Councillor Maureen Braun is surprised by the Barnet Council Leaders behaviour

Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with Hendon Tory Councillor Maureen Braun. She was the chair of the Hendon & district planning committee, who broke her own rules to erect a huge shed in her own garden in breach of planning rules. Many people in Barnet were not impressed with how the good councillor dealt with matters surrounding her erection, not least her neighbours.

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/932954.No_permission_for____stealth____shed/

It seems that she's all heart are Mo. At a recent council meeting, she seemed rather surprised that her boss, Leader of the Council Richard Cornelius thinks the lowest paid workers in Barnet should as a minimum be paid a living wage. 

Here is her question from the Council meeting on 5th November and Richard Cornelius response. Perhaps less surprising is the fact that Braun voted in favour of the huge allowance hike for councillors, which was the first action of the incoming Tory regime in 2010 (as did Mr Cornelius). Those words "we are all in it together" come to mind. 

Isn't it rather sad that such plutocrats resent even the smallest amount of efforts to help the lowest paid workers in their organisation.

Full details of all questions here - http://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s12544/Appendix%201%20-%205%20November%202013.pdf

Brian, you should have listened to me in 2009 - so its goodbye from me

Four years ago this week, I was preparing to attend a hearing of the Barnet Council Standards committee. Councillor Brian Coleman had responded to a perfectly reasonable email, sent to every Barnet Councillor, with a tirade of abuse. I felt that this was not a reasonable response and that as a public official, with an allowance funded by my taxes, Brian Coleman should not respond in such a manner with his council email address. Brian Coleman had a history of abusing people. On the 16h September 2009, the standards committee of Barnet Council found in my favour. Sadly for all concerned, they took no action against Brian Coleman, who was then Mayor. The Hendon Times reported the story in the following article.

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/4633911._I_feel_vindicated__says_blogger_after_Coleman_s_code_breach/

In the article, I made a comment to the report. I said

“My advice to Coleman would be to concentrate on being a politician and doing a good job for the people of Barnet because obviously some people like him and respect him and he undermines that by making clearly inflammatory remarks.”

Now sadly for Brian Coleman, he didn't listen to this advice. In fact he did the opposite. Not only did he carry on making obnoxious remarks and sending people rude emails, he assaulted a woman in Finchley High Road, got caught and was convicted. The local Conservatives were left with no choice but to expel him from the party. Whilst still playing an active role, before his naughtyness overwhelmed him, he called a local resident a "TWAT" at a council meeting. This resulted in yet another complaint. For his sins, Coleman was eventally censured by the council. This punishment in effect meant that a statement was read out in a council meeting stating that Brian was not the messiah, he was a very naughty boy. Councillors were given the opportunity to vote on this and they passed the motion, so he is now officially not the messiah ! He is officially a very naughty boy. Somewhere in Brians mind a large copper penny dropped on Thursday. I think he finally realised the game is up. He twigged that his career as a politician is over.

His response to this is to write a lengthy tirade on his blog, lashing out at his former friends in the Barnet Conservative Party. When I write a blog or work on a campaign, I always consider what will happen next. Throwaway comments made months or years ago can come back to haunt you. I should know, I've made a few. I wonder what thought Brian Coleman gave to this as he picked up his poison pen (or should that be malicious mouse). I should imagine that everyone in his circle of acquaintance will now know what happens if you tell Brian Coleman a secret. When you introduce your wife or partner, will they end up as part of a salacious blog? In short, Brian Coleman has destroyed any trust people may have  had in him. The Leader of Barnet Council rightly states that "the political death of Brian Coleman is inevitable" following the latest blog.

There was a time when simply putting the words Brian Coleman in a blog would add a couple of hundred visits to the blog. Not now. People are sick of him. He has become rather like an embarrassing uncle who has had one too many G&T's at a party. All people want is for him to go home and leave the rest of us in peace. It is not just me saying this. It used to be that any story about Brian Coleman would be the most read story on the Hendon Times for days on end. His latest outburst doesn't even make the top ten

MOST READ

1. Davids: 'I don’t have to explain anything to anybody'
2. Lincoln equaliser a bitter pill to swallow admits Davids
3. Driver caught with £85,000 worth of unpaid fines
4. Dump truck ends up vertical on main road after collision
5. Last minute goal proves costly for Bees
6. Eco-friendly hearse 'star of show' at funeral awards
7. Council 'has nowhere to put' millions of tonnes of recycling
8. New sergeant to offer 'reassuring' police presence
9. Woman and baby in stable condition after Finchley collision
10. Premier League star snapped filling up £120,000 sports car

The truth is that however loud Brian Coleman shouts, no one is listening. His behaviour is embarrassing and he really has nothing very interesting to say. A fine example of just how dull his revelations are is in his comments about Councillor Maureen Braun

Councillor Maureen Braun (Hendon Ward ) Elected in 1998 having previously served 4 years on Camden Council where famously she had a bag of soot thrown over her during a Poll Tax setting debate, now that was proper Politics ! . Loyal to Lynne Hillan and implacable supporter during the Salinger coup had a long term rivalry with Eva Greenspan over the Mayoralty and positions on planning . Has become the target of accusations from the "boys " that she rests her eyes at meetings. 

I use Braun to illustrate the point, because in the 2009 standards case, Coleman stated that I was an awful person because I had drawn attention to the failure of Braun to follow planning rules when she erected a large shed in her garden. Coleman stated that because she was an old lady, she should not be criticised. It seems that like many things, his views change  to suit the moment.

When this blog first started, we felt that Brian Coleman exemplified everything that was wrong with Barnet Politics. He was rude, arrogant, unpleasant and his liking for a free dinner at the expense of rich benefactors was, in our opinion, not conducive to good governance. Now however he is a marginal figure, an embarrassment to everyone.  His blog is purely written to draw attention to himself and settle old scores. As such, the sensible thing to do is to draw a line under this sad individual and waive him adios.

This will be the last blog that I write on the Barnet Eye that mentions Brian Coleman (unless he is readmitted to the Conservative Party) until the day after the Council elections in May 2014. Should I go back on my word, I will donate £50 to the first charity that anyone leaves a comment recommending on any blog which references Brian Coleman.

