My fellow blogger Mrs Angry has put some streling work into exposing the Pork Barrelling that has gone on in Golders Green, where her stirling research has shown the Tory Cabinet member for roads, who is the local Councillor for Golders Green has channelled over a Million quid towards to doing up the roads. Strangely, one of the most deprived parts - Colindale got diddly squat (That's sweet fa to those of you unfamiliar with Barnet Eye Lingo!).
Now the Eagle eyed amongst you willspot just how well some Tory marginal wards have done in regards to the allocations. It is shocking how much money the Tory administration have thrown at their core voters, whilst at the same time cutting budgets for Mapledown School, which has seen £45,000 slashed from its budget.The figures speak for themselves. This administration has a double standard. Councillors like Dean Cohen line the streets of their own wards with gold whilst slashing the budget for those wards they really don't think matter. Leafy Totteridge, where the Leader of the Council, Richard Cornelius lives has seen its budget nearly quadrupled since last year. Clearly Dean Cohen likes to keep a smile on his bosses face.
As I said, I am keeping it brief. Please take a minute to read the full story on Mrs Angry's blog. She deserves a Community Award for her expose of this sleazy behaviour - http://wwwbrokenbarnet.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/scandalous-barnet-councils-million.html
Is it just my imagination or is the london Borough of Barnet starting to resemble a dodgy Banana republic, where the rich live in Palaces and the poor live how they can? Tomorrow night, I will do an overnight shift at a homeless nightshelter in Mill Hill, something I never dreamed I'd see. On the first Sunday of every month, my Church, the Sacred Heart in Mill Hill organises a collection for a food bank in Colindale (the ward which got nothing in an allocation based on 'need'). The foodbank is non denominational. We just collect the grub and drop it off for distribution amongst families who are struggling. The person running the scheme has been amazed by the number of locals in Mill Hill, of all faiths and none, who have heard about the collection and dropped in bags of food. I believe that the people of the London Borough of Barnet are generous and would not approve of such disgusting unfairness, if they actually realised what was going on. Homeless shelters and foodbanks are sadly a part of the Tory Project in Mill Hill. That would be bad enough but to find that the rich wards are being subsidised by the poor ones is simply disgusting.
It is a well known fact that local authorities spend lots of taxpayers money in the run up to an election. Barnet are no different to the many councils across the country (Labour, LibDem and Conservative) which will be doing the same thing. They all think it will help them electorally. But if the Conservatives are trying to buy votes with its road improvement programme, then it is going about it in a very strange way. Why pour buckets of money into one of your safest wards, yet reduce the amount you spend in a key marginal?
ReplyDeleteHowever unpopular you may think the Tories are, there is more chance of the Pope’s wife giving birth to triplets than of the Conservatives losing Garden Suburb, so there is little point in boosting the spending by 250% in this ward unless it can be justified.
If the Tories were trying to buy votes, then why did they reduce the expenditure in Underhill which is the most marginal ward in the Borough, where only the very smallest swing to Labour will lose them two seats?
David,
ReplyDeleteI can only speculate as to why any of the decisions were made. I suspect that some councillors have the ear of the decison makers more than others. I don't actually subscribe to the argument that the money should be spent equally, but the allocations seem totally bizarre. The allocation to Golders Green given Dean Cohens job demonstrates that there really needs to be a fair and transparent process. I don't think anyone can argue that this is currently the case.