Tuesday 26 May 2009

Kent's ManureGate: not just TDC and the sale of Manston

Not just TDC for once.

Deal Council: 2 councillors resign and auditors call for further 2 councillors and a civil servant to resign.

No copy of the auditors sleaze report from the East Kent Audit partnership Report published as yet.

Kent Police called in to investigate maladministration, fraud and theft.

Shouldn’t TDC be subject to a sleaze report?

The Audit Commission highlights the failures that are a national scandal yet TDC ignores the findings for its own reasons: with incompetence or corruption can be the only responses.

Either incompetence or corruption means a change is required.

Taxpayer funded time and money simply cannot be frittered away or deliberately bloated to safeguard careers built on incompetence and corruption.

#ManstonGate: night flights and no night fines
#ManstonGate: 106 breaches and no fines
#ManstonGate: noise and air breaches and fines
#ChinaGate: the £25k donation and 2x £12k donation to the political parties from the developer for Thanet’s largest-ever Planning application
#ChinaGate: the China trip and Tesco bag of expenses with the developer for Thanet’s largest-ever Planning application: public expenses and salaries/time
#Pleasurama: who has been dealing with the tax haven developer for 2 years?
#Dreamland: burned down again
#EKO: what does this quango of District councillors do and cost?
#Election Ferry meetings and costs: attended by the MP and councillors and civil servants over many months and years apparently – or an election stunt and white elephant?
#Thor meetings and costs: no councillors or civil servants attended these?
#Sericol meetings and costs: no councillors or civil servants attended these?

A brief aside on Manston: 85 jobs (jobs! Jobs!! Jobs!!!) claimed by the notoriously unreliable Infratil and “unsustainable at present levels” – that means expansion will not result in any more jobs as there is not enough work for the present 85 staff.

A very expensive use of public funds and time for no jobs and propping up a white elephant airport built opposite Ostend Cargo Airport and on the East Kent drinking water supply.

Who came up with this idea of airport expansion? And without the required safeguards? The Gang of Four? KCC? MP’s?

And now Manston to be sold - and who will clear up the pollution?

There seem to be neither manifestos nor council votes on an international cargo airport.

And even less on removing monitoring and other safety measures.

Who approved this?

On the mystery fires at Dreamland and Thanet shouldn’t Kent Fire Brigade and Kent Police release their scene of incident reports: on-site attendance, research findings, fire and crime lab reports?

And where are the councillor and civil servant salaries, pensions, allowances, expenses, mileage and other costs?

Especially pension costs: the deal with civil servants was always low salaries and high pensions compared to the private sector.

If we have high salaries and high pensions then something is not right for the provision of monopoly public services.

Or do we need to outsource to Sussex and Hampshire for competitive quotes for monopoly services?

KCC have released councillor figures of £1.5M in salaries/allowances and c.£150k in mileage. But where are the taxi and catering and dining costs? Internal and external?

And where are the civil servant figures to match - for each departments “Scores on the Doors”?

For the 900 staff CCC and 500 staff TDC and 30,000 staff KCC?

And the duplication of councillors at the 86 seat KCC and 58 seat TDC and 16 seat Town/Parish Councils occupying dual roles that are identical and double-claiming or triple-claiming allowances?

And where are the MP figures on family salaries and pensions?

Where are the MEP figures on all their costs – plus receipts? Clearly if Westminster MP’s are now doing it, MEP’s should too for their £1.8M salaries and allowances over 5 years.

Where is the Galvin Report on the waste of MEP's?

As MP I will produce an Annual Report of all costs and meetings and projects. All online and in council office and libraries - and monthly and quarterly updates.

Will Steve and Silent Sandys? And Kent’s MEP’s?

As MP I will commission a Parliamentary and East Kent audit report: “Thanet Council 1974-09: 35 years of failure”.

Bloated governance and failure.

This week:

#an open letter to Steve Ladyman and Gordon Brown for reform
#my views on the various elections and candidates
# a formal request to Thanet Labour to return the dodgy donation from ChinaGate to the Infratil Community Fund

Failed. Failed. Failed.

Time for Change.

2 comments:

stargazer said...

Walking along the west cliff last week I see the ferry terminal is black and blue with wheelie bins,I asume that they have come in on the ferry from France,if that is so why aren't our council spending all this money here and suporting manufacturing in Gt Britain.
Stargazer

Tim Garbutt said...

Thanks Stargazer: the bins have been there for at least 6 months in what looks to be the same quantity. I don't think they're shipped from France but rather stored at the Port awaiting being provided to residents.

Too many staff: not enough action at TDC. With £100k senior salaries it's simply ineffective.

I agree with your point though that recycle bins etc should be bought in Britain.

On recycling and Climate Change it does look as though TDC Planning is failing to implement the required 20% carbon targets on new and refurb buildings.