Thursday 22 October 2009

Councillor Lynne Hillan - The most loathesome woman in Barnet


Councillor Lynne Hillan is the architect of the Council's policy of abolishing the wardens in the Barnet Council Sheltered housing schemes. What does she really think of the idea to cut the number of wardens by 75% and make them have to travel from scheme to scheme in busy traffic?

Well her mum used to be in a Sheltered housing scheme, with a warden. Shortly before the cuts were publicly announced, Hillan moved her mother to another scheme, where the wardens are being retained.

Her Barnet Tory Cabinet Colleague refused to visit one such scheme to discuss the cuts, announcing that it would be "too upsetting".

Now when I thought about describing Lynne Hillan in such harsh terms, I thought to myself. Could I be accused of being too harsh? Could there be a more loathesome woman in Barnet? Well let me explain why I handed her this rather unpleasant title.

1. She is clearly aware of the effect that the change would have, otherwise she'd have left her mum where she was.

2. There are hundreds of old and vulnerable people in Barnet, who currently have wardens. They are contemplating the future with trepidation, stress and fear.  This is all Lynne Hillans fault as it's her scheme.

3. Stress is one of the primary causes of premature death. Lynne Hillan is subjecting hundreds of elderly Barnet residents to high stress levels. This will inevitably lead to some deaths. Again Lynne Hillan is responsible.

4. She is responsible for 78 year old David Young to have to engage in a costly and stressful court battle against Barnet Council. This will eat up thousands of pounds of his money. Is this any way to treat a man in the twighlight of his life? Lynne Hillan thinks so.

5. We all love our Mums, Dads, Grandpas and Grandpas. Lynne Hillan has made sure her mum was Ok, but she doesn't give a stuff about anyone elses. If she did she'd have killed this awful cut long ago.

6. As the Jewish Chronicle has pointed out, there are more elderly Jewish people in Sheltered accomodation in Barnet than anywhere else in the country. Many of these people survived horrors and some lost whole families during the war. Hate crimes are on the increase in Barnet, yet Lynne Hillan seeks to remove the security and safety of an on-site warden.

For all these reasons, I cannot think of anyone else who could possibly qualify for the title.Lynne Hillan could have stopped all of this months ago. I sincerely hope that in the Council elections next May, the people of Barnet stand up and show Lynne Hillan what they  think of her.

Oh and before anyone says "we need to save money", here's a chart showing how the Council could save twice what they are saving through cutting wardens, without affecting a single front line service or hurting a single old lady (Thanks to Don't Call Me Dave for the info).



9 comments:

Quarmby said...

Spot on as ever Rog.

I think a year ago i may have disagreed with the saving option to cap pay at £100k on the basis that you wont get the top people you need to run such a big organisation.

But you look at the Senior Management team now and its full of people that have never run a service in their life. Their only qualification is the ability to nod their heads and pocket the money as the 'Future Shape' shambles rumbles on.

The Council has forgotten what its there to do, it just exists to make Freer and Walkely famous now.

Rog T said...

Quarmby,

A local authority needs competent managers, not stellar performing superstars who transform organisations.

I've no objection to a sensible bonus scheme, approved by 75% of councillors that really would reward results and hard work. That would deliver savings so could easily be justified.

Quarmby said...

I wouldn't mind paying the money if someone was a stellar superstar and could affect a transformation that saved many millions.

Unfortunately they are paying stellar superstar wages for people who aren't even competent managers.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Great post, shocking stuff, very distressing and pretty crass behaviour by her.

Anonymous said...

That's a pretty tough headline.

All I can say that if this is an attempt to prevent the 'Conservative Group' having her as their next Leader it's a waste of time. It's already been agreed. The deal has been done. There will be no contest, any potential candidates have been scared off. The treatment that was meted out to Chris Harris, and Brian Salinger before him, have sent the message out loud and clear.

Cllr Freer has handed the job to her on a plate and they are now in a handover period.

What Cllr Lynne Hillan as the new Leader of the Council will mean is anyone's guess.

She was distrusted by the 2002-2006 Conservative Group for many reasons. Perpetual embarrassing a whispers surface about concerning non political matters which I have no idea if are true or not. As others have found the media seem to have a curious habit of resurrecting stories when people attain higher office, in the public interest.

You can be sure of one thing that it will be a rocky road as she has upset a whole load of people with her style of 'politics'.

My money is still on 2009 being the year she becomes Leader of the Council and the year she is forced to resign under some cloud or another at devastating cost to the Conservative Party facing two big elections within months which would be bad news.

Rog T said...

Dan,

Given my allegiance, I suspect that Hillan is the very best possible choice for Tory leader as she's useless and she's tainted by her association with the Freer regime. With her support of warden cuts, she'll definitely cost the Torys votes

If I wanted to stop her, I'd give her my vote of confidence. You've obviously not heard of the curse of Rog T.

As with everyone else who gets a mauling in this blog, she gets it because she deserves it.

I only have two rules. If someone does something which I think is commendable, I'll praise it, regardless of their party allegiance. If someone really deserves to get a bucket of bile, they get it, regardless of party allegiance.

It just seems to me that in our neck of the Freer, Coleman, Offord and Hillan are most deserving of a regular dousing for their shenanigans. Because of my left leaning views, I'm more on the lookout for Tories, but if and when Labour get up to this sort of stuff, they too will receive a rather large flea in their ear.

It's just that I cannot ever imagine a circumstance where someone like Julie Johnson would ever behave like Coleman or Hillan.

Richard Weider said...

Roger

I disagree with your critism of Lynne, and am not completely against the policy on Sheltered Housing.

However, to my former Conservative colleagues I urge someone else to stand for leader against Lynne. This is not necessarily because I don't want her to win. Rather, it is because I don't want you to suffer a similar disaster to Labour under the failed Prime Minister that is Gordon Brown.

To become leader you need to show that you have the skills to persuade others, and that is best done through a leadership election. So I please urge someone to stand so that a proper debate can take place and the best leader can emerge, that can take the party forward to Conservative principles and for the residents.

Anonymous said...

Richard,

Your suggestion is laudable, and correct. The Conservative Party's interests are served by a proper contest. As you point out, and I have suggested, the absence of one would be a political catastrophe.

However, I'm sticking to my prediction that this is all to late. The deal is done. Contests for the leader are also alien to Mike Freer and Lynne Hillan. Mike Freer is the first Leader of Barnet Council to take that post without facing either a competitive election to become leader of his group or face the electorate of Barnet as leader of his group. There is little understanding, in my view, of the necessity or desirability of competitive election.

It's clear to me that the path is now set in stone, just today there is a story of the Barnet Times website where Lynne Hillan is put forward to speak on behalf of the Council regarding the postal strike. It's too late to stop the coronation.

Rog T said...

Richard,

For once, I couldn't agree with you more with your comments regarding a Leadership contest.

As to Sheltered Housing, given that Barnet has the highest population of Jewish pensioners in Sheltered accommodation, don't you think it is unwise to remove on site wardens, leaving them exposed and vulnerable.

You yourself made a valid point on your blog about rising anti-semitism and we both know that these cowardly scumbags usually go for those least likely to be in a position to defend themselves.