brown. Janet fought this seat last time and came second beating UKIP , Tories and the Greens.

There is a growing support for both the Shevington Independents and Janet in this surprise election.  Janet said, " I am pleased that I have been nominated by the Shevington Independents to be their candidate and also fight this election. If elected I will be fighting for a better deal for Shevington as there are many issues that residents are not happy with."

Chairman and nominations officer for the Shevington Independents Gareth Fairhurst said, Janet did an amazing job last time and since last time she has been co-oped onto the Parish council fighting for a better deal for the residents. Obviously this is a target seat for us and I know the group will be throwing everything at this one."

Janet is a teacher and is a firm believer and passionate in education and children getting the best start.

The By-Election will be held on the 14th December 2017.

Result in last Local Election for Shevington with Lower Ground

Standish Independents get rid of Travellers quickly

Thanks to the quick response from Standish Independents for quickly getting rid of the Travellers. As they were setting up camp a resident called Cllr Debbie Fairhurst and informed her of what was going on. She immediately contacted the Council and informed them, only to be told that it is private property and there was nothing they could do but inform the police. Cllr Debbie also informed the owners of the situation and they were straight on to it.

During the matter the company liaised with the Standish Independents Cllrs to keep them informed of what was going on and when. Elle R Leisure got security teams in the premises with patrols with dogs. They got straight on to Bailiffs who was trying to get there on Thursday but they couldn't make it.

However, they turned up on Saturday and evicted them. Thankfully their concerns was their property and site and Elle R Leisure moved quickly. Funny how when the travellers come on to public land they cannot get rid of them that fast.

The Standish Independents Cllrs are thankful for a business that moved fast to protect their site and the community. However we dis have a number of thefts in Standish during the week, a car, a caravan and other things.

Why Trump is good for UK !!!!

I can already hear the screams saying, "no he is not and he's an idiot." Some may cry back, "o no he's not." But the truth is Trump is good for the UK and here's why.

First of all I do believe that many people agree we are coming out of the EU. Even those that wanted it are resigning themselves to the fact that we had a democracy vote on it and the majority win in this country.

So now we have that established if we look at if Hilary Clinton would have won the US Election then she would be behind the EU and we would get nowhere with the US, never mind the deal that we are getting once out of the EU.

Also if you look past all the rhetoric coming out of Trump's twitter then there is not much changed in the US's policy's.

What he has done is wake the world up to world globalisation and how the political parties where taking us all down this road. Now we have some one who has scarred them and that now means anything is possible. Parties have to look after their own first. If you look at labour under Corbyn then he is saying about looking after the UK and nationalising industries again. that would take energy companies out of the hands of China and France for example.

The biggest casualty of trump is world globalisation and we now will get the best deal possible after Brexit. that has to be a big win for us!  

Possibly another 2000 houses on top of the 2000 already agreed

So we are now getting back into school runs and things are getting back to normal after the summer break and guess what the developers are getting back too. We all know that over the last years developers have had a great time getting permission to rip up the green open fields around Standish. The labour Controlled Council said they would only allow 1000 houses but yet we now have nearly 2000. So much for their promises!

We all know the Conservative's planning inspector - who uses the Conservatives rules - has also allowed some of the houses. Just recently he has allowed more at the bottom of Rectory Lane, stating the lack of direction and guidelines so he had to allow them. So why has the Government not put the rules in place? Because it suits the developers getting permission. Even the Tory Cllr for Standish has voted for more houses in Standish. Mind you his election campaign was FULLY funded by a Standish developer.

So where else can more houses come in Standish? How can we fit an extra 2000 houses in? Well I can exclusively reveal that residents have been contacted where their houses back on to the fields to block their gates off as they have no right to access the land. The land is behind Preston Rd and runs down towards the Rook. Access points would come in at the new houses where Langtree Garage used to be. Also as they developer more of the fields cars can come off Moores Lane, Woodland Dr and Sheldon Ave. the area is massive. Also I can exclusively reveal that there is to be a site visit next week but yet the Council has said Zip about any of this. Why? What are they hiding? We all know Standish is Full and now overfull and once the houses that have permission we will not be able to move and yet here we are discussing 2000 more. I think it would more likely be 1500 but I agree with the person that informed me that they will try and squeeze every house in.

