Council Meeting 10th December

[admin]

The next meeting of the full council is scheduled for Thursday, 10th December at 7pm in the Civic centre

No agenda as yet

[Alnwickist]

  Next planning meeting 16Th is bumper one I'm told.

[DRiddle]

Another bizarre one tonight. My car parking proposal kicked into the long grass (but I'll retrieve the ball in six months).

The chair again underlining her lack of impartiality by refusing to allow a follow up debate on a question about Cranney excluding Seaton Councillors from the master plan committee, only to then ALLOW debate on another question literally seconds later.

We saw a member of the public ejected from the meeting (the second time that's happened this year) and a councillor very audibly tell a member of the public to "shut up".

The chair saying "I'm Mary Fleet, I chair these meetings", which was in the middle of her taking such blatant direction on what to say from Cranney and the council leader throughout the entire meeting.

Her claim that she was chairing the meeting was as convincing as 'EMU' saying "It was my idea to attack Michael Parkinson", as Rod Hull stood nearby hoping nobody would notice his arms were moving.

Probably the most bizarre part of the meeting was the first 20 minutes or so. Between the chair and the deputy mayor, they did for council meeting stewardship what Samantha Fox and Mick Fleetwood did for presenting, at the 1989 Brit Awards.

This is another meeting which can be filed under 'S' for 'shambles'.

God help Hartlepool when these people start mixing it with the likes of Ray Mallon and whoever else in the combined authority.

#prayforhartlepool

[steveL]

IMBECILE [im-buh-sil, -suh l or, esp. British, -seel]
Imbecile is a medical category of people with moderate to severe intellectual disability, as well as a type of criminal.[1][2] The term arises from the Latin word imbecillus, meaning weak, or weak-minded. It included people with an IQ of 26–50, between "m**r*n" (IQ of 51–70) and "idiot" (IQ of 0–25).[3]


Yup, that about covers it for Cranney's performance tonight. Our last hope before he's made Mayor next May is that HMRC get to his front door first.

oh BTW, here's your Christmas present Kevin

[DRiddle]

It truly wasn't a meeting for the faint hearted, or indeed for fans of the English Language.

Within the space of a few minutes we went from me attempting to extoll the virtues of Milton Friedman and Lars Peter Hansen, in an effort to prick up some of the Labour ears, who actually went to school, regarding the merits of free parking . . . To comments about "Community 'Ubs" and being asked "oooooooohs for and oooooooohs against".

I don't get annoyed in the meetings anymore, the frustration is still there, but by and large it's now a free therapy session for me. On top of everything else it's more a monthly reminder as to why I teach my 21 month old son to read every night.

[steveL]

It seems pretty clear to me that HBC is in a state of collapse. Nothing is operating as it should from the Chief Executive downwards complete with an 'impartial' council Chairman whose blatant and frequent willingness to receive instructions  direct from the floor is now an embarrassment. It's also clear now that a majority of council officers and councillors know it. They turn up as spectators to a soap opera simply to find out what happens next.

Something absurd, I'm sure, like a grade 'A' sycophant and former fellow Director of one of Kevin Cranney's companies being slotted into a £48,000 job and put in charge of Adult Education.

[fred c]

HBC hasn`t quite reached the depths of the "Marianas Trench" it is though getting deeper & deeper into the cravasse, last mights meeting was another shambolic affair, I was origially relieved when Clr Fleet took over as Mayor & for the first few meetings she performed in an reasonably impartial manner, but the last 2 meetings have been a disgrace.

I am now of the opinion that i actually prefer Lying Ste, when it came down to it, he at least made a T**t of himself, the present incumbent is unfortunately letting  several people do it for her.

There have been long standing problems with the audio system in the council chamber & after difficulty in hearing a report by Clr Lawton, I requested the chair ro ask councilors if they could speak into their microphones whilst addressing the chamber.

What ensued is another example of HBC wasting money, the behave yourself councilors course appears not to have worked on some of them.

Clr Lawton expressed the opinion that because councilors on the opposite side of the chamber from her could hear, I should also be able to hear her dulcette tones, I then explained to the chair that at my age i am able to decide if i can actually hear something... or not.

Clr Lawton decided to pass further comments towards me, I attempted to end the matter by thanking her several times for her concerns, only to hear a member of the ruling group comment "shut up"

As an aside..... Cwistopher had lovely suit on.

[steveL]

Cranney did admit that the Café in the Crem is yet to make a profit or cover its running costs but went on to say that it had only been open 2¹/₂ years and this wasn't unusual. It certainly isn't unusual for any of his own companies which have typically gone tits up before 2¹/₂ years are up.

We've been promised that the accounts will soon be presented to the Finance and Policy Committee. The question now is whether or not they will be 'pink-papered'. CAB had already promised in February that the accounts would be made public last July; it didn't happen.

