Thursday, January 17, 2013

MP Alan Duncan calls for three Rutland County councillors to resign

MP Alan Duncan calls for three Rutland County councillors to resign.

Will he also call for the resignation of all the Conservative Councillors who resorted to using the
council chamber to make very personal childish attacks against the three councillors.

Conservative Councillor Edward Baines made a good point "this has been going on for years" I think he meant  twenty as he kept referring to Cllr Gales case forgetting to remind councillors Cllr Gale won his case
then.

Personally I think they should all go so new people can concentrate on what is best for Rutland instead of conducting years fighting based on personal vendettas at great cost to the tax payer.

And when will these councillors stop clinging onto the past, they constantly remind of us what they
have done, most achieved many years ago. What are they doing now? conducting a very public and childish fight.

At the last meeting not once did the Chairman Conservative Councillor Parsons stop the disgraceful conduct of councillors, a repeat of a previous meeting when he permitted Conservative Councillor Edward Baines to call councillors corrupt. This sort of conduct would not been tolerated in MP Alan Duncan parliament?

Questions have also been asked why Cllr Parsons changed the rules concerning points of order by holding private conversations with councillors rather than the normal public airing.

Question have also been raised as to why Bevan Brittans Solicitor was permitted to sit at the Chairman's table at throughout the last meeting? Consultants like Bevan Brittan are normally treated like the staff / officers and are required to sit to one side until required to speak.

Many times I have asked  MP Alan Ducan to assist me with my problems related to the conduct of
our local councils and he said he can not involve himself in council matters.

So why now, does he show such public damnation of three Councillors? He also claims they do nothing to serve the community.

I don't know much about the other three Councillors, but I do know many people in Oakham have
received considerable help from Cllr Richard Gale over the years.

I think Mr Duncan should travel to a few council meetings, both town and county before he passes
judgement on these three councillors, that is if his expenses will stretch that far. politics in Rutland are much different from those in Westminster, If I can use one word from his past vocabulary to describe Rutland Politics it would be "shit" It is also infested with bullies.



MP Alan Duncan calls for three councillors to resign


Rutland MP Alan Duncan has called for three councillors at the centre of a legal dispute with the county council to stand down.

Mr Duncan made the call following a special meeting of Rutland County Council where councillors voted in favour of seeking an injunction to prevent the three members of the Rutland Anti-Corruption Group harassing its chief executive and other employees.
The political group is made up of Coun Richard Gale, Coun Dave Richardson and Coun Nick Wainwright.
The council commissioned an investigation by a public services law firm to look at “reckless and serious allegations” made by the three councillors.
At the meeting which took place on Thursday last week, councillors also voted to grant an indemnity to, and support the chief executive and other officers, to take legal action in their own name for harassment by the group and resolve that all communications by the group to the council be subject to a single point of contact through the council’s internal e-mail system.
The council also agreed to authorise sufficient funds for these purposes.
Mr Duncan said: “These three councillors are a disgrace to themselves and an even deeper disgrace to Rutland.
“They are doing nothing useful to serve their council areas and have been condemned by high quality legal opinion.
“If they had any decency they would stand down as councillors and allow better people to take their place.”
He added: “The chief executive and other officers have my unequivocal support and confidence.”
In response to Mr Duncan’s call, the leader of the group Coun Gale said: “We find it extraordinary that our MP has not contacted three elected councillors to discuss this.”
Coun Richardson disputed that there was evidence to support the council’s claim.
He said: “If asking questions, as is our statutory right, is now deemed to be wrong because we are not asking the questions they want to hear then we have lost the whole of democracy.
“It goes right to the heart of democracy that the controlling majority group can make an unsubstantiated case against a minority group.
“The first thing we would have expected him (Mr Duncan) to do is to contact us and to see what our case is, and what our concerns are. Does he understand what our concerns are?”
Coun Richardson complained that Mr Duncan does not usually get involved in council issues.
The group said it was considering taking legal action against the 23 councillors who voted in favour of the motion.