Letter to Neath Guardian June 2009
Blaenhonddan Community Council Finances
Total duplicity of the clerk and chairs of Blaenhonddan in dealing with the matters of Council. The labour contingent having one set of rules, the plaid cymru councillors another set.
Wages for 2008-9 approximately £94,000 – this rises annually so next year will rise by 2-5% which will mean a rise to between £96,000 and £99,000.
Administration of this council cost £30,000 this year without wages, therefore pushing the total expenditure to £124,000
Costs of community centres without wages or income i.e. for maintenance, gas, electricity etc.
Bryncoch £8062
Cadoxton £6077
Caewern £7236
Cilfrew £4094
Aberdulais £9700
Owain Glyndwr £16989
Total £52,158
Playgrounds maintenance £13,884
Total of above £190,042
The total cost to this council for 2008-9 to administer and maintain the community centres and playgrounds is therefore approximately £190,000
This is offset by income from community centres which in the year 2008-9 was £19,618
Total monies therefore needed to maintain this council only without any improvements is approximately £170,000
Out of a precept of £166,884 and interest of £2232 which comes to £169,116 the sum of approximately £170,000 was used in wages and maintenance to upkeep Blaenhonddan Community Council for the year of 2008-9
This is the reason the finance committee wished to decrease the outgoings of this council in order to repair playgrounds which have fallen into disrepair and to install new safety water heaters in community centres so that people did not scald themselves, to maintain and improve facilities for the people of Blaenhonddan and this is why they have had to resign because they have been politically blocked from attending to this dire catalogue of management of the finances of this council.
Five cabinet ministers have resigned from Gordon Brown’s government and they have called on him to resign to allow the government of this country to work effectively and in the interests of the people to give those people hope for the future.
Six Plaid Cymru councillors resigned from Blaenhonddan Community Council for exactly the same reason. So that they could continue to fight so that people should not suffer any more from bad management, from hard earned money not being utilised for the benefit of the electorate and so that communities may move forward united and in a common aim, to better their lives as much as possible for the money they give over every year to government from the top to the bottom.
Cilfrew Resident’s Association now calls on Blaenhonddan Community Council to do the honourable thing and dissolve this council in the interest of the electorate of Blaenhonddan. If this is not done the people of Blaenhonddan will move forward to remove them from office as it is their right to do.
Dear Editor,
To clarify points raised by the new chair of Blaenhonddan, Councillor Dick Matthews reported in your newspaper of Thursday 4th June 2009.
Whilst in office, elected Plaid Cymru Councillors tried their best to get transparency into this council. It was this attempt that caused political fighting and made our efforts to redress the economic waste which we saw within this council futile. At every turn we were blocked from revealing to the electorate where their money was going. We highlighted neglected playgrounds to be told by those who wished to keep everything secret that we were bringing the council into disrepute by attempting to redress these problems and that there was nothing wrong.When Councillor Matthews states they will repair the council and put things right I hope he is referring to the total neglect that has been allowed to continue for many, many years within the playgrounds and facilities of this area and which we were blocked from addressing whilst in office.
The reason Plaid Cymru Councillors abstained from the second vote on Caewern Community Centre is that we had already voted to close this facility within six months, which in all councils is a statutory period during which motions passed cannot be overturned and consequently we believed this second vote to be illegal.
As one of the councillors who chose to give up my seat I am proud of the fact that we did a far harder thing than if we had stayed within an authority and sat there month after month knowing it was totally futile as many have done and continue to do today. Should we move forward an inch the might of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council was brought down on our heads with legal advice; we once informed by this body that we should retain a Barrister and go to Judicial Review to solve our problems and be able to move forward with issues affecting the people of Blaenhonddan. Every reader knows the prohibitive cost of this makes it impossible to achieve for ordinary people attempting to do the best for the people they serve.
