Being a good Catholic boy, having spent the week being rather beastly to the Leader of Barnet Council here, I thought I'd do my penance and take myself down to the Hendon Residents Forum at Broadfields Junior School. I'm not really someone who enjoys meetings, but there were a few issues on the agenda which I have an interest in, so off I trotted. There was a rumour that fellow Barnet blogger
Vickim57 was putting in an appearance to grill the council on Future Shape, which swung it for me. I was interested to see Vicki in action & hear what she had to say. I'd not met Vicki before, so I was playing a little game of "Spot the Vicki" as various members of the public appeared. I knew here age from her blog profile, but by the time the meeting started, there were still three possible suspects.
Anyway our host for the night Councillor Brian Gordon kicked off the meeting, ably assisted by Barnet's very own Jedi Knight Councillor John Hart. I had a few preconceptions about Councillor Brian Gordon, but last night I noticed a strong similarity between the good councillor and a good mate of mine from my days at Orange Hill Senior High School. My good friend, like Councillor Gordon was from a strongly Jewish background. I still recall my friend bemoaning to me in the common room as we ogled the cover of the New Musical Express "If you brought Debbie Harry home and introduced her to your dad as your new girlfriend, he'd say - well done son - If I did, it would be a family disaster". I don't think either of us ever brought Debbie Harry home so the problem was rather academic.
Anyway the first three items were petitions. I was about to speak about item 2 when the guy who organised the petition for Item 3 spoke up. After a brief debate about parking in Sheaveshill Avenue, I jumped up to ask my question about point 2. It seems that having received assurances from Council Leader Mike Freer that the road through Montrose Park was dead and buried, the answer to petition 2 implied that it was back on the menu. Could the Council clarify this. The official to Councillor Gordon's right (sorry no nameplate) said that the road was back on the agenda. It was further explained that although the road went through the park, technically it didn't which was why Mike Freer gave his answer. I was assurred that it wasn't a ploy to distract the protestors. Am I reassurred? I'll leave that to you to decide.
At this point things got rather confused. A lady arrived and asked what item we were debating. Councillor Gordon replied Point 2. She said "Ah good, I've not missed point 3". Councillor Gordon responded that we'd already debated that. The lady got upset because Councillor Gordon hadn't anticipated her arrival and Broadfields School had adopted stealth mode, making it invisible, so she'd arrived late. Councillor Gordon responded that it wasn't his fault she was late. She clearly thought that she'd been nobbled, sadly it was cock-up rather than conspiracy. She then announced she was representing Andrew Dismore and he sent his apologies. Councillor Gordon rather wittily responded that he was "always happy to receive an apology from Andrew Dismore". As I finished off making my point, Councillor Gordon commended me for my witty write up of the September forum in the
Edgware Times. It makes a welcome change for a local Tory to make a comment about a blog under his own name in public, so he definately moved up in my estimation (even if as I suspect he was humouring me).
Next up point 4. A Raymond Raven stood up and gave us a sales pitch for an electric bike. The assembled mob were not too impressed. Councillor Gordon, seeing his chance to inflict some pain on us riff-raff, ruled the point in order and let Mr Raven drone on. I helpfully suggested that if we had to listen to sales pitches, maybe the companies could provide tea and biscuits. As various members of the audience got more agitated, Councillor Gordon started to enjoy himself. Next up another local blogger
DONT CALL ME DAVE with a whole raft of points detailing the various failings of the council. Councillor Gordon adopted his sarcastic Schoolmaster persona. You know the approach "Yes David, Marvellous point, next". Being a lawyer, Councillor Gordon is ideally suited to this role. As for poor John Hart, I suspect his main concern was whether to start with red wine when he got home of go straight to the fine Islay Malt Whisky. I suspect that John Hart is very pro these forum's but he just wishes a better quality of people would come who would ask more interesting questions. I suspect that John would much rather the questions were of the form "We're having Venison for dinner on Sunday, could the council recommend a full bodied red to compliment the rich texture of the meat". Maybe I'll ask next time?
Question 7 from David extracted the most interesting answer. Councillor Brian Gordon assurred us that Council Leader Mike Freer "Isn't shy". I asked whether the failure to respond in time to FOI requests was "because they were incompetant or hiding something" Councillor Gordon responded "Neither" but couldn't really suggest an alternative explanation other than "these things take time"
Question 8 was about why votes at council were not recorded. Councillor Julie Johnson (Labour) asked why electronic voting wasn't used. Councillor Gordon respond that Labour wouldn't like it. Poor old Councillor Johnson looked suitably perplexed by this. For those of you who are interested, I can offer this helpful guide. If the motion says the Tories are marvellous the 33 Tories all vote for it and the opposition all vote against it. If it says the Tories are rubbish, the opposite happens. If the Lib Dems propose anything, the Tories all vote against it and the Labour Councillors ignore it.
An interesting aside came during the course of this debate. A member of the public asked Councillor Gordon why he skived off early from the last Council meeting. Councillor Gordon looked rather sheepish. He responded that this was the first ever meeting he'd done a bunk from and it was due to a family wedding. The questioner (rather strangely) shouted "Lies". Councillor Gordon responded "I can assure you I'm not" I helpfully suggested that he got a note from his mum. Councillor Gordon ignored my attempt to help him.
Question 10 was about hire vans parking at Apex Corner. John Hart said he'd counted 7 of them, it was terrible and the council could do nothing.
