.jpg)
People have been dissatisfied with Oldham Council since approximately the late seventies. Favours for votes, brown envelopes, back pocket payments, under the table planning permissions etc. etc. It's only recently that people have started to unite as the electorate come to the realisation that they are increasingly becoming irrelevant to the political ambitions of their local government key players. Social media has helped a lot, as has the fact that the Internet has a very long memory, and has placed some of the worlds best research tools into everyone's living room. I call this "In The Beginning" although technically it's not. It's just the beginning of one particular saga, but it jumps off in more directions than Mumps Roundabout! (Oldhamers will know).The starting point for this saga for most was probably what we will call. "The Planning Meeting". Oldham has an abundance of 'brown land' - meaning previously developed land that is not currently in use - however the council, for some strange reason, keep wanting to build in green space and provide "affordable homes". See that's one of those buzzwords they like to use to make you think it's for low income people, because they don't actually state 'who' it's affordable to! There is a hero to this story too, a councillor by the name of Stephen Hewitt, Stephen gave a speech in Oldham council chambers, his words worthy of the standing ovation he received. He was representing his constituents... those who had placed their trust in him and objecting to yet another Oldham council attempt to pass an application that had previously been refused not once but several times. Seeing is believing, here is a youtube time link to Stephen Hewitts Speech
Later, the proposal was put to a vote. I make no assumptions, it is easy for anyone to figure it out. Again I provide a timed link, but the full sham of a meeting is here to view. The silent sections are not errors, that is them turning off mics to try and figure out what they are doing! Again a youtube timed link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4IjxHNI8hc&t=75m50s Very shortly after, Councillor Hewitt was de-selected by the controlling Labour party and the head of planning Stephen Irvine was firstly suspended pending investigation for gross misconduct, he then resigned/was pushed/jumped. When quizzed as to what the investigation had revealed, the public were told that because he had 'resigned', no investigation had been necessary. Go figure! It was later alleged that Mr Irvine didn't even have any planning qualifications and was therefore completely ineligible to hold that office!
Newspaper report Re Planner Steve Irvines suspension
Newspaper report re the Investigation being cut
In between this sham, and the next council meeting, the story broke about Raja Miah's blog and the whole Oldham grooming cover up scandal.
Click here for Raja Miah's excellent blog
I have worked closely with Raja in a research capacity for some time and I am proud to call him my friend, this sort of leads us to the next council meeting, with a twist!
Коментарі