Barnet Council Metpro Scandal - Barnets Credibility Burns

Roman Emperor Nero famously played his fiddle whilst Rome burned to the ground. It is THE classical example of arrogance and incompetence for a leader. A fire has been lit under the credibility of Barnet Council with the publication of the Metpro report. I did wonder what our Tory councillors would do. What I've seen so far beggars belief.

First out of the traps is Barnet Tory Daniel Thomas.
http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9072092.Council_needs_to____tighten_up____contract_management_admits_councillor/

I'll let you make up your mind whether he's playing the violin as the flames rise. His response to the Metpro Audit report "Our waste collection and street cleaning are now also generally excellent." - Dan, if you want a new violin, we sell them. It's clear that you've completely missed the point.  Has there been a more idiotic response to a serious matter such as this?

For once I was rather impressed with the response from Labour Group Leader Alison Moore

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9072942.Labour_councillor_says_MetPro_scandal_is_not_an_isolated_incident/

Compare and contrast her comments with those of Dan Thomas, She says :-

“MetPro is not an isolated incident – serious procurement and finance regulation failures have also been identified in the past – who can forget the £27.4m that was lost in Icelandic Banks after proper procedures weren’t followed, or the £12m overspend in the Aerodrome Road bridge replacement project caused by poor procurement of contracts. The Tories in Barnet have presided over a catalogue of disaster, which does not give any confidence in their ability to procure and monitor large scale contracts proposed in the easyCouncil privatisation programme. The plug should be pulled on any outsourcing plans as this Conservative Council just do not seem to know what they are doing.” 

 I've not always been the biggest fan of Alison, but she is bang on the money here. This is not an isolated incident, this is part of systemic failure. There is one person who hasn't commented. The current stand in Leader of the Council, Andrew  Harper. Although Lynne Hillan formally quit on the 16th May,  Harper has in reality been in day to day charge for at least six months, perhaps a year. Everything you want to know about Harper and his leadership skills, you could learn from how he has handled the Metpro scandal.

I have one observation, which the Barnet Conservative Councillors would be well advised to ponder. Andrew Harper insisted that the Leadership election was this Sunday. He knew that the Metpro report was being reviewed on the 16th. (Have you read it) Although a far from perfect report, with many glaring omissions, it is the most damning indictment of the Council I've ever seen. There is simply no hiding the fact that the corporate purchasing system at Barnet is a fail. Whilst Harper knew this was coming and knew it needed managing, he deliberately timed the leadership election to distract all of his councillors from the bomb that was blowing up under them.  Harper knows that the report may destroy his credibiltiy, so he has cynically manipulated process to ensure that councillors are looking the other way. I was shocked by his indecent haste to throw his hat into the ring. 

The sad truth is that no matter how bad the Metpro Scandal seems, it is not being effectively managed, because Andrew Harper wants to sow up the Leadership. Is this the action of a man who cares about the Barnet Taxpayer.

Twatman Robert Rams attacks Mike Freer MP

I was amazed to read an attack by Councillor Robert Rams (voted a twat by readers of the Barnet Eye last year) on his former boss at Barnet Council - Mike Freer MP. Of course, being a Twat, it is highly likely that Robert Rams didn't actually realise what he was saying or doing. Today Ramsbottom wrote this blog :-


http://robertrams.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/who-is-professor-dexter-whitfield/

Let me quote the key passage from Ramsbums blog :-

He (Professor Dexter Whitfield) is now the Director of the European Services Strategy Unithttp://www.european-services-strategy.org.uk/contact/. It is from here he has been paid by the Barnet unions to write these reports. But it is interesting that whatever he writes, he always comes to the same conclusion, that outsourcing is a bad idea, ignoring the savings that have been achieved. But would we expect him to write anything else? So in conclusion, he appears to be an anti-outsourcing activist, so it is hard to understand how his reports can be described as an independent critique of our One Barnet process. I would suggest to the Unions that they save their members’ hard earned money and spend it somewhere else!

Well what Mr Sheepsjacksie Rams neglects to mention is that it wasn't the unions who brought Dexter Whitfield in or paid his bills. It was none other than the then Barnet Council Leader Mike Freer. He made a ground breaking decision to pay for the Unions to hire their own consultant (Prof Whitfield) to cast a critical eye over the proposals. Mike Freer told the Barnet Unison Leader, John Burgess, that criticism of the process from an independent source would improve the process. He put his money where his mouth was and the first four reports were paid for by the Barnet Taxpayer on the command of Mike Freer.

I spoke to John Burgess this evening concerning Robert Rams comments. He stated that when Mike Freer first told him about the One Barnet program (then called Future Shape), he insisted that the Unions were a vital part of the process. He suggested getting Dexter Whitfield in to show Burgess his good faith as a partner. He told John that whilst they would probably disagree on many of the ideas, it was vital that the process involved all the stakeholders in Barnet. This was why the name was changed to One Barnet. Mike Freer always insisted to John Burgess that OneBarnet was not "all about outsourcing" but about transforming and modernising Barnet Council, with the help and agreement of the workforce.