Standish Independents Cllrs are already working with residents and discussing the matter and telling them not to block their gates off until they have took their own Legal Advice.

I will be disclosing more on this soon so keep your eyes open here.

More houses????

We are all well aware of the mass house building that is now been passed by Wigan Council and the Tory's Planning Inspector.

Original we had none. Then the Council said they would restrict it to 1000 That soon went up to 1400. We always said that they would get to 2000 and the council said "O no we will restrict it to 1000". The total figure to date is approx 1800. So you would think that is enough.

Well, I can exclusively say that Bloor homes - the site on Pepper Lane - is going to put another planning application in for their Pepper Lane site to increase it from 300 to 351. WE know that Labour and Tory Cllrs have voted in the past for houses in Standish but rest assured that Standish Independents have called this application in before the Planning Committee so the public can see the whole process and let's start putting those Cllrs on the spot when they say they will vote.

If passed it will see a further increase in traffic in Standish but will Labour and the Tories care? I doubt it.

For more please see their site www.landatpepperlane.co.uk/

Standish Independents fighting for you!

Grenfall Tower

So many people would have seen the horrible scene on the Grenfall Tower when it was on Fire. Man what a horrible tragedy. Thoughts and prays must go to those, and their families, who lost their lives Also all the other residents in the block that were effected by it.  You just can't imagine the thoughts.

Many have raised concerns over tower blocks and I know the high rise flats in Wigan are no exception. There used to be one very vocal man - Sid Hall - who was always talking for the residents and getting things better.  

One thing locally is that the high rise flats in Wigan DO NOT have sprinkler systems in them. Apparently this is not uncommon and going forward this must be a must for me. No one ever thought that the scene that we saw at Grenfall could happen. Unfortunately it did and therefore the rule book must now get better. Planners, designers and others simply cannot say we don't believe it will happen. These flats where designed in the 60's and one must ask if they are still for purpose and if we should either seriously upgrade them or just re house people in them and bring them down before they do any more damage.

Protesters

One thing that I am seriously annoyed at is the idiots that have seemed to hijack the devastation that has occurred to these people and now protesting over this and that and causing damage. More worryingly is the irresponsible media that are giving these idiots air time. In a number of interviews I have witnessed I heard one man discuss how his windows face the tower and he has been asking to be re housed and now he has to see the tower. The people that have lost their homes need rehousing first. Then another idiot saying that this country can bomb and kill innocent kids in foreign countries and then they can't save these people.  Seriously! Then finally another saying that all officials where hiding in their offices shredding all the evidence to prove that they are all guilty of corporate manslaughter.

Then you see footage of them shouting we want an inquiry. Well there is to be one the Prime Minister has said and ordered one already. They say they want justice. Well until the inquiry has concluded we don't know who or what went wrong. Footage shouting at the Fire fighters and Police - seriously these are the very people that risked their lives and it must have been bad when I hear things like the Fire fighters where told to write their names on their helmets  So shame on them!

MEDIA

But if these idiots want to try and hijack this horrible tragedy for their own political end then why on earth do the likes of Sky News and BBC give them airtime. When the kind of comments like what i have shared above get put out there it is just them trying to whip up needless anger for their ratings. Also because the likes of Sky backed the Tories and when they ended with egg on their face they now are using this to try and get the Prime Minister out. The irresponsible media think they can tell us what we want when they are trying to push their agenda on us.

Conclusion

For me we need the independent inquiry to get a judge,remit and start as soon as possible so that lessons can be learnt and yes if there is any evidence of wrong doing then those people need to be brought to book. Then we need sprinklers in ALL high rise flats. Cost should not be an issue. You simply can't put a price on people's lives.

Corbyn shows Traits of May

Labour and Jeremy Corbyn accused Theresa May throughout the General Election that she put her Party before the Country by calling for the General election. This was because it was expected that the country would overwhelmingly return a massive Tory majority. Labour claim that she should have put the Country first by continuing, although yet they complained that she haven't been to the Country to get her own mandate.

Now after the General Election Labour are walking round like they won the Election, yes they did a lot better than what he was expected to do. Jeremy Corbyn and his buddies are parading around the TV Studios saying they are ready to serve. Sorry hasn't someone told them they still lost?

