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Councillor resigns over anti-cyclist 'w*nking off the Dutch' tweet; Jeremy Vine tours Kensington High Street congestion; Coroner records air pollution cause of death; Sir Chris Hoy: Cyclists and drivers should be 'less tribal' + more on the live blog

It's Wednesday and Dan Alexander is here to take you through the middle of the week on the live blog...
16 December 2020, 16:59
Councillor resigns over anti-cyclist 'w*nking off the Dutch' tweet

Councillor Liam Walker found himself in hot water after replying to a tweet which suggested cyclists should "f*ck off over" to the Netherlands and that cyclists are "constantly w*nking off the Dutch." The councillor apologised after criticism from cycling groups and politicians, however a panel concluded he breached Oxfordshire County Council's code of conduct. He announced his resignation this afternoon on Twitter.

In a statement he said: "I have apologised to those who were genuinely offended by the tweet. It is regrettable that the process has taken up valuable staff time and that taxpayers' money has been used to investigate; at times, aspects of the response have felt disproportionate."

Councillor Walker tweet
16 December 2020, 16:20
Tadej Pogačar explains mixed emotions about beating Primož Roglič in Tour de France
Tadej Pogacar beats Primoz Roglic to the line in Stage 15 of 2020 Tour de France (picture credit Cor Vos/SWpix.com)

Tadej Pogačar spoke to L'Équipe this week and explained his mixed emotions about beating Primož Roglič in such a brutal fashion on the final TT stage of the Tour de France. Pogačar claimed the Yellow Jersey from his compatriot on Stage 20 with a devastating performance in the individual time trial stage to La Planche des Belles Filles. "At the time, I didn’t really know what to feel. Everything was tangled up in my chest, I had conflicting emotions," he said.

"I had been a Roglič fan since his first results. Between the ages of 15 and 20, I was shouting in front of my television for him to win, and now I was the one who had beaten him, who had denied him from achieving what he had been dreaming of for years… It was really strange. I kept telling myself: 'That’s racing, that’s sport, it’s normal that I want to win.'

"A few minutes after he finished, I was in the television tent and he came to find me and give me a hug. I’ll never forget that moment. It’s as though he was giving me permission to enjoy it and telling me it wasn’t my fault."

16 December 2020, 13:30
Landmark case as coroner says air pollution contributed to death of nine-year-old girl

In a landmark case, exposure to air pollution has been recorded as the medical cause of death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah. It is the first time exposure to air pollution has been recorded as the medical cause of death in the UK. A coroner ruled that dangerous levels of air pollution "made a material contribution" to the child's death in 2013.

At the end of the two-week inquest at Southwark Coroner's Court, assistant coroner Philip Barlow stated: "I will conclude that Ella died of asthma, contributed to by exposure to excessive air pollution." The recorded medical cause of death was acute respiratory failure, severe asthma and air pollution exposure.

Ella and her family lived 25 metres from the South Circular Road in Lewisham, south east London. Professor Sir Stephen Holgate told the inquest that Ella's condition, combined with the air pollution she experienced on a daily basis had put her at "exquisite" risk. He added that he was "almost certain" her asthma would have been "substantially less severe" if the level of pollution in the area had been within lawful EU limits.

16 December 2020, 14:10
Belgian group buys majority stake in Canyon
canyon factory boxes - via canyon

Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) has acquired a majority stake in Canyon Bicycles.  Founder Roman Arnold will retain a 40% stake in the company and reinvest a substantial amount of the proceeds from the sale. He will also stay on as the chairperson.

The investment comes after Arnold's decison to step down as CEO following a record year which saw €400 million of sales. GBL already controls a majority stake in Adidas and their investment signals the end of TSG Consumer Partners relationship with Canyon.

16 December 2020, 12:15
Egan Bernal's younger brother already attracting interest from Gianni Savio
Egan Bernal and Dave Brailsford (via ITV Cycling on Twitter)

Egan Bernal's 15-year-old brother, Ronald, is on the radar of Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec manager Gianni Savio, who is interested in signing him once he turns 18. Savio confirmed to Cyclingnews that he would be happy to help Ronald develop — similar to how he aided Egan's trajectory up until 2018 when the 2019 Tour de France winner moved to Team Sky.