I will also not be including Brian Coleman in any emails circulated to Barnet Councillors and I will not be mentioning him in any tweets until after the council elections in May 2014. For those of you who are a bit nostalgic, you may be interested to see the first blog I wrote about Brian Coleman, where I revealed he is actually my Dad ! How times have changed. This was back in the heady days when I wrote a blog for the Hendon Times, before Brian Coleman, Mike Freer and Robert Rams got me sacked for complaining about Barnet Council posting pro Nazi Youtube videos on the Council website (I kid you not).

http://www.times-series.co.uk/archive/2008/06/30/3208915.Dr_Coleman_I_presume/

Goodbye Brian. I wish I could say it's been fun, but actually it hasn't.

Is Barnet Council run by lobotomised zombies? The Barnet Cash lottery

Picture courtesy of scoutnetworkblog.com

"Times are hard", "We are all in it together", "They believe money grows on trees", "Labour are very good at spending other peoples money". These are all phrases that I've heard local Conservative Councillors use in relation to myself, other bloggers and the opposition. What they keep very quiet about is just how completely useless and profligate they are with your cash, if you are lucky. The Barnet Tory Councillors sometimes remind me of an army of lobotomised zombies, who are very good at responding to basic commands (such as "put your hand up now to vote for this idiotic policy") but who are seemingly incapable of actually thinking about anything they do or what effects it has on Barnet. They seem to have no problem at all holding diametrically opposed views on issues at the same time. For example overdevelopment in Cat Hill (LB Enfield) is bad. Over development in Brent Cross is good. Some may call this being two faced (as the councillors who oppose this are representing people near Cat Hill).

Let me explain what their basic mantra is. This is that if they keep council tax down, then they will get re-elected and keep their generous allowances and perks. If you are from a Conservative persuasion, you will probably say "quite right too". Then all of a sudden, you find that the methods they use, hit you in the pocket. Let me give  a couple of examples. CPZ charges have been hiked massively. Now the likes of Brian Coleman, who are responsible, don't have much CPZ in their constituency. It won't affect them, but plenty of other Tories do. These lobotomised zombies aren't prepared to even think about the effect on hard pressed families, many of whom are Tory voters. by squeezing the 10% here, they can save a wider tax rise for the rest. If you are a Tory voter in a CPZ, affected by the changes, you are the sacraficial lamb, your cash paying a subsidy for a few even more wealthy residents council tax, who don't live in CPZ's. Then there is the pay by phone parking changes. Brian Coleman beleived this would save money. Sod the OAP's and other people who can't for whatever reason use it. The guys who work for me used to drive to Mill Hill Broadway to buy lunch. A 15 minute parking charge was 30p. Now it's a pound. Thats £250 a year just to buy a sandwich. They have voted with their feet and now buy their sandwich at the garage on the A41. All the small sandwich shops lose out. The rumour on the street is that Barnet parking revenues are down by 7%. If you drive down Bunns Lane during a working day, you can tell where the parking zone ends. Cars are parked in sidestreets where they used to be parked in the statiomn car park. It seems that Colemanballs didn't realise that people would vote with their pockets.

But just as there are losers, there are winners. After the last Council Cabinet resourses meeting, I had a beer with Mr Mustard, another blogger. I asked him what he thought Barnet would try and sneak through on a DPR as the council shut for Xmas. We speculated, but we were wildly wrong. Mr Mustard, ever eagle eyed, spotted this - http://lbbspending.blogspot.com/2011/12/1000-well-spent-or-waste.html - Barnet Council are giving Brian Colemans favourite vicars son £1,000 to write a song for the queens jubilee. This is an outrage. Unlike my fellow bloggers, I think that money spent on the arts such as this is money well spent. Where I have an issue is the method they've chosen to allocate it. Surely they should have said "We'll have a competition locally to write a song for the jubilee and the winners will get £1,000 towards equipment for their school or college". That way everyone would have become engaged and young people would have been inspired to be creative. Such tunes are invariably unlistenable dirges, so at least give everyone a bit of fun.

Then there are the "special" companies, who operate without contracts and seemingly get all manner of highly lucrative work, much of which is unneccessary and overpriced. We've seen two examples (both exposed by bloggers). These are Metpro Security and RM Countrysides. Between these two companies, Barnet Council has spent £4 million pounds. Neither has a contract. When Metpro's contract was cancelled, it was revealed that many of the services they were providing were deemed unnecessary. Kerching, your money down the bog. I emailed all of the Barnet councillors about Metpro before XMAS. I asked for them to call an emergency council meeting to debate the latest revealations. I got 16 read receipts and not a single reply from the Conservative group. One councillor - Maureen Braun, deleted the email without reading it. One may ask what value Councillor Braun adds, if she can't even be bothered to read an email marked urgent, concerning a scandal that has cost the council £1.4 million?

I don't expect Barnet Councillors, especially Conservative ones, to agree with me about everything. I don't expect them all to reply when I send an email marked urgent, detailing a scandal that bloggers were praised by the Tory local government minister for their role in exposing. I am however amazed that not a single one got in touch to either say "Yes this is terrible we'll do something" or "No, you've got it all wrong, it's all in hand".

This leaves us with the impression that they are useless. What I can't comprehend is why, when Barnet Council must realised that the Barnet bloggers are in control of the local agenda, that they don't engage and try and build trust. I can almost see the likes of Brian Coleman sneering as they read this "in control of the agenda, ha ha ha". Any Conservative Councillor who reads the local papers, will have seen 52 weeks of negative stories this year. These have all started in the blogs of Barnet. Private Eye has yet again pilloried Barnet in its end of year awards. Local businesses and residents are reading the blogs in ever greater numbers. My blog readership has doubled this year, with well over 250,000 hits. That is more than the population of Barnet. October was the peak month this year and February was the quietest (as it has 3 less days, this is not surprising).

I don't really ask much of our controlling group of Tory councillors. If they simply did their job, for which they are paid a decent allowance, and made sure Barnet Council was properly run, that would be enough. The Barnet bloggers read the DPR's and reports. If we can why can't  they? We spotted the Metpro and RM Countrysides scandals, yet we don't get big fat allowances. We read the reports that are supposed to be discussed in committees. We turn up to meetings and they are ignored. It is clear from the few questions that ever get asked that the majority of committee members don't even bother to read them. I have come to the conclusion that many Barnet Councillors just treat the issue of being a councillor like winning a lottery. A bit of extra cash and the odd night out with their friends.