The next raft of questions were from Stonegrove Campaigner Myk Tucker. The drift of them was that due to the credit crunch, we're all doomed. The Council officers responded that we're not and it's all on track. It was one of those rather surreal debates, where none of us have a clue what's going to happen so we all pretend we are 100% correct. Myk challenged the council's assertion that the scheme was well supported. "Where's the evidence?" Councilor Gordon responded "Well it's not here". I suspect that the Stonegrove redevelopment is popular in the same way as syphilis. Tonight plenty of people will catch syphilis. They will enjoy catching it, but it's not what they wanted and they will regret it once the full impact becomes clear. It's all a question of how the question is presented. If I said "would you like a night of passions with your ideal partner" You'd say "not half". You may change your mind if you knew you'd catch the clap, but if you weren't told? As Barnet is concreted over, quite a few of us are realising that we weren't told the whole picture.
Question 12 lead to a rather interesting debate. It seems that a couple of Barnet Council officials went to a conference in Cannes at a cost to the taxpayer of £4932.74 each. Now you could go on a 6 week cruise up the Amazon for that, so it seems a bit excessive. Councillor Gordon looked embarrassed. Councillor Hart had a silly grin. I suspect that the mention of Cannes had conjoured images of Sophia Loren and Brigit Bardot, which were infinately preferable to cold damp meetings in Edgware.
After David and Myk's questions we got the star of the meeting, Mrs Cohen. If you read my previous blog, you'll know that Mrs Cohen is not someone to be trifled with. Last time she'd wiped the floor with Councillor Gordon, this time he was prepared. As with the last time, out came the long speech. I stared intently at Councillor Gordon, waiting for his concentration to crack and Mrs Cohen to pounce. I thought, "He's been practising in front of the mirror". As she finished he agreed it was terrible and that the council would be responding tomorrow. He demanded that he be copied on the council's response so he personally could make sure she was dealt with correctly. Councillor Hugh Rayner had snuck in and he piped up that he wanted a copy as well. Councillor Gordon strangely looked rather put out by this. I suspect that he want's the final victory over Mrs Cohen to be all his. He helpfully suggested that as she has such and excellent and hard working Councillor in Julie Johnson, she direct all her enquiries through her.
Next up Vicki Morris. This was the moment I'd been waiting for. Of the 3 possible Vicki Morris's one had left. I had a 50/50. I guessed wrong. I was gutted. Vicki started. She revealed that £650,000 had been spent on future shape. This figure was challenged. Vicki responded that these figures were taken from minutes of council meetings. Then a rather disturbing thing happened. Councillor Richard Wieder stood up. He interjected that Vicki Morris was a council employee, so she shouldn't be allowed to speak. The assembled audience were affronted. Vicki stated that she was a local resident and that she had every right to speak. Councillor Weider persisted. At this point John Hart whispered something to Councillor Gordon. Much to his credit Councillor Gordon announced. "She's a local resident, she's every right to speak, there's nothing to hide here". What particularly disturbed me was this comment left on my blog about Vicki prior to the meeting :-
04 February 2009 12:31
do call me dave said...
Umm doesn't Vickim work for the Barnet's TUC and run an anti blog? Funny old world...
It seems to me that maybe Councillor Richard Weider's interjection was not entirely spontaneous. Much credit goes to Councillor's Gordon and Hart for having nothing to do with this attempt to cow and intimidate Vicki. She made her point well. At this point, I had to leave. I had to play 5 a side football at 8.30.
A strange thing happened. Councillor Richard Weider, clearly gutted at being slapped down also got up to go. We walked down the corridor, him with a face like thunder and myself not relishing the company of this slimy toady. Then I thought "He's clearly a fan of Future Shape, I could use this opportunity to ask a couple of questions" as we made our way out.
Richard Weider
ROG T : "So councillor do you think that £650,000 is money well spent on future shape consultants"
RW : "Yes, it will save millions"
Rog T : "How can you possibly say that?"
RW : "Look at Gas and Electricty privatisations"
Rog T : "They are completely different to local authorities. Do you really think that the £1,000 a day consultants understand the workings of the council"
RW: "You are out of touch, they cost much more than £1,000 a day"
Rog T : "What do you know about outsourcing, what do you do for a living"
RW : "I know all about it, I'm a civil servant. What do you know?"
Rog T : "I worked for a few years for BT in the division which provided outsourced service solutions for the Government. I worked on some of the largest outsourcing projects. I've also worked on evaluation of outsourcing tenders for other companies. Don't you think there is a conflict of interest taking a director of BT on secondment to draw up the outsourcing contracts"
RW : "That would be true of any consultant such as PwC"
Rog T : "PwC don't run outsourced solutions in the way BT do. That director's future bonuses and career will be defined by his work for Barnet. I can't believe you can't understand that there is a conflict of interest"
RW : "Um, Er, goodnight"
Rog T: "Goodnight Councillor"
At that point we both made our way to our cars. As I drove back, I pondered on what I'd seen tonight. A few decent councillors from the various parties doing their best for the local community. Then I pondered Councillor Richard Weider's clumsy attempt to bully Vicki Morris. I rather hope that he learned something from his wiser and more senior colleagues. Given the look on his face as we bade each other good evening, he clearly wasn't happy. For your own sake Richard, please heed this advice. No one likes a bully.
