If you care about the impact of the ludicrous parking charges in Barnet and the abolition of Pay and Display parking, please be at Cafe Buzz in North Finchley on Monday morning at 10am. Local traders are conducting a funeral services for the local High Street, officiated over by Brian Coleman (clearly this role is being played by an actor, as Coleman never takes responsibility for his own cock ups).
Please attend if you can. The protest has been organised by North Finchley trader Helen Michael.
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Coping with Death and Bereavement
I started writing this blog last Sunday. It was originally to commemorate the passing away of my beloved Dad 25 years ago and to comment on the fact that I've now been on the planet as long without him as I was with him. It was going to be a loving tribute to him. As I started to write it, I realised that even after 25 years, I have some painful and unresolved issues relating to his passing. I realised that the cause of many of these issues are social and cultural. I realised that if I still have issues and anger over the whole thing after 25 years, other people might as well. It struck me that maybe it's time we started a debate on how Great Britain as a society deals with such issues.
The seeds of these thoughts were planted listening to an excellent edition of the Robert Elms show on BBC London 94.9m, where the whole show was dedicated to the subject of death. I am not going to discuss the religious aspects of death or where we go or don't go, I try not to use my blog to promote my personal religious beliefs. I believe we need to have a discussion as to how we cope with the passing of a loved one.
I am an orphan. My father died in January 1987, suddenly after a heart attack on his return from a holiday in Florida. My parents had returned early as my mother's sister had died unexpectedly. They came back for a funeral. My father didn't realise that it would be his own. I wasn't living at home and I didn't even realise they were back in the UK. In those days, we didn't have mobile phones or emails. I was in a total state of shock when I heard the news. Perhaps the worst thing was the fact that no one seemed to know what to do. I guess if someone dies after a long and protracted illness, at least you have some idea and hopefully have made a few arrangements. My Uncle George died a couple of years later of cancer. He had everything planned to the last detail. His wake was in the "Load of Hay" pub in Hendon. At the end of the evening, myself and my brother Laurie were the last ones left. The landlord came up to us with two rather fine glasses of Johnny Walker whisky. He said "Are you Laurie and Roger?" We replied "Yes". He said "George said you'd be the last two in here and he asked me to give you these in his instructions for the wake".
With my own fathers funeral and wake, I remember virtually nothing, except one of his friends throwing a deck of cards on the coffin and a few old stick in the muds scowling at it disapprovingly. That and the sheer weight of the coffin (he was a big old boy). I had decided that I wasn't going to shed a tear and I would be strong. I built a huge wall between myself and the reality of the situation. I was devastated, but didn't want anyone to know. Sadly I found out almost immediately that as a society, we vandalise the emotional wellbeing of people who are grieving. Let me explain how, more through luck than judgement, at the time I had a dream job. At the tender age of 23, I'd managed to land myself a job managing a team of people doing a piece of work that to this day I'm proud of, for a blue chip company, which changed the face of High Streets in the UK. What could go wrong?
When my brother rang to break the news that my father died, I was stunned. I was getting ready to go to work. I immediately phoned my manager and said "I won't be able to come to work today, my father has passed away suddenly". What do you think she said? What would you say? Her response was perhaps the most incredible thing I have ever heard. She said "Under company rules, you are allowed one days compassionate leave for the death of a parent. I expect to see you in the office tomorrow". I was numb. I simply replied "I will be in when I'm ready and able to work" and I put the phone down. You may wonder how I felt. I don't know. I was just in a daze. The following Monday, I decided that the time had come to return to work. I made my way to the office. As I entered, I passed one of my colleagues walking the other way. This was a friendly amiable chap in his 40's. What he said took me back. "Decided to turn up at last have you?". I am not a placid person, I have a fiery Celtic temperament at times. Despite my general despondency, this roused me. I wondered exactly what he'd been told to make such a crass comment. I rared up and said "I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you've not been told the full story. I have been off because my mothers sister died eight days ago. My parents flew back from Florida for her funeral and the the day after they returned, my father had a heart attack and died. My mother is in pieces, all of the family are in pieces and to be quite honest with you, I couldn't face working. I phoned in and said I'd be in when I felt capable of working". My colleague looked visibly shaken. He said "Oh my God, I didn't realise, Jane (the manager) just said you couldn't be bothered to come to work. She didn't say anything about your father". At this I became angry. I said "What, she told everyone I was skiving?". My colleague replied "Yes, I'm really sorry, we'd have sent a card and flowers if she'd told us". He then ushered me out of the building and into a cafe. He ordered me a coffee and said "Please wait here. I need to make sure everyone knows what has happened. I don't want anyone else to behave as I did".
I sat there alone with my thoughts for an hour. I couldn't make any sense of what had happened. Why would someone say that? Was it a personal thing? How could anyone be so cruel? I'm a pretty tough character but I felt like I'd been violated by this horrible woman. Eventually my colleague came back. He said "I've phoned everyone and they all know. They are really upset. Jane would like to see you now, I will come along to make sure you are ok. Don't lose your temper with her". I said "Ok, I'll be alright".
I entered her office and sat down, my colleague at my side. I expected an apology. She said "Why didn't you turn up for work last week.". I was determined to keep my cool. I responded "As I told you, my Father died and I didn't feel capable of working". She responded "I told you that you were allowed 1 days compassionate leave, why didn't you attend work". At this my colleague piped up "Jane, company policy states that you are allowed up to ten days compassionate leave if you are making funeral arrangements". She responded "He didn't say he was making funeral arrangements. In most families, it is the eldest children who do this". I replied "I was making the funeral arrangements". She said "You should have notified me of this". My colleague then said "Roger has now notified you. The funeral is on Thursday, so he needs to go home and continue making them". She replied "Just because you are entitled to ten days, doesn't mean you have to take ten days. I took half a day off when my father died, for the funeral". I responded "There are plenty of arrangements we need to make, I'd better go home and sort them out". At that I walked out of the office. I realised that even though I loved my job, I couldn't work with this woman. I found another job within two months.
As I reflect on this, I realise that it is an extreme example of how bad the British are at dealing with death. The response of the company to my bereavement was appalling. Now, 25 years later, as I thought about it, I came to the following conclusions.
1) My manager had received no training at all in how to counsel a member of staff who was coping with a devastating loss. She'd interpreted company policy purely based on her own prejudice. This is completely inappropriate and an abuse of position. Company policy should be clear and transparent.
2) The company had no formal process for assisting a member of staff who was struggling to cope with a life changing experience.
3) Although my colleagues were outraged at what happened, none felt that there was any point in making a complaint. A couple said "We'd like to make a complaint, but it is a waste of time for issues like this". Such issues are paramount.