In the near two years since Freer left to persue his personal ambition to become an MP, the One Barnet program has changed. It has become a program solely about outsourcing. Whilst the Unions were tasked to come up with suggested efficiencies and competetive in house bids, the joint Leaders of the Council, Lynne Hillan and Andrew Harper have gone back on their commitments and promises to John Burgess, to consider in house bids if they were competetive. Councillor Rams, who is charged with implementing many "One Barnet" programs has not even to read properly the critique's provided by Professor Whitfield. He has never supplier a sensible response to any of his comments. Now he seeks to dismiss someone who is an eminent professor and has spent years studying the subject in a vicious and ill informed blog (based on casual reading of a couple of internet articles).

I spoke to John Burgess and he informed me that he was shocked that a cabinet member of Barnet Council should choose to behave in such a way. John said "I've worked with four Conservative Leaders at Barnet and although we've had our differences, I've never seen them attack the reputation of an independent advisor, who was initially brought in by the Council, in terms such as these".

Whilst Robert Rams may think he's a clever little twat chappie for attacking Professor Whitfield, he clealry hasn't thought this through. Does he really think anyone with any credibility will want to work for Barnet Council, if Cabinet members are going to harangue them and belittle their reputation, should they spell out a few home truths? Does he think Councillors will get decent advice, if experts know that they will be insulted in this way.

The most telling point about Rams attack against Whitfield is that at no point does Rams identify a single error in Whitfields analysis of Barnet Council's One Barnet program.  He cannot find a single criticism of Whitfields reports to demonstrate why he may be wrong. All he does is attack the reputation of the man. This is the second time in two days that a serious and intelligent critic of Barnet Council has been harshly attacked in this way. Yesterday it was the campaigner against the CPZ price hike, David Attfield.

The evidence is there for all to see. Rams is quite happy to slag off the Unions for spending their money on the services of Professor Dexter Whitfield. As it was the Barnet Taxpayers money, generously provided by Mike Freer MP  which started the ball rolling, it is quite clear that Rams also thinks Mike Freer has wasted cash big time. Sadly he's too cowardly to tell the people of Barnet the whole truth or to attract the ire of his boss. It is telling that Robert Rams is the GLA bag carrier of Brian "Gordon Brown Stealthtaxman" Coleman, who has made a career of attacking the reputations of all who cross him. It seems Robert "Sheepsjacksie" Ramsbottom is ready to step out of the (rather portly) shadow of his mentoe

Public Enema No 1

This blog was originally going to be entitled Public Enemy No 1. I will leave you to guess who it was going to beabout, but let's just say that he's a promenent Barnet Conservative. Sadly, as I'm dyslexic I miswrote the title. I then realised that my mistake was a message from God telling me that there was an even more important message to pass on (yes it's true, it isn't only George Bush who gets messages directly from God and they are not all about invading foreign countries).

As I considered the title of the blog, I came to the realisation that basically Barnet Council is suffering from a corporate rectal blockage. What causes rectal blockages? A poor diet. In the case of Barnet Council, there is a whole machine geared to produce bullshit at huge expense. Perhaps the most appropriate recent example of this is Councillor Andrew Harper, who produced a "motion on squatting". If ever there was a Councillor in need of an enema, surely it is Councillor Harper. If you peruse the video I shot at the last council meeting, it was quite clear from the expression on Harper's face that he would benefit from a good flushing out. But I digress. Basically what has happened in Barnet is that there is a whole layer of the authority which is devoted solely to highly politically motivated navel gazing. About 4 years ago, BT contacted former leader Mike Freer (now MP for Finchley & Golders Green). They offered to enroll him in a program to "educate" him in the "ways of efficient running of  a council". The carrot for Freer was lots of jollies in nice places and an "honoury" MBA from three of the finest business schools in the USA. Freer was enrolled in the BT Vital Vison program and learned all about how marvellous outsourcing is. Now Mike Freer clearly didn't bother to ask BT what was in it for them. Can you guess? Well they are one of the countries leading suppliers of outsourced services.

Freer came back, evangelised by a healthy bit of brainwashing and a whole army of consultants. BT were even kind enough to lend Barnet Council a senior officer, Max Wide, to help get the ball rolling. Huge savings were promised. A "virtual council" would be created, with only the finest mega companies selected to run services. Huge savings would magically appear as Council staff were sacked and contractors wheeled in to replace them. Of course we all know what happens if you are fed on a diet of hot air and bullshit, don't we?

