I've said it before and I'll say it again. Ramsgate Town Council is not fit for purpose. Its powers are extremely limited. It duplicates functions like planning with Thanet District Council. And in these times of austerity its expensive! Last year Ramsgate Town Council cost the town's taxpayers £358,000 to run. If you add together the running costs of all the Town and Parish councils in Thanet hard pressed islanders have to pay out an eye-watering £800,000 a year! Surely this money would be better spent on delivering improvements to front line services like social housing or street cleaning, rather than paying for bloated bureaucratic talking shops, full of bloated middle aged men like me, which members of the public never attend.
I say its time for the Town & Parish councils to be abolished! They should be replaced with community forums. The forums will be run by local people and will hold their elected politicians to account. Community forums are a cheaper, more democratic alternative to the expensive waste of times we are forced to pay for now.
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VOTE FOR ME I'M ON RAMSGATE, THANET & KENT COUNTY COUNCILS.
COULD I BE YOUR MP AS WELL? LOTS OF LOVELY JUBBLY EXPENSES INNIT
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Also the Town Councils are totally dominated by Thanet's political elite. Take Ramsgate and Broadstairs Town Council's for example. One is totally dominated by Labour, the other by Tories. Virtually all of these town councillors are also Thanet District Councillors and some of them like Elizabeth Green & Rick Everitt in Ramsgate are also members of, or are standing for election to, Kent County Council!
In my book this is morally wrong! It's not right for town, district and county council politics to be dominated by the same old, same old faces and the same old, same old parties. This is a democratic dictatorship! And like all dictatorships in history it lays the foundations for bad-practice, mismanagement and corruption!
I say laws should be passed to stop these so-called double and treble hatters from running our local affairs like medieval Barons. Politicians should only be allowed to be members of One Council and One Council only at the same time. I also believe that all politicians from the House of Lords & The House of Commons downwards should only be allowed to serve a maximum of 2 terms of office in a row. Last but not least we need a fair system of voting which means that you vote really counts!
These changes are long over due and will, in my opinion, restore confidence in politics and encourage a lot more people to get involved breaking the stranglehold of the medieval Barons once and for all.
As far as my position is concerned, I resigned from Ramsgate Town Council with immediate effect on 22 March. If you elect me to represent Ramsgate at Kent County Council in May I will also resign my position on Thanet District Council. I hope my colleague candidates will do the same!
My resignation from Ramsgate Town Council, will unfortunately cost money, but I have spoken to Council officers and have been assured that by resigning on 22 March, any by election could take place on the same day as the KCC election, keeping costs to a minimum.
I am fighting this election on my own against the Big Party machines. I need all the help I can get. So If you want to help me by delivering leaflets, displaying a poster, or perhaps a small donation towards my election expenses please contact me at ianddriver@yahoo.co.uk
Power to the people citizen Driver!
ReplyDeleteRight On Dude
DeleteA bit of a generalisation, Cllr Driver, for localism would perhaps suggest the move should be the other way, retain small local councils and get rid of the district tier. Locally, for example, Broadstairs & St Peters town council seems to do rather well, has 'Quality Status' and works closely with other organisations in the town to run some of the most successful events in Thanet. Even on cost, just getting rid of town or parish councils would not save it all because many of the things they finance would then fall on district.
ReplyDeleteParish and Town councils are toothless tigars - costly powerless talking shops for people that just want to be called councillor. Localism is just BS from Cameron
DeleteWhy not set up a system of Soviets - would you like that?
DeleteI think community forums along the lines of those succesfully set up and running for decades in many councils across the country, is what I am thinking about John
DeleteHow would you know, Ian, you barely went to any meetings? Also why did it take you 2 years to come to this conclusion?
ReplyDeleteYes it did take rather a long time to realise. But I set out my intial views in a letter which was printed in the gazette about a month ago. I have now done the right thing and resigned.
