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Author Topic: Sign E-Petition against withdrawl of Support for Friends of Park Groups  (Read 20466 times)

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admin

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Re: Sign E-Petition against withdrawl of Support for Friends of Park Groups
« Reply #58 on: August 14, 2014, 01:09:09 PM »
A response to this petition has been made by Cllr Martin Candler and recorded on the Council web site as follows:

The petition was submitted to the Executive Meeting on 12 August 2014 and in response the Executive Councillor (Communities & Sustainability) (Councillor Martin Candler) made the following statement:

"I have just taken over responsibility for this area of work and I would like to say that I am determined to bring about a new era of trust between volunteers and the Council. I find it very sad that relationships appear to have broken down in some places and that is most unfortunate for all who care about our parks and green spaces.

Firstly, as I said to the Greenspace Forum recently, whatever impression was gained before, for whatever reason, I on behalf of the Council, appreciate and value the contribution that volunteers make and I want them to know it.

I have taken steps to ensure that the Council will provide as soon as possible

- Risk assessment training for volunteers
- Employee liability insurance cover for task days and signpost financial support for event insurance
- A revised events application process
- A new task day application process

Also, the Council will through its Greenspace Team work closely with volunteer groups and help them access grants from third parties, support event applications and assist with the provision of materials and equipment for their task days.

I have asked officers to look into how we might further improve the offer to Friends of Groups in terms of Solutions SK staff supporting volunteers during the working week within the limits of existing resources.

I will, as promised, be coming back to a further meeting of the Greenspace Forum in September with worked up proposals to address some of the issues highlighted by them earlier.'
Mark Whittaker
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admin

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Have you actually seen it?

Of course I've seen it. Everyone's seen it - it was part of the proposed cuts in early 2013 that was consulted on up to end of May 2013, see page 3 (3rd item) of the attached document. As I keep on telling you, it is no longer a proposal it has been implemented!

I've also seen minutes of meetings from the Greenspace Forum from earlier this year referring to correspondence with the leader of the council about the issue. I've asked for copies and I'll share with you if I get them.

[attachment deleted by admin]
Mark Whittaker
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wheels

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Are you saying that it is not true that the council has withdrawn support for Friends of the Park task days wheels? Or are you just trying to muddy the waters like a politician again?

No I am asking you to point me to the council paper which proposes then. Have you actually seen it?


admin

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Well actually Dave other than this petition no one seems to have pointed to any actual council proposal.

Do we even trust or believe those behind the petition?

Are you saying that it is not true that the council has withdrawn support for Friends of the Park task days wheels? Or are you just trying to muddy the waters like a politician again?
Mark Whittaker
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wheels

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Well actually Dave other than this petition no one seems to have pointed to any actual council proposal.

Do we even trust or believe those behind the petition?

Dave

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But there are no proposals to withdraw support from Friends Groups Dave!!!!

So the petition has worked already!   :)

wheels

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Wheels must be right, of course, if only because the Big Society was dreamed up well before the 2010 election.  It was a major feature of the Tory election manifesto in 2010, and was set out in the manifesto as four key priorities:

    Give communities more powers (localism and devolution)
    Encourage people to take an active role in their communities (volunteerism)
    Transfer power from central to local government
    Support co-ops, mutuals, charities and social enterprises
    Publish government data (open/transparent government)

So a promise to encourage people to take an active role in their communities is shortly followed by the withdrawal of support for Friends of Parks Groups.  How times change! 

But there are no proposals to withdraw support from Friends Groups Dave!!!!

Mr Marple

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That's good news, and testimony, in part at least, to the influence of this forum.  It will be interesting to find out whether it makes any difference!

As for this....
The point is far from irrelevant - or even irrtlevent.   ;)   This is only happening because of the government's huge cuts to local authority funding.  The Tories were elected on a promise to give communities more powers, and to transfer power from central to local government, and once they got into office they did the exact opposite and cut local authority funding by 43%!  And they wonder why we don't trust politicians any more! 

Many, if not all, political groups were elected into power for whatever reason or intentions and when they got into the position of power they usually did the exact reverse. This has happened for years and I fully comprehend why you talk of lack of trust in politicians.