Savio said: "I spoke to Vladimir Chiuminatto, who runs the Bernal fan club in Colombia and we spoke about Ronald. They say he has some of the talent of his brother and I’d be happy to help him just as I did with Egan but not until he’s 18.

"Everyone knows how I helped Egan develop and I’d be happy to do the same with Ronald but it’s far too early to think he’d automatically follow in Egan’s footsteps. Egan rightly wants to protect his younger brother and so do I, so let’s give him time to develop."

Egan is currently facing months of rehabilitation to recover from the spinal problem that hindered him in 2020.

16 December 2020, 11:40
A flooded bike lane isn't going to stop them
16 December 2020, 11:25
Brought By Bike: a new directory of companies and tradespeople who deliver by bike

Brought By Bike is a searchable directory of companies and tradespeople who deliver by bike. It was created to make it simple for anyone across the UK to find plumbers, bakers, electricians and anything else you can think of that will travel or can be delivered by more sustainable means. So far they have 180 listings (and the list appears to be growing as we type), including 19 bakeries, 11 gardeners, 10 breweries and 10 plumbers.

16 December 2020, 10:52
Hill & Ellis release new limited edition saddle and handlebar bag
Hill & Ellis saddle/handlebar bag

This stylish Hill & Ellis bag is designed to be 'perfect for the day ride, or a short commute' and can be attached to your saddle or handlebars. Handcrafted from leather in the UK, the bag is made from materials sourced as close to Hill & Ellis's London workshop as possible. It is available in seven colourways and costs £80.

16 December 2020, 09:30
Pork 'N Pine: Cycling Santa delivers Christmas trees and pork sandwiches

This is a unique business idea I can can get behind. Pork 'N Pine in Baltimore delivers Christmas trees and pork sandwiches via bike couriers dressed as Santa Claus... A tree delivered on a bike would be impressive enough but to get a pulled pork sandwich too... Someone in the UK needs to take notes. The service is so popular it has completely sold out for 2020.

16 December 2020, 10:19
Sir Chris Hoy: Cyclists and drivers should be 'less tribal'
Sir Chris Hoy podium London 2012 (copyright britishcycling.org.uk)

Speaking to The Herald, six-time Olympic gold medallist called on cyclists and drivers to be "less tribal." Hoy was speaking about how the UK can follow countries like The Netherlands and Germany in achieving a culture of active travel. He said: "My dream is, that in 20 years time we can look back and see the same thing that happened in Holland or Denmark or Germany where you aren't a cyclist, you are just someone getting around.

"People need to be less tribal about it. People see themselves as cyclists or drivers when in my opinion we are just people trying to get around. I think because the boom in cycling has come off sport, like the Tour de France, people buy all the gear but in other countries they don't cycle in lycra, a lot of people don't wear helmets."

Hoy believes the biggest barrier to people wanting to cycle to work or school is safety and that normalising cycling is crucial in encouraging more people to travel by bike.

"Holland wasn't always a cycling country, the big push came in the 1970s," he explained. "I do think it is the answer and it is achievable but it won't happen overnight and it won't be an easy process. Any change comes up against resistance. 

"If you are absolutely determined never to ride a bike and all you want to do is drive a car then fair enough but if there are more people on bikes then there are less cars and drivers are going to benefit too. The biggest barrier to people cycling to work or school is safety. If there is a collision between a cyclist and a car, it's the cyclist who is going to come off worst.

"We are all someone's husband, wife, son or daughter, we should be looking out for one another. You don't see the cyclist stopping at the red light, you only remember the ones that jump the lights in the same way that you only remember the white van that was aggressive."

16 December 2020, 08:46
Jeremy Vine takes you on a tour of Kensington High Street now the bike lane has been replaced with...congestion

One of the key reasons for the Kensington High Street cycle lane being removed was that it was causing congestion...This video, shared by Jeremy Vine, shows what it is like to cycle down the High Street now the wands have been removed for a few weeks.

The broadcaster followed up the video by saying: "Someone will die on that street. But many will simply not brave it on a bicycle. They'll use cars, and the congestion will get worse. The irony is that the council acted after being attacked in the Daily Mail by Nigel Havers, who said the cycle lane had ruined his Sunday walk."