What should happen? I contend that every company should have a formal policy for dealing with bereavements affecting members of staff. As soon as a member of staff reports that they've been affected by a bereavement, HR/Personell should be alerted. They should then do the following :-
a) Offer counselling and assistance to the member of staff to deal with the emotional issues relating to bereavement. I believe that a counselling session with a trained counsellor should be a legal requiremnt. If someone is in employment, the company should pay for this. If a person is on benefits, the state should. My family hadn't got a clue what to do when my father died. We employed the Coop funeral services, who helped and were very good. We shared the responsibility, although my sister did most of the work. For many people, who don't have a large family and the support that brings, a bit of help would be invaluable. It would also give an economic benefit to the company as a person with help is more likely to be able to do their job properly.
b) Ensure all managers with a responsibility to staff trained in how to deal with bereavement. I would not wish my worst enemy to have the experience I suffered.
c) Ensure that the issue of bereavement is covered in the school syllabus. Coping with it is something we all will face at some point.
There was one little addendum to the story,which shows how badly men in Britain deal with death. About a year after my father died, a friends father died. He'd suffered for years with kidney problems. He'd been waiting for a transplant. He'd been looking forward to when he had one so he could resume a normal life. Eventually he got to the top of the list. He had a transplant, but the operation went wrong and he sadly passed away.
I went along to the funeral to pay my respects. As the service progressed, I was suddenly back (in my mind) at my fathers funeral. I started thinking about all the grief I had, how much I missed my Dad and how many things I'd failed to say to him. I was overwhelmed with grief. I burst into tears and had to leave the chapel in floods of tears. I couldn't stop for about half an hour. Although it was most embarrassing, I didn't care. I went home and drank half a bottle of scotch and passed out.
I woke up the next day and I actually felt normal for the first time in a year. The sun was shining and that feeling that my head was going to explode had gone. I went to my local cafe and had a big fry up breakfast. I picked up the Daily Express and read the sports pages (reading the Daily Express is one bad habit I acquired from my Dad). I felt like I could get on with my life again. How many people are there who bottle things up for months, years or even a lifetime? I am sure that I'm not the only person who is so dysfunctional that it takes a friends Dad's funeral to release my pain and anger. How long would I have carried the burden, had I not gone that day?
I wish I could offer some help and hope and guidance to anyone who is under that cloud. That is why I wrote this blog, so that if nothing else you know someone else on the planet has an inkling of understanding of how you feel. Yesterday, for some reason, I did something I haven't done before. As I walked through the hall of my house, I paused by a picture we have. It is a montage of various family members - I rescued it from my mothers flat, when we clearing it out after her death. There is a picture of my Mum and Dad at the "Ross River Dam" in Townsville, Queensland, Austrailia taken in 1976. They are both standing there, smiling, happy, healthy and full of life, enjoying a holiday. They were in their mid 50's then. As I looked at it, I smiled and remembered all of the good times. I realised that I am over the loss of both of them. My memories are of the good things and the bad things, but they are not tinged with the anger, frustration and guilt. I no longer look at the pictures and think "why?".
What I haven't properly got over is the fact that I feel abusively treated by my employer at the time. A time when I was vulnerable and weak. I am still full of anger and hatred towards a person I feel treated me in an appalling fashion. I write this blog in the vain hope that someone, somewhere will realise that such pain is unnecessary and that it much of such pain can be avoided. I still feel an apology is warranted (although I know I'll never get one).
Life is for the living, but as a society, we will never be truly happy until we learn to cope better with how we manage the process of our loved ones passing away. I am sure there are some situations, I'd never recover from such as the death of a child. What I do know is that until we move beyond the "we don't talk about it" mentality, we are fighting the battle of coping with both arms tied behind our backs.
The seeds of these thoughts were planted listening to an excellent edition of the Robert Elms show on BBC London 94.9m, where the whole show was dedicated to the subject of death. I am not going to discuss the religious aspects of death or where we go or don't go, I try not to use my blog to promote my personal religious beliefs. I believe we need to have a discussion as to how we cope with the passing of a loved one.
I am an orphan. My father died in January 1987, suddenly after a heart attack on his return from a holiday in Florida. My parents had returned early as my mother's sister had died unexpectedly. They came back for a funeral. My father didn't realise that it would be his own. I wasn't living at home and I didn't even realise they were back in the UK. In those days, we didn't have mobile phones or emails. I was in a total state of shock when I heard the news. Perhaps the worst thing was the fact that no one seemed to know what to do. I guess if someone dies after a long and protracted illness, at least you have some idea and hopefully have made a few arrangements. My Uncle George died a couple of years later of cancer. He had everything planned to the last detail. His wake was in the "Load of Hay" pub in Hendon. At the end of the evening, myself and my brother Laurie were the last ones left. The landlord came up to us with two rather fine glasses of Johnny Walker whisky. He said "Are you Laurie and Roger?" We replied "Yes". He said "George said you'd be the last two in here and he asked me to give you these in his instructions for the wake".
With my own fathers funeral and wake, I remember virtually nothing, except one of his friends throwing a deck of cards on the coffin and a few old stick in the muds scowling at it disapprovingly. That and the sheer weight of the coffin (he was a big old boy). I had decided that I wasn't going to shed a tear and I would be strong. I built a huge wall between myself and the reality of the situation. I was devastated, but didn't want anyone to know. Sadly I found out almost immediately that as a society, we vandalise the emotional wellbeing of people who are grieving. Let me explain how, more through luck than judgement, at the time I had a dream job. At the tender age of 23, I'd managed to land myself a job managing a team of people doing a piece of work that to this day I'm proud of, for a blue chip company, which changed the face of High Streets in the UK. What could go wrong?
When my brother rang to break the news that my father died, I was stunned. I was getting ready to go to work. I immediately phoned my manager and said "I won't be able to come to work today, my father has passed away suddenly". What do you think she said? What would you say? Her response was perhaps the most incredible thing I have ever heard. She said "Under company rules, you are allowed one days compassionate leave for the death of a parent. I expect to see you in the office tomorrow". I was numb. I simply replied "I will be in when I'm ready and able to work" and I put the phone down. You may wonder how I felt. I don't know. I was just in a daze. The following Monday, I decided that the time had come to return to work. I made my way to the office. As I entered, I passed one of my colleagues walking the other way. This was a friendly amiable chap in his 40's. What he said took me back. "Decided to turn up at last have you?". I am not a placid person, I have a fiery Celtic temperament at times. Despite my general despondency, this roused me. I wondered exactly what he'd been told to make such a crass comment. I rared up and said "I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you've not been told the full story. I have been off because my mothers sister died eight days ago. My parents flew back from Florida for her funeral and the the day after they returned, my father had a heart attack and died. My mother is in pieces, all of the family are in pieces and to be quite honest with you, I couldn't face working. I phoned in and said I'd be in when I felt capable of working". My colleague looked visibly shaken. He said "Oh my God, I didn't realise, Jane (the manager) just said you couldn't be bothered to come to work. She didn't say anything about your father". At this I became angry. I said "What, she told everyone I was skiving?". My colleague replied "Yes, I'm really sorry, we'd have sent a card and flowers if she'd told us". He then ushered me out of the building and into a cafe. He ordered me a coffee and said "Please wait here. I need to make sure everyone knows what has happened. I don't want anyone else to behave as I did".
