John Gilbey got out of the wrong side of bed Part 2

It would seem that John Gilbey's Saturday didn't improve. Having slain his traffic-related opponents with his mightier-than-any-sword quill pen, he then swivelled his attention to focus on those who simply would not follow orders - in this case regarding the supposedly independent commission he was thinking of setting up to waylay the referendum on governance. (Translation: moving away from elected dictatorship, towards something more like democracy.)

This press release is altogether punchier, even though it has fewer exclamation marks. It may read like a snarky comment on some social network site, but this is actually an official statement from the Leader of our Council.

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Governance

Cllr John Gilbey landing a few metaphorical punches

A few weeks ago, we said that we wished to set up an Independent Commission to inform the public openly and completely about the various options with regard to the governance system of the council.  This totally transparent exercise, completed by a wholly independent commission would have enabled everyone with an interest in this admittedly remote subject to inform their vote in a referendum next year. Three of the four parties had agreed in principle to support a Commission.

With appropriate weasel wording, the Lib Dems believe that the public should not be informed until much later, after a petition reaches the required level - which they assure us will be reached.  This purely political manoeuvring means that the public will not be provided with information at an appropriate time.

Council decisions will always be made by the party with the majority of seats, whatever the governance system.  Decisions with the executive system are better-made, without politics and at appropriate speed and I therefore believe that we should be very wary of a return to the politically-charged committee system.  There would also be cost and officer-time considerations to assess under the various systems and I regret that these members have decided to reject the opportunity to inform the electorate.  Unfortunately it means that we cannot proceed without the full support of members for an Independent panel.  I am not going to support adding costs to the council without cross party agreement.

Finally, I would welcome any of the other Parties coming forward with a Policy rather than purely relying on opposition to anything the current majority group does.  This suggests simple laziness or lack of interest?  It has been going on since 2005 and perhaps even before that.

News Release - Saturday 15th March 2014, from John Gilbey's website, and on Facebook

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"Decisions with the executive system are better-made, without politics..."

I laughed till I stopped.

Cllr Gilbey's wariness of a committee-based system makes me wary of the "independence" of his now-never-to-be Commission.

John Gilbey got out of the wrong side of bed Part 1

Our Precious Leader didn't have a good start to Saturday by the looks of it. Someone or something, or possibly everything, had him riled and the solution was to let rip on his very own website and Facebook page.

It may be that he was displeased with the public reaction to his support for the proposed one-way system in Whitstable - some churlish ingrates have drawn unfavourable parallels with the Westgate Towers fiasco, er, trial. It may be that the Barham by-election result irked him.

Whatever the cause, the following tirade was the result. In my mind's eye, I see it being accompanied by quite a lot of finger jabbing.

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Westgate

Cllr John Gilbey making a point

Sadly I have to re-open this issue to fully counter accusations made recently about the traffic trial but everyone should be aware that activists and opposition councillors are still distorting the facts and being economical with the truth.

Remember the trial had the full support of both councils and many others and was a joint operation between the two councils.

Remember the decision to close showed exactly who was the dominant partner - as they should be as it is their responsibility.

Remember there were so many positive aspects to the trial and further work around Canterbury would have given us the much better traffic movement we sought.

Remember we could not introduce these additional features because we were in a trial phase.

For the record, we were given no option but to remove Councillor Hirst from the Conservative Group because of his behaviour.  He persisted in working as a county councillor to the great detriment of the City and his duties to the City. We could not persuade him that he had also been elected as a City Councillor.  He was never, as widely reported, removed because of his opposition to the Westgate Trial, the issues were historic prior to this event.

With the Chairman of the North Thanet Conservative association, we spent six hours in three meetings trying to keep him in the fold.  Sadly we failed, but it was never within my power to expel him from the Party.

There was no great dismissal as portrayed in the media and he was given ample opportunity to return to the party and resolve any issues he had. I have seen his written resignation letter to the Party.  He was a Conservative on Friday and joined another party on Monday, yet despite many accusations, I have never once smeared this individual in the press or anywhere else.  You must judge!