However, the message that some took from this is not how little change removing the bike lane has made to congestion but rather that the cyclist in the video is riding dangerously...

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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107 comments

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caw35ride | 3 years ago
0 likes

I am thrilled to see that one of the services offered in my area by Brought by Bike is that of a plumber.

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ChrisB200SX | 3 years ago
0 likes

road.cc wrote:

Councillor resigns over anti-cyclist 'w*nking off the Dutch' tweet

Too much Dutch Rudder got him the Spanish Archer?

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Captain Badger replied to ChrisB200SX | 3 years ago
2 likes

ChrisB200SX wrote:

...

Too much Dutch Rudder got him the Spanish Archer?

I daren't look those up, I'm on a work computer....

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David9694 | 3 years ago
6 likes

Councillor Liam Walker resignation digested:

I have reflected on my "Dutch" re-tweet for which I again apologise - I recognise that it fell below the standard expected of someone in a responsible elected office.  I will try to be a better person in future and learn from this mistake. I accept the decision made and am leaving my role Cabinet role at the end of the month to allow a smooth succession.  

Wasn't really like that : Digested, digested read: "I'm the world's greatest victim here."

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Rendel Harris replied to David9694 | 3 years ago
8 likes

Classic "sorry not sorry" as practised by the Home Secretary.

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geomannie 531 | 3 years ago
8 likes

Hoy has spoken simplistic bollocks.
"People need to be less tribal about it. People see themselves as cyclists or drivers when in my opinion we are just people trying to get around".

Like others have pointed out, most cyclists drive vehicles, most also walk, take a bus or take a train. However, if you cycle and drive, you have empathy with those cyclists with whom you share the road. It's drivers who don't cycle who are the problem. They are ones who lack empathy, who frankly don't give a flying F how miserable & dangerous they make a cyclist's journey.

But no, Hoy had to use the simple 2 tribes trope.

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Hirsute | 3 years ago
5 likes

Can't say I was offended by wanking off the Dutch but if a cllr can't put forward a coherent statement about an issue that affects many, then they aren't worth their place.

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Pilot Pete replied to Hirsute | 3 years ago
14 likes

A Highways Committee member (and I think he might actually been Head of Highways), who is setting policy for all Oxfordshire's roads making such disgusting remarks about vulnerable road users, is really not an appropriate individual to be holding such a role.

It was not his first offence either, which is probably why the Monitoring Officer followed the guidance of the cross party standards committee, which found him to have breached the Conduct standards and recommended his removal from the role. The Leader of the Council presumably felt (s)he really couldn't find a reason to go against that recommendation. Hence the conversation where this was made clear to Cllr Walker, who opted to resign before he was pushed.

PP

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ktache replied to Pilot Pete | 3 years ago
9 likes

You would think that if he was so concerned with others valuable time and the taxpayers money spent, that he might have resigned one hell of a lot earlier in the process.

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HoarseMann replied to ktache | 3 years ago
6 likes

He couldn't make time to attend the hearing because of 'other work'. Makes me wonder how much effort he put into this position in the first place.

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Pilot Pete replied to HoarseMann | 3 years ago
7 likes

In his defence (which is surprising as I was one of the complainants to the Monitoring Officer), being an elected councillor does not preclude you from having a job. Many are better because of this as they bring some 'real world' into descussions and decisions. Far too many don't have jobs and it is a hobby, or a pension top up, or a power trip.

I speak with some authority on the matter as my wife is a Town and County Councillor in Cheshire East and became Cycling & Walking Champion for the Borough. She puts her heart and soul into the role and spends up to 15hrs a day working on projects, campaigning alongside a normal councillor's duties such as sorting out residents complaints about drains, planning etc etc. She sits on several committees and her C&W Champion role is a bit like a Minister Without Portfolio role, where she the backing of the Leader and Deputy to 'float' and attend ANY committee meeting if there is ANYTHING that will affect cycling or walking. This includes Highways, Planning, Health and Wellbeing, Schools etc etc etc.

This means she asks the right questions about cycling provision at planning meetings, parking and pavement decisions, health and leisure planning, cycling and walking to school etc. They have to listen and as I said, with the backing of the leadership the committee chairs are also onboard so her input IS listened to and considered seriously. They pretty much have to justify why they will not follow her recommendations now.