I sat there alone with my thoughts for an hour. I couldn't make any sense of what had happened. Why would someone say that? Was it a personal thing? How could anyone be so cruel? I'm a pretty tough character but I felt like I'd been violated by this horrible woman. Eventually my colleague came back. He said "I've phoned everyone and they all know. They are really upset. Jane would like to see you now, I will come along to make sure you are ok. Don't lose your temper with her". I said "Ok, I'll be alright".
I entered her office and sat down, my colleague at my side. I expected an apology. She said "Why didn't you turn up for work last week.". I was determined to keep my cool. I responded "As I told you, my Father died and I didn't feel capable of working". She responded "I told you that you were allowed 1 days compassionate leave, why didn't you attend work". At this my colleague piped up "Jane, company policy states that you are allowed up to ten days compassionate leave if you are making funeral arrangements". She responded "He didn't say he was making funeral arrangements. In most families, it is the eldest children who do this". I replied "I was making the funeral arrangements". She said "You should have notified me of this". My colleague then said "Roger has now notified you. The funeral is on Thursday, so he needs to go home and continue making them". She replied "Just because you are entitled to ten days, doesn't mean you have to take ten days. I took half a day off when my father died, for the funeral". I responded "There are plenty of arrangements we need to make, I'd better go home and sort them out". At that I walked out of the office. I realised that even though I loved my job, I couldn't work with this woman. I found another job within two months.
As I reflect on this, I realise that it is an extreme example of how bad the British are at dealing with death. The response of the company to my bereavement was appalling. Now, 25 years later, as I thought about it, I came to the following conclusions.
1) My manager had received no training at all in how to counsel a member of staff who was coping with a devastating loss. She'd interpreted company policy purely based on her own prejudice. This is completely inappropriate and an abuse of position. Company policy should be clear and transparent.
2) The company had no formal process for assisting a member of staff who was struggling to cope with a life changing experience.
3) Although my colleagues were outraged at what happened, none felt that there was any point in making a complaint. A couple said "We'd like to make a complaint, but it is a waste of time for issues like this". Such issues are paramount.
What should happen? I contend that every company should have a formal policy for dealing with bereavements affecting members of staff. As soon as a member of staff reports that they've been affected by a bereavement, HR/Personell should be alerted. They should then do the following :-
a) Offer counselling and assistance to the member of staff to deal with the emotional issues relating to bereavement. I believe that a counselling session with a trained counsellor should be a legal requiremnt. If someone is in employment, the company should pay for this. If a person is on benefits, the state should. My family hadn't got a clue what to do when my father died. We employed the Coop funeral services, who helped and were very good. We shared the responsibility, although my sister did most of the work. For many people, who don't have a large family and the support that brings, a bit of help would be invaluable. It would also give an economic benefit to the company as a person with help is more likely to be able to do their job properly.
b) Ensure all managers with a responsibility to staff trained in how to deal with bereavement. I would not wish my worst enemy to have the experience I suffered.
c) Ensure that the issue of bereavement is covered in the school syllabus. Coping with it is something we all will face at some point.
There was one little addendum to the story,which shows how badly men in Britain deal with death. About a year after my father died, a friends father died. He'd suffered for years with kidney problems. He'd been waiting for a transplant. He'd been looking forward to when he had one so he could resume a normal life. Eventually he got to the top of the list. He had a transplant, but the operation went wrong and he sadly passed away.
I went along to the funeral to pay my respects. As the service progressed, I was suddenly back (in my mind) at my fathers funeral. I started thinking about all the grief I had, how much I missed my Dad and how many things I'd failed to say to him. I was overwhelmed with grief. I burst into tears and had to leave the chapel in floods of tears. I couldn't stop for about half an hour. Although it was most embarrassing, I didn't care. I went home and drank half a bottle of scotch and passed out.
I woke up the next day and I actually felt normal for the first time in a year. The sun was shining and that feeling that my head was going to explode had gone. I went to my local cafe and had a big fry up breakfast. I picked up the Daily Express and read the sports pages (reading the Daily Express is one bad habit I acquired from my Dad). I felt like I could get on with my life again. How many people are there who bottle things up for months, years or even a lifetime? I am sure that I'm not the only person who is so dysfunctional that it takes a friends Dad's funeral to release my pain and anger. How long would I have carried the burden, had I not gone that day?
I wish I could offer some help and hope and guidance to anyone who is under that cloud. That is why I wrote this blog, so that if nothing else you know someone else on the planet has an inkling of understanding of how you feel. Yesterday, for some reason, I did something I haven't done before. As I walked through the hall of my house, I paused by a picture we have. It is a montage of various family members - I rescued it from my mothers flat, when we clearing it out after her death. There is a picture of my Mum and Dad at the "Ross River Dam" in Townsville, Queensland, Austrailia taken in 1976. They are both standing there, smiling, happy, healthy and full of life, enjoying a holiday. They were in their mid 50's then. As I looked at it, I smiled and remembered all of the good times. I realised that I am over the loss of both of them. My memories are of the good things and the bad things, but they are not tinged with the anger, frustration and guilt. I no longer look at the pictures and think "why?".
What I haven't properly got over is the fact that I feel abusively treated by my employer at the time. A time when I was vulnerable and weak. I am still full of anger and hatred towards a person I feel treated me in an appalling fashion. I write this blog in the vain hope that someone, somewhere will realise that such pain is unnecessary and that it much of such pain can be avoided. I still feel an apology is warranted (although I know I'll never get one).
Life is for the living, but as a society, we will never be truly happy until we learn to cope better with how we manage the process of our loved ones passing away. I am sure there are some situations, I'd never recover from such as the death of a child. What I do know is that until we move beyond the "we don't talk about it" mentality, we are fighting the battle of coping with both arms tied behind our backs.
Saturday, 4 February 2012
Update on Guest Blog - Sheltered housing ?... Ha ha. dont make me laugh.
