Kate Thompson success : As dial a ride is scrapped
Submitted by editor on Mon, 06/21/2010 - 11:43.HELP councillor Kate Thompson must be celebrating the demise of the dial-a-ride for users in Letchworth. The district council pulled the plug on helping the disabled in Letchworth, but the old town council stepped in to save it. However among the cuts that Kate and the other HELP councillors were voted in to scrap was that and help for the down syndrome group. And scrap it they did, people must be patting Kate on the back to thank her for being so committed to her local community. Or maybe not? Maybe it is just her friends at the Foundation who have thanked her.
Vote national... don't let Mantle and Carr put you off
Submitted by editor on Thu, 05/06/2010 - 19:17.For the General Election voters are being urged to vote on national issues and to disregard the behaviour of local politicans. Many people are disgusted by the behaviour and policies that ex-Labour councillor Ian Mantle and his wife have followed. Such as axing a community police officer, stopping support for ethnic groups and removing support for Dial-a-Ride service that helps the disabled. Liberal Democrats on the council, such as Bruce Carr were behind plans to sack staff and to cancel grants to groups such as the Downs Syndrome Group.
North Herts to face probe
Submitted by editor on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 12:26.The North Herts Monitoring Officer and team face an internal enquiry and then a possible external enquiry over their handling of standards board enquiries raised against ex-town councillor, all of which were dropped.
Nationally guidelines suggest that enquiries should be expedited to concluded as quickly as possible (6 weeks is suggested), yet North Herts enquiry dragged on for 16 months.
Doubts have been raised about the quality of information used to make decisions and also how inpartial it has been. Points that the enquiry will hope to uncover.
HELP Refuse to answer question on costs of special legal advisors
Submitted by editor on Tue, 03/02/2010 - 21:10.H-E-L-P for a second time have refused to answer a direct question about the cost and name of their legal advisors, for closing down the council and sacking staff and halting community services. Derek Hodgson has asked the same question twice, once in December and once now and has yet to recieve a satisfactory reply. We ask what have they got to hide? How much have they been spending and what process did they follow to select their advisors? Was it put out to tender or did they work with nalc, or was it the old boys network in operation once again? We need to know.
Fair enough or not good enough? Is North Herts District Council failing the local community?
Submitted by editor on Thu, 02/11/2010 - 22:22.Unlike the old town council which achieved Quality Parish status, ranking it as one of the best performing town councils (in the top 17%) in the country, North Herts District Council continues to do badly in its 'quality exams'. The recent independent audit commission report shows that the council to be in the bottom third of councils and continues to decline.
The Audit Commission ranked them as 'FAIR' (not good and not excellent). They said :-
Match made in Heaven - Webb shows his true colours (yellow and green)
Submitted by editor on Thu, 02/11/2010 - 21:56.The latest unelected governor of the Heritage Foundation is former town councillor John Webb. Webb's most notable contribution to the town council was making a series of stupid complaints about his colleagues. Many felt that he worked tirelessly to destabilise the council under hidden agenda set by the old boys network. One of his favourite tactics was to make complaints about his fellow councillors. His last complaint was against 12 councillors who voted to setup two new committees.
Who was the secret NHDC adviser?
Submitted by editor on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 08:37.H-E-L-P have let slip that they recieved advice from North Herts District Council (NHDC) on their plans to close down community services and sack staff, but have failed to explain who they spoke to. A row is brewing about how close the links between H-E-L-P and their plans and the role of NHDC was in this.
Kenny steps down as plans for 'No-confidence' poll are leaked
Submitted by editor on Mon, 01/04/2010 - 17:20.
There has been a great deal of speculation in the town over whether a poll was going to be held in 2010 of a vote of no-confidence in the Heritage Foundation's Director-General Stuart Kenny. We can confirm that a large number of individuals had come forward with such a plan and that a spring date had been set. (People don't tend to vote in cold weather, but prefer the spring days). Sometimes it is hard to keep a secret and we were aware that the plan to hold the poll had 'got out'.
We can also confirm that Mr Kenny has made public his plans to stand down from the Foundation. The need for poll to remove him from office is not necessary now, however the need to reform the Foundation - how it is run and what it does remains.
We are not surpised that he is going.
No HELP for Heroes
Submitted by editor on Thu, 11/12/2009 - 13:24.
The old town council believed passionately in both the symbolic and giving nature of rememberance Sunday. We recognised that it was both about remembering and giving, as there are still soliders who return home today who need our help as much as ever. We believed strongly that there is a covenant between the people and the servicemen and women who act to defend us. That is why for two years we both laid a wreath and also donated 10p for each resident in the town. Making a total of around £2,600 each year.
Council Report : Ritchie and Mantle turn even nastier
Submitted by editor on Wed, 10/14/2009 - 22:03.The HELPless mob decided to mothball your council on Tuesday. Paying no heed to any objections, and to the dozens of people who had turned up to protest, they pushed through their plan to rob Letchworth of its voice.
Former mayor Philip Ross wrote asking them to stop and set out arguments why they shouldn’t. There was no answer to any of it. (see our other story below)
