Council accused of "gagging" debate over Old Market development (From Ledbury Reporter)
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Council accused of "gagging" debate over Old Market development
11:30am Friday 5th October 2012 in News
Herefordshire Council bosses have been accused of ‘gagging’ opposition parties by refusing to hold certain debates.
It’s Our County (IOC) says it was told on the morning of last Friday’s full council meeting at Hereford Town Hall that it couldn’t launch a notice of motion relating to the Old Market development off Edgar Street.
Contracts were exchanged on the £90 million deal on the morning of the meeting at which IOC wanted to garner cross-party support in a bid to stop the scheme’s developers approaching existing High Town retailers.
The party also wanted a retail impact study to be carried out to understand the potential impact of the development.
But council chairman Coun Olwyn Barnett declared the motion “out of order” and disqualified it after taking legal advice.
“I accept I should have spoken to the monitoring officer but this notice of motion was seen at the last meeting and nobody said anything,” said IOC leader Coun Mark Hubbard.
“I’m concerned because it was given in two months ago.
“The system seems to be gagging any contentious issues.”
“The only impression you can draw from this action is that in anticipation of the deal scraped together by Stanhope and British Land absolutely no discussion was going to be allowed by the council administration on the damage this deal will have on Hereford city centre,” he said.
“There are serious issues here to do with abuse of process and officers being pressurised to behave in a partisan manner which is against duties as officers of the whole council.
“IOC will be taking this matter up with the Governance department of the council and pursuing the notice of motion at the next meeting.”
Council leader Councillor John Jarvis said British Land had taken a dim view of the motion as it mentioned one of its executives had allegedly leaked information to IOC.
He said the matter had prompted an internal investigation at British Land.
Comments(11)
bobby47
says...
12:50pm Fri 5 Oct 12
Your 'new voice' will, I'm sure, now help you to hang on as an elected Councillor at the next forthcoming elections.
But what of you others who so far have remained silent. What are you going to do?
Whatever it is, I respectfully suggest you do it and do it quick because this bubble you all live within is rapidly deflating and you are all going to be held to account for your decisions.
Despite our screams for you lot to do things in the open and not stiffle questioning voices, you are still at it.
You have created your own version of democracy and the worst is, you've convinced yourselves that its legal and above board. It aint!
The truth is, you behave this way because thats the way the strong characters within your group have orchestrated the way you do business. It suits them. And while you sit back and weakly play your submissive 'Yes Sir'ee' role, they are dragging you into their underhand practices.
None of these covert, behind a closed door practices help us the public in any way at all.
It only helps you lot. Its all for you. We dont matter.
Will one of you, other than Mr Hubbard, step forward and say,'Enough! I aint playing the game anymore.'
shunter50
says...
6:41pm Fri 5 Oct 12
s should have the backbone tostand for what is right not keep stum in the hope of getting a cabinet position so they can rake in a bit more of our money.. they are like lemmings a few lead and the rest follow
Grid Knocker
says...
1:44pm Sat 6 Oct 12
bobby47
says...
2:10pm Sat 6 Oct 12
In mitigation, let me say this to you .People like me germinate and grow because of the secret meetings and the existing Council dynamics that you have so well described. Its this that undermines our democracy in Hereford and throws up people like me.
What took you so long to act and realise that we Posters have something to say and we are fairly representative of what most Herefordians think?
My very warmest regards to you. I'm genuinely pleased to read your Posting.
Lord Smythe
says...
6:17pm Mon 8 Oct 12
My warmest regards to you.
bobby47
says...
8:41pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Of course I had different aspirations when I entered the job market. I had high hopes to become a Circus Lion Tamer but unfortunately they were not recruiting persons with a clubbed foot and a hare lip.
The Recruitment Officer was very good. He said, 'As soon as we start recruiting men who have your interesting disability profile we'll be on the phone straight away. You will be top of that list'. Acknowledging my screams of disappointment and my shouts of, 'Let me off your knee. I want to get dressed', this kind man escorted me off the premises.
That night, as I lay in bed, contemplating my future and watching my pet ferret rip apart a small rat that had wandered into its pen, I decided that my future lay in kneading dough.
My very warmest regards to you.
Colin J Marschall
says...
9:37pm Mon 8 Oct 12
Grid Knocker wrote:While it may be that IOC councillors seem to have integrity I for one cannot support their policies, from what is written on their web site the policies seem to be saying that they want to keep Herefordshire 20 years in the past. I don't much like the conservative policies either. There just doesn't seem to be any middle ground in Herefordshire at the moment. I did overhear a cllr saying that if there was an election tomorrow IOC would walk it, and that worries me.
@ bobby 47: with great respect, it is you who is living in a bubble. On Herefordshire Council, IOC councillors alone have integrity. Excluding the much-depleted LibDems and the so-called Indies (oh yes, and poor lonely old Cllr Chappell, sat there in the corner saying nowt and abstaining on everything), the Conservatives are dragooned into voting together on absolutely EVERYTING. I dare say if Jarvis Cockup said 'Hands up all those who think the moon's made of cheddar cheese', the Tories' hands would shoot up in unison.
littlewhitebull
says...
12:54pm Tue 9 Oct 12
After all, the council employs the people with all the brains at great cost, so they must know best. Quite a few councillors seem to have a similar view and would never 'rock the boat'.
bobby47
says...
4:22pm Tue 9 Oct 12
They gather together in their secret little meetings, they massage oneanothers giant ego's, produce some undiluted tripe, like a sign that proclaims that 'Here we can' and then they slide off home, fill in their expenses, write another pointless letter to the Hereford Times that says something stupidly obvious and then sit there and bemoan the fact that they have no funds to blow on wild, madcap schemes that would see us all sink further into the sludge that is our home Hereford.
Our only hope is that they all awake one morning, become overwhelmed with a need to go to Hay Bluff, eat an out of date custard slice and leap over the edge, thus leaving us pleasantly suprised at our good fortune that we no longer have to pay for their crazy form of democracy.
bobby47
says...
6:00pm Tue 9 Oct 12
Come on I need help. Im beginning to talk about kneading dough again...
Come on Comrades. Wake up. Where's Lukio?
Themightyboosh says...
12:24pm Fri 5 Oct 12
WE CAN't have a voice