From Barnet Sheltered Housing Victim
editorial note : This is a follow up to a guest blog from earlier this week - http://barneteye.blogspot.com/2012/02/guest-blog-sheltered-housing-ha-ha-dont.html - detailing problems with the new "on call warden system", which replaced on site wardens in sheltered housing.
Thought I would keep you informed of latest...
I understand that a investigation is taking place,and certain people have been called in to explain,
A letter has been received from Assist (the company that manages the callout system), saying that they listened to the recordings of the calls and that they agree that procedure was not followed,
Cllr. Alison Moore has been in touch to confirm that this confirms many of her fears about the new service.
Will things change for the better for those that need it ?.....I do hope so.!
I have heard through the grapevine they are about to ....
But you know the Council ... a lot better then me ...
That's why Blogs like the Barnet Eye are very much needed..
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barnet Sheltered Housing Victim is a friend of the Barnet Eye blog and lives in local "sheltered housing". Guest Blogs are always welcome. We also welcome updates on issues which affect our community.
Announcement - Can you Change Barnet and the world?
Author, Environmentalist and Futurist Tony Kearney
Can Barnet Change the World?
Can you Change Barnet and the world?
The Centre
Bath Place
Barnet EN5 5XE
Friday 10th February 2012
7.30 pm
Barnet EN5 5XE
Friday 10th February 2012
7.30 pm
Tony, the author of the books Who Owns the Future?, Boo! and The Tao of Awe, will be exploring the relationship we have with our environment and how we can all make a difference and thus change the world for the better without ever even having to leave Barnet! How cool is that? He believes that enthusiasm, inspiration and co-operation are the best ways of building a better future together, especially as none of these qualities cause the wrong kind of climate change but lots of the right kind!
Local community group The High Barnet Green Home Zone will take up Tony's themes and look at how they might be put into practice on a day-to-day basis.
If you would like to hear how you can make your Community (local and global) a better place, then do not miss this most special event.
Admission: £3. Children under 16 free. Family groups welcome.
Refreshments available.
Admission: £3. Children under 16 free. Family groups welcome.
Refreshments available.
Friday, 3 February 2012
Thanks to Brian Coleman Mill Hill NW7 is in the top 20 UK Burglary hotspots
As this blog reported last week, our local GLA member (and the man responsible for the parking mayhem in Barnet) Brian Coleman stated that crime was down in Barnet and it's all down to his hard work (full story here - http://barneteye.blogspot.com/2012/01/porkie-pies-of-brian-coleman-gla-member.html ). Imagine how surprised I was to read in the Sun that Mill Hill, where I live is in the top 20 burglary Hotspots.
Here is the image from the Sun's website
(full story here - http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4105484/They-dont-live-appily-in-crime-hit-Apperley.html )
Not only is Mill Hill number 20, Barnet is actually no 14. You can read the whole sorry tale here. What Coleman has to face up to is that if he wants to claim the success for good crime figures, he has to take the rap for the bad ones. As the freedom of information request published by this website in the story listed above shows Coleman has had no meetings with the Met police in Barnet to discuss these appalling figures, it is quite clear he must shoulder some of the blame for being so lazy. It really couldn't be more simple.
If I were Boris Johnson, I'd get shot of Coleman before his ineptitude completely derails his Mayoral bid in May.
Here is the image from the Sun's website
(full story here - http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4105484/They-dont-live-appily-in-crime-hit-Apperley.html )
Not only is Mill Hill number 20, Barnet is actually no 14. You can read the whole sorry tale here. What Coleman has to face up to is that if he wants to claim the success for good crime figures, he has to take the rap for the bad ones. As the freedom of information request published by this website in the story listed above shows Coleman has had no meetings with the Met police in Barnet to discuss these appalling figures, it is quite clear he must shoulder some of the blame for being so lazy. It really couldn't be more simple.
If I were Boris Johnson, I'd get shot of Coleman before his ineptitude completely derails his Mayoral bid in May.
Guest Blog - GREENSPACES, SPORTS AND RECREATION GROUNDS
Guest blog by Julia Hines
Barnet is in the final stages of preparing its Local Development Framework, which will contain its planning policy against which all planning decisions will be made in the next few years. They are consulting on changes which have been made to the policy along the way.
I am writing this to highlight the changes to the map which showing all the open spaces, sports and recreation grounds in the borough, Map 11.
This has been changed in the course of the consultation, and it might help if I explained why.
In 2009 Barnet Council employed Ove Arup to survey and map all the greenspaces and sports grounds in the borough, which they did. This was illustrated as Map 11 in the pre-publication stage of the consultation of the Local Development Framework. Technically this survey is a PPG17 audit. If you want to read PPG17 you can find it here
Developers, who own some land behind my home, including the land on which the West Finchley Bowling Club stands, protested that this land should not be on the map because it was private land and did not have legitimate private access. So Barnet took it off Map 11.
There was another round of consultation, so my neighbours and I wrote in arguing that this was unfair because:
- Ownership & access are irrelevant under PPG17;
- The land behind our homes is PPG17 land (2 Planning Appeal Inspectors said so & Bowling Clubs are specifically listed in PPG17); and
- It was unfair to remove us from Map 11 on these grounds, if other private sports clubs like Finchley Cricket Club, Finchley Rugby Club or the Hall School Memorial Ground; or public spaces without public access, like school sports grounds; or other greenspaces which are private and do not have unrestricted access, like College Farm or Long Lane Pastures, are not treated the same way. Basically I said it was unlawful to treat us differently; decisions should be policy based and not purely because developers or planning consultants.
We asked to be put back on the map.
I think Barnet accepted our arguments, because they realised they could not keep Map 11 as it was. However, instead of putting us back on the map, they removed EVERY sports ground in the borough. Map 11 now only shows Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Space.
You can see this on p.59 here. Look at the amount of dark green land lost from the map and the change in title.
I believe that this will weaken the protection from development that all this land has.
Map 11 is supposed to support and illustrate policy CS7 in the LDF. I think it no longer does that. It is supposed to tie in with other policies, like the yet to be drafted Site Allocations Development Plan, but without laying the groundwork by describing the land accurately, it won’t do that.
If you would like to make your feelings known on this, or any of the other changes in the Local Development Framework, the link is here
The closing date is 4pm on 8 March 2012.
My feeling is that the Map 11 should revert back to the pre-publication version because that is the version which is
- Justified – it is based on a robust and credible evidence base – the Ove Arup audit
- Effective – it was the original plan
- Consistent with national planning policy, in other words PPG17 (and also the Mayor’s London Plan). I believe the current version isn’t because it does not show all the land which ought to be on there.
If you agree with me, please let Barnet know.
Thank you for listening.