I sent a questionaire to all Barnet Councillors, asking what contribution they had made. I said for every returned copy I'd donate £5 to the mayors appeal. Two Conservative Councillors replied - Brian Salinger and Sury Khatri. All the Lib Dems did and two Labour members, Barry Rawlings and leader Alison Moore. I will be sending Councillor Rutter, the Mayor a cheque for £35. To be honest, I am rather disappointed at this response. I have to ask whether they didn't respond out of embarrassment at their lack of contribution? And I thank and commend those councillors who took the time to respond.

Singalong with the Smurfs of Barnet !!!!

I was given a huge commission by the Trades Unions of Barnet  (John Burgess said he'd buy me a pint) if I could come up with a National Anthem for Barnet. As  Mill Hill is represented by a bunch of true  blue, 100 year old Tories (well almost 100 year old), I thought there could only be one place to go for Inspiration. Who does this sound like?

The Smurfs fulfill simple archetypes of everyday people: Lazy Smurf, Grouchy Smurf, Sloppy Smurf, and so on. All smurfs, with the exception of Papa, Baby, Smurfette, Nanny and Grandpa, are said to be 100 years old.

Anyway here's the first couple of verses of the new anthem, with suitable pictures and subtitles :-

What do you think, will it catch on?

naughty tories and councillor maureen braun

A rather naughty opposition councillor sent me a rather dodgy leak suggesting Councillor Maureen Braun would be Mark Shooters replacement on the scrutiny committeee. Nice try. We really aren't that stupid.

Lynn Hillan - We're all in it together

In a press release yesterday, Leader of Barnet Council, Lynne Hillan claimed "We're all in it together". Here is a list of just how much her and some of her councillors are in it for. All of their posts are "part time".

You can click on their name here to see what they actually do fir their money :-
http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/council/listcouncillorname.asp?intSubSectionID=13&intSectionID=9

Barnet Council staff have been issued redundancy notices three weeks before Xmas. This list shows how much each of these councillors is entitled to claim and how much they have claimed "because they are worth it"

As an example of how hard they work, Maureen Braun gets the extra £8,852 for chairing the Hendon Planning committee. Last night she couldn't be bothered to turn up. How many times a year do you think she has to go? How many times has she "bunked off".  I picked a random selection to give you a flavour of how much each committee will net you. As you can see all of the talk of councillors not taking their allowances in full was, shall we say, rather wide of the mark (apart from Darryl Yawitch and Alison Cornelius- thumbs up to them).

How many councillors are getting redundancy notices to save costs? Silly question really

The Tories employ a "political officer" called Ricahrd Robeson at my expense (and yours assuming you are a Barnet Council Taxpayer). His job is to meake sure all of the Councillors in Barnet understand Conservative Policy. As Grant Schapps, Local Government Minister derided the increases for Tory Council Chairmen in Barnet, maybe you'd like to discuss this with him and ask him why he hasn't explained national party policy on this matter to the Barnet numpties - in the words of his press release :-

For more information contact Richard Robeson -  0208 359 2004 or Richard.robeson@barnet.gov.uk

Councillor Register of Interests - Tories play fast and loose with the rules

Barnet Council Tories have shown a terrible arrogance towards the electorate who pay their wages. Not only have six of them refused to allow their details to be put online, evidence now reaches us that some of those that have, have been less than frank in their disclosure. Why is this important? Well this week the Barnet Eye detailed how Councillor Hugh Rayner had objected "On behalf of a neighbour"  against a planning application. On inspection of his register of interests, it was revealed that Hugh Rayner was himself a neighbour. Had he declared a prejudicial interest? Well if he had, it wasn't documented in the planning details.

The chair of the committee who will decide is Councillor Maureen Braun, who has herself played fast and loose with planning rules. A regular reader forwarded me some rather disturbing information regarding her disclosure (full details of all councillors disclosures are here - http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/council/listcouncillorinterests.asp)

Anyway, if you look at Braun's disclosure, she's signed the following declaration :-

As you can see she has signed that she agrees that she's broken the rules if she fails to disclose items which are required. Jeff Lustig, Borough Solicitor has countersigned it. This means he's responsible for making sure the details are correct.

In the section about property she completed it as follows:-

A Barnet Eye reader forwarded me the following document from the Land registry :-

Now one would expect the chair of the planning committee to know if she owns a house. Why on earth would she choose to withold disclosure? Whilst I doubt that there is any issue with this, it is a breach of the code.  Jeff Lustig must seek to get this rectified. ASAP and give naughty Maureen a slap on the wrists as an example to her colleagues. I would suggest that Lustig write to all councillors and use this as an example. My suggestion is that Braun be sacked as the chair of the planning committtee. If she can't get this level of paperwork right, she clearly isn't up to the job.

Can Maureen Braun shed some light on this?

Regular readers of The Barnet Eye will know that Councillor Maureen Braun, Chair of the Hendon planning committee is a big fan of sheds. She erected one without planning permission (despite being the Hendon planning Boss) read all about it here -
http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/932954.No_permission_for____stealth____shed/ -

Now Mrs Braun has yet another opportunity to put her encyclopedic knowledge of sheds to good use. How you may wonder. Well her deputy chair is Councillor Hugh Rayner. Unlike many other councils, Barnet allows property developers such as Mr Rayner to sit on planning committees. Whilst many other Councils think that this is dangerous, as a councillor could set planning precedents and then take advantage of them, Barnet lets developers like Mr Rayner be the deputy chair of plannimng committees. A cursory look at Mr Rayners register of interests show that he's especially busy in Tangmere Way, NW9. Check these :-

So what has all of this got to do with the price of fish you may ask? Well on Monday 6th December, there is a planning hearing chaired by "Shed Specialist" Braun. Well it seems that Mr Rayner has objected on behalf of a "neighbour" (odd given his own interest owning the house next door) for a planning application for 16 Tangmere Way (next door to one of his properties). The "neighbour" seems to have an issue with the removal of the shed. So the deputy chief of the planning committee who owns the house next door is complaining "on behalf of a neighbour" about the removal of the shed. The chair, who also has a history of "sympathy to sheds" (especially her own) has to decide on the application.