She has spent the last month literally flat out proposing a default 20mph speed limit on all residential and town centre roads across the Borough. Each road will be looked at on a case by case basis to decide if anything higher than 20mph is appropriate.

This included drawing up the proposals, collating a case 'for' through gathering of information and supporting data. She had to get the evidence to address the likely nay sayers, one of whom was particularly vocal and aggressive. She then contacted the vast majority of the 70+ councillors personally to talk them through it to educate them and answer their (very many) objections.

This culminated in a 3.5hr debate (I kid you not) yesterday at a full Cabinet Zoom meeting where the Conservatives tried everything possible to scupper the proposals. They failed. Then they suggested a cross party working group, which would mean they could then try to scupper every move once adopted. Scandalous. But she got the proposal accepted and it will be rolling out next spring. She had to turn the camera off as the vote was confirmed as she was in tears - of relief, joy and the lifting of huge pressure off her shoulders. She fell asleep exhausted at about 8:30pm last night. Today, she has made hundreds of shortbread biscuits, wrapped them in cellophane and put ties and gift cards on them to hand out to all the Officers on the council. Amazing.

She gets upwards of 50 emails a day, endless phone calls and of course is following up constantly on planning issues which have not put in the cycling provision that was passed at the planning meeting etc etc. Developers promise the world then default as they know councils are strapped for cash and can't keep threatening to take them to court. In the past they got away with it - there was supposed to be a foot and cycling bridge put in from a new housing development into the town park - the developers were allowed to put no 'green space' on the development as the bridge would allow access to the big park. Funny old thing, they squeezed more houses onto the plot as a consequence and then never put the bridge in. This has gone on for 5 years (before she was on the council) and she is fighting tooth and nail to get the developer to fulfil their commitment. It is a thankless task that soaks up hour upon hour.

And for all that what does she get? An allowance of less than £12k a year. For all that and more. It's not surprising many do the bare minimum...

PP

Avatar
Captain Badger replied to Pilot Pete | 3 years ago
5 likes

Pilot Pete wrote:

In his defence (which is surprising as I was one of the complainants to the Monitoring Officer), being an elected councillor does not preclude you from having a job. Many are better because of this as they bring some 'real world' into descussions and decisions. Far too many don't have jobs and it is a hobby, or a pension top up, or a power trip.

I speak with some authority on the matter as my wife is a Town and County Councillor in Cheshire East and became Cycling & Walking Champion for the Borough. She puts her heart and soul into the role and spends up to 15hrs a day working on projects, campaigning alongside a normal councillor's duties such as sorting out residents complaints about drains, planning etc etc. She sits on several committees and her C&W Champion role is a bit like a Minister Without Portfolio role, where she the backing of the Leader and Deputy to 'float' and attend ANY committee meeting if there is ANYTHING that will affect cycling or walking. This includes Highways, Planning, Health and Wellbeing, Schools etc etc etc.

This means she asks the right questions about cycling provision at planning meetings, parking and pavement decisions, health and leisure planning, cycling and walking to school etc. They have to listen and as I said, with the backing of the leadership the committee chairs are also onboard so her input IS listened to and considered seriously. They pretty much have to justify why they will not follow her recommendations now.

She has spent the last month literally flat out proposing a default 20mph speed limit on all residential and town centre roads across the Borough. Each road will be looked at on a case by case basis to decide if anything higher than 20mph is appropriate.

This included drawing up the proposals, collating a case 'for' through gathering of information and supporting data. She had to get the evidence to address the likely nay sayers, one of whom was particularly vocal and aggressive. She then contacted the vast majority of the 70+ councillors personally to talk them through it to educate them and answer their (very many) objections.

This culminated in a 3.5hr debate (I kid you not) yesterday at a full Cabinet Zoom meeting where the Conservatives tried everything possible to scupper the proposals. They failed. Then they suggested a cross party working group, which would mean they could then try to scupper every move once adopted. Scandalous. But she got the proposal accepted and it will be rolling out next spring. She had to turn the camera off as the vote was confirmed as she was in tears - of relief, joy and the lifting of huge pressure off her shoulders. She fell asleep exhausted at about 8:30pm last night. Today, she has made hundreds of shortbread biscuits, wrapped them in cellophane and put ties and gift cards on them to hand out to all the Officers on the council. Amazing.