To date the progress is thus :-

No savings
No proper plan
No Business case
Millions spent on consultants

Now, you'd think that the Tories, who believe in a relentless drive for efficiency, would have realised it has gone tits up. A similar experiment ended in Suffolk this week, when ordinary, sane Tory backbenchers called time on a similar experiment. Sadly, the Tory backbenchers of Barnet are either too dim or just don't care. The juggernaut moves on. In Suffolk, they realised that the process was stuck and that the leadership of the Council were a corproate rectal blockage. They realised a corporate enema was required, they administered it and are now getting on with the job of undoing the damage caused.

Will Barnet do the same? In Barnet Council we have the absurd situation of a gravely ill Leader, Lynne Hillan, who is continually absent. Her deputy, Councillor Andrew Harper, lacks authoritand credibility. He has been telling those Councillors who bother to listen that they mustn't rebel against Hillan, because the stress could kill her. The real power in Barnet is Councillor Brian Coleman, who's sole aim now is to get re-elected to the GLA next year (to keep his £50,000 allowance + expenses). Coleman showed this week that he's quite prepared to go against group policy (he publicly opposed the Saracens plan to move to Mill Hill), if he thinks it might save his skin. As a result, Barnet Council is in a hiatus. There is a situation where there is no management, no control and no direction. The Metpro scandal spirals ever onwards. Despite the evidence for all to see that Barnet Council have monumentally screwed up, no one has apologised, no one has admitted responsibility and no one is telling the truth. FOI requests are delayed and not answered in the legal timeframe. When the answers come, they are obtuse and unhelpful, often deliberately phrased so as to say nothing at all.

The time has come. The hosepipe must be inserted into the Barnet Council Corporate backside and all of this crap washed away. The hugely expensive consultants who have been unable to supply a credible business plan must be dispensed with and the Council senior officers must start doing their jobs. An audit should be performed of all senior staff positions, asking a simple question. What benefit do you add for the Taxpayers of Barnet and would they be inconvenienced if you left tomorrow. Staff must be allowed to innovate and identify saving within their own departments, rather than have ill thought out change foist upon them.

Sorry for the unpleasant descriptions contained within this blog. I am just completely sick to death of writing blogs, where I have to wade through Barnet Council reports that are complete crap. Fellow Barnet bloggers have identified all manner of waste, profligacy and stupidity, just by reading reports properly (something Councillors are paid to do and can't be bothered to do). The time has come for a complete clear out.

Barnet Council Scandal : Metpro update - Who else is spying?

I have today submitted the following FOI request to Barnet Council.

----- Original Message -----

From: Roger Tichborne

To: Freedom of Information Act

Cc: John Burgess ; vickimorris@btinternet.com ;Adam Langelben; Hillan, Cllr Lynne Conservative ; cllr.a.moore@barnet.gov.uk ; Cohen, Cllr Jack Liberal Democrat ; Nick.Walkley@barnet.gov.uk ; Harper, Cllr Andrew Conservative

Sent: Saturday, April 09, 2011 11:21 AM

Subject: FOI - request

Dated 9th April 2011

 

Dear Barnet Council,

 

Please provide details of all external contractors involved in the following activities on behalf of Barnet Council.

 

1) Filming residents/employees/councillors without their permission

2) Recording residents without their permission

3) performing any other covert survelliance of residents

4) Monitoring personal blogs/twitter/facebook pages on the internet

 

To minimise cost, please provide details from April 2010.

 

Please summarise the cost to the taxpayer of Barnet for these services.

 

Please specify which senior officers and councillors accessed to this information.

 

Please specify who signed off the contract at Barnet for the provision of these services and when this contract was signed.

 

Regards

 

Roger Tichborne

 David Miller (AKA retired/resting blogger Don't Call Me Dave) submitted a whole string of FOI requests regarding activities conducted under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) act. As I recall, Barnet Council stated that they were not covertly filming anyone. It is abundantly clear from the Metpro scandal that people have been covertly filmed by contractors working for Barnet Council. The question which no one else has asked is this - Who else is spying on us for Barnet Council?


As several Barnet bloggers have experienced all sorts of odd activities on their IT equipment this week, I also submitted this FOI request

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Roger Tichborne

To: Freedom of Information Act

Cc: John Burgess ; vickimorris@btinternet.com ; Adam Langleben ; Hillan, Cllr Lynne Conservative ; cllr.a.moore@barnet.gov.uk ; Cohen, Cllr Jack Liberal Democrat ; Nick.Walkley@barnet.gov.uk ; Harper, Cllr Andrew Conservative

Sent: Saturday, April 09, 2011 11:37 AM

Subject: Re: FOI - request

Dated 9th April 2011

 

Dear Barnet Council,

 

 

Please provide all details of Council employees or contractors working on behalf of Barnet Council employed in the following activities :-

 

1) Electronic hacking activities (ie accessing the IT equipment of third parties without their permission)

 

2) All council emails regarding hacking activitites, either of Barnet Council computers or of other computers where Barnet Council has been involved

 

3) Any details of third party IT specialist engaged by Barnet Council who have been involved in the disruption of third party IT equipment

 

4) Details of any phone tapping activities undertaken by Barnet Council

 

5) Details of which Council Officers and Councillors were aware of this activity and who had access to any information derived from it.