You can review all of the paperwork here :-

http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/meetings/meetingdetail.asp?meetingid=6225

Here are a few snapshots to whet your appetite.

So there you go. I am tempted to attend the meeting on the 6th and see what Mrs Braun has to say about Mr Rayner and his support for sheds. I'm sure that there will be no conflicts of interest whatsoever and no favours called in. In Barnet, we're just not like that at all.

Barnet Eye Exclusive : Mobile wardens costs £175,000 more than keeping them on site - Hillan hides the facts

One of the key foundations of the Future Shape project is the abolition of On Site Wardens. Evidence has reached The Barnet Eye that a detailed investigation by Barnet Council has found that moving to a system of mobile wardens (the Councils preferred option) may cost up to £175,000 than retaining on site wardens. Now a sensible council would see the light and drop the proposal. What do you think Barnet Council did? They hushed this fact up. Councillor Maureen Braun presented a report which completely neglected to mention this. Lets just hope that some kind person serves an FOI on Barnet Council to get them to reveal this.

The only question which the Barnet Eye is currently unable to answer is whether Braun knowingly conspired to hide this fact or whether Leader Lynne Hillan specifically selected Braun for the job because she knew Braun was too dim to realise she was playing the stooge.

Editors note : Councillor Maureen Braun was chair of the planning committee responsible for approving the multi billion pound Brent X/ Cricklewood redevelopment. Was she up to the job? Well she didn't even know she needed planning permission for her own shed -

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/932954.No_permission_for____stealth____shed/

It just fills me with such confidence in the whole of Barnet Council

Barnet Leadership Challenge - Tory Musical Chairs

Hot News reaches the Barnet Eye. It seems like the Mark Shooter campaign  is planning a big clearout of dead wood in the Barnet Tory machine.

As well as Shooter challenging Hillan, I hear Brian Schama is in the frame for role of Chairman, ousting Wendy Prentice. Kate Salinger looks a shoe in for the Deputy chairmanship. It looks like Maureen Braun might be on the receiving end of a plumb job from her fellow Hendon Councillor if he wins. We believe this role is likely to not be too strenuous as Maureen is reputed to not be too keen on work, but will deliver a decent allowance - I'm all for helping old ladies in distress, so this is clearly very gallant of Shooter.

Rather oddly, one chairman who isn't being challenged is Hale Councillor Hugh Rayner. Whilst denying he'd been knobbled by Shooter, Hugh did say he'd be happy to serve the people of Barnet in any way he could and wasn't too bothered who the leader was (such selflessness). Rumour reaches the Barnet Eye that dear old Hugh thinks Shooter may be able to reignite his ambition for a seat in parliament, which until recently he thought had long since gone. The good thing for many of the Tories on the edge of the regime is that the current palace coup offers many of them a rather unexpected leg up.

One other little gem reaches me apparently Brian Coleman may think Shooters campaign have identified a third member of Hillans cabinet who is knobbleable. Sadly my mole in the hole won't tell me who. Oh by the way, one little thing which may make you laugh. A report reaches the Barnet Eye that my favourite Jabba The Hut impersonator, Brian Coleman has not been himself today. Whilst he wasn't quite wondering around, Kenneth Williams style shouting "Infamy, Infamy, they've all got it in for me" he's most certainly not his usual happy, charming self. What could be the cause of his malaise? For all I know, it might because Mike Freer wouldn't give him a lift down the chip shop in his campervan, but he's not a happy bunnykins.

Lynne Hillan, Maureen Braun, Troughing and the Brent Cross Redevelopment

Tonight Councillor Maureen Braun's planning committee is again discussing the Brent Cross redevelopment. This hugely unpopular scheme is yet again under the spotlight and the BBC have threatened to turn up to interview protestors outside the meeting.

What's this all got to do with Lynne Hillan and her troughing? Well sadly quite a lot. Hillans leadership has created a climate where no one trusts our local politicians and everyone believes they are on the take. When Maureen Braun and her chums discuss the proposal, no one actually believes that they give a monkeys about the local residents. This sour bunch voted themselves huge rises, whilst urging everyone else to show restraint. Have the developers and our local councillors got, shall we say, a "too cosy relationship"? Who knows, ,but given how they've shown where their priorities lie, how can anyone trust them?

You may recall Lynne Hillan spoke up at a previous planning meeting for the scheme, something leaders don't usually do. Sadly Lynne is the last person to sell a scheme as in the interests of the Barnet public. She is damaged goods

The Barnet Eye war on Barnets spongers and parasites - Update No 1

Dearest Tory Councillors of Barnet,

What are you all famous for? What do the people of Barnet know you for? What legacy will you leave?

Let me let you in on a little secret. The blogs of Barnet are the source of information of choice of the vast majority of the people of Barnet when they wish to find out about what their local councillor has been up to. Let me just illustrate something. Firstly let me explain, in laymans terms, the way Google searches work. They make the first choice of item displayed, the one which is the most popularly selected choice. This blog has highlighted the shenanigans of many Barnet Councillors. Take for example the head of the Hendon & District Planning Committee, Maureen Braun, the woman who passed the Brent Cross development plan. When people do a Google search for Our Mo :-

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&q=councillor+Maureen+Braun&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=270cd07514528d23

What is the first page they are presented with? Try it. Yes my friends, history is being written by the bloggers of Barnet. That is Councillor Brauns lasting legacy to the people of Barnet. Of course, Dear Mo as I like to call her is a small fish, what about a big fish, what about the biggest, stinkiest, most oily fish of the lot in Barnet? Try this search

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&q=councillor+Brian+Coleman&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=270cd07514528d23

Sadly Wikipedia and the GLA website has relegated Cuddles Coleman's Barnet Eye entry to only the third most popular page about him. Not bad out of 16,700 results is it.

Then there is the beloved Leader of the Council, Lynne Hillan. Well, pipped to the post out of 5,200 posts by my old rival Not The Barnet Times. Mind you David is welcome to her. For that you have to go down to fourth for a Barnet Eye blog - oh the shame and indignity. At least we're above all her tame blogs though.