Julia
PS The planning consultants who act for the developers who own the land behind my home are Capita Symonds. They are in the running for the £250 million contract which would see them becoming the planning officers for Barnet. For my views on this see
http://barneteye.blogspot.com/2011/09/guest-blog-greensquare-field-planning.html------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Julia Hines is a Barnet resident and a regular contributor to the Barnet Eye. Guest blogs are always welcome - This blog is read by 20-30,000 people a month. If you want them to hear what you have to say, please send me a guest blog via the email link at the side of the page.
Saracens at Copthall - Brian Coleman scores an own goal and loses the dressing room
I got an excited phonecall from one of my friends in the Conservative group on Barnet Council last night. "Did you hear what happened at the meeting last night?" No actually, I'd been playing five a side football and drinking beer. "Coleman nearly got chased out of the Town Hall". My ears perked up. I'm pretty neutral on Saracens. I would much rather see Barnet FC move there and believe it would be an affront to natural justice if they don't and Saracens do. But on the other hand, I don't believe that Saracens proposal should not receive a fair hearing and it has many merits for the wider Barnet community. I am uncomfortable about the implications of any overdevelopment on the Green Belt as well. The trouble is that if we want 1st class sports facilities in a Borough like Barnet, someone somewhere will have to have a bit of disruption. I've not really got much sympathy for NIMBY's generally. I have the M1 motorway and the Midland Mainline railway at the bottom of my garden. So at the end of the day, I guess I'm agnostic on Saracens.
At the meeting to discuss the proposal, it seems Brian Coleman wasn't agnostic. He came out as soundly opposed to the Saracens. This did not play well. It got even worse when he gave his reason "it will cause parking issues". Uproar ensued. If Coleman was in any doubt as to what the general opinion of his various bonkers parking scheme. The place erupted. Not only that, but his colleagues present sat stoney faced. It is clear that the penny has finally dropped that Coleman could destroy them.
Apparently Mill Hill Tory John Hart made a fine intervention, in a bold attempt to show that not every Barnet Conservative is completely bonkers and out to shaft anyone who has ever supported the party. John Hart is one of a few Tories who realise the stupidity of much of what goes on. He has a simple plan. As he's 137 years old and counting, he just waits for all of his colleagues to die. He's already outlived six generations of preceding Tories (only joking he's not quite that old). John is one of the few Barnet Tories who is quite entertaining in private. He likes a good joke, but sadly has found himself in an administration which is rapidly becoming the laughing stock of London. He is astute enough to realise that now is a good time to divorce himself from Brian Colemans policies.
My informant in the Tory ranks tells me that rebellion is in the air. There are now a majority of Tory Councillors who privately realise Coleman is a liability. I asked if they had the bottle for a public "et tu Brutus" style knifing in the council chamber. The response was rather interesting "I think things will become rather interesting".
My advice to all Tory voters in Barnet, who are disgusted at the Parking charges is as follows :-
Go to this page on the Council website :-
http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/council/wardmap.asp?intSubSectionID=-1&intSectionID=9
This is a map of Barnet. Click on your ward. This will tell you when your councillors have their surgery. Go along and tell them what you think of Barnet Council and their parking policies. Once you've done that, if you don't like what they said, email me via the link in the sidebar and tell me, and I'll share it with the whole of Barnet.
I have been inundated with guest blogs, comments and emails recently. The message I am getting loud and clear is that people across the whole spectrum are completely fed up. Oh and the Saracens bid was approved. In my Mystic Rog role, I make 2 predictions.
1) Saracens will move to Copthall and it will be a major asset for Rugby fans
2) Barnet FC will move out of The London Borough of Barnet and football fans across the Borough will never forgive the local Tories.
This seems to be the Tory mantra. Divide and rule.
At the meeting to discuss the proposal, it seems Brian Coleman wasn't agnostic. He came out as soundly opposed to the Saracens. This did not play well. It got even worse when he gave his reason "it will cause parking issues". Uproar ensued. If Coleman was in any doubt as to what the general opinion of his various bonkers parking scheme. The place erupted. Not only that, but his colleagues present sat stoney faced. It is clear that the penny has finally dropped that Coleman could destroy them.
Apparently Mill Hill Tory John Hart made a fine intervention, in a bold attempt to show that not every Barnet Conservative is completely bonkers and out to shaft anyone who has ever supported the party. John Hart is one of a few Tories who realise the stupidity of much of what goes on. He has a simple plan. As he's 137 years old and counting, he just waits for all of his colleagues to die. He's already outlived six generations of preceding Tories (only joking he's not quite that old). John is one of the few Barnet Tories who is quite entertaining in private. He likes a good joke, but sadly has found himself in an administration which is rapidly becoming the laughing stock of London. He is astute enough to realise that now is a good time to divorce himself from Brian Colemans policies.
My informant in the Tory ranks tells me that rebellion is in the air. There are now a majority of Tory Councillors who privately realise Coleman is a liability. I asked if they had the bottle for a public "et tu Brutus" style knifing in the council chamber. The response was rather interesting "I think things will become rather interesting".
My advice to all Tory voters in Barnet, who are disgusted at the Parking charges is as follows :-
Go to this page on the Council website :-
http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/council/wardmap.asp?intSubSectionID=-1&intSectionID=9
This is a map of Barnet. Click on your ward. This will tell you when your councillors have their surgery. Go along and tell them what you think of Barnet Council and their parking policies. Once you've done that, if you don't like what they said, email me via the link in the sidebar and tell me, and I'll share it with the whole of Barnet.
I have been inundated with guest blogs, comments and emails recently. The message I am getting loud and clear is that people across the whole spectrum are completely fed up. Oh and the Saracens bid was approved. In my Mystic Rog role, I make 2 predictions.
1) Saracens will move to Copthall and it will be a major asset for Rugby fans
2) Barnet FC will move out of The London Borough of Barnet and football fans across the Borough will never forgive the local Tories.
This seems to be the Tory mantra. Divide and rule.
Thursday, 2 February 2012
FOI response proves that Brian Coleman's CPZ changes have wrecked Barnet Council finances
Guest Blog from Barnet CPZ Campaign
The information in the email below is simply astonishing. The purchase of visitor vouchers by Barnet's CPZ residents has all but died out since the price was quadrupled.
This is not surprising. CPZ residents can't and won't pay £40 or more to hold a children's party at their home; £20 to invite friends round for coffee; £28 or more to hold a book club meeting, £4 to have the grandchildren drop by for a minutes.
So these sorts of simple social engagements have been abandoned by Barnet's all day CPZ residents or they are putting themselves and their guests to inconvenience and embarrassment to work around the charges.