DeleteAs ever, Ian is walking in a different direction to everybody else, and appears to know nothing of the history of the arrival of Ramsgate Town Council, which was demanded by Ramsgate residents because they felt Thanet District Council was inept. The most trenchant opponent during the consideration was one David Green, who warned of the escalating costs of Folkestone Town Council: and then became the biggest spendthrift on Ramsgate Town Council when it came into being. Truth is, parish councils are no better or worse than the people who run them, as with District Councils and County Councils. The saddest thing about local parish councils is that they have been dragged into the poisonous district political agenda of late rather than continuing to operate fairly non politically as most have done in the past. In that, Ian, you must admit partial rsponsibilityas you have played a role in the develpment of district politics in recent months.
ReplyDeleteAs you seem to be preparing for a wholesale destruction of existing democratic processes, most people should be aware that wherever and whenever such sweeping changes have been introduced the cost and loss of direction in services caused bu the distraction has always been huge.
Intriguing insight Chris Wells, especially your last sentence which pretty well sums up the catastrophe of railroading in welfare changes and lack of any economic sense being currently implemented by your fellow Tories.
DeleteTake a look in the mirror Wells!
The saddest thing of all is that in the process of pursuing you club aims, you are irrevocably damaging the lives of people and the future of this country as you don't know what you are doing.
Chris the point i am trying to make and which you ignore, is that i am trying to wrest the control of parish and town council's from politicans like you and I and from the big parties. In my opinion there is no place at all for party politics in these forums. My proposal would deal with this problem. Also Chris if you are elected to KCC (and I wish you good luck), will you resign your Thanet Council seat?
ReplyDeleteI find it amusing that you Cllr Driver resign the unpaid position from the 2 that you currently hold, yet retain the paid position so the when you inevitably fail to be elected to KCC, you still have a soapbox (and of course income) from TDC.
ReplyDeleteWould you be prepared to resign both your positions prior to standing for another Cllr Driver?
At least I have had honesty to resign from Ramsgate Town Council. Not naming names, but there are several councillors who are receiving expenses from both TDC and KCC (added toether a minimum of £15,000 per year if you are backbencher, more if you hold a postion which attracts a special resposibility allowance). Have any of these councillors offered to resign one of their renumerated posts? Not a single one of em!
DeleteI find it amusing that you should criticse me (the only person to have raised this issue) rather than focusing your anger at those councillors who are wearing 2 hats and claiming 2 lots of allowances!
TO: Anonymous25 March 2013 05:44
DeleteYou could say the same about Cllr Chris Wells, who voted with his feet against the Town Council. Actions speak louder than words councillor Wells.
And look at the money Councillor Bayford made from sitting on all three bodies and being Leader. Nowonder he was mad when he lost his position after igoring equality issues.
Some councillors have whole households on the councillor benefits. They should be capped, just like the caps they've put on the rest of the electorate. And means-tested! That goes for MP's too!. It sickens me to think that locally these people are paid twice to do the same job but still don't have time to hold local weekly surgeries and get out and talk to the people in their communities and listen to their concerns AND HELP THEM! Except of course at election time! Well they can stick their votes up 'em, that's my only manifesto and I'm sticking to it!
DeleteIan, at the Red Hall meeting it was undisputed that squabbling between local councillors, which is largely centred around ideology, is putting people off standing. It was felt it was not surprising people were put off, leaving more resilient party members to mop up multiple posts. Surely, those in this position of being double hatters cannot in all honesty be comfortable with this state of affairs?
ReplyDeleteAs as observation Ian, you probably need to ask the question of Ramsgate people if they think their Town Council is working for them first, then introduce your alternative.
Speaking as a leader of a small community group, it is hard to keep coming up with ideas and to keep such groups going. Being part of a community forum of community group leaders would make this task much lighter and enjoyable, and of course sustainable. And for some, the leap from community activist to councillor would be much easier to make.
They need more Gay councillors Solo but just make sure you don't give Ken Gregory your phone number!
ReplyDeletethanks for the warning 22.34. Ken Gregory and his nasty planning committee colleagues were quite happy to make my mother homeless in Manston without a seconds thought this would have on their health. All at the behest of their farmer friends who seem to be able to build what they want themselves alright.
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