However the arrogance that Corbyn is showing is the same arrogance May showed when she called the election. Howe so? Well he is touring the TV stations saying he is ready to serve and wants another election sooner rather than later.

I think it is safe to say that no member of the public is wanting to have another election any time soon. So with Corbyn saying he wants another election and ready to form a Government then he thinks that he would win should there be another election. The same arrogance May showed. The public do not like being taken for granted

So people are saying that they are all the same again and just out for themselves rather than the Country.

Where did it go wrong for the Tories?

Now that it is settling into peoples mind's what has happened over the last 24 hours questions are being asked where did it go wrong?

Some are saying that it is all down to Brexit? Yes, Theresa May did say when she launched this General Election that it was about Brexit and now some people, especially the other political parties, are saying it now has to be a soft Brexit? Why? Brexit did not lose her this election.

The Tories did not lose this election because of Brexit! Yes it may have played a part of it but not as significant as some may try and claim.

Many Tories loved Margaret Thatcher for being strong and knew her own mind. She very rarely, if ever, changed her mind. On the other hand Theresa May launched the Tories Manifesto. What a shambles. First the tax that became to be known as the Dementia Tax was a huge mistake. Her ministers where saying one thing then the PM said others. Then when it became a liability she did a massive U-Turn and tried to call it not a U-Turn. Voters saw her as weak. When you look over the polls Labour made big gains into the massive Tory Lead after that. That tax hit the blue rinse brigade. What a stupid mistake! This, for me, is the biggest thing that changed and the opinion polls changed then too. Just to try and flip it it would be like Jeremy Corbyn saying if elected I will get rid of all the benefits.

Then there was the winter fuel allowance. to keep the Scottish happy. Theresa May said that Scottish pensioners had it worse because it was colder in Scotland than England and that is how she tried to spin it. How stupid again? If you are right at the top of England and then someone else was at the bottom Scotland there is not much, if any, different in temp.

Then the killer blow she ruled out that there would not be tax rises. Anyone in politics knows the Conservatives are meant to low taxes and here is a Tory PM saying she is not ruling out tax hikes. That was it. Game over - the true Blues where never going to go for that . Theresa May had abandoned them - so they abandoned her.

Then with Communist Jeremy Corbyn promising everything was free because the top 5% where going to pay for the 95% bills. It was just like the Lib Dems in 2010 promising Free tuition. It was never going to happen. Well, not without bankrupting the country. Mind you Labour does a good job of that.

So what now?

The Tories are ruthless at getting rid of leaders and they will know that there is a strong chance there will be another election in the next 12 months, poss as early as October 2017 and they want to keep their seats there will be plans to get rid of her that you can bet on! Question who will it be Boris or David Davis?

What does the 2017 General Election result mean?

So people are waking up to turmoil. Theresa May called the General election so she could get more Tories MP's in. That way she could have got more things through easier.

However, Plan A didn't go to plan. She actually lost seat and I have seen people on Social Media saying what does all this mean? S o I will explain jargon free.

There are 650 seats in Parliament so to win a General Election outright you need 326 MP's. But the Tories did not get this and fell short. They got 318 MP's That meant that they didn't have the power to get through things what they wanted without others helping out.

So what the Tories have done is a deal with the DUP, a political party in Northern Ireland. They had 10 MP's.

So the two groups of MP's total 328 MP's, which is higher than the 326 that they needed to control the Government.

The problem with this agreement is if there are any Tories MP's that vote against the Government, which happens, then Theresa May will lose the vote. So just because she has the DUP helping her out now if they, or some Tories back benches voted against her then she will lose. That would probably mean too many of those and we are back to the ballot box. If that happens the Tories wouldn't want Theresa May in charge so I guess it will get interesting in that sense but for us on a day to day basis we could be in political turmoil.

Terrorist threat what should be done - for me!

So we are hearing from our Prime Minister enough is enough. The Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn wants to talk with these people. Nothing is happening. The security services say there are about 3000 on that list and there are more less important people of interest, but the 3000 are hard line.