Barnet Council in its 2011-2012 anticipated that almost 200,000 visitor vouchers would be purchased this year at £4 each. They'll be luck to sell 10% of this number.
Barnet Council predicted that quadrupling the cost of visitor vouchers would generate £590,000 MORE INCOME. In fact, it looks like it will create at least £100,000 LESS INCOME.
Barnet Council: Destroying its communities while destroying its finances.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ********************** Redacted Barnet Council Employee
Date: 31 January 2012 14:11:58 GMT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guest Blogs are always welcome from community based campaigns in the London Borough of Barnet. Submit via the link in the sidebar
The information in the email below is simply astonishing. The purchase of visitor vouchers by Barnet's CPZ residents has all but died out since the price was quadrupled.
This is not surprising. CPZ residents can't and won't pay £40 or more to hold a children's party at their home; £20 to invite friends round for coffee; £28 or more to hold a book club meeting, £4 to have the grandchildren drop by for a minutes.
So these sorts of simple social engagements have been abandoned by Barnet's all day CPZ residents or they are putting themselves and their guests to inconvenience and embarrassment to work around the charges.
Barnet Council in its 2011-2012 anticipated that almost 200,000 visitor vouchers would be purchased this year at £4 each. They'll be luck to sell 10% of this number.
Barnet Council predicted that quadrupling the cost of visitor vouchers would generate £590,000 MORE INCOME. In fact, it looks like it will create at least £100,000 LESS INCOME.
Barnet Council: Destroying its communities while destroying its finances.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ********************** Redacted Barnet Council Employee
Date: 31 January 2012 14:11:58 GMT
To: xxxxxSubject: Freedom of Information Act 2000
Dear xxxxx
I am writing in respect of your enquiry for information held by the Authority under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to you.
Please find the information you requested enclosed. If you have any queries concerning the information please contact me at the supplied address.
18/04/2011 to 07/01/2012
Number of residents permits sold = 8,825
Number of visitor vouchers sold = 16,696
2010/11 - 01/04/2010 to 31/03/2011
Number of residents permits sold = 13,453
Number of visitor vouchers sold = 331,614
Unfortunately, we are unable to state how many of the applications received were for a households first car as we do not have the means of reporting on this presently. The figures provided are for the total number of resident permits and visitor vouchers sold for the periods between 18/04/2011 and 07/01/2012 and between 01/04/2010 and 31/03/2011.
If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you can request a review within the next 20 working days by writing to the FOI Officer at: The London Borough of Barnet, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South, London, N11 1NP (email foi@barnet.gov.uk).
If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF (telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45; website: www.ico.gov.uk). There is no charge for making an appeal.
Yours sincerely,
******* *********
Administration Assistant
Environment, Planning and Regeneration
London Borough of Barnet, North London Business Park, Oakleigh Road South, London N11 1NP
Barnet Online: www.barnet.gov.uk
Guest Blogs are always welcome from community based campaigns in the London Borough of Barnet. Submit via the link in the sidebar
Guest Blog - Sheltered housing ?... Ha ha. dont make me laugh.
Guest blog by Barnet Sheltered Housing Victim
Hi Roger
Thought you might like to hear how the New Sheltered housing Scheme is getting along.
Its been a year since we were informed in a meeting that big changes are coming with the promise of further meetings to keep us informed.
Well we have had a total of Zero meetings, not bloody one.No health and safety checks around the scheme. I have had No smoke detector checks, No Pull cord checks. So I decided as a reasonable fit septuagenarian to sign a waver,so the part time warden does not have to call on me, not that anyone knew what time of day they were coming or how long they would be on site, like I said not too bad for me as a reasonable fit person, but for others a problem. Still we have the assist (lifeline) just pull the cord, and help will wing its way too you, No problem right ?sort off.
I live in a block of flats at Prospect Place.Last night 1st Feb at 22:00 hrs., after hearing a commotion down stairs, upon opening my front door a very ill elderly neighbour,had locked herself of out home, wearing no slippers and dressed in her night clothes, so we took her to the premises common room which is heated.
One of us then went back indoors to call assist by pulling the emergency cord, that's what's its for, isn't it? After what seemed ages, they answered, they were asked for an emergency warden to be sent, so they would get the spare set of keys, we were informed there were no longer any wardens, and that the elderly woman should not have gone out, with out her keys, and that we should call the ambulance service / Police / fire brigade, after a few choice words, informing them they had better do something about it, they said they would try, but it could take a while.
After about 15 mins. they called me back, saying according to our records she has a Key safe fitted to the street door, once again we had to point out that we do not or want to know the number, as they are for carers / meals on wheels to use, not next door neighbours.
In the end they contacted the mobile warden, and after half hour or so, she was safely back in doors.
We thought Assist had residents details including next of kin contact details, medical details,... maybe not. Sadly, all these cuts will end up with a preventable death, but why worry about that, we are only old people and we only pay £20 per week for the lifeline.
As for me, I have recoverd my front door keys from the temp warden and as I said signed a waver, because I would rather pass away, then have to rely on this bumbling local authority, which has self interest at heart.
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Barnet Sheltered Housing Victim is a resident of Barnet Council Sheltered Housing accomodation and a good friend of this blog. They wrote this account so that the people of Barnet can understand exactly what the abolition of the Sheltered Housing On Site Warden scheme means to them and their neighbours. This budget cut policy predated the Coalition government and the budget cuts imposed as a result. It saved the council approx £400,000 per annum.
To submit a guest blog, please click on the link in the sidebar
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
Nick Walkley and what any Council planning mass outsourcing should consider
Nick Walkley, the CEO of Barnet recently called a panic emergency meeting of senior staff. The reason? To give them a team talk and rally them to the cause of the One Barnet mass outsourcing project. The information this blog has received indicates that Mr Walkley has, in football terms, lost the dressing room. The reason? Because it is plain for all to see that the wheels are coming off the project and like King Canute, he cannot stop the tide coming in and all his minions can see it.
What did Mr Walkley tell the troops? There were two main message. Firstly he said that other councils were queueing up to talk to Barnet about their experience with the project and secondly that "there is no going back on decisions taken two years ago". Let us consider these statements. The first statement about other councils being extremely interested in what Barnet Council are doing is 100% true. Sadly it isn't true in the way Mr Walkley expressed it. How do I know this? Because I've seen hits on this blog from hundreds of Councils (for those of you not familiar with the art of blogging, I have a stats package which tells me the IP address of all visitors and who owns that domain (For example Buckinghamshire County Council - IP address 194.80.135.203 visited yesterday amongst others. You can put this IP address into the tool in the sidebar and it will tell you details of their domain). Most of these visitors have bookmarked the blog and look regularly. My stats also tell me what they are looking at. They tend not to search for blogs about football, cancer and dyslexia, but are very interested in blogs about outsourcing and leaks.