She gets upwards of 50 emails a day, endless phone calls and of course is following up constantly on planning issues which have not put in the cycling provision that was passed at the planning meeting etc etc. Developers promise the world then default as they know councils are strapped for cash and can't keep threatening to take them to court. In the past they got away with it - there was supposed to be a foot and cycling bridge put in from a new housing development into the town park - the developers were allowed to put no 'green space' on the development as the bridge would allow access to the big park. Funny old thing, they squeezed more houses onto the plot as a consequence and then never put the bridge in. This has gone on for 5 years (before she was on the council) and she is fighting tooth and nail to get the developer to fulfil their commitment. It is a thankless task that soaks up hour upon hour.

And for all that what does she get? An allowance of less than £12k a year. For all that and more. It's not surprising many do the bare minimum...

PP

Pete thanks, that was a fascinating read. I wish all folk in her position were as dedicated and effective, and I also wish that they didn't have to swim upstream to be so. 

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Pilot Pete replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
1 like

Thank you, I will pass on your comments. Unfortunately it is an uphill struggle, as you can imagine, many of the councillors are very car centric in their thinking, and county councils do tend to lag a number of years behind cities in their thinking...

My wife has had to get policy changes just to bring them anywhere near up to date - for example, Highways were still working to a 1980s design guide last year! She had to push and convince them to start using LTN 1/20 - the up to date design guide for cycling infrastructure released in July this year. It wasn't easy as she had to convince the Highways Leader and then go through the process of policy change, which is a lot of red tape. Writing a policy document takes weeks - it defines everything that the officers must work to, so you can imagine how much work that took. Now it is policy, she gets huge traction if the planning committee passes something without following it, or the highways committee designs a junction without considering cycle provision - as they have not followed policy! So she can challenge and they MUST change it.

That is massive. After several months, they have learnt and now they submit ideas, plans etc and ask for her input before even discussing it at committee meetings. Her first 4 year term is going to be changing as many policies as she needs to to facilitate improving cycling and walking provision. Everything will be in place then, so after that is when the real change will actually be implemented - these projects take years to get through design, planning, funding and building. So very frustrating for her - she just wants to see her first dedicated Cycleway, but that will take some time to actually achieve. It's a thankless task if you ask me!!!

PP

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Captain Badger replied to Pilot Pete | 3 years ago
4 likes

Pilot Pete wrote:

Thank you, I will pass on your comments. Unfortunately it is an uphill struggle,

....

y, but that will take some time to actually achieve. It's a thankless task if you ask me!!!

PP

Well, she has mine and a large number of other vistor's to this site I suspect. Chapeau!

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Bungle_52 replied to Pilot Pete | 3 years ago
2 likes

Say thank you from me. Sounds like we need more like her.

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Pilot Pete replied to Bungle_52 | 3 years ago
0 likes

Thank you. I will.

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HoarseMann replied to Pilot Pete | 3 years ago
6 likes

Sounds like your wife is doing a great job and thank you for putting forward a complaint. I suspect this individual was not quite as diligent in the role.

Certainly there are some who like to collect these roles, whilst they don't pay much individually, if you manage to bag a few it's not a bad sideline.

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Pilot Pete replied to HoarseMann | 3 years ago
2 likes

Thanks for the support. That individual was far from 'diligent'. Turns out he was warned about his conduct a year or so back for calling people 'bell ends' on twitter, which I knew nothing of until after receiving the decision to fire him by the monitoring officer.

The thing is I think he has only lost his cabinet position, so he will remain a councillor - just losing a portion of his allowance which he would have got for leading on Highways (I know he was on Highways, but not sure if he was actually the leader)

When you say 'bag a few' I'm not sure what you mean. You can be a councillor on a town council (for which you don't get paid anything), and on county council, for which you get a basic allowance, there are then special duty allowances for various roles such as being leader of the council, deputy, then chair of each of the various committees. Remember you have to be elected onto the councils first, then realistically you need to be in the controlling party on county council to be council leader/ deputy or chair of anything. Those roles are chosen by the controlling party. On our council that is a Labour/ Independent coalition, so the leader is Labour, deputy Independent and the various chairs are a mix of the two.