 

To limit costs please limit the enquiry for the period from 1st January 2010 to present.

 

Regards

Roger Tichborne

It should be interesting to see what the responses are (if we ever get them).

Barnet Council Metpro Scandal - A huge conflict of interest

Let me explain to Barnet Council CEO Nick Walkley, the well suntanned Leader of Barnet Council Lynne Hillan and her equally well suntanned and relaxed Deputy Leader Andrew Harper, why an Independent public inquiry is necessary into the Metpro Scandal.

Mr Walkley feels and "internal audit" will do the trick. Mr Walkley as CEO allowed this mess to occur. He's also the boss of the people investigating the issues. Now if you are investigating and you find out something which portrays your boss in a poor light, what do you do? I've no idea what the investigator will do, but I do know that he will have a dilemma. I presume that the vast majority of Barnet Council staff need a job and don't want to upset the boss. Will they turn the place upside down searching for evidence to incriminate their friends, colleagues and bosses? I think we all know the answer.

And just suppose, for one second that the holy trinity of Walkley, Hillan and Harper don't think it's serious, even the Metropolitan Police seem to have "huge reservations" about what happened. Neil Seabridge, one of Barnets top policemen said the following to the Press newspapers :-

"I can state categorically that Police did not authorise any intrusive surveillance at the Council Meeting. Nor did we tell anyone else they could use covert or intrusive surveillance, which is a highly regulated area which requires specific written authority by a police superintendent or above when police initiate it for very specific reasons linked to investigation or prevention of crime. Such a meeting at the town all would not fall under any of these categories"

My question is this, for the Walkley, Hillan and Harper. When will the penny drop? If you have done nothing wrong and MetPro were a maverick company acting without instruction, be open and clear your name. If you were up to your neck in the scandal, do the decent thing and resign. It really is that simple. It is quite unprecedented to have residents, council staff, police, press and even your own councillors being so upset about an issue. Get a grip, show some leadership and most importantly - SORT THIS MESS OUT NOW IN A MANNER THAT RESTORES TRUST

Barnet Council Scandals - A grim day for Barnet Council in the Press

There are three major traditional papers in Barnet. They all come out today and they are all full of scandals, cock ups and incompetence this week. There is a theme. In each of these stories, the residents of Barnet have been adversely affected by services provided by Private contractors engaged by Barnet Council.

You may think that this would cause Barnet Council to think about how it runs it's services. Sadly they are doing the opposite and going hell for leather towards even more outsourcing and even more private contracts. They have put together a business case which an independent expert slammed as a work of fiction.

Anyway for your light reading here is what the traditional end of the press have to say (click on the pictures for the online edition of the paper)

Hampstead and Highgate Express

Details how Council Contractors (Metpro Rapid Response)covertly video residents. Local Tory MP Matthew Offord, quite rightly slams this behaviour (did he know when he was deputy leader and the contract was signed). This is on page 1.

Then we have the Edgware press. This details how shoddy work by contractors left the most vulnerable residents of care homes in Barnet at risk of legionella. Again on Page 1.

Then we have the Hendon Times. Barnet are only on page 3 here, but the story details how blunders mean residents haven't got their Council Tax bills and information to pay them. This will have a disasterous effect on Council finances and may lead to huge overdraft fees and temporary borrowing facilities.

So you may wonder who is running the show. The answer appears to be no-one. At the Council Cabinet meeting this week, neither Leader Lynne Hillan or Deputy Leader Andrew Harper was present. Are they both on holiday? This is not the first time that the Council has been engulfed in a crises and they've both been off enjoying themselves.

It's high time the local Tories sacked them and got some proper leadership. They get huge allowances (£35,000 and £27,000 respectively) for the jobs and they can't even be bothered to arrange for one of them to turn up. The press shows a catastrophic failure. Any of these stories on it's own would be highly embarrassing. All three together in one week are a disaster.

NB. The 160 page report which recommended more private contractors was signed off in a Council Cabinet meeting, which Andrew Harper didn't bother to attend. It lasted five minutes. I was going to video it and turned up 10 minutes late, to find it had finished. This is why these contracts are all going wrong.

Barnet Council Budget meeting : Bunfight at the KO Coral

Where to start. Three years ago when I first attended a meeting of the Barnet Council Cabinet, there was a semblence of decorum and normality. Tonight we had the budget meeting. It was, to be quite frank, the most bizarre spectacle I've ever seen in my life. It had moments of unintentional humour, such as when Councillor Andrew Harper announced "I will be going with model X". At the time I had Vicki M and Mrs Angry sitting behind me and for two naughty schoolgirls, the schoolboy humour was top notch.

