Barnet Council : Only following orders ?

If you work for Barnet Council and are in any way involved in the provision of Sheltered accomodation, you may wish to consider the following points.

The officers of Barnet Council's primary role is to serve the residents of Barnet, not the political whims of Councillors who behave in an undemocratic fashion. The current policy to abolish sheltered housing wardens has no democratic legitimacy for the following reasons :-

1) The proposal was not mentioned in the Tory manifesto at the last Council elections.
2) Mike Freer was not the Leader when the Tories were last elected. He deposed the elected leader, Brian Salinger shortly after the election in a Palace Coup.
3) The people Barnet Council asked comprehensively rejected the proposal in the Council's own consultation.

Mike Freer could easily achieve legitimacy for his proposal by holding a borough wide referendum on the policy. As it is we have a leader who wasn't elected, imposing a policy that wasn't in the manifesto on people who told him that he was wrong in over 80% of responses.

There is absolutely no question that people will die because of the stress caused by the changes, let alone the impact of the remote warden service. Any Barnet Council staff who meekly go along with the proposal are complicit. It has been proven in the courts that only following orders is no defence. Should the policy survive the judicial review, what will happen when the first dearly loved granny dies due to the changes? If staff end up facing corporate manslaughter charges in the Courts, what will the defence be.

Lets examine the issue.

Was the issue forseeable? Yes, it's been predicted here and in many other forums.
Was the issue preventable? Yes, you could have voiced your objections and insisted that the council maintained a safe service
Will the Council be guilty of neligence in their duty of care to vulnerable people? Yes
Are there reasonable alternatives? Yes these have been widely documented
Are the cuts financially necessary? No, Mike Freer said this on BBC television

The first time someone dies, all of the questions above will be asked. If you are in any way, shape or form part of the process, you could be facing a criminal record, prison, the sack, press interest & social ostracisation.

Watch this video :-



Look what happened to the head of social services in a recent, rather well publicised case concerning Baby P. All of this is far more predictable and preventable. In every case where the Council has screwed up since Mike Freer came to power a Council Official has walked the plank. If there is a risk of prison & a criminal record, I see no likelyhood of Councillors steppin up to take responsibility. They will just say, as they did in the Iceland case "We believed the officers, they told us it was a safe policy". I'm sure they'll even have reports to back that up