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&q=councillor+lynne+hillan&aq=0&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=councillor+Lynne+&gs_rfai=&fp=270cd07514528d23

One other Councillor of note. One who made a bit of a name for himself at the meeting where the Tories awarded themselves a huge payrise. Tom Davey.

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&q=councillor+Tom+davey&aq=&aqi=&aql=&oq=councillor+Tom+davey&gs_rfai=&fp=270cd07514528d23

We've only just mentioned him a day ago and we're already up to the 6th most popular page people look at when they seek him. We're just below his LINKEDN  entry. I was curious to find out about his work experience. I was keen to see what life experience he'd achieved to enable such a young man to speak so forcefully about why it is the fault of the poor for being poor and how they lack ambition. Well it seems he was at the London School of Economics from 2005-2008 and since then he's been a management trainee for a tobacco company. Interestingly the Linkedn profile lists Barnet Council as a government agency which employs 11-50 people. I'm sure that this will come as a shock to the hundreds of Council workers on the paryroll. I wonder if Mr Davey only counts people on salaries of over £50K per annum as the rest really aren't his sort of people at all - http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/tom-davey/15/180/3aa 

I think we should rename Little Tommy Daley as Thomas of Hale, Scourge of the Poor. It is a far more impressive title for such a wise and noble soul.

So, my Dear Barnet Tories, I just wanted  to share with you the fact that when people want to find out what you've been up to they come to this blog first (or second on occasion if David got there first). That is your legacy.

Green Belt protection special : Why you cannot trust the Conservatives to protect the Conservation area

Within the next few weeks you will receive a copy of the the Barnet Conservatives manifesto on the doorstep. I have been reliably informed that "protecting the green belt" will form a major part of their manifesto. Given that the words "Conservative" and "Conservation" share the first ten letters, you may think that in Mill Hill, they would care about protecting our green spaces. Let me show you a couple of pictures and a couple of links to newspaper articles. You can then make your own mind up.

Firstly the pictures. These two pictures are both of a field in Mill Hill. They are owned by the man who was elected Deputy Chairman of the Hendon Conservative Party, with special responsibility for membership and fundraising (an extremely popular chap in the Hendon Conservatives one might conclude). The only difference between the two pictures is that one was taken in 2008 and the other was taken in 2010.

BEFORE - Taken in 2008


See the lamb grazing in the background. Now look at how it looks today.

AFTER - Taken Jan 2010

Now, you may ask, in a green belt conservation area, would  planning permission be required for such a change? Well read this article in the local paper and see what actually happened.

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/5000180.Council_says_children_s_farm_needs_planning_permission/

Sadly this isn't the first time that senior local Conservatives have decided that they don't need to apply to Barnet Council for planning permission for work on their property. If I was to ask you which Conservative, out of all of them should know the rules apply to them, I guess you'd say that the head of the Hendon and District planning committee should. The person who is responsible for making he decisions which affect the ordinary people. Read this article in the local paper.

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/932954.No_permission_for____stealth____shed/

Now you might say that perhaps I'm being unfair. You might think that there are cases where it's OK to bend the planning rules a little bit. Maybe, for example if you had a sick two year old child and you urgently needed space for medical equipment to make life manageable? Well when someone is an ordinary Council Tax payer, the woman with the Stealth shed, Hendon and District Planning committee chief Councillor Maureen Braun takes a different view of planning rules - read this :-


http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/hendonnews/1859048.House_extension_for_disabled_child_refused_due_to_council_regulations__/

This is what Councillor Braun had to say about the families request for a loft conversion :-

We carefully considered this application, taking into account the difficult circumstances the family are in. However, the application was very far from what we could possibly allow under existing planning regulations.

Now what sort of view do you think Barnets other Conservatives took of Councillor Braun not following her own rules? They promoted her to Mayor the following year.  Indeed during his testamony to the Standards investigator, the Current Mayor of Barnet, Brian Coleman actually used the fact that I'd criticised Councillor Braun for not following planning rules as a reason for sending me an offensive email. For the record, I'd sent a letter to the local paper saying that Councillors should follow the rules themselves. The Times printed the letter.

So when you get your copy of the Conservative Party manifesto for the Council elections plonking down on your doormat and it says that they will protect the green belt, you may want to ask yourself this. Do I believe them? I know what my answer would be.

Barnet Council - Pie in the sky or a brick in your eye?

Barnet Council has spent over £2.5 million pounds paying teams of management consultants to reinvent the way the council works. There are several names associated with this scheme. The press rather like "Easycouncil". It's also called "Future Shape". If you are a Council tax payer, I suggest you call it "Pie in the sky" because they've spent all this money, promising massive savings, which they've failed to demonstrate that there is any hope of achieving. If you are someone who relies on the council, you would probably be better of referring to it as "A brick in the eye", because that is how it will feel when the cuts start to hit home.

So what are they planning. Here's a recent quote from the Council

We're reviewing the options for the delivery of our planning and regulatory functions through a new arms length organisation, to be run on a partnership basis. A number of possible models for this joint venture are being explored, including a management buy-out

 The reason you elect councillors is so that there is democratic oversight of regulation. Barnet want to remove these checks and controls. As to planning, this is completely bonkers. It is an emotive subject at the best of times. You want an extension, your neighbour doesn't like your plans. The Council is the referee. For small decisions, officers have delegated powers to decided, for bigger decisions it goes to the planning committee, which is a panel of councillors. At present officers and councillors work for the same organisation. They have a vested interest in doing the job as professionally as possible. How will it work under the new system. There are two possible models I can envisage.

1) The new firm does it on a Time and Materials basis. The longer they drag it out, the more they can charge the council. Numerous site visits and re-referrals will ensue. Every little thing will be an extra cost.

2) They do it on a fixed price basis, where they get a set amount for every set of plans. The staff will be under pressure to push decisions through as quickly as possible. The result? Due diligence will be the lowest priority. Net result - more appeals and more costs.

It's bad enough when your request to build an extension is turned down by an overzealous council officer or when Councillor Maureen Braun's planning committee allows your neighbour to build a supersize shed, but imagine it if the decision came from "Plans 'R' Us"? You'd ring up and say "How could you possibly turn down my extension when it meets all the rules" - The voice at the call centre, half way across the world would inform you "Sorry sir, computer says no".