We had the usual Lynn Hillan own goal when she announced to a hostile crowd "There are places for discussion and the cabinet is not one of them". I wish I'd been videoing it. I could have sworn Brian Coleman looked at me, smiled and winked as she said it. He knew that the bloggers had their quote.

We had the usual greasy toady Tories in the audience. Perhaps the strangest encounter was that with Councillor Mark Shooter, AKA the young pretender. Now I've never actually talked to him before, but when I went out to have a chat with Jack Cohen, Councillor Shooter was standing next to him. "Oh how nice to meet you at last!" he flounced. Now as it's Valentines night and I'm the handsomest geezer in Barnet, I thought for a second he was going to offer to take me down to The Claddagh Ring for a sly drink. Sadly though, he just wanted to find out the source of a certain leak, which I printed recently. "I did not have a secret meeting with John Marshall" he whispered in my ear. Oh yeah and the cheque is in the post as well. I think Marshall and Shooter are rather like the Delboy and Rodney of Barnet Politics. Both are completely useless nomarks, but poor Rodney (Shooter) is too dim to realise Delboy (Marshall) is a washed up chancer. I saw Delboy looking over in a concerned fashion as I spoke to Shooter. Yes John, if you are reading this, I've turned the young Prince, he's now a paid up Trotskyite. Ha Ha Ha. It's quite funny really, they don't trust each other at all. None of them.

Then there was the Cabinet Question time. That's what it's called, what purpose it serves, I know not. It was heartening to see that many of the questioners had printed off leaks published on my Future Shape Leaks website. They ambushed Brian Coleman and he was caught telling bare faced porkies. It was pretty clear that the way to deal with a porkmeister such as Coleman is to have several people ask similar questions and then work him over with the supplimentaries. A whole bunch of residents left the meeting in no doubt about what sort of a man Coleman is.

I asked a question. When it came time to ask the supplimentary, I seized my chance. "So in your answer you stated that the fact that you lost £55 million though mismanagement in no way affected the fact that you need to find £54 million in savings. My question is who do you think is stupid, the Cabinet or the people of Barnet". In a classic "Hillan" moment she shot back "Well the people around this table are not stupid"  - which I guess answers the question. Yes my friend, it is us who she thinks are stupid. Just to make matters worse for her, Councillor Daniel Thomas piped in "Well I can tell the difference between capital and revenue". Sure you can Danny boy, Capital is what you squander and Revenue is what you waste.

However the Coup d' Grace as ever came from my old friend, Councillor Brian Coleman. He announced as he got heckled for the n'th time "The people of Barnet are the rudest people it's ever been my misfortune to come across" or words to that effect. Yep, thats right. Us lot who elect him and pay his wages.

There were also some other moments of unintentional comedy. Nick Walkley refused to let myself and Yvonne Hossacks, the lawyer representing the people in Sheltered Acoomodation see a copy of the Barnet Council constitution. Why? Because they were the "officers copies". Only in Barnet could a public official refuse to let a lawyer see a copy of a public domain document.

As I left the meeting to cook my loved one a rather late Valentine meal, the on duty Copper said "Good night sir, enjoy the rest of the evening" with a big smile. I responded "I hope they behave themselves". He grinned and shot back "Yes Sir, so do I".

And as to the detail.

They voted to ignore the consulatation and shaft Sheltered Housing Wardens.
They chose to ignore the public and hike parking fees.
They chose to shaft allotment holders, possibly in contravention of the law.
They refused to let two residents ask questions, despite hold ups due to equipment problems.
They refused to say why residents permit holders should pick up all the bill for carriageway repairs in Barnet.
They refused to explain to a lady from Save Barnet Museum why she was wrong.

And perhaps the oddest moment of the lot. The Cabinet of Barnet Council went on strike for 20 minutes. Yes the loony right showed just how bonkers they were by staging a walk out and a work to rule. You see it didn't occur to this bunch of dullards that if you have a bunch residents in the meeting and you are shafting them, they will not sit there in silence. So they threw their toys out of the pram when heckled and left the room. I asked Jack Cohen (Lib Dem leader) if this sort of behaviour was unusual (from residents) "Oh no, it happens all the time on planning committees. People get quite emotional. You just have to get on with it and learn to deal with it". But you see, Barnet Council Tories don't like backchat. They can't deal with it. Later in the meeting Brian Coleman acknowledged the audience in a very Brian Coleman sort of way. He announced "Tonight is a fine example of big society". I took my chance and yelled "Yes you talk nonsense and ignore the general public". He smiled and nodded in agreement.

When I got in, my beloved asked if it was a good meeting. Depends on how you look at it. If I was Lynne Hillan I'd think it was a great meeting as she passed her budget. If I was any other Barnet Tory I'd think it was a train wreck. As a punter in the audience, it was great theatre, but the sad truth is, we've all been shafted for no reason other than Hillan and her cronies are too useless to actually put a budget together which addresses the budget crisis in Barnet and shafts the poorest people in the Borough.