So yes they cannot watch each of these people secretly but they now cannot watch people like this. So the answer, in my opinion, is to round ALL of the people on that list and place them somewhere where they can be assessed whether they are truly  are a threat and which case if they are not from UK then get rid. If they are from UK then they go to jail. That way we know they are not on our streets and the threat to us and our way of life is lower.

At the same time we need to tighten our borders and if there is any one that is suspect of being a terrorist =, inc those that are UK cozens and coming back we simply refuse entry. If they are from UK take their passport of them thank you very much now go on your way somewhere else.

So if the 3000 most hardliners are locked up whilst they are being assessed makes it easier to keep an eye on them.

Then whilst that is going on anyone that is a lower threat but could become a problem the services can try and make them back on the right path. Local communities can help in that too. If they become a threat then they go in jail too. Simply allowing these people to keep walking our streets.

Enough is truly enough but that in itself is not good enough now real action is needed NOW!

Wigan Council Chief Exec calls cops for no crime!

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post about how the Council's Chief Executive, Donna Hall, had used tax payers money for political and personal vendetta's. Here is that story if you missed it.

What follows could only be classed as a pantomime or a scene out of a movie. Many residents went on to  a Facebook page that they belong to and were outraged at this and started their thread. One person posted on there a picture of Donna Hall with a pencil moustache.

Within 2 hours the police where at his door telling him he had committed an offence and to remove the post straight away otherwise he would be arrested. He tried to explain that it was satire but the cops were having none of it and told him again. Worried about being arrested and thrown into jail for this he removed it. 

More outrage came. How on earth does someone get the police to come out that fast and especially for a none crime, in their mind. So the gentleman asked if he put a complaint in for the same offence what action would the police take? Answer none. Below is the question and answer.

So here is the issue why would the police go out to one person for a so called crime and not to another?

I asked GMP for a comment. At first they couldn't even find that officers had even gone out. Surely police officers wouldn't do a favour for someone off the books? I provided more info so they could try harder and again I got no response. Once I had heard and seen the post above in the picture I tried again and asked why would an officer not go out for this gentleman had he reported it.

Response........

A GMP spokesperson said: “We were made aware of an offensive image concerning a public figure that had been posted online which had the potential to cause distress to anyone who viewed it.

“Although the image did not constitute a criminal offence, a decision was made that the sensible course of action would be to request that the person who posted the picture remove it to prevent any potential distress being caused.

“At the request of GMP the poster removed the image.”

Back Benchers held Government to account.....

Last month we spoke about why the Prime Minister may have called a General Election It seems more now that because of the very slim majority that she had was a worry because she couldn't get what she wanted through with out the back benchers of the Tory Party.

Also because of one of her U-Turns on NI for self employed she needed to amend that so the Tories could change their 2015 manifesto and raise taxes.

If the polls are to be believed, which this time I agree with at this time, it seems the Tories will get a huge majority and therefore the few back benchers that held the Government to account would be watered down as it seems Conservatives HQ are putting their people in. One target seat has so far put out 15,000 leaflets and not one of them tells the people in that constituency who the Tory candidate is. Shocking!

So with the back benchers having a good position to hold the Government to account was a good thing for the UK as no Government should have such a hold that they cannot be held to account. With the massive predicted majority that Theresa May may have after the General Election if no one holds them to account, or can't for another 5 Yrs then that would be bad for the UK because the Government of the day can get away with anything.

So I understand that the PM wants her own mandate, fair enough, but having so much control - which all Governments would want - is not good for the Country,

Who is holding us to Ransom?

After last week's Cyber attack on It systems around the world people are asking who are these people that do this? Obviously criminals that are only interested in scamming people out of their money. However, another important question is why did this happen?

PC's have to use an operating system. typically like Windows. This product has a number of versions like XP, Windows 7 and now Windows 10. So every few years they bring new ones out. OK no problem with that. These have new features and more security. These cost 00's of pounds for each one so if you are like the NHS then it would cost millions to update every few years.

The issue it seems is the computers that crashed where running things like XP is that just like all other operating systems Microsoft run updates and support these products But a few years ago Microsoft stopped supporting Microsoft XP. The NHS paid millions for a one year extension. Then Microsoft would expect them to pay millions of pounds for organisations like the NHS to pay for new operating systems.

