SEE UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE
Tonight at 7PM Bournemouth Council vote on their allowances, which we have been campaigning and lobbying against for the past week. Thanks go to Jonathan Sheppard, Peter Roberts, Christopher Way, Linda Berkeley, Vivienne Reed, Ed Hallam, Mohammed Hasan, John Sheperd and many others who helped lobby for lower taxes and against such outrageous salaries for a council Cabinet clearly failing the taxpayers in Bournemouth.
Yet, tonight we also see another example of local government snouts in the trough. We were alerted to this story by TPA supporter Robert Halfon.
Harlow Council will vote at their full council this evening on their medium term financial strategy. As part of this strategy is a cost cutting measure. That cost cutting measure involves the top 10 officers earmarking themselves almost £100,000 for a "pay review" before 2010. Do you see the problem?
In addition to this, £98,000 has also been set aside for future pay increases for senior officers. Finally, and this is all we know from the story so God knows what we’ll find when we dig around, a further £106,000 is allocated for the possibility of a vacant strategic director post to be filled after 2009. You can read the full story here.
We've well in Bournemouth, and who knows we might even win tonight, so let’s do even more in Harlow to keep the momentum going. This is your money going into the pockets of Council officers, unaccountable bureaucrats taking more and more money from frontline services, the services you expect and demand. The Audit Commission only give Harlow Council 2-stars for the handling of its finances and providing value for money, so this is hardly surprising. Now is the time for you to make yet another stand for your rights as taxpayers. Here is a list of every councillor in Harlow, please contact them and ask them to vote against this shocking pay hike for Town Hall fat cats:
Cllr Sean Folan (Labour) - (01279) 427575 / [email protected]
Cllr Leslie Rideout (Lib Dem) - (01279) 437541 / [email protected]
Cllr Robert Thurston (Lib Dem) - (01279) 864777 / [email protected]
Cllr Simon Carter (Con) - (01279) 429443 / [email protected]
Cllr Tony Hall (Con) - (01279) 445897 / [email protected]
Cllr Andrew Johnson (Con) - (01279) 865673 / [email protected]
Cllr Rob Eschle (Labour) - (01279) 425785 / [email protected]
Cllr Eleanor Macey (Lib Dem) - (01279) 324193 / [email protected]
Cllr Christopher Millington (Lib Dem) - (01279) 864777 / [email protected]
Cllr Michael Garnett (Con) - (01279) 437401 / [email protected]
Cllr Muriel Jolles (Con) - (01279) 432242 / [email protected]
Cllr Sue Livings (Con) - (01279) 422339 / [email protected]
Cllr Jean Clark (Labour) - (01279) 423474 / [email protected]
Cllr Anthony Durcan (Labour) - 07967 138663 / [email protected].
Cllr Mike Danvers (Labour) - 01279 425934 / [email protected]
Cllr Margaret Hulcoop (Labour) - (01279) 452252 / [email protected]
Cllr Gregory Peck (Labour) - (01279) 433604 / [email protected]
Cllr Mark Wilkinson (Labour) - 07866 433991 / [email protected]
Cllr Eddie Johnson (Con) - (01279) 324689 / [email protected]
Cllr Joshua Jolles (Con) - (01279) 432242 / [email protected]
Cllr Patrick McClarnon (Labour) - (01279) 441702 / [email protected]
Cllr Ian Jackson (Lib Dem) - (01279) 416138 / [email protected]
Cllr Linda Pailing (Lib Dem) - (01279) 305802 / [email protected]
Cllr Edna Stevens (Labour) - (01279) 324183 / [email protected]
Cllr Su Lawton (Lib Dem) - (01279) 300938 / [email protected]
Cllr Lorna Spenceley (Lib Dem) - (01279) 324676 / [email protected]
Cllr Lee Dangerfield (Con) - (01279) 833515 / [email protected]
Cllr Nicholas Churchill (Con) - (01279) 621094 / [email protected]
Cllr John Paul Goddard (Independent) - (01279) 416455 / [email protected]
Cllr Sarah-Jane Dangerfield (Con) - (01279) 8335515 / [email protected]
Cllr Kevin Brooks (Labour) - (01279) 302856 / [email protected]
Cllr Bob Davis (Labour) - (01279) 319117 / [email protected]
Cllr David Carter (Con) - (01279) 420340 / [email protected]
A few points to note:
1. Independent councillor John Paul Goddard is quoted in the story as wanting to block the pay increases
2. This is a matter of taxpayers’ money being misspent
3. Harlow Council is no overall control, so use that to your advantage when lobbying the councillors to vote against this pay increase for council bureaucrats.
Keep up the great work, folks and spread the message. The more people we have involved in our grassroots campaigns, the stronger we will be and the more the politicians will listen. Now, once more into the breach…
UPDATE:
It appears that, after an outcry, the council have overturned these plans for big pay rises. False alarm.