Barnet Council Leadership Contest - The intrigue deepens as the deadline looms

A passing comment last night at the Cabinet meeting from a friendly Tory Councillor gave a telling insight into the mindset of our local Tories right now. Councillor Richard Cornelius announced in his rather rambling preamble about the Local Development Framework, which was being debated (or should I say rubber stamped).

It's the best that we're going to get for Barnet

This document is highly important. Richard Cornelius stressed time and again that thousands of trees had been chopped down. He stated that the scrutiny committee comments "had been noted". He said that it had taken two years and countless consultations. At the end of it, we've got something that the cabinet member responsible can only sum up in this way.

Word reaches the Barnet Eye of frantic lobbying by both Mike Freer and Matthew Offord on behalf of incumbent leader Lynne Hillan. The body language at the meeting indicated that she needs all the help she can get. She sat next to council officials, with her Deputy sitting opposite. At the end of the meeting, the vast majority of the councillors legged it as soon as humanly possible. Councillor Tom Davey, who had clearly come along for a brown nosing session, seemed to pick up the panic and looked rather disturbed. Today, out of the blue, I got a reply from Barnet Council about my complaint re the election arrangements. It is outrageous. I have chosen not to write a blog about it, as I suspect they could only have sent such an email to try and get me to blog about that instead of the leadership.

I've received quite a few emails and calls today. A couple of other bloggers have had their say - Vicki Morris says she wants Hillan to stay, because she's useless and this is better for the Unions. Mrs Angry seems to want Shooter to win.  Whether we should listen to Mrs Angry given that her grandfather could have single handedly prevented the rise of Nazism and the Second World War I don't know.

Perhaps the most interesting caller was a Barnet Councillor who phoned me to discuss the Leadership Election. He was unaware until I told him that Brian Coleman had bunked off the Cabinet meeting. Following our conversation (this may or may not give you an insight into his identity), I can confidently predict that within four weeks Barnet Council will have a new Leader. I can even tell you who it will be - Councillor Andrew Harper. The succession plan has been worked out. The powers that be know the game is up and that Hillan is dead in the water. Mark Shooter will rock to many boats, put too many noses out of joint and open too many cupboards with skeletons in. He must be stopped at all costs. It seems that deals are being done. Sadly for you and I dear reader, all this means is more of the same. Less incompetent than Hillan, but still completely ineffective and useless. Ineffectual lackies such as Robert Rams will be retained and the status quo will be shored up.

If you were wondering why Harper was so cheerful last night, now you know. What Colemans absence tells us, we can only speculate.

There are going to be a few casualties in this battle though. Watch this space.......

In the meantime, I suspect what Richard Cornelius said could apply to the rise of Andrew Harper - It's the best we're going to get for Barnet

Allowancegate : What have the Leaders of Barnet Council Ever done for us?

With Apologies to Slightly Less Useless Leaders Everywhere

Sheltered Housing update : Barnet Council Cabinet review

Barnet Council is discussing the High Court decision to overturn its heartless policy of abolishing sheltered housing wardens on Wednesday 3rd Feb (CLICK HERE for the full report). There are a couple of rather interesting snippets

Now given that many residents of Sheltered Housing are disabled (that is why you need wardens), are you as shocked as I was that "due regard" hadn't been given to the "disability discrimination act 1995". How did the conversation go? Did Lynne Hillan say "As we are getting rid of wardens who look after the disabled, it is unlikely that the disability act applies to us". It isn't that hard to figure out that they have to follow the law, is it?

The next section which caught my eye was this one :-

The first bullet point is the one which shocks me most. This clearly states that the Council has no training program at present to train their staff to do "equality impact assessments". If like me you've followed this whole sorry saga from day one, it now becomes clear how all this mess happened. It happened because the council hasn't got a clue what it's doing and no one has been properly trained.

Consider this. Barnet Council spent £23,000 on fighting a high court case, when they hadn't bothered to train their staff to do the job. They also launched a case against Yvonne Hossacks, the lawyer representing the tenants. The cost of this hasn't been disclosed. In other words tens of thousands of pounds have been spent on cases, which were doomed to fail.

At the cabinet meeting where Barnet Council approved the policy, I asked whether a risk assessment had been performed on the impact of the decision. The then Tory Council Leader said "Yes". I asked a follow up question "How long is this". He replied "3 paragraphs". That was for every site, every scenario and every tenant. It was clear to me that they didn't know what they were doing. As the Leader gave his response, there was hysterical laughter from the public gallery. The cabinet, to a man, looked horrified.