I was chatting to a Barnet Council employee yesterday, who was on his way to a protest to save the Whittington Hospital A&E department. I asked him this "Are the people who work for Barnet Council proud to be public servants?". He told me that a recent staff survey had shown that this was one of the major motivations for working for the council. I was sounding him out about the Mill Hill Lib Dems plans to get Barnet Council employees, such as dustmen, to be asked to report potholes and other local hazards back to the highways department. The idea is simple. As the dustcarts do their rounds, the drivers have a form. If they see a pothole, damaged street sign or other hazard, they fill in the details and location when they stop to allow the bin to be emptied. When they get back to the depot, they hand the form in. The dustmen cover every street in the Borough on a weekly basis, so they could provide up to date intelligence. Simple really. I asked if staff would consider doing this. "Of course, they are proud of the Borough". What would happen under easycouncil, if a third party company were providing the dustcarts. "They would charge extra for this"

Time and time again, Conservative councils have tried to outsource departments. The same problems always occur. Shoddy service, low staff morale, higher than expected costs for extras and massive legal bills when the wrangles start. Part of the Future Shape budget is £5 for legal fees. You could save the sheltered housing warden service ten times over for this.

Now don't get me wrong, everyone knows that public services are in for a torrid time, due to the poor shape of the economy. My niece's husband is a fireman in Ireland. He's just had a 20% pay cut imposed on him, as part of an austerity program. Our nasty medicine is being delayed until after the election. Whoever wins, we are in for massive cuts. The Leader of Barnet Council, Lynne Hillan should be engaging the trade unions now to ensure that staff in front line services are retained and if cuts come, they are made in areas where Council Tax payers don't suffer too much (executive pay would be a prime contender for a 20% cut). Sadly, it appears that Lynne Hillan just doesn't get it.

If you want to remove democratic accountability from regulation and planning, civic pride from council staff and spend £5 million on fees for fat cat lawyers, I suggest you contact Lynne Hillan and join the Barnet Conservative party. If you don't then please email me and I'll try and tell you ways in which you can help change Barnet for the better (CLICK HERE TO EMAIL ME).

The destruction of the Green Belt in Barnet - Part 2 - Lack of Enforcement

My second blog of the New Year detailed how the man who was elected to be deputy Chairman of the Hendon Conservatives last March, Andrew Reid had built a zoo and childrens farm on Green Belt land in the Conservation area. Whist such an amenity has benefits for the community, I was appalled at the siting of the facility, which has destroyed the view of Totterdige Valley from the Ridgeway. This view is mentioned in the Barnet Council UDP. The purpose of the Conservation area, as Mill Hill Conservative Councillor John Hart well knows is to preserve the character of the area. Any changes, even to the windows of houses, is subject to the most stringent planning regulations.

I checked out how planning permission was granted for such a huge installation. I have friends who live in the conservation area who had to install special "green parking" bays (these use a lattice system so grass can grow) in their own gardens. I was amazed that Mr Reid could install a car park with huge metal fences (I know land owners who had to install sympathetic fences) in such a place and stay within these rules. Strangely, I found that there was no planning application from Mr Reid. I asked whether Councillor John Hart and Councillor Maureen Braun, who is the chairman of the Hendon Planning authority, had been advising their friend from the Conservative association and whether they'd decided that the normal rules in the Conservation area didn't apply to their friend Mr Reid and his Childrens Zoo and Farm and it's surrounding installations.

As a result, several avid readers of the Barnet Eye contacted me, and passed me various emails. It seems that the planning department were aware of the installation and had asked Mr Reid to submit for planning permission. Mr Reid retorted that he didn't need it as it was all within "permitted use". One of my correspondents forwarded me an email, sent to him by a Barnet Council Planning Officer, following the councils discussions with Mr Reid. It contained the following paragraph:-

Another problem with serving a planning enforcement notice is that there is a right of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate and I have no doubt that Mr Reid would make such an appeal. In the event of an appeal, there is likely to be no decision on the matter for at least another six months and in the meantime Mr Reid has a right to continue the use.

I could not believe my eyes. Is this now official Barnet Council policy? Will they not enforce planning law on anyone who might appeal or have they made a special case of Mr Reid. If you, like me, are one of the thousands of Barnet residents who have had to change our building plans and designs because Barnets planners have "insisted", what are you thinking. Yet again the question has to be asked. Why do the council seem to apply one set of standards in planning for the man elected deputy chairman of Hendon Conservatives and another for everyone else. If the Council know that Mr Reids zoo breaches planning rules, they should serve an enforcement notice immediately. If it doesn't breach the rules they should say so and explain why. Not serving a notice because Mr Reid will appeal is not acceptable.You may recall that Mr Reid told the local press that he'd worked extremely closely with the Council. It is all too clear to me that too many Barnet Conservative Councillors are rather too keen to facilitate all manner of people who wish to change the face of the Borough forever. The Leader of the Council, Lynne Hillan even boasted how Fairview Homes had paid for their own council officer in a recent radio interview.

The bottom line with this and the sad truth is that it is clear that under the Conservative Administration at Barnet Council, the green belt is at risk. If Barnet Council will not enforce planning law on the Green Belt, then soon there won't be a green belt.

Barnet Council : Keeping things above board

I received an email from a rather concerned resident of Mill Hill drawing my attention to this article in the local press about the new Childrens Zoo on the Ridgeway in Mill Hill. The main concern of my correspondant was that such a major change could take place to the Greenbelt, in the conservation are, on a protected view (mentioned in the Barnet UDP). Given that you can't even double glaze your windows without planning permission, which will be denied if the appearance is changed, I was puzzled. I went to Barnet Coucils planning portal to see what conditions were placed on the planning approval for the new facility.

I was rather puzzled to find that there was no mention of the planning approval on the Council website. How could this be? It clearly states the following in the article :-

We've worked extremely closely with the council to make sure it comes up to scratch and we hope we have created a safe and enjoyable environment.

