Ward budget claw back...

[DRiddle]

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/call-to-use-hart-ward-budget-after-new-councillor-reveals-10k-of-people-s-money-unspent-1-6645229

[brassed off monkey]

Good start for the Hart Residents.

[Stationario]

Nice one and a good start for you. Ex councillor Fishers reply is pretty pathetic considering he HAD been a representative of the ward for as long as he was !!

[94994]

Just out of curiosity, does the budget need to be spent within a specific timescale?

Are there things in the ward that need it to be spent now or is it worth saving it up for a capital project that would make a significant difference to the area?

Is going in the Mail telling people I want £10k to be shared amongst the ward councillors to get it spent now that much different to cynically spending it in the run up to an election? After all it's a similar tactic for reinforcing in the residents mind that you're there and you're doing stuff for them.

Would it not have been better to use the Mail to tell residents that this budget exists and call meetings in Hart/Bishop Cuthbert/Clavering to ask residents what they think and what they feel they would want the budget spending on, if anything?

[DRiddle]

Is going in the Mail telling people I want £10k to be shared amongst the ward councillors to get it spent now that much different to cynically spending it in the run up to an election?

It's very different. I'm not up for re-election until May 2018. 4 Years away. There's a big difference between me doing this and me cynically holding a 'fun day' the weekend before voting day.

Would it not have been better to use the Mail to tell residents that this budget exists and call meetings in Hart/Bishop Cuthbert/Clavering to ask residents what they think and what they feel they would want the budget spending on, if anything?

That's exactly what I've done. I've drawn attention to the fact that it exists, it wasn't spent, and that it was due to be re-allocated into a 'collective pot' for future ward budgets across ALL wards, had I not intervened. I've also set up meetings and e-mailed relevant groups to get together and establish how best to put the money to good use.

As I commented (rather flippantly admittedly) on The Mail's comment board, I'm confident the residents and I can come up with projects better than the free removal of old fridges.

[94994]

Thank David.

Looks like a good start.

[DRiddle]

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/call-to-use-hart-ward-budget-after-new-councillor-reveals-10k-of-people-s-money-unspent-1-6645229

Bit of a ding dong going on via the comments board.

[clavering codhead]

Will it be used on something a little better than the useless notice board near the Gillen pub that Jean Robinson foisted on us?
When it went up I thought it was her way of communicating with us but alas we still hear nothing from the silent one, maybe when she's up for re-election we may hear her voice.
Fisher was a funny one, very vocal and in the news all the time when he wanted to be elected but he also turned mute when in power.

[mk1]

Fisher was a funny one, very vocal and in the news all the time when he wanted to be elected but he also turned mute when in power.

He sold himself from day 1. He was awarded a 'chair' and the SCABs would not do that with anyone they did not consider well 'on message'. Truth is he thought it would be an easy way to slip into the Laboiur party and back on the gravy train.
How on earth he expected anyone to believe he did not know about the Hart meeting is beyond me.
A classic example of party loyalty coming before everything else.

[Lucy Lass-Tick]

Beck is now seen rabbiting away in the Hartlepool Mail about the benefits to the ward that this fund could bring - anyone would think that it was his idea! 

[DRiddle]

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/hart-ward-councillors-want-to-use-unspent-money-to-create-new-apprenticeships-1-6646652

It's a bit pathetic really. I'll be consulting the residents of the ward and asking them what they want to do with the money, rather than telling them what I think is best.

[Lucy Lass-Tick]

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/hart-ward-councillors-want-to-use-unspent-money-to-create-new-apprenticeships-1-6646652

It's a bit pathetic really. I'll be consulting the residents of the ward and asking them what they want to do with the money, rather than telling them what I think is best.

Ah, but that's demonstrating good old democracy - a concept which is alien to too many of the 'rabble in charge'. Can just imagine the Mail's subsequent headline 'PHF's Riddle condemns apprenticeships' (complete with picture of scowling, disenchanted youths)! 

[Tommy]

David, firstly thank goodness for your real name on here, you must play those that you have a crack at, at their own game, use the media and not just the 6,000 copies per night sold here in Hartlepool....

[Inspector Knacker]

If the clawback is Fishers unspent allowance, why should the other two councillors get a share....surely they've had their share.......?  To be fair, shouldn't the allowance go completely to Fishers replacement.....?

[DRiddle]

Initially Riddler, that's what I was going to ask for. But I figured they would say 'No', basically just beacuse it was me who was asking for it. So I framed the suggestion/motion/request/whatever to include the Labour councillors to basically shame them into accepting my proposal.

I've seen the way they tie something nasty to a list of sickly sweet sugar coated proposals to help get the 'nasty' things passed over the years.

Eg Attaching Mandelson's freedom of the borough award to a list of genuinely deserving recipients. Or the recent example of tying the Sports Dome claw back money to a few minor good things for the town and staple gunning it to the 'Let's use the bulk of it to underwrite the Jackson's Landing loan' proposal.

I've observed their 'tricks', so where appropriate i'll use their tactics to try to do good.

This might seem 'sneaky' of course, and I guess it is, but I suppose you could say i've learnt from the masters at it.