Council Leader Lynne Hillan was the architect of this policy. How can she justify trying to implement sucha  change, without even having properly trained staff. It is clear from reading these papers that the Council plan to abolish the Wardens just as soon as they can. Lets just review the story so far

Those who think it's a good idea :-

The 33 Conservative Councillors who voted for the policy, led by Lynne Hillan and Andrew Harper
The Lawyers who have taken Barnets cash to fight hopeless cases

Those who think it's a bad :-
The residents of Sheltere Housing who overwhelmingly opposed the plans in the consultation document (over 85%)
All of the Labour and Lib-Dem councillors on Barnet Council
All of the groups representing the Elderly and disabled in Barnet
The High Court
This blog and everyone I've spoken to about the issue (including many elderly staunch Conservatives)

Get yourself up to the Town Hall on Wednesday to oppose this policy.

Where is the big story at the Barnet Tory Bugle?

The bad weather has been a massive story in Barnet. The council is running out of grit and now only 60 roads are being gritted. Key roads such as Cricklewood Broadway are no longer on the list of those deemed "priority". I note that even roads such as Hartley Avenue, where the fire and ambulance stations are and where there is a large doctors surgery are being neglected.

How could the situation get to such an appalling state? The answer to this is simple. Because there is no firm management and no sensible planning to sort it out. You see the Leader of the Council, Lynne Hillan and her Deputy Andrew Harper have been on holiday all week. All major organisations have a degree of contingency planning and if the chief is on holiday, the Deputy steps up. In Barnet, it seems that they just don't care. As a result we've had a fiasco. Within hours of Mayor Brian Coleman telling BBC London that Barnet had plenty of grit, novice roads supermo, Daniel Thomas was telling the Ham & High that Barnet was running out of grit.

In most normal organisations, when things go wrong a "crisis management centre" is set up. Everything goes through this. All decisions are made and all information is collated. The Coleman/Thomas contradiction couldn't happen because all key players would know the situation. The fact that Coleman made such a fool of himself is proof that Barnet just is not managing the situation.

Which brings us to the key point. With such awful management, how come our local papers haven't been exposing the fiasco. Surely they should be pointing out that Lynne Hillan hasn't even been in the job a month and she's completely cocked up her first major crisis. Her Deputy, Andrew Harper is just as bad, why didn't he step up to the table? I actually feel a bit sorry for Mayor Brian Coleman. He knows that the new leadership has completely blown it. He knows that any claims of credibility Hillan might have had as a leader have gone, by swanning off and allowing her deputy to do the same. That is just plain bad management, as Coleman has told anyone who will listen.

Why have we seen nothing in the Barnet Times about the lack of leadership? Why have they not highlighted the management drift? What possible reason can there be for ignoring such a fundamental lack of crisis management in the Borough. Lets look at what the Council does. Schools have shut, bins haven't been collected, roads haven't been gritted, potholes have appeared, social services have operated a skeleton service. I could go on. Last year I called the Barnet Times the Barnet Tory Bugle for its tame coverage of the Tory cock ups in Barnet. It seems to me that this title is still more than justified.

Picture at top : Lynne Hillan and Andrew Harper enjoying their holiday (only joking - it seems that action is something these two are incapable of)

Chaos in Barnet - Fantastic snow pictures in Mill Hill Broadway

If like me, you enjoy the snow, here are a few pictures taken at Noon today in and around Mill Hill Broadway.

Here is a lovely picture of a couple of boys tobogonning in Mill Hill Broadway. It seems they've lost their reindeer and are relying on a boxer dog to tow them up the Hill.

I had hoped to get a picture of the guy skiing to Marks and Spencers but he was at the Gherkin counter by the time I'd got the Camera out of the box.

Here's a lovely snowman in Station Road Mill Hill, outside of the M1 Cab office. In the background there's a 186 bus. Due to the lack of gritting the cab office had cleared the pavement outside of their office and made this rather jolly snowman on the pavement.

In the background you can see a 186 bus, the one Boris Johnson has diverted from the Watford Way, effectively putting Brent Cross well beyond the reach of the many elderly who live on the Watford Way between Mill Hill and Aerodrome Road and who used to use the bus to go shopping.

Here's a rather deserted looking Mill Hill Broadway. As you can see, at noon, no attempt had been made to grit the pavements and as a result, rather sensibly no one was out and about shopping. Given that the traders in Mill Hill have effectively lost a days trade, I wonder if the Council has any plans to refund a days business rates? Sadly for the owners of the shops, staff costs are the same, heating costs are higher, but takings will be well down due to the dangerous state of the pavements. I doubt that too many people at Barnet Council care too much about the effect on the business community.

Earlier today, I suggested that Barnet Council Leader Lynne Hillan should have at least been answering her emails and helping to coordinate the council response to the problem whilst on holiday. I asked why she hadn't delegated responsibility to the new Deputy Leader of the Council, Andrew Harper. It turns out that he's on holiday as well and the relatively junior Melvin Cohen is coordinating the response. Both Hillan and Harper receive generous allowances for their jobs. Is it too much to suggest that they coordinate their diaries and holiday at different times of the year. According to the Not The Barnet Times Blog, Hillan receives a "special responsibility allowance" of over £34,000 a year as Council Leader. Surely for such a figure, the least we should expect is that she ensures her or her deputy is around at all times.

