Streetlife

Council Leader Micheal White Snubs Residents By Scraping Ask The Cabinet !!

There was an Ask The Cabinet meeting due to take place at Havering Town Hall last night.  This was advertised on Havering Councils web cast page and I provided a link to this on my previous post.

When we arrived at the Town Hall we were informed that the meeting had been cancelled.  we were also told that the meeting had never been advertised !

One lady had traveled all the way from Hertfordshire to raise serious concerns regarding her son.  Her son has been unable to live in his property in Rainham for over a year due to a planning decision that has left his home uninhabitable.

I asked Julian Strong who is Leader Micheal White's assistant if it would not be possible for Cllr White  to see this lady for just a few minutes in order to hear her concerns.  Julian Strong went away and when he came back he told us that Cllr White could not see this lady as he was in a meeting !  To add insult to injury none of the residents who attended were given the opportunity to leave their contact details in order for them to be able to raise their concerns.

Julian Strong also advised me that Ask The Cabinet meetings have now been scrapped and are being replaced with a new question and answers session.  

I am totally disgusted with the way that Havering residents are being treated and I would like to know who made the decision to scrap these meetings and where is the public record of this decision.

Comments

Showing 23 of 23
Techy
Words fail me surely a complaint carried on to ombudsman is needed.

Council and Democracy is an Oxymoron
Ian J
Yes Lorraine it was a disgrace: 

I don't care how busy Councillor White was, the lady was distraught after travelling for two hours and finding out the meeting was cancelled without warning , where's that man's  humanity .
Paul K
Once  they're elected, they can do what they like, hoping that their actions will have been forgotten at the next election. And usually they're right. This is why we don't have a council of independents. Cranham has it right... how about the rest of you in Havering?

Alex D
It's really unprofessional. Even his political supporters can't be comfortable with this. Can they?
Lorraine Mossinactive
Hi Alex D this is what one of them who calls himself Spider said on Angry of Havering ;

 " But what if Michael White was not in the Town Hall? 

You assume that he can just drop what he is doing and run to meet a lady who is not even from Havering. 

She should make an appointment before travelling a whole 50 mins from Hertfordshire. 

The way you told about her journey from Hertfordshire is almost as if she flew in from Australia, or someting!! 

"Cruel", how silly!!

angeldelight
Communication is a wonderful thing!
:-O

PR disaster there.
Lorraine Mossinactive
Hi Angel Delight, nice to see you on here.
Dave W


O Dear Not Cllr White in the brown and smelly again.

Is it not time that both him and the true leader of HAVERING COUNCIL (Cllr Kelly) learned the true mean of democracy.

GOVERMENT OF THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE BYN THE PEOPLE.

Not as the bunch of circus performer here in Havering and at Westminster believe

Government of the Peasants  and Plebs , By us the Party. For us the Rules.

Remember  it should be.

                                          POWER TO THE PEOPLE.

Attached is a very rear photo of one of the so called leader of Havering Council leaing the Town hall.  See if you can guess who it is....
Ray Harris
I'm afraid that this is a blatant example of arrogance of power!  There is less and less accountability.  The Area Committees were set up by the Labour administration I led to provide access for local people to the decision makers in their community.  They were gradually stripped of powers by the Tories after the Labour administration lost office in 2002. Planning decisions were removed, local traffic schemes removed, etc, etc,) until they were reduced to quarterly consultative forums only - no decision making powers at all and held centrally rather than in local communities.  That is where I differ with Paul K about independents.  My experience was that they shied away from making hard decisions in favour of populism and welcomed the removal of planning and other powers from Area Committees so that they could be made 'somewhere else' in a Committee Room allowing them to hide behind others to make the hard decisions.  

Elected office should be about making decisions for and with the local community, not always being able to deliver what is demanded, but being prepared to stand up and defend a decision and being prepared to be accountable to the community for it.  Time and time again we see decisions that are made in favour of those who have wealth and influence or vested interests at the expense of the wider community, who are then treated as nothing more than voting fodder.
Michael Y
we need Independent councillors not those with a party line to follow,and the sooner people stop voting for the major party,s at local elections the better.
Paul K
And in the general election. When the voters vote for the 'other party' because they are fed up with the way the current administration is doing things and New Labour really mucked it up, you end up the the useless unholy alliance we now have. Once we replace politicians with clever, honest individuals, we may start to make progress, both locally and country-wide. We, the electorate have the power to do this - in fact, it's our only power.

Michael Y
I agree with Paul K that we should have Independent politicians at local level,but at the national stage I would want to choose from the major party,s and pick a candidate with a right,centre,or left wing view point,all though Tony Blair in my opinion was a tory so the choice to the left is limited
Paul K
This is the problem with the party system at present. There is no choice really, between them and so we, the voters, may as well not have the vote if it makes no difference who we vote for. Voting for a party and subsequently the leader of that party is the same as electing a dictator. He or she does what they please and ignores what the populace wants. Even if it demands, it won't get.

A successful company doesn't sack  the whole of its management every five years; there is a continuity due to the appointment of the right man/woman for the job at that time. If he/she doesn't shape up, then they are dismissed. And so it should be with politicians who, to my mind, have no ability other than to be politicians, that is, have an innate ability to lie and to have a very thick skin. We should appoint our representatives having checked their CV and ascertained that they put their appointers' wishes into force.

There is no reason why local government shouldn't have the same structure and be funded the same way - local income and corporation tax rather than the outrageously unfair council tax.
Lorraine Mossinactive
Hi Paul, are you aware that councillors in Havering  are paid one of the highest amounts of special responsibility allowances in the whole of London ?  Check out www.amgryofhavering.com and click on the allowances section
Techy
I agree Paul & Michael, compared to other countries I have knowedge of, uk local government is a mess. Locally elected representatives should have prime concenr for the area and inhabitants not Party Politics and massive allowances.
Ken Rinactive
I also agree with the previous comments. 

Could we get a change in the system before May 2014 ?

Are there enough people to stand up and be counted ?

Can we get away from the political parties in local elections ?

I am willing to stand in my ward any other takers ?
Dave W
As pointed out in one of the above posts.

The ruling junta of Havering Council have had their snouts in the trough of gold for a number of years.

The question is, come May 2014. and if  a change of power is allowed to take place at Havering council. Would a new junta reduced the rates of allowances paid.
Ken Rinactive
Sounds like that would a good place to start, its a reasonable example of intent ?
Lorraine Mossinactive
I sent a letter to Eric Pickles regarding their allowances and I just got fobbed off with the response.  You can view the letter here;  http://welcome-to-the-angry-forum-we-came-we-saw-we-got-angry.964883.n3.nabble.com/Letter-To-Eric-Pi....  (Be warned it is rather long)

It has been proposed several times by the Residents Association that the Special Responsibility Allowances should be reduced.  

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