Why should this be? Yes business should be free to operate in a commercial environment but IT and computers are now part of our infrastructure , just like utilities. So when they stop a product they should not be allowed to just stop supporting these products and holding people and companies to ransom to buy their new software. There should be a law that says if Microsoft, or other such companies on these platform, stop making their products they have to support them for a number of yrs, like 35 yrs. That way they simply cannot hold us to ransom!

Labour refuse to press the button.

The first priority of any Government is to protect it's citizens. As a Country we have a nuclear deterrent. However, Labour Leader has said he wouldn't use them and when pressed on TV today Labour Diane Abbott refused to answer would they press the button? She kept refusing to answer and said they are more important matters.

Sorry if we where about to be wiped off the planet there is nothing else more important.

Surely if anyone wants to be Prime Minister they should have to commit to protecting us and if they were not going to press the button then they shouldn't be qualified to be Prime Minister.

Have the Tories gone Liberal?

In recent days Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May has said that if elected again the Tories would cap high and unfair energy prices. A pledge that Ed Milliband once said.

However, principles of conservatism is not to meddle with the markets and to encourage competition to drive down prices. Given that it was the Torys that broken up the national energy companies in the first place. They claimed at that time that by breaking up the national energy company that would bring in private enterprise and would drive down prices by competition. This hasn't happened and in fact rather than lots of competition it is clear that there is an Oligopoly in terms of energy companies out there.

So Labour which promote socialist views and would like to renationalise would energy and other companies. So the the other view is the Liberal view and one to not go as far as renationalise but don't want an Oligopoly  so they would sit on the fence and try and meddle with the markets and try and cap how much some one can earn.

With Theresa May now coming out with this Liberal view on energy companies are the Tories now turning to Liberal policies to win? Why have they dropped their view of free enterprise? If the Tories are now meddling with Energy markets what market would be next? Or is it all hot air?

Mosaic Academy Trust

So some time ago I wrote about how Standish high School had applied to become an academy. All went quiet.

I can reveal that from the 1st May both Standish High School and Southlands in Chorley will become Mosaic Academy Trust.

What is disgusting is the changes which are happening right now and parents need to know, especially those in their last year about to start exams.

Standish High are going through redundancy and have just got rid of one maths teacher, another maths teacher has gone down to 3 days per week but is now on long term sick, I can see why. One music teacher gone and there are more to come.

What is disgusting is that students who are about to take their GCSE are now having stand in teachers for subjects inc Maths. What a disgrace? And have the higher management team been effected?

The Dictator that is Donna Hall

So a few days ago I wrote this blog post. This blog post was how Wigan Council and their Chief Executive has spent over £500,000 on trying to oppose and shut up opposition Cllrs. Yes it was a hard hitting blog post and so it was meant to be.

But yet again the Chief Executive has now taken her actions further. I say this because an opposition Cllr has simply shared the post on their personal Facebook page and the Chief Executive has found out about this and with out ANY kind of investigation she put a formal complaint in on him on Thursday of last week and by Friday that Cllr was punished by removing his Brighter Borough money away. Wow she just makes it up. Where is the natural justice here?

I say the above because in the interest of being fair ( that's a joke in Wigan council and Donna Hall) any complaint needs to be put to the monitoring officer. They should consult with an independent person and then they decide whether it needs to go to a Standards hearing or not. If it does then it gets investigated that Cllr who has had the complaint against them gets a chance to put their side forward and then a panel of Cllrs decide if the Councillor has breached the protocol.

But now Donna Hall has decide not to have a fair and open process, which is covered by the Localism Act. She has no right to be complainant, judge and Jury but then again we live in Wigan where Donna Hall believes that she is above Cllrs and residents.

Also what is unbelievable is how she runs the Council. Again I say this because the opposition Cllr has been at my house doing some work for me and the Cllr has had numerous phone calls from a person in the Legal Dept and in one of the calls today she confirmed the Council have been looking at at what they believe to be his Girlfriends Facebook account and more worryingly when the Cllr said that was bang out of order and who told her to ring him she reply Donna Hall and the Head of Legal Services. If Donna Hall puts a complaint in she should then be so far away from that investigation but she is getting internal solicitors to threaten opposition Cllrs. I heard it all today with my own ears. You simply could not make this stuff up!