Why should councils be interested in the views of a blogger, with no role within Barnet Council and no official links with it? This is even more interesting to consider. If as Mr Walkley would have his staff believe, bloggers such as myself have no role to play in the process and write nothing of value, then the tens of thousands of man hours staff at other authorities have spent reading this blog is a complete waste of time. Sadly for Mr Walkley, many councils (mostly Conservative) are actually very interested for sound business reasons. It may shock Mr Walkley to know that I recently had lunch with the Leader, the CEO and the Communications director of another Council. For the absence of doubt, I paid for my own lunch and we met at a rather nice restaurant near Blackfriars. You may wonder why? Well they are a Conservative Authority who are seeking to make cuts and savings. Unlike Barnet, they are seeking to do it in a way that will not antagonise their workforce (in as much as such a thing is possible), will not upset their business community and will have the best possible effect on the levels of tax payers.
Why talk to a Barnet blogger? They recognised that this blog has wide contacts within the community. They recognise that we've read all of the analysis of the One Barnet project and the other cost savings/ revenue generating schemes and they wanted to avoid the public relations disaster which has befallen Barnet Council. What did the Barnet Eye get out of the meeting? We got the opportunity to see whether sane rational people running a local authority, of a right of centre persuasion, would be open and receptive to the ideas this blog has been expressing for the last three and a half years. They asked me not to name their authority, which I was happy to agree to.
We discussed the issues surrounding the One Barnet project. I expressed my view that there is no proper business case for the project. If there was then this would be the justification for the project. I explained that for the preferred bidder, most of the savings are "aspirational" and that Barnet had actually put such savings ahead of guaranteed savings from other bidders. Then I explained about the issues within Barnet and its procurement system. I explained how we'd seen massive problems with Metpro and RM Countrysides contracts. I explained the outcome of the Catalyst outsourcing court case, with a multi million pound settlement in favour of the contractor, because they hadn't made the expected profits. I also explained how one care home run by Catalyst had been found to be exposing vulnerable people to Legionella. They asked me a perfectly reasonable question. "If the One Barnet project could demonstrate that it would provide better services for the people of Barnet at lower cost to the taxpayer, would I support it?". They were surprised by my answer. I replied that if it could be demonstrated that this were true AND THAT IT DIDN'T DAMAGE THE WIDER ECONOMY IN BARNET, YES I WOULD. I then explained how small business was excluded and jobs were being exported from Barnet to other parts of the country and even abroad.
I explained that as a responsible local authority, Barnet should consider these factors as part of the bidding process and work out the net positive/negative effect on the economy of the Borough before proceeding. I used the example of the Bombardier exclusion from the Thameslink train contract as an example. To my surprise they nodded in agreement. I then discussed the changes to parking and the way this was destroying business. They explained how their authority has a senior member of staff with a brief for High Street regeneration and this was supported by all parties within their council. As I understand it, they have a committee responsible for this and in their authority moves such as those imposed by Brian Coleman simply couldn't be implemented. The leader explained that they "have a few Labour councillors who are talented and intelligent individuals and as a council we use their talents to the full, in the areas in which we all agree". Perhaps this was the most shocking statement for me. Can you imagine Barnet Council Conservatives giving any Labour councillor any responsibility at all, even if they combined the talents of Albert Einstien, Richard Branson and Mary Portas?
The head of communications was most interested in the relationship between the press, the bloggers and the council. He expressed the view that he was surprised that the council had not engaged with us. I was rather surprised by this. He stated that as the blogs were widely read, he would have thought that the council could have used the blogs as a channel for getting information across to the people of Barnet. The CEO chipped in and asked how regularly the bloggers got to interview Nick Walkley. I laughed - "never". I explained how I occasionally had a chat with Mr Walkley before meetings over a coffee, but he had not once agreed to be interviewed by a blog and virtually never responded to any email I'd sent him. The head of communications said another thing which rather surprised me. "We'd actually be keen to encourage bloggers in our authority and grant all the access they like to whoever they like within reason". I was intrigued. "Why?" I asked. "If ideas are not challenged, then they are not likely to be robust". What about if a blogger did a hatchet job? "If you have a public role, that comes with the territory, you should be big enough to take it. If someone says something which is clearly unreasonable, then they have to live with it." The leader chipped in "I'm a Conservative so I believe in open government and transparent process. That guarantees the best value. In our council it is very hard for Labour to attack us on anything except the priority of spending commitments, where we have ideological differences". And what are the differences? "levels of council tax, which departments we trim with budget cuts". And what about efficiency savings "You must constantly strive for these, surely that is recognised by all". Just before we parted company, I asked "Do you think you have much to learn from Barnet Council". The CEO said "It is a good case study, there is much to learn there". I rephrased the question "So will you be going down the same path". He replied "I really don't think so".
As we parted company, the Leader said "You know, you'd make a very good Conservative Councillor. You should charge a consultancy fee for your services, you could make a couple of grand a day if you did this commercially". I laughed, he said "actually I'm not joking". I googled their council website and some of their local papers. It is quite instructive to see the difference between the general atmosphere of the Borough and that of Barnet.
Which brings us to the second part of what Mr Walkley said. The bit about no changing decisions made two years ago. It is a principle of psychology that when someone makes a statement such as this it is a de facto acknowledgement that the decision was a bad one. If you look at a hugely successful decision, then no one ever discusses changing it. For example, Eurostar made a decision to move it's hub from Waterloo to St Pancras. Does the CEO of Eurostar ever say "We are not going back on our decision to move to St Pancras"? No of course he doesn't, because it was the right decision and the business case stacks up. There is an old axiom in management "If a plan isn't working, change it". There has been a rather decent series on BBC1 recently called Birdsong. This chronicles a young man in the trenches in the first world war. There was a scene this week, where he is brought before the generals as an expert on the local terrain in the Somme. They explained their plan and asked his opinion. He responded by outlining all of the weaknesses of their scheme. The generals derided him and asked the colonel who had brought him, how they'd found someone so lacking in backbone. The history books record what happened next. That is the situation we see with Nick Walkley. The plan clearly isn't going to work, but an ever shrinking cabal of senior executives carry on. They deride and ignore anyone who tried to question their plan. They rally the troops, but the troops all know it is going to go horribly wrong.
If I was the only person in Barnet or the wider world who saw the flaws in the plan, maybe Mr Walkley may have a point. Sadly, every day the number of people who believe in his scheme shrinks as more details emerge.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you run a local authority and are considering outsourcing or want advice on how to avoid the type of PR disasters we see on a weekly basis in Barnet, please get in touch. Prices for consultancy are negotiable.