So you can't really 'bag' anything else - you can't chair loads of committees, only one, and you can't sit on loads of different councils as you have to live or work in an area to qualify to stand for election.

On our council, under constant Tory control since Cheshire was split into two councils (East and West) many years ago - at the last election the perfect storm hit them - the council leader sacked for giving a contract to his physiotherapist without following any kind of tendering process, a finance director (an officer, so not elected) who was suspended for a year on £150k+ whilst an investigation was conducted, who resigned the week he was to have his disciplinary and then none of the details were made public, and of course the anger at the Tories nationally over Brexit.

My wife stood as an independent as did a number of others, campaigned hard (which virtually nobody does in local elections as voters normally just tick the same 'colour' candidates as they vote for with their MP in a general election) and they took loads of seats. Not enough for an overall majority, and neither did Labour. The Tories assumed the independent candidates would side with them to get power, but as most were disgruntled Tories there was no way they could as that would have betrayed their voters! So, they negotiated and agreed a coalition with Labour, reviewable each year and with the caveat there was no Momentum members in Labour. It has worked really well. The Tories are livid and now just constantly trying to undermine and trash anything and everything the coalition tries to do.

In my opinion, party politics shouldn't come into local politics - if a 20mph speed limit or a zebra crossing is needed near a school etc, it should simply be voted in favour of to improve your town/ Borough. It is bizarre that the Tories oppose their own national party's policies, such as cycling, LTNs etc at local level. It is all about regaining control in their eyes and they are happy to trash anything to achieve that, even things they might believe in! That is local politics for you.

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HoarseMann replied to Pilot Pete | 3 years ago
1 like

Our local parish council is like a club. It's really difficult for new members to challenge the status quo - in fact, they can be quite rude to each other, as the recent publishing of zoom calls has shown. I've a lot of respect for those who do it out of a sense of duty; your wife would fit that category admirably.

However, there are a lot who just like to have fingers in pies and pick up hats; chair of this, advisor to that etc. Perhaps I'm being harsh, but this Walker chap strikes me as a hat collector rather than a transportation policy fanatic.

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Pilot Pete replied to HoarseMann | 3 years ago
0 likes

But do remember, Parish councils have very, very few powers. Less than Town Councils, which the saying goes 'look after parks and dog shit'!!!

The actual power and budgets lie at City/ County Council level. My wife spent 4yrs on Town Council trying everything to get her ideas listened t9 and implemented, all to no avail. Hence why she stood for County Council and is now getting traction.

So I wouldn't worry too much about your parish council, the6 probably look after a few benches and the green! Highways comes most definitely under County Council, so as cyclists if you want stuff done you need to lobby your county councillors. If enough engage with them on issues they have to act....

PP

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David9694 replied to Pilot Pete | 3 years ago
0 likes

Since my days as a Monitoring Officer, Town Councils have been my absolute fave for getting tangled up in sheer nonsense. They are big enough - just about - to matter,  but too small to have any real responsibilities and not enough officer support to keep them on track. Sherborne, Minehead are a couple of examples. 

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HoarseMann replied to Pilot Pete | 3 years ago
0 likes

Pilot Pete wrote:

which the saying goes 'look after parks and dog shit'!!!

lol, you're not wrong there - the most recent contentious issue was PEOPLE crapping in the park bushes because the council closed the public loos! high-level stuff  1

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David9694 replied to Pilot Pete | 3 years ago
1 like

Meanwhile, out on the doorstep, it's  "they're all in it for the money", "they're all corrupt",  etc. 

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Pilot Pete replied to David9694 | 3 years ago
1 like

I do think that certain councils suffer a lot of corruption - remember they hand out grants to local projects as well as handing out contracts to businesses for millions. Some are more, shall we say, diligent at doing some (any) due diligence than others.

Many councillors sit on trusts and the like that apply for such grants. Mates of some of these on the various committees sometimes seem happy to hand out thousands without asking anything more than 'what's it going to be spent on?' Once it's granted there are sometimes very few, if any checks to see how the money was spent, no check for receipts or accounts. I'm not saying this happens a lot, but I know of a few who have been 'at it', who may well get a 5am raid in the new year....

If you follow the news there are plenty of stories of people getting done for fraud on councils - I believe the Mayor of Liverpool was arrested recently.....