Wigan Council losses £8m

Regular readers of this blog will know that I often call Wigan Council for their incompetence. December 2015 I wrote a blog post where by Wigan Council sold 175 acres of contaminated land for £1 and then gave the private developer £8m to clean up the contaminated land. What a stupid group of idiots. Why not pay the £8m to clean the land and then sell it and you get more than £1. Here is the original story. http://garethfairhurst.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/wigan-council-give-millions-to-private.html

Now the plot thickens as the private company went into administration last December. We have asked the council did they pay the £8m before they went bust and if they did is there a way the council can get their money back. You guessed it Wigan Council fail to answer the question and therefore one can only presume that they have paid the money and we cannot get the money back.

Heads must role if this is the case as where was the due diligent. I raised it at the meeting that we should not be paying the company the money in the first place. I seem to have read that when the company did go bust they had debts of about £160m. When a company had so much debt and so little assets it was a concern for me at the time and that was why I and we as a Party was against that deal. Looks like we were proven right again too. When will this Labour Council learn?

As Wigan Council motto goes. - It is easy losing tax payers money!

Either or both the Leader and Chief  Executive should resign or be sacked for this. No due diligent completed or the Council would never have have done this deal.

General Election Looms

So after months and months of denying it the PM has now decided to call for a General Election. This is the first confusing issue. Say one thing and do another. She always called Gordon Brown for not calling a General Election when he took over from Tony Blair, so you would have thought on principle she would have called a General Election but she didn't. When she took over from David Cameron she said the General Election should be in 2020.

The SNP want a referendum on staying in the UK and the PM says no because now would be the wrong time.The PM says that time for a Scotland referendum would be once Brexit deal has been decided. So why would that not be the same for the rest of the UK?

 So why has the PM decided to go for it, so to speak? Probably because the Labour Leader Corbyn is so weak that the PM could kill off a number of Labour Seats and with that it is clear that the PM is trying to put her own and the Tory Party first.

However, with the remainers trying to make this a second vote on the EU this would be the wrong time to call a General Election as some say the Lib Dem could take seats like they did in Richmond and with that could it mean another coalition or Tory minority government. That could then put Brexit deal at risk. This would demonstrate that as a Country this is the wrong time to call for a General Election.

Tax Payers pay for Political mission

You couldn't make this up. With the austerity that Local Councils are facing due to the Conservative Cuts you would think the last thing that would be on Councils agenda is to waste money on shutting up Opposition Cllrs.

It is long been known in the Wigan Politics scene that the Chief Executive is political biased, something that is against the rules. Over the years the sitting Chief Executive Donna Hall has made it her job and mission to get outspoken opposition Cllrs out of office, something she always denies. Mind you she has been caught out lying a couple of times on BBC Radio shows. But if being political biased, lying on BBC Radio isn't bad enough she has then used tax payers money to carry her mission out.

As well as myself the Chief Executive has targeted Cllr Jim Ellis, Cllr George Fairhurst and Cllr Bob Brierley.

With regards the later Cllr it is clear that he has taken a lot of the heat. Including her making an allegation of harassment towards her. In this allegation she said at one incident he was pressurising her staff to allow him to she her. At that time she popped her head out of her office to ask for her PA to get a member of staff for her and get them into her office. In this case she said to the police she was that scared that her heart was racing because she was that scared and her legs were shaking and she thought she would collapse. Now this was a serious allegation and Cllr Brierley was arrested and questioned under caution. When asked about this incident he denied it. they asked could he prove it? Sure I taped the whole incident! We all know in the political circles in Wigan Cllr Brierley tapes everything. So when he said he was in the reception area for all the PA's and dropping something off for the deputy leader and then Donna Hall bobbed out she said, "Hi Bob." As soon as the tape was passed to the Police guess what? The charges were dropped. Now had he not got lots of evidence inc this tape then he could have been sent to jail for this crime which he was being alleged to have done. Good job he records everything after all.

