Lewes DC gagging councillors - the truth

[Jim in the West]

Out of the blue today I received a letter from a Lewes Councillor, in response to my own letter (which I posted on here a month or so back). I won't reveal the author's name, but it is (a) pretty lengthy, and (b) quite emotional.

The letter claims (and I have no reason to disbelieve this - Lord B will have a better idea as to its veracity) that

1. LDC councillors have been forbidden to correspond with constituents (or others) on the Falmer issue;

2. "Every single elected councillor was gagged after the decision "behind closed doors" was made";

3. The decision to seek a JR is nothing more than a show of strength between little Lewes and the "Labour Brighton bully"....it's a class war, and most Lib Dems in LDC feel themselves superior to people who follow a "common" sport like football.

As you can imagine, with quotes like that it's quite a letter!

 

[Titanic]

Surely this needs to 'leak' at a national level ??

 

[Deano's Right Foot]

I was going to say that beggars belief, but I'm actually not surprised at all.

Just very very angry.

 

[acrossthepond]

sounds tailor-made for Private Eye....

 

[Jim in the West]

Surely this needs to 'leak' at a national level ??

Whilst it's a very interesting letter, the author is NOT a Lib Dem councillor - a former member of the LDC Cabinet, but someone who possibly has a political axe to grind with the Lib Dems. So perhaps a small pinch of salt should be taken....but my hunch, judging by the way the letter is written, is that it's 100% accurate.

 

[Man of Harveys]

Leak it. You HAVE to. I know, it's naughty. But they're c*nts who are getting away with it.

Shame Private Eye are such c*nts on this issue - this sort of thing should be right up their street.

 

[Cian]

sounds tailor-made for Private Eye....

Except they're completely in the pockets of Lewes DC.

 

[Woodchip]

The Sun, or Mirror would love it. LI must know someone in the Red-Top papers.

 

[acrossthepond]

Except they're completely in the pockets of Lewes DC.

Didn't know that. How so?

 

[fatbadger]

Except they're completely in the pockets of Lewes DC.

That's not quite fair. Piloti is very anti-Falmer, but apperently only because he doesn't know the facts. They have happily allowed letters to be printed which have corrected his ill-informed comments.

 

[Lady Bracknell]

If this letter comes from who I think it might come from then despite their past history with the Lib Dems, the information contained in it is quite correct.

 

[Lady Bracknell]

PS. Of my favourite Lewes District councillor and events last December, I read the following utter bollocks masquerading as a letter to the editor, in the latest edition of my union magazine which arrived today:

Regarding your story "'ex-cop assaulted me' says photographer": while it is plain wrong to assault a journalist at work I'd like to put some context on this.

The journalists were doorstepping Ann de Vecchi, the leader of Lewes District Council, in pursuit of a campaign the Argus has been running for years for a new stadium for Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club on the South Downs.

Not only will the stadium ruin a priceless piece of Sussex landscape - the downs are one of the last remaining chalk grasslands in northern Europe - it will encourage more development in the area.

Ann de Vecchi and her fellow councillors at Lewes have put a spanner in the works by demanding a judicial review into the matter; a decision is due in the summer.

For their pains, the Argus ran a front page splash with mugshots, including Ann de Vecchi's, almost along the lines of "here you are Albion fans - these are the criminals who want to sink your stadium; go and have a pop at them".
Jan Goodey, Brighton

With "friends" in the media like this, who needs enemies, eh?

 

[sir danny cullip]

Haven't they put you inside yet roz!?

 

[Lady Bracknell]

Shhhhhhh! Only the screws might catch me here in the Governor's Office "borrowing" a broadband connection....

 

[sir danny cullip]

Shhhhhhh! Only the screws might catch me here in the Governor's Office "borrowing" a broadband connection....

 

[chip]

Out of the blue today I received a letter from a Lewes Councillor, in response to my own letter (which I posted on here a month or so back). I won't reveal the author's name, but it is (a) pretty lengthy, and (b) quite emotional.

The letter claims (and I have no reason to disbelieve this - Lord B will have a better idea as to its veracity) that

1. LDC councillors have been forbidden to correspond with constituents (or others) on the Falmer issue;

2. "Every single elected councillor was gagged after the decision "behind closed doors" was made";

3. The decision to seek a JR is nothing more than a show of strength between little Lewes and the "Labour Brighton bully"....it's a class war, and most Lib Dems in LDC feel themselves superior to people who follow a "common" sport like football.

As you can imagine, with quotes like that it's quite a letter!

If you believe Christopher Brooker, then this may actually be a requirement under the local government act of 2003. If you look under Part 8, Miscellaneous and General, here:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/20030026.htm

you will find that there is a standards board and monitoring officer. Our local councillor was forbidden to attend a planning meeting discussing a development in our ward because of his 'prejudicial interest" in the matter. He was also forbidden from discussing it on pain of dismissal.

And who introduced this nonsense? John Prescot. Not defending LDC, just pointing out that all might not be as it seems.

 

[British Bulldog]

They are criminals in my eyes. Criminals of democracy.

Just a bunch of wannabe politicians who are not prepared to listen to the majority.

All they are after is just a bit of self publicity to satisfy their own ego's. When all the time they are probably nothing more than puppets having their string's pulled by somebody with a bit of wealth & infuence who chooses to use them as a defunct vioce piece.

And we've dealt with a Lib Dem Prat like that before.

So as far as i'm concerned the Ldc and Lib Dems in general are not welcome round here so they can go and f**k themselves.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

chip - the odd Councillor - not speaking about a particular development because of the possibility of prejudicial interest is surely very different from a whole Council being 'gagged'.

This is about one thing - the desire by LDC to try and kill our club.

And they are spending Council Tax money trying to do it. It's nothing short of a bloody disgrace.

Roz - any news ? - how long can they leave you in limbo for?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Re: Re: Lewes DC gagging councillors - the truth

If you believe Christopher Brooker, then this may actually be a requirement under the local government act of 2003. If you look under Part 8, Miscellaneous and General, here:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/20030026.htm

you will find that there is a standards board and monitoring officer. Our local councillor was forbidden to attend a planning meeting discussing a development in our ward because of his 'prejudicial interest" in the matter. He was also forbidden from discussing it on pain of dismissal.

And who introduced this nonsense? John Prescot. Not defending LDC, just pointing out that all might not be as it seems.

Lewes DC are extremely zealous about imposing their own interpretation of this rule - even when it plainly isn't supposed to apply.

The High Court will determine the Falmer case, so there can be no 'prejudicial interest' to invoke.

The outcome is a denial of councillors' rights - indeed duty - to represent their constituents in the democratic process.

What REALLY pisses me off about this is that once upon a time I worked in the ESCC Chief Executive's office and my job then was to brief county councillors about the implementation of the new Local Government Act that introduced "Cabinet Government" to local councils. The Lib Dem representative on the members' panel that was looking at the issue was none other than Ann de Vecchi. I spent weeks briefing her about the representative role of councillors and the importance of allowing that role to include challenging the decisions of a council Cabinet.

She plainly took as much notice of me then as she does now.

 

[Lady Bracknell]

Roz - any news ? - how long can they leave you in limbo for?

According to the reply I got from the police last Friday after I'd emailed them to suggest it was high time they put up or shut up, they confirmed they weren't about to shut up since the investigation is still very much "live". So alive that it's even been passed over to the Well Hard Coppers in the CID. Who seem just as happy to leave me hanging around accused but not arrested as were the Less Well Hard Coppers.