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David9694 replied to Pilot Pete | 3 years ago
0 likes

At one point, the Liverpool Mayor was "co-operating fully with police" - as opposed to what - going on the run?

I can't remember whether it was East or West, but Cheshire seems to feature in the Private Eye Rotten Boroughs page. 

Another doorstep-ism is "they shouldn't be political" - CEC seems to be doing pretty well at being other than just the main parties.  It's hard to keep an Independent group together over time, and I notice a couple of Real Independents. 

It's quite worrying when individual councillors think the can go about with an order book and cheque book - new instances keep on happening, so it must be something they can do and get away with.  I always think trade fairs shouldn't exist, at least so far as the public sector goes - fine as a shop window and a day out, but they're driven by sales made on the floor, so by definition no procurement process. 

I had a quick look at Oxfordshire CC's website, Cllr Ian Walker is still there in his portfolio holder role - I couldn't see an obvious Highways Director among the modern job titles, but there must be one. As you say, his departure is likely to be a final straw case. It's depressing that somewhere as "bikey"as Oxford has taken this approach. 

 

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Pilot Pete replied to David9694 | 3 years ago
0 likes

It was Cheshire East under the previous Tory administration. You wouldn't believe the corruption and incompetence.....

PP

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David9694 replied to Pilot Pete | 3 years ago
0 likes

Pilot Pete wrote:

It was Cheshire East under the previous Tory administration. You wouldn't believe the corruption and incompetence.....

PP

invariably found dwelling together. It's horrible, knowing or suspecting it's going on around you - do you risk it all to make a disclosure or stay shtum.

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Cycloid replied to Pilot Pete | 3 years ago
1 like

Good 'un Pete

You would not think that the bleedin' obviuos 20mph speed limit in residaential areas would be so difficult to get approved.

I don't think Cheshire East is that different from the rest of the country.

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Pilot Pete replied to Cycloid | 3 years ago
2 likes

Cycloid wrote:

Good 'un Pete

You would not think that the bleedin' obviuos 20mph speed limit in residaential areas would be so difficult to get approved.

I don't think Cheshire East is that different from the rest of the country.

Indeed. It's bizarre, muddled thinking that cars should not be restricted in any way, shape or form. Many local politicians, especially Conservative think this way - as though it is a threat to 'freedoms'. They don't think how the more basic freedoms of walking and cycling and not being killed by motor vehicles has been infringed for decades... however, THE PEOPLE are changing.

What parent, even who own 1+ cars, doesn't want safer residential streets where their kids walk, play and travel? What parent wouldn't want to be able to cycle with their kids, even if just on a Sunday morning, to the park, or into the town centre, or a circular loop for a bit of exercise and family time?

Town centres need to change. The current model with a main thoroughfare blighted by through traffic, tons of kerbside parking and shops which are dwindling in number due to the challenge of online retail, has failed. 

Who doesn't want their town centre to be a more friendly place to spend time? Who wouldn't want the decades of 'throughput of traffic' being the primary design criteria dropped in favour of walking and cycling space? The whole concept is changing with ideas such as shop spaces that can transform throughout the day from one use to another to try to maximise their usage and revenue streams. We have to re-invent the high street and make it a welcoming place where people want to spend time. That doesn't include shifting thousands of vehicles and hour through them, it is folly to claim this traffic is bringing trade - in my town, the choice of shops has got so bad it is literally only locals who pop in for a few bits - we are a major confluence of several A roads. The vast majority of traffic on those A roads is going somewhere else, we are NOT their destination. Why would you want to encourage them and prioritise them through your town centre? It's madness that people have had enough of.

20mph speed limits are just one small step in this sea change that is coming. We have a bypass that will be complete in 2021 so good riddance to all the lorries that plough tough our town centre and those who are just trying to get somewhere else. Segregated cycling infrastructure is being planned, and that is another small step. I have great hope that our town will be a completely different place in ten years from now...

PP

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nikkispoke | 3 years ago
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I am glad to see that the government is spending £3.8 billion to clean up air quality following the inquest verdict (Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah: Air pollution a factor in girl's death, inquest finds - BBC News) but then is commiting £27 billion to ensure more roads are built which nominally increase said air pollution directly or otherwise ?

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