Questions come to mind and say when the crime was exasperated to get Cllr arrested and charged and that was not the case why was the Chief Executive not arrested and charged with wasting Police time and or mis use of public office. I have asked Greater Police for a comment on the matter and they said because of Purdah they can't say anything more than this case was investigated and after a review of the evidence it was dropped. Now just for those that are not aware of what Purdah is, this is where authorities cannot comment on people in elections. Neither Donna Hall nor Bob Brierley are in the elections for Greater Manchester Mayor.

Also on the day of his Election last year she was seen causing Criminal Damage by ripping Cllr's Brierley posters down off Private Property, which he had been given permission to put his posters on. Because they were fixed on quite strong she ripped them down and cut them off with scissors. She said she had the power to do this as returning officers, which is false again just like her role as a Chief Executive she has to be impartial. Something she obviously finds hard to do.

You would think the embarrassment to the Chief executive on the Police matter would be big enough to stop all these lies. O no! She has got external solicitors to send and threatened the Cllrs named above, with the exception of Cllr George Fairhurst. Now Wigan council legal dept already costs over £500,000 a year but they have used costly external solicitors. In one incident just weeks before last Yrs local election the council paid just short of £40,000, that's right £40,000 in one month, to try and keep Cllr Brierley quiet and threaten him if he didn't. I have seen these invoices and can confirm them. And yet again he had done thing wrong and no action was ever taken up against him. In fact the total bill for all the Council's political work against the Cllrs above is again just over £500,000.

Along with all of this, if this was not enough she refuses to allow Cllr Brierley to hold surgeries and also refuses him to have a Council email address, so residents cannot contact him either via email or surgeries. All these sanctions are illegal under the Localism Act but the Chief Executive does this because she knows that it would cost Cllr Brierley 10,000's of pounds to take it to Court.

To date Donna Hall has used the police to try and get this Cllr and failed. She has wasted tens of thousands of tax payers money to get this Cllr and failed. Maybe it is time that she respects that he has done nothing wrong,

Is this really how Tax Payers money should be spent? The Chief Executive should not be political in her role and also stop wasting tax payers money. She also should not be political in her role. Maybe if she stopped wasting our money then we can keep a few more front line services.

PC Brigade out again

In the last day or two we see the PC brigade out again making a fuss where there isn't one.

First were the words of David Moyes who had just been interviewed by a female BBC reporter and obviously she had asked an awkward question at the end because after the interview David Moyes said words along the lines you got a bit cheeky there at the end do that again and just because you're a female doesn't mean you can;t have a slap, or words similar.

PC brigade are kicking off saying he was threatening her and he should lose his job. Everyone was laughing and the BBC reporter was not offended by it, so where is the fuss? No one should ever threaten to hit anyone,unless it is self defense, but don't turn it into something that it isn't. If people truely thought he was saying she may get a slap why, if you believe it,  aren't they kicking off about him poss slapping men - or do the PC brigade think that is acceptable and OK? Threatening physically is unacceptable but don't make something that isn't there.

Also when he says slap does he mean a physical slap or a slap a ban on her attending the Press conferences? Food for thought.

For me it just shows what a great job that reporter did because I guess that all reporters don't just want nice sound bits and they want to get a hard hitting question in. I guess this reporter did. Good on her! Many that I have spoken to and lots on the TV are saying this is being turned into something that it isn't

Secondly the National Trust have got rid of the word Easter on theirs and Cadbury's Easter Egg Hunt. They just call it a Egg Hunt. So the PC brigade don't want to offend people with the word Easter. Wrong! Missing it out offends millions. If they don't want to recognise the Christian festival there should just have a Egg Hunt in October but O No they want to piggy back the christian period but not recognise it.

For me the PC brigade should leave well alone.

The Voice of Standish is the Residents.

There has been much talk about Standish Voice's plans to turn the Rec on Southlands Ave into a Car Park. Local residents on that estate and others in Standish are concerned and oppose these plans strongly.

Last Tuesday Standish Voice had their meeting and lots of residents from Standish attended to oppose their proposal of turning the Rec into a Car Park. What also happened was we learnt a lot more.

The meeting was chaired by Gill Foster, who did a decent job of chairing the meeting.

As well as opposing their proposal, residents asked a number of questions. The first one that caught our attention was the fact that residents said that the Drawing was wrong and the Car Park was too small for what was being proposed. Standish Voice revealed that it was actually Wigan Council's drawings and it was ONLY indicative. Interesting!