They have done more negative actions than good ones, as far as I'm aware, which is very much enough to verify the lack of trust. In my mind I keep thinking about double-standards, hypocrisy and contradiction.

Mr Marple

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It's interesting to see just how low the responses to most of the e-petitions on the council site are though. I only found out about this one from a set of Green Space Forum minutes I happened to read and had not seen any other attempt to publicise it until this thread.

your comment Admin is quite accurate/true. The very fact that these petitions are not made easily publically aware speaks volumes, in my mind alone at least, and implies several things which can also be a worry for the community.

What happened to clarity?

Duke Fame

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That's good news, and testimony, in part at least, to the influence of this forum.  It will be interesting to find out whether it makes any difference!

As for this....
The point is far from irrelevant - or even irrtlevent.   ;)   This is only happening because of the government's huge cuts to local authority funding.  The Tories were elected on a promise to give communities more powers, and to transfer power from central to local government, and once they got into office they did the exact opposite and cut local authority funding by 43%!  And they wonder why we don't trust politicians any more! 

i think you know my views on local authorities, hardly worth me biting.

Duke Fame

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The E-Petition is now closed and I look forward to seeing the council's response in due course.

I'm pleased to see that we've managed to raise the signatures from 56 to 145, making it the 5th best supported Stockport Council e-petition since they began in 2011.

It's interesting to see just how low the responses to most of the e-petitions on the council site are though - directly related to the level of awareness of them I would imagine (not to mention the technical difficulty some people told me they had when trying to sign it) - I only found out about this one from a set of Green Space Forum minutes I happened to read and had not seen any other attempt to publicise it until this thread.

I'm afraid I didn't sign, i agree entirely with you but did not want to hand over my information to the council.

Dave

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I'm pleased to see that we've managed to raise the signatures from 56 to 145, making it the 5th best supported Stockport Council e-petition since they began in 2011.

That's good news, and testimony, in part at least, to the influence of this forum.  It will be interesting to find out whether it makes any difference!

As for this....
We don't have a Tory local authority, this may be a bad thing but it certainly makes your point irrtlevent.

The point is far from irrelevant - or even irrtlevent.   ;)   This is only happening because of the government's huge cuts to local authority funding.  The Tories were elected on a promise to give communities more powers, and to transfer power from central to local government, and once they got into office they did the exact opposite and cut local authority funding by 43%!  And they wonder why we don't trust politicians any more! 

admin

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The E-Petition is now closed and I look forward to seeing the council's response in due course.

I'm pleased to see that we've managed to raise the signatures from 56 to 145, making it the 5th best supported Stockport Council e-petition since they began in 2011.

It's interesting to see just how low the responses to most of the e-petitions on the council site are though - directly related to the level of awareness of them I would imagine (not to mention the technical difficulty some people told me they had when trying to sign it) - I only found out about this one from a set of Green Space Forum minutes I happened to read and had not seen any other attempt to publicise it until this thread.
Mark Whittaker
The Marple Website

Duke Fame

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Wheels must be right, of course, if only because the Big Society was dreamed up well before the 2010 election.  It was a major feature of the Tory election manifesto in 2010, and was set out in the manifesto as four key priorities:

    Give communities more powers (localism and devolution)
    Encourage people to take an active role in their communities (volunteerism)
    Transfer power from central to local government
    Support co-ops, mutuals, charities and social enterprises
    Publish government data (open/transparent government)

So a promise to encourage people to take an active role in their communities is shortly followed by the withdrawal of support for Friends of Parks Groups.  How times change! 

We don't have a Tory local authority, this may be a bad thing but it certainly makes your point irrtlevent.

Dave

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Wheels must be right, of course, if only because the Big Society was dreamed up well before the 2010 election.  It was a major feature of the Tory election manifesto in 2010, and was set out in the manifesto as four key priorities:

    Give communities more powers (localism and devolution)
    Encourage people to take an active role in their communities (volunteerism)
    Transfer power from central to local government
    Support co-ops, mutuals, charities and social enterprises
    Publish government data (open/transparent government)

So a promise to encourage people to take an active role in their communities is shortly followed by the withdrawal of support for Friends of Parks Groups.  How times change!