As elected members we fought to de politicise this council and to move forward in a manner which would benefit the council tax payers, however I now know that the only way for Blaenhonddan Community Council to operate is not as a democracy but as a Labour controlled body. They brook no interference from outside, from other parties or from people who could move forward for the benefit of the tax payers. This is a one party authority and for councillor Matthews to come out and state they can mend this authority is a blatant attack on those people who had the intelligence and calibre to do just this but who were beaten and villified by himself and his party in the interest of secrecy and power which is so misplaced in this dictatorial body and also in this area of South Wales.
Letter Western Mail JUne 2009
In response to Mr. Peter Hain MP (letters page May 21st 2009 - Claims essential). I was aghast that Mr. Peter Hain has chosen to put his letter, in response to my letter of 19th May 2009, with the heading ' Pathetic rant'. on the 'Truth talkback' section of his official www.peterhain.org internet site. There is also a flashing banner to alert vistors proclaiming ' Dirt slinger' , referring to the personal attack of Mr. Hain on me. This site does not allow feedback, only giving access to Mr. Hain MP's official offices. What a way for our Welsh Secretary to behave. What an indictment of the man in power showing his teeth to destroy anyone having a differing vewpoint. What gives Peter Hain MP the right to call me a dirt slinger? Mr. Hain,you sit in judgement on many people who are not the same party as you; you speak publically about the Conservatives, do they put your name up in banners and call you a dirt thrower? No you rub shoulders with them at Westminster and laugh about it over dinner while we the people of this kingdom have no redress to slander put out in your name. This is the democracy that my ancestors fought for and handed for safe keeping to second generation hangers on, trading on the name of people who have fought for good, but who have never entered battle themselves. Well we are second and third generation fighters Mr. Hain who will never forget the people who took our money to go forward to gain a place for us at high tables; we will not forget those who took that hard earned power and sought to better themselves at the expense of those who had raised them shoulder high. We are now governed by a Labour government where less than half the cabinet ministers are elected by the people. We therefore have lost more than half the democracy we fought for. There are people who will continue to speak out Mr. Hain, even when the power we gave you is used against us, and as for dirt slinging, those that live in dirt cannot expect to come up smelling of roses. We await the publication of your expenses in full Mr. Hain, for the past four years also if you would be so kind.
Letter SWEP re Housing Stock Transfer June 2009
Sir,
Regarding the article printed in your paper of June 16th 'Tenants hit back at 'biased' info from protestors'.
Questions and answers that came out of this meeting thatI recall were :-
1. Who pays the independent tenant adviser? Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, out of the 5.2 million pound fund available to them.
2. Do the tenants appointed to the shadow board have a say in the running of the Housing Mutual, or will they be there in an advisory capacity only? They will be there in an advisory capacity only as there will be a board of directors appointed to the housing mutual.
3. Will the tenants appointed to the shadow board set the salaries of the directors of the housing mutual? The directors once appointed will set their salaries themselves and these salaries will not be public knowledge.
4. Why is it so difficult to find out about housing mutuals and associations and how well they are doing in the areas where a yes vote has occurred? Because housing mutuals and associations are private companies, in law, and therefore are not covered by the Freedom of Information Act as are public bodies such as the Council. They can therefore claim commercial confidentiality and do not publish information or figures to the public.
5. Why is Swansea Housing no longer in existence? Because they have been taken over by Coastal Housing. Once handed over the the private sector these houses could change hands many times as they will belong to private business and not to the people.
6. Is an assured tenancy better for the tenant that the secure tenancy? No, a secure tenancy is just that, secure and should an assured tenancy be taken on by council house tenants then never again will their tenancies be secured, never mind what is promised to be written into them.
Secure is secure and the only way to keep any security is to vote 'no'. I made my own mind up and it did not take any taxpayers money to do so. I would now be very grateful to the tenants themselves, representing us council house tenants on the shadow board, if they could tell me where the erroneous information is in the above answers I have received. I was under the impression that we were to listen to all information and based on that make an informed decision. Does this mean that if I choose to vote 'no' I am a protestor?