 Now the owner of the site, renowned racing horse owner Mr Andrew Reid, has clearly spent a small fortune on the site. It is rather impressive and a few locals have told me that the capuccinos and the waffles are rather good in his restaurant. Clearly he would not have considered doing any of this without ensuring it was all legal, ship-shape and above board. He would have sought assurances that the Council were happy with the setup prior to making such a huge inverstment. After all he is a promanent member of the local Conservative party, being elected to be the Deputy Chairman of the Hendon Conservative Association.

Which leads me to the question. The politician in charge of the Hendon Area planning Committee is Mill Hill Resident, Conservative Councillor Maureen Braun. One has to ask exactly what advice Councillor Braun has given Mr Reid. Ultimately she would chair any planning decision for such an application. There is also another local Conservative Councillor who belongs to the same association as Andrew Reid and presumably supported his election as Deputy Chairman. This is Councillor John Hart.

Whilst I cannot possibly see how a Childrens farm and zoo containing Wallabies, Owls and Alopacas and a Restaurant, along side a huge car park could appear on such a site without planning permission, especially when the owner is such an esteemed member of the local Conservative party, I am not an expert in planning law.

Mr Reid is a lawyer and as such, clearly will have followed the rulebook to the letter. As such I must assume that he contacted Barnet Council and explained his plans and was told "that will be fine, just go ahead". He clearly states this in his interview, so my question is this. Do Councillor Braun as head of the Planning Committee and Councillor Hart as the local Mill Hill Conservatives have the ability to advise officers that such a development is allowed as "permitted development" and can be done without planning permission? Where did the decision that planning permission was not required originate from? Was it a Council officer?

I've spent a few days checking the planning rules in Barnet and I cannot see how the Council agreed this move. I urge Councillor Braun as head of the Hendon Planning Committee to issue a public statement clarifying how this development could be agreed by the council, when every other resident of the "conservation area" is bound by such tight rules. I'd also like to see a public explanation from Councillor John Hart as to why ordinary residents in Barnet have such stringent regulations applied to them in the Conservation area,  when people who are senior members of the Hendon Conservative Association are not.

I have no doubt that Mr Andrew Reid has gone about his business in his usual dignified and law abiding manner. There is no reason why he shouldn't. I just worry that certain local Conservative Councillors are rather too keen to do their wealthy friends a favour. As both Councillor Braun and Hart are Mill Hill residents, experienced Councillors and experts on planning law, it is inconceivable that they were unaware of all of this. They have much explaining to do. It is vital that Barnet Council are seen to be above board in these matters.

The Sun backs Matthew Offord - Hendon's new Reggie Blair !

Exciting news from The Hendon  Conservatives website. The site has claimed that the political editor of The Sun has given his personal endorsement to The Hendon Conservative Candidate Matthew Offord. I'd love to put the nice picture of Matthew Offord and The Sun's Political Editor George Pascoe Watson on here, but unfortunately the Hendon Conservatives don't let me use their pictures. so you'll have to make do with the old Captain Useless one instead.Now clearly this political endorsement is a defining moment in Matthew Offords campaign, so I thought I'd Google "The Sun backs Matthew Offord". Erm, actually no endorsement popped up (except on the Hendon Tories website). It appears that the Sun has endorsed Matthew Offord rather like Lemmy from Motorhead once endorsed my guitar playing. I stood next to him at the bar at Dingwalls during a Vibrators gig. He's a friendly chap and we had a brief chat where I said I liked his music and I played in a band. Lemmy said "Great".

Interestingly enough, the little story on the Hendon Tories website doesn't actually have a quote from Mr Pascoe Watson. Maybe he reads this blog and he knows that Matthew Offord is the guy responsible for organising the contractors at Aerodrome Road, and so was a bit reticent. Here's how Matthew boasted about setting up the Aerodrome Road contracts on the Hendon Conservatives website, before it went Titanic. Sadly, under Matthews leadership, it all went wrong and ended up costing £11 million more than expected. Shortly before the full extent of the overrun was announced, Offord changed jobs and has gone round blaming the new guy in the job, Councillor Andrew Harper.

Another exciting story on the website is about Matthew Offords trip to Old Trafford. Now as a City fan, I find the whole concept of Old Trafford repellent enough without Matthew Offord being there. Thankfully Matthew spared us any of his pearls of wisdom about football, other than than to say that the entire voting populace of Hendon Constituency could fit in the ground. Interestingly enough, should Matthew win the Hendon seat, he'll be the first Conservative holder of this seat since 1935 when Reggie Blair was the MP. Now clearly Reggie Blair was well before my time, but I must confess that the name conjoured up an interesting image. A cross between Reggie Kray and Tony Blair. Can you imagine it "Basically, I'm a straight sort of guy, and if you say any different you'll be sleeping with the fishes"

Lastly on our little tour of Matthew Offord's website, we hear that he's put himself at the forefront of Barnet's campaign to "beat the burglars". Is it any coincidence that there's been a spate of burglaries locally? One of them was at the house of a friend of mine, who lives 2 doors from former Mayor Maureen Braun. Let me tell you a little story about how effective our local anti burglar initiative is. When my friend's house was robbed, we did  a quick search of the fields out the back. of his house We found a B and O TV, worth over £5,000 stashed for collection later, hidded under a coat behind a tree. We also found that 16 homes backing on to the field had been robbed in a 2 week period. We reported the find to the police and suggested that they stake out the area. They responded that we should bring the TV and they'd get someone round to test it for fingerprints. It seems that it was "not practical" to stake out the area. I hope that his plan to stake out the A5 for burglars is a stunning success. From my friends experience, it is not a nice thing to happen. I'd suggest that anyone who is concerned about community safety and burglary contact Matthew. He's a very nice pleasant amenable chap. He's always pleased to talk to constituents, especially the younger members of the community. You can get in touch with any of of your Barnet Councillors through this page. Just click on their name. They are elected to help you and to make the borough a better place and they are all keen to do a good job to justify the allowances they receive.

The basic dishonesty of the Brent Cross / Cricklewood redevelopment

The picture shown above is one that forms part of the artists illustration of the Brent Cross /Cricklewood redevelopment scheme.  It was the one which they've been punting to the papers such as the Hendon Times.Now take a look at this picture taken from google earth of how it looks today. I've added a nice pink arrow to show which angle the artists impression is looking from.

