PHF Manifesto Questions

[lynda]

I voted for Ukip last time here on the Manor. There was no Candidate for PHF, and i don't  know if there is this time either. I won't  vote Conservative . But what i do know is i would rather vote for Ukip and stick pins in my eyes than vote Labour.

[fred c]

 I won`t be voting Labour again, at least not until the carpet baggers that have taken over the party in Hartlepool have been binned.

There are too many of the present regime in it for themselves, there are for instance a number of them that haven`t had meaningful employment for 20 years or more, "divvying" the various chairs & committees up for the greater personnal gain.

Most people would say the biggest disgrace was the way in which they treacherously abandoned The Hospital & they are probably right.

Others think the "Binning" of the Town Plan will be a disaster for the town, allowing any & every develpoment, no matter the problems it could bring to Hartlepool & for what ? for the benefit of a few self serving no goods.

But to me the biggest digrace for a supposed "Socialst Party" was the Manor Residents Scandal, they stood by when they were fully aware of what was going on at the place & by doing that, they "Betrayed Working People"

4 labour councillors had involvement in that organisation, that fact alone sums up & Condems Labour In Hartlepool.

[grim reaper]

I agree with you Fred; Manor Residents was, and is, the biggest scandal ever perpetrated on the people of Owton Manor in general and this town in particular.
Not only for the reasons you have outlined but also for the fact Council standing orders regarding the'awarding' of money were binned by Labour cllrs.
Our finance officers raised objections to the massive sum of money being requested by Manor Residents (I believe the largest amount in one go is circa £40,000).
They wanted in excess of £100,000 in a lump sum and the officers were told by the Labour group 'pay up'. The rest is history, (and a court case).
By the way, I have just read of the EU ruling that states if a pregnant (EU) migrant wants to go back to her own country to give birth, then our NHS must pay for her treatment in that country! 
Is there ANYONE looking after 'our' money, either in Hartlepool, or the country as a whole? 

[DRiddle]

What makes me laugh most on this board of late is the infiltration of Green Party and/or Harry Blackwood supporters warning of the danger of a UKIP council and somehow attaching that to PHF.

If you actually deal in statistical evidence and voting patterns (as opposed to just listen to HB like it's gospel), what you'll realise quickly is Cameron is deliberately putting the Greens in the spotlight. He's doing it because their supporters are often 'old school' hard left ex labour voters.

No way is a Tory, UKIP or right of the middle voter going to suddenly jump as far left as the greens.

Cameron and his people know this. The greens are there, oblivious to how they're being pimped by Cameron to dilute the Labour vote.

Nowhere was this better demonstrated than in Heywood and Middleton. Labour members fought tooth and nail in a frantic campaign to support Liz McInnes, a good trade unionist and socialist whom no Green could oppose on views, against the Farageist tide. The Greens toasted a success with 3% of the vote. UKIP came 600 votes from taking the seat.

That's what happens when a party puts their personal promotion ahead of the needs of the community in question.

They (the greens) are as culpable as anyone if UKIP make gains in hartlepool, more culpable certainly than the independents actually trying to tackle the towns problems.

[beanzontoast]

DRIDDLE may well be right with his views on the greens and UKIP, if we can forget the greens for a moment where is the effective opposition to the Labour dominance of Hartlepool council going to come from, as I've said before I have respect for Lilley,  Brash, thomson, and of course Riddle,  UKIP only managed 2 councillors in may and we have already seen the Labour side of the chamber are not fit for purpose, they haven't been for years but somebody keeps voting them in. My point is does it matter who gets in in may I for one would be ok if PHF UKIP and Independants won seats in May as long as it's not Labour can it happen we put our differences aside for this common goal. UKIP as others must contest as many seats as we can, we have a candidate in the manor ward this time and he has had 30 years working for the health service, and for the record UKIP did try and build a working solution with PHF it wasn't because of myself and Jeff where talks broke down.

[beanzontoast]

DRIDDLE may well be right with his views on the greens and UKIP, if we can forget the greens for a moment where is the effective opposition to the Labour dominance of Hartlepool council going to come from, as I've said before I have respect for Lilley,  Brash, thomson, and of course Riddle,  UKIP only managed 2 councillors in may and we have already seen the Labour side of the chamber are not fit for purpose, they haven't been for years but somebody keeps voting them in. My point is does it matter who gets in in may I for one would be ok if PHF UKIP and Independants won seats in May as long as it's not Labour can it happen we put our differences aside for this common goal. UKIP as others must contest as many seats as we can, we have a candidate in the manor ward this time and he has had 30 years working for the health service, and for the record UKIP did try and build a working solution with PHF it wasn't because of myself and Jeff where talks broke down.

[Balotelli]

Still shy of answers BTW

Been reading the PHF manifesto. A few questions if I may:

"Maintain the town's roads and pavements by pro-actively repairing pot holes and broken pavements to enhance public safety."

and

"Endeavour to improve bus and public transport facilities in Hartlepool. "

Are both things I agree with. I've produced plans for both in the past. How do you propose to achieve these given you will

"Oppose any increase in council tax until Hartlepool's is below the national average. "

and

"Reduce town centre car parking charges, with the first 2 hours being free, with the ultimate aim of being completely free"?

"Tackle the growing litter problem by providing more litter bins in problem areas." - Is the problem not such much a lack of bins as the fact that so many people can't be arsed to use them, how would you propose to tackle that side of the problem?

"Ensure the best possible price is achieved when selling publicly owned assets using internal market appraisal and comparison." - How do you see this working? Can you give an example of how you envisage this happening? The statement in itself is a bit vague.

"While all new jobs are welcome, Putting Hartlepool First recognises the importance of increasing the number of new jobs that pay decent wages and that Hartlepool needs to move away from its dependency on low wage jobs which result in a low wage local economy." - Great, lots of people recognise this, what will PHF DO about it?

"Encourage the expansion of new manufacturing facilities" - Expand facilities that don't already exist or expand current ones? How to you propose to achieve this?

"Hartlepool is almost alone among north east towns for never having secured a significant number of Government department jobs. We will lobby for Hartlepool to receive its fair share of such jobs. " - I presume the way to do this would be through the local MP. How do you see that working if Iain Wright is still in office come May?

"The scrapping of the Local Plan has been a disaster for Hartlepool. The completion of the new plan must therefore be a priority" - How would you balance this with due diligence?

"Pro-actively encourage owners of eyesore buildings to bring them up to an acceptable standard by all legal means available to Hartlepool Borough Council" - It's my opinion that the owners of a number of such buildings are 'playing the game' to spite HBC. How do you propose to resolve that situation?

I notice your previous manifesto pledge on speed cameras has gone, why?

Yours etc.