Today we've had Mayor Brian Coleman on the Vanessa Feltz show saying Barnet are doing a fine job gritting. We've got the Leader of the Council and the Deputy Leader on holiday at the same time, leaving a junior cabinet member in charge. What is the result of this management drift? Boys sledging up and down the Broadway pulled by dogs, cabbies building snowmen because they can't navigate the sidestreets. Who suffers? The hard pressed businesses who pay rates and have no customers. The normal taxpayers who need to take time out of work to look after school children whos schools are closed. I'm sure Hillan and Harper will get straight on the case. Just as soon as they return from their holidays.

Barnet Tories : Kick a granny for Christmas and win a promotion and a payrise

I was at the meeting of the Barnet Council cabinet where new Council Leader, Lynne Hillans policy of removing on-site wardens from sheltered accommodation was approved. I guess Hillan and her cabinet colleagues were too busy slapping each other on the back and saying "Congratulations" to see the number of old ladies who were moved to tears by the decision. Despite the hype, Barnets Tories are replacing every four residential wardens with one "mobile warden", who has to drive across the Borough from site to site. They say this is going to improve the service for the people who live there.

This disgusting policy has landed Barnet Council in the High Court.Rightly so. This whole fiasco has been a massive kick in the teeth for the elderly and the disabled of Barnet. The architect of this policy, Lynne Hillan, has been rewarded by her Tory colleagues with a promotion to Leader of the Council and a fat payrise, she was elected by a majority of her conservative colleagues. Her sidekick, Councillor Andrew Harper told the Barnet Times that he also supports the policy. Her Tory councillor colleagues obviously like it when grannys get kicked by the Council and want more of the same. Shame on them all. I'm pleased to say that the elderly of Barnet are a plucky bunch and have fought back and I hope and I pray that the High Court rules in their favour.

I know from my own experiences with my own, now departed, elderly and disabled mother, that changes such as this are extremely stressful. It is likely that some of the residents will be so stressed by the prospect of losing the familiar face of their building warden, the person who helps them when they are in trouble, that it will kill them. That's why 85% of the residents rejected the plans. That is why David Young (who launched the court case) is fighting it.

I asked a question at the cabinet meeting where the policy was approved. I asked whether a risk assessment had been done for the removal of the Wardens from the boroughs eldelry and disabled. The then Council Leader replied "yes, it's half a page long". That's all they think our parents and grandparents in Sheltered accommodation warrant.

I was going to post a nice cheerful end of the week blog, till I read the story that the warden cuts verdict has been deferred till next week. I'm sorry to say that, it darkened my mood and you got this instead, happy can wait.

Barnet Council Future Shape - A conflict of interest?

BT invited Barnet Council Leader Mike Freer and CEO Leo Boland to participate in the Vital Vision program. This program involves seminars and conferences to "nurture" interest in concepts such as outsourcing within the public sector. Participants are invited to conferences in places such as Boston and attend swanky restaurants such as Lucca restaurant in Boston (click HERE for a preview). I've detailed the full program elsewhere on the blog, but on the eve of the Future Shape discussion, I feel obliged to ask a few questions regarding the proposal and the way the report has been put together.

I am directing these questions primarily at the Cabinet of Barnet Council and am asking them to give these points due consideration in advance of the debate tomorrow (3rd December).

1. Do you think that Council Leader Mike Freer's enrollment in the BT Vital Vision program may be interpreted as a conflict of interest given that BT are a primary supplier of Outsourcing services. Could this be construed as giving BT unfair access to a senior decision maker within Barnet Council?

2. Do you think that the inclusion of Max Wide, BT Director, Strategic Development Local Government, as a contributor to the future shape report, may be construed as giving an unfair advantage to BT in the procurement process?

3. Do you think that restricting access in the process of framing the report to an elite circle, including a supplier standing to make a lot of money from the recommendations, whilst excluding established stakeholders, is likely to be seen as an open and honest way of conducting business?

4. Do you think that suppliers of particular products are more or less likely to recommend solutions provided by their employers than those of rival organisations?

5. If you were seeking advice pertaining to your own personal financial situation, would you use an independent adviser or an adviser working for a company supplying the products you wanted to buy.

Whilst only participants of the vital vision scheme will actually know the detail of the subject matter covered and whilst it is made quite clear that the scheme is not a sales related scheme, the Council has to be seen to be open and honest in its procurement policies. Whilst it is quite clear that BT do not pay travel and subsistance for participants, being a public body, the Council must be seen to be completely honest and impartial in all its dealings. The participation of Mike Freer in BT Vital Vision and the role of Max Wide in the framing of the Future Shape report raises many questions regarding the way the scheme is being implemented.

I strongly urge all Barnet Council Cabinet members to consider these points and ensure that all decisions taken with reference to "Future Shape" are done in such a manner that it is 100% clear that there is no conflict of interest in the process.