As you may notice, the way it is represented by the artist, it looks like there's a lovely green area that is part of the development, however this is a bit of the land adjacent to the plan and unaffected by it.

Now look at this picture.

On this picture I've helpfully put a border around the part of the artists picture which actually shows the development. Now if I was an architect and I was proud of my designs, would I give greater promennance to the sky, the allotements and the playing fields than my lovely buildings. Well, yes I would, if I was trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. If I was trying to pretend the plan was a fantastic, green, innovative design, when really it was a high rise hell, comprising rabbit hutch flats.

The evidence is there. How can they possibly think this is a great plan, if they hide it like this. You'll note that the high rise element is in the far distance. I saw the picture and thought "that looks quite nice" until I analysed it. Then I though "cheeky B*******s".

What disturbs me is that when Councillor Maureen Braun chairs the planning committee, people might fall for this ruse. Her political master, Councillor Mike Freer is speaking in favour of the proposal. Of course, I'm sure this won't put her under any pressure at all. Interestingly enough, even Councillor Brian Coleman thinks it's a rotten plan and has come out against it. What is the difference between Coleman and Freer? Well Mike Freer doesn't come from Barnet and he's hoping to move to Westminster some time soon. Brian Coleman has lived in Barnet all his life and plans to hang around.
What does this tell you?

Looking up to the heavens

I took this picture in Barcelona earlier this year.  Great architecture is there to awe and inspire us. Barcelona is a city of truly awesome buildings some old, some new.

In the not too distant future, the planning committee of Barnet Council will make a major decision on the scheme for the regeneration of Brent Cross and Cricklewood.

Will we get something that will make us proud, which people will come from around the world to admire. Which will be a pleasure to live in and work in. Will it be the first place in London that people will want to come and see when they visit the city. Will it have a pleasant environment that is easy and relaxed. Will children who grow up there think they were lucky to have been born in such a nice part of town. There are not too many things I agree with Brian Coleman about, but we both think that the current plans will create a monstrosity.

Councillor Maureen Braun is the chair of the Hendon and District planning committee. Her boss, council leader Mike Freer is speaking in favour of the development, which is, shall we say unusual for a planning hearing. Mike Freer is trying to become the MP for Finchley and Golders Green. As the North Circular grinds to gridlock with the 9-27,000 new cars (depending on who you believe), existing residents lives will be made a misery. They will live on the edge of one of Europe's biggest building sites for many years. What is in this scheme for the average Council Tax payer of Barnet? I believe that there is nothing very nice. The residents of this high density scheme will mostly come from out of borough, putting even more strain on our schools, roads and hospitals.

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, Barnet saw new, high density scheme's such as Grahame Park appear. These schemes won awards for their "innovative design". Council's of various shades and colours have spent the past 30 years trying to mend all of the serious design issues. Do they never learn?

Councillor Maureen Braun and the two faces of Barnet

There are two faces of Barnet. There is the beautiful green, leafy suburb, where we all would like to live (see the picture Top Left).

Then there are the high density estates where children don't have gardens to play in, they have skips round the back of shops (see picture bottom left). Where the wildlife they will see isn't beautiful horses grazing in fields, but rats running emerging through broken manhole covers.

Who, you may ask yourself, who in the Borough of Barnet is lucky enough to have a view such as the one pictured top left, as the scene they are greeted by every morning when they wake up and look out of the window? Well there's one person who you may have heard of. Councillor Maureen Braun, head of the Hendon & District planning committee. This view of St Josephs College fields in Mill Hill, is exactly what she see's every morning (No I haven't been in her bedroom taking pictures, a neighbour 2 doors down took this picture). Now I've fought tooth and nail to preserve the view for Councillor Braun. I've attended meetings, written letters and written blogs. I've even helped put a deal together to get those very horses grazing on the fields. Why? Because I passionately believe urban areas need green space.

Sadly, too many people in Barnet are more likely to see a view such as this skip if they look out of their bedroom window. This will be their childrens playground if they let them out of the house at all. Barnet Council are currently considering all sorts of regeneration plans, encompassing areas of high density flats. This week Councillor Maureen Braun, as leader of the Hendon and District Planning Committee, decided to defer the decision on the Cricklewood regeneration scheme for a month. This is to reportedly give the committee time to consider more thoroughly the plans.

What do we know about these plans? That there will be thousands of new residents living in Barnet if they go through. We know that there will be between 9,000 and 27,000 more cars on our roads. The flats are not designed to accomodate existing residents, but to encourage more people to move to the Borough. My biggest fear for the Cricklewood scheme is the lack of houses with gardens for children. Mrs Braun clearly likes a nice view and a bit of greenery out of her window. What sort of legacy does she want to pass on to her grandchildren? Every scheme like Cricklewood puts more pressure on area's like St Josephs College fields. More greedy developers sniff around and look for loopholes in the green belt legislation.I nearly resigned from the Labour party when John Prescott started talking about building on the green belt. Whilst the Cricklewood regeneration scheme is nowhere near the green belt, the pressure it will create on the rest of the Borough will be enormous. As the borough fills up with people, 60,000 more if all the scheme's go ahead, we'll reach a point where there will be no choice but to concrete over the fewer and fewer green spaces.

Now Councillor Braun clearly has a massive decision to make. I don't know about you, but I want whoever makes that decision to be someone who I trust. I want them to be someone who's record on issues of planning is exemplary. I want it to be someone who understands and has compassion for people with families, as many families will be affected by these decisions, when schools fill up and children can't get in. When gangs form on the alleys and street corners of these new sink estates, the legacy of these schemes will sink in. Most of all, I want someone who knows the rulebook inside out and has a proven track record of good judgement in all these things.

I thought I'd check Maureen Braun's record on such matters.  I went  to the Hendon Times and put the following key words into a search - "maureen braun" hendon planning - and I got the following three stories.

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/932954.No_permission_for____stealth____shed/

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/1036167.yes_no_maybe_to_shed/


http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/hendonnews/1859048.House_extension_for_disabled_child_refused_due_to_council_regulations__/

Does any of these three stories fill me with confidence in Councillor Maureen Braun's ability to protect families, uphold the planning law and do what's best for the ratepayers of Barnet? I'll leave it to you, dear reader to guess the answer, once you've read her form on such issues.