Another thing to note is that as part of the bid to the Big Lottery Fund, the Waverley Allotment Scheme claimed that selling its vegetables to the Café in the Crem would support the schemes sustainability. Any allotment holders out there will know that the selling of their produce for profit is specifically prohibited by HBC in their rental agreements. It was very obvious that Cranney was not aware of this and in any case, rules aren't his main concern as we all know.

[fred c]

So basically Cranney & the rest of the Clown Council think it is ok for hard pressed council tax payers to subsidise a publicly owned cafe ?

I am really starting to wonder, what it is exactly I get for my council tax payments.

I fully understand that a proportion of it does go towards the financial upkeep of those councillors who have no visible means of suppport on their register of interests & there does seem to be a number of those.

I also wonder exactly how that works, especially when some of them appear to lead quite extravagant lifestyles, exotic holidays, new cars, new very expensive house, 2 houses, diamond studs in ears, trips out to Portsmouth 

[Lord Elpus]

The current state of play within HBC can only get worse, Simmons is retiring in May and who knows who'll take over as Chair of Children's Services.  Could well be 'Father Jack' Barclay or even SAB's mother, (I'm been serious).

Mad Dog, Richardson, and the Scabs have filled the Labour benches with people who are only capable of putting up their hands when they're told.

In my opinion, there is a public perception of corruption, which in my view is well founded.

Apart from Brash, Thompson and Riddle there is no strong opposition.  If Brash goes in May the lunatics will have a free rein, God help us all.

It takes a good man or woman with a strong stomach to working with most of the Lab/Con Councillors.  UKIP Councillors have shown they just have not got a clue.

Brief analysis, Hartlepool Council is fooked.

[DRiddle]

What I find disappointing is there are clearly some genuinely decent people amongst the Labour lot. I've only heard Councillor Thomas in full council once I think, but when he spoke there's clearly an intelligent, albeit possibly timid, man there. He appears to want to do the right thing. Likewise his good lady can regularly be seen on various left wing protest rallies and 'old Labour' type campaigns. She seems to do that without any fuss or self promotion, suggesting to me she's a genuinely socialist.

Again, it's hard to deny that Councillor Simmonds hasn't at least tried to do his bit towards educational achievement across Hartlepool. He too seems an intelligent man who must surely be packing it all in partly due to frustration and/or utter bewilderment at what has happened to a party I presume he's supported most of his life.

The likes of Cranney and others rely on the fact that's it's going to be difficult to bring down a Labour Council in Hartlepool. It MIGHT happen at the ballot box but it would need to be a 3 year sustained campaign.

The most immediate answer would be for Labour to lance the boil(s) themselves.

I don't see it happening though. It's very worrying for the town that the council chamber has been packed largely with not only people who seem in it to make money via allowances etc, but with people who are literally unemployable in the real world.

I'm not saying the council should be full of university graduates or academics. There is absolute merit in council having a cross section of society representing the public. A cross section across social classes, ethnicities, gender, employment sectors etc.

However, I don't think it's too much to ask that a basic requirement of being a councillor should be the ability to read.

[steveL]

However, I don't think it's too much to ask that a basic requirement of being a councillor should be the ability to read.

I think that's being a bit ambitious. Can we start with learning the basics of the full alphabet first - maybe Devlin can organise a training session - another PowerPoint session with an absolute minimum of 26 slides.

[steveL]

The other things we learned last night were  that:

• Cranney confirmed that he is definitely homing in on diverting the Seaton regeneration funds to OFCA
• The 'quick flip' plan for Jackson's Landing has been totally abandoned and they're now hoping against hope that the Navy Museum think of a use for it
• The 3 Seaton Councillors have indeed been deliberately excluded from the Seaton Coastal Committee
• Trish Lawton is terrified to deviate from the script she's been given to read
• CAB gets his suits from the Factory Outlet shop in Powlett Road (2 for £50)
• RMW is in a sulk after being force-fed fried bread

[Darknessontheedgeoftown]

It seems pretty clear to me that HBC is in a state of collapse. Nothing is operating as it should from the Chief Executive downwards complete with an 'impartial' council Chairman whose blatant and frequent willingness to receive instructions  direct from the floor is now an embarrassment. It's also clear now that a majority of council officers and councillors know it. They turn up as spectators to a soap opera simply to find out what happens next.

Something absurd, I'm sure, like a grade 'A' sycophant and former fellow Director of one of Kevin Cranney's companies being slotted into a £48,000 job and put in charge of Adult Education.

And is this the same Patrick John Wilson that was a director of the Northern Lights Academy?

[DRiddle]

Any one know why Cllr James was missing from the meeting?

I don't think I can ever recall a time when she's missed full council.

Was it late night opening at Bon Marche or something?