Then it came clear that Standish Voice had been having secret meetings with Wigan Council on this matter. What we must remember was last June (2016) it was the Standish Independents that exposed this and said that someone had been knocking on a few doors asking residents about their thoughts. After speaking with a few their did not ask any more - as the reaction was clear. Here is that story from June 2016.

Residents asked about the number of people that had asked for this and SV (Standish Voice) said that just over 500 people had said in their survey that Car Parking was an issue. Now SV neighbour area that they chose has over 15,000 people.That's just over 3% of people thought parking was an issue but many did not ask for the Rec to be a Car Park but it has become clear that SV are manipulating that data for their own end.

To be fair I think most people would agree, if they were asked, that car parking is an issue but not their top issue. In that I think we can all agree housing is. But the second issue is traffic and like residents said, if there was a car park then that brings more traffic and unless the Council comes forward with a plan on that matter then a car park will just make things worse.

Also I raised the issue that the consultation online was flawed and that it could be manipulated and people cheat. Paul Ogden, the founder, of Standish Voice said this was the case and they knew about that. If that is true why run a consultation that they knew had flaws? Unless they knew and wanted to use this to make sure that they could do it so the responses reflected what they wanted? The flaws that I am discussing is that people from around the world can vote, in fact some one in South Africa has voted they have said. Another flaw is that you can vote a number of times. Paul Ogden of SV said this was not the case as the IP address would be flagged. An IP address is a unique internet number from your internet connection. A resident rightly said that if this was the case then all those that may go to the Library would not count as 30 people could use that PC and it would only show 1 IP address. As you can see this process was either not well thought out or was well thought out and there to be manipulated for their own ends.

SV could not agree if there is or isn't a covenant on the land and I can tell you that there is. I will scan this in over the next few days. As you can see the residents are not taking this and are determined to fight this and fight they will!

Come back and see more as this fight goes on. I believe that both Wigan Council and Standish Voice should stop this idea and pull this now. The question is will they?

Standish Voice and the hidden agenda

Many residents will have heard about a group called Standish Voice. Many residents will have seen the Xmas market that they organised and also this neighbourhood plan. More recently more people have heard their stupid and ridiculous plan at turning the Rec in Southlands Ave into a Car Park.

They claim to be the voice of Standish People but are they?

What many people don't realise is that this group was started by a guy called Paul Ogden. No problem there so far. However, Paul had never been interested in helping save Standish from all the housing developments in Standish that had been proposed - his choice. However, as soon as a Link Rd was proposed to come out at the side of his house and this would then effect him - he started Stop Almond Brook Link Rd group. There he led a campaign to stop the rd and when that was not going to happen he wanted it to come out at Ludlow Street, away from his house. Not very neighbourly.

Paul is also a strong Labour supporter and he wants a Labour Cllr in Standish. Nothing wrong with his democratic right but there is an infamous document that was left on a printer in the Town Hall where it said Labour's strategy to win seats is to infiltrate and start residents groups. Then never call the Council and agree with them.

Now here we have Paul who start Standish Voice which shouldn't be allowed to be called that as it is certainly not the voice of Standish. In fact Standish Voice always agrees with the Council in fact they even support Wigan Council in all these houses that we are getting. That's right they agree with all these houses. They don't stop there, this Neighbourhood plan that they are talking about, which was first muted by the convicted Labour Cllr Emma McGurrin, will have more land for houses for Standish. They fail to mention that!

He also claims that this neighbourhood status they have will stop houses being stopped in Standish. Guess what they haven't stopped a one and still support the Council's plan for all these houses.

So this so called residents group is nothing more than a Labour Council mouth piece. That's why they agree with the Council to have more houses for Standish - FACT! they want to get rid of the Rec for a Car Park - FACT!

So when they say look at us we are doing this and that ask yourself are they doing it for Standish or for Paul's hidden agenda?

All residents group in my opinion should be non political and Standish Voice is sure as hell not that. Residents that run non-political residents group should get the support of the local Cllrs but local Cllrs or wanna be's should not run them either just like Labour orders their supporters to do.