What did Mr Walkley tell the troops? There were two main message. Firstly he said that other councils were queueing up to talk to Barnet about their experience with the project and secondly that "there is no going back on decisions taken two years ago". Let us consider these statements. The first statement about other councils being extremely interested in what Barnet Council are doing is 100% true. Sadly it isn't true in the way Mr Walkley expressed it. How do I know this? Because I've seen hits on this blog from hundreds of Councils (for those of you not familiar with the art of blogging, I have a stats package which tells me the IP address of all visitors and who owns that domain (For example Buckinghamshire County Council - IP address 194.80.135.203 visited yesterday amongst others. You can put this IP address into the tool in the sidebar and it will tell you details of their domain). Most of these visitors have bookmarked the blog and look regularly. My stats also tell me what they are looking at. They tend not to search for blogs about football, cancer and dyslexia, but are very interested in blogs about outsourcing and leaks.
Why talk to a Barnet blogger? They recognised that this blog has wide contacts within the community. They recognise that we've read all of the analysis of the One Barnet project and the other cost savings/ revenue generating schemes and they wanted to avoid the public relations disaster which has befallen Barnet Council. What did the Barnet Eye get out of the meeting? We got the opportunity to see whether sane rational people running a local authority, of a right of centre persuasion, would be open and receptive to the ideas this blog has been expressing for the last three and a half years. They asked me not to name their authority, which I was happy to agree to.
We discussed the issues surrounding the One Barnet project. I expressed my view that there is no proper business case for the project. If there was then this would be the justification for the project. I explained that for the preferred bidder, most of the savings are "aspirational" and that Barnet had actually put such savings ahead of guaranteed savings from other bidders. Then I explained about the issues within Barnet and its procurement system. I explained how we'd seen massive problems with Metpro and RM Countrysides contracts. I explained the outcome of the Catalyst outsourcing court case, with a multi million pound settlement in favour of the contractor, because they hadn't made the expected profits. I also explained how one care home run by Catalyst had been found to be exposing vulnerable people to Legionella. They asked me a perfectly reasonable question. "If the One Barnet project could demonstrate that it would provide better services for the people of Barnet at lower cost to the taxpayer, would I support it?". They were surprised by my answer. I replied that if it could be demonstrated that this were true AND THAT IT DIDN'T DAMAGE THE WIDER ECONOMY IN BARNET, YES I WOULD. I then explained how small business was excluded and jobs were being exported from Barnet to other parts of the country and even abroad.
I explained that as a responsible local authority, Barnet should consider these factors as part of the bidding process and work out the net positive/negative effect on the economy of the Borough before proceeding. I used the example of the Bombardier exclusion from the Thameslink train contract as an example. To my surprise they nodded in agreement. I then discussed the changes to parking and the way this was destroying business. They explained how their authority has a senior member of staff with a brief for High Street regeneration and this was supported by all parties within their council. As I understand it, they have a committee responsible for this and in their authority moves such as those imposed by Brian Coleman simply couldn't be implemented. The leader explained that they "have a few Labour councillors who are talented and intelligent individuals and as a council we use their talents to the full, in the areas in which we all agree". Perhaps this was the most shocking statement for me. Can you imagine Barnet Council Conservatives giving any Labour councillor any responsibility at all, even if they combined the talents of Albert Einstien, Richard Branson and Mary Portas?
The head of communications was most interested in the relationship between the press, the bloggers and the council. He expressed the view that he was surprised that the council had not engaged with us. I was rather surprised by this. He stated that as the blogs were widely read, he would have thought that the council could have used the blogs as a channel for getting information across to the people of Barnet. The CEO chipped in and asked how regularly the bloggers got to interview Nick Walkley. I laughed - "never". I explained how I occasionally had a chat with Mr Walkley before meetings over a coffee, but he had not once agreed to be interviewed by a blog and virtually never responded to any email I'd sent him. The head of communications said another thing which rather surprised me. "We'd actually be keen to encourage bloggers in our authority and grant all the access they like to whoever they like within reason". I was intrigued. "Why?" I asked. "If ideas are not challenged, then they are not likely to be robust". What about if a blogger did a hatchet job? "If you have a public role, that comes with the territory, you should be big enough to take it. If someone says something which is clearly unreasonable, then they have to live with it." The leader chipped in "I'm a Conservative so I believe in open government and transparent process. That guarantees the best value. In our council it is very hard for Labour to attack us on anything except the priority of spending commitments, where we have ideological differences". And what are the differences? "levels of council tax, which departments we trim with budget cuts". And what about efficiency savings "You must constantly strive for these, surely that is recognised by all". Just before we parted company, I asked "Do you think you have much to learn from Barnet Council". The CEO said "It is a good case study, there is much to learn there". I rephrased the question "So will you be going down the same path". He replied "I really don't think so".
As we parted company, the Leader said "You know, you'd make a very good Conservative Councillor. You should charge a consultancy fee for your services, you could make a couple of grand a day if you did this commercially". I laughed, he said "actually I'm not joking". I googled their council website and some of their local papers. It is quite instructive to see the difference between the general atmosphere of the Borough and that of Barnet.
Which brings us to the second part of what Mr Walkley said. The bit about no changing decisions made two years ago. It is a principle of psychology that when someone makes a statement such as this it is a de facto acknowledgement that the decision was a bad one. If you look at a hugely successful decision, then no one ever discusses changing it. For example, Eurostar made a decision to move it's hub from Waterloo to St Pancras. Does the CEO of Eurostar ever say "We are not going back on our decision to move to St Pancras"? No of course he doesn't, because it was the right decision and the business case stacks up. There is an old axiom in management "If a plan isn't working, change it". There has been a rather decent series on BBC1 recently called Birdsong. This chronicles a young man in the trenches in the first world war. There was a scene this week, where he is brought before the generals as an expert on the local terrain in the Somme. They explained their plan and asked his opinion. He responded by outlining all of the weaknesses of their scheme. The generals derided him and asked the colonel who had brought him, how they'd found someone so lacking in backbone. The history books record what happened next. That is the situation we see with Nick Walkley. The plan clearly isn't going to work, but an ever shrinking cabal of senior executives carry on. They deride and ignore anyone who tried to question their plan. They rally the troops, but the troops all know it is going to go horribly wrong.
If I was the only person in Barnet or the wider world who saw the flaws in the plan, maybe Mr Walkley may have a point. Sadly, every day the number of people who believe in his scheme shrinks as more details emerge.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you run a local authority and are considering outsourcing or want advice on how to avoid the type of PR disasters we see on a weekly basis in Barnet, please get in touch. Prices for consultancy are negotiable.
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