The recent by election saw this continuing accusatory behaviour. No Policies from the opposition, just lies, distortions and negativity. What a world we now live in!  What happened to serving the community and the electorate?

News Release - Saturday 15th March 2014, from John Gilbey's website, and on Facebook

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Jolly good question, that last sentence. I've been asking myself the self-same thing.

Look everyone - it's that Ed Targett again!

Greens unveil Ed Targett as election candidate

The latest contender to challenge for North Thanet and Herne Bay MP Sir Roger Gale’s seat at the next election has been revealed.

Former Herne Bay Times reporter Ed Targett is the Green Party’s first candidate in the seat since 1992 after helping establish a new Thanet group in 2012.

Father-of-two Mr Targett, 31, grew up in Herne Bay and now works as a energy writer and wants to raise awareness on a number of issues including changes to at Margate’s Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital and Queen Victoria Hospital in Herne Bay.

The Canterbury-born campaigner has welcomed party leader Natalie Bennett to East Kent on a fact-finding visit and wants to raise awareness of issues including the NHS, public transport and town centre regeneration.

He lives in Margate with his fiancée and is a member of the O’Neil’s Boxing Club. Mr Targett stood as a Green candidate at the 2013 county council elections in Margate and Cliftonville.

The Greens plan to stand several candidates in the council elections and Ian Driver is confirmed as the party’s candidate for South Thanet. The other confirmed candidate for the seat so far is retired nurse Frances Rehal for Labour as the main parties seek to shrink a 13,528 Conservative majority.

Canterbury Times 10th Mar 2014

Herne Bay Food and Drink Fair

A storming success by anyone's reckoning - plenty of stalls selling excellent food and drink, plenty of happy punters streaming in, and then streaming out clutching their bags of goodies.

I hope this becomes a regular, and frequent, fixture in the town calendar.

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How can Herne Bay find its voice?

Will Scott's logo for Herne Bay

Town council or Herne Bay Society: what does the town need?

Does Herne Bay need its own council, or would a Herne Bay Society be better? Is it time to reclaim our Bay? That’s the question campaigners are asking this week after another Canterbury City Council council decision was met with fury in the town.

This time, it was the decision to block two-hour parking bays in the town, even though it was supported at a meeting of Bay town councillors and by business leaders. Members of the joint transportation board voted to go back to the drawing board, raising fears traders would suffer.

Nigel Hancock, from the Bay Independent Retail Group (BIRG), said:

“The fact is that we, as a town, are being stymied time and time again by Canterbury City Council. With every move made by us, and other community groups, to improve Herne Bay for its traders, residents and visitors, the current council seem to dish out another blow which knocks us back.

The policy-makers in Military Road seem to think that one size fits all and policies made for the city of Canterbury will somehow work in Herne Bay. They are deluded.”

Mr Hancock questioned whether it was time to reconsider the idea of setting up a Herne Bay Town Council, to give the town more effective representation and control.

But long-time campaigner Phil Rose, who is part of the Campaign for Democracy in Canterbury District seeking to change the way the city council is run, believes said there may be better options. He said:

“When people talk of a Herne Bay Town Council they are often thinking of the old Herne Bay Urban District Council but it would not be anything like that. It would be a layer underneath Canterbury City Council, that would decide how to set it up and what powers it has. The solution for local people who are unhappy with things as they are is to get involved but at the moment there is no vehicle for them to easily do that.”

He suggested a town-wide community group could be set up, with representatives from existing clubs and organisations. It would be non-political and could reach hundreds of people under the same umbrella organisation. Mr Rose, who runs the Herne Bay Matters website, said:

“A Herne Bay Society would be a good move, representing all the existing groups, as the people of the town, without a political axe to grind. We have the BayPromoTeam who do fantastic work but they are more about arranging events and promoting the town. I think there is a need for a group to represent people’s views and provide a platform for serious, formal debate with the council.”

The group would be similar to the Whitstable Society and Canterbury Society and council spokesman Rob Davies said those groups worked well. He said:

“They work effectively to represent their towns and we would be interested if Herne Bay were to create a similar society. We would work with them in exactly the same way we work with the two existing societies.”

Herne Bay Times 6th Mar 2014