Freedom of information act

[Sheilaoliver]

I have asked this FOI question:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/collapsing_toxic_waste_dump_scho/new

I shall keep this site posted if this question is also declared vexatious.  It will be.

The LibDems proclaim they believe in open and honest government - they don't.

[Harry]

Sorry Alan, but for someone to bring 'unknown revelations' to light then they have to be 100% correct. Otherwise I label them as 'over imaginative obsessive'. And we already have a few of those.

For example: Sheila has managed three times, in just a few posts, to accuse council officials of having 'top of the range BMWs'. One of her own requests resulted in SMBC publishing a list of all council leased cars. Guess what? Not one 'top of the range BMW' on there. But we can't let the facts spoil a good story.

[sooty2]

Great post Alan,Credit where it is due!

[alan@marple]

Harry come on now, you are sidetracking the issue. Is it not right that these hitherto unknown revelations be brought into the realms of transparency.?

Mark my words, the majority of public spirited people, will very soon appreciated the efforts Sheila Oliver has carried out to protect generations to come.

One of the greatest civil evils in the world today-in my opinion- is corruption! and the actions of those who condone it!.

She is dedicated, sincere and although I have never met her, she works in an area desperately suffering from financial constraints and striving to help and support those less fortunate than many of us and yet she still continues to "fight the good fight" in her own time

[Harry]

Sheila - why not raise one more FOI request:

Ask how much it has cost the council tax payers to respond to your FOI requests.

I'll bet its a lot more than a few nights in hotels and a few leased cars.

[sooty2]

Hi Sheila,Have you any opinion on Dustys post under the topic alternative use for the Hibbert Lane campus?A councillors partner thanking her partner via chair of the MAC for doing the job they are paid to do.She could of thanked him over breakfast.You couldn't make it up.I find it incredible that she actually wanted it to be made public.She must think we are stupid and don't know that they are connected and run a hotel together! They are not camera shy. I am talking about councillor K Dowling.How can we have any respect for him when something like this is made public?You Go Girl!

[Tricky]

Sheilaoliver  - 326 Freedom of Information requests

Wow! - You've been busy Sheila

 

[Sheilaoliver]

I asked this FOI question because local parents had contacted me about the dangerous state of this footpath.  The matter had been raised with the local LibDem councillors in, I think, April 2010 but nothing had been done.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/footpath_at_the_side_of_woodley#comment-23578

I have asked this question to try to help local people, who are not being properly served by their local councillors, to try to get something sorted out regarding the footpath, which surely can't cost that much. 

There is money for luxury hotel stays, for fancy teas, for Audi TTs, and top of the range BMWs and Mini Cooper Cabriolets but not to sort out what local people consider to be a dangerous footpath, particularly in icy conditions.

I don't think I am wasting public money by asking this question.

[Sheilaoliver]

Re the cost of the toxic waste dump school going from £5.5 million in October 2005 to £7.5 million in December 2005 to £8.6 million by June 2006 on to £9.9 million - did they apply the correct financial procedures for such schemes I asked?  Surely somebody other than me must have been keeping tabs on the costs, which were rising like Topsy.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/primary_capital_programme_was_pr#comment-20699

Don't be vexatious, they said, so I am like the famous King - Non the Wiser.

[Sheilaoliver]

Re  three or four night luxury hotel stays by councillors and council officers:-

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/hotel_stays#comment-21542

Have a look at the 4 star hotels they stay in - The Old Swann, Harrogate,

http://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/theoldswanhotel.en.html?aid=311076;label=hotel-108571-gb-lfQdOKwrzewXZSaSwRyKqAS2620363110;ws=&gclid=CM3Jkvnj9awCFQMPfAodD3nsRQ

The Jolly St Ermins Hotel, London

http://www.sterminshotel.co.uk/?gclid=CNH8rJvk9awCFcMMtAodshcGSQ

And they say I waste money asking questions!

[Sheilaoliver]

Re FOI and the Audi TTs, top of the range BMWs and Mini Cooper Cabriolets for council officers, many of whom don't need a car for their job, how about this...

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/council_taxpayer_funded_cars_for_2#outgoing-160449

It sounds from this review that the scrutiny report  of the scheme was carried out by officials from the car lease company - they wrote the report for the council officers.  How does that work then?  It doesn't seem very impartial or proper to me.  If I have got hold of the wrong end of the stick, please put me right.

[Sheilaoliver]

"Sheila, you know full well the findings of experts who surveyed the site. You simply refuse to accept the findings despite them having qualifications and experience in this sort of thing. How much has your interferance added to the budget & cost to tax-payer?"

The first report was  only one borehole. The second report, forced on the Council by local residents, stated the area where the school was going had been shown to be safe - April 2006  - carried out by GMGU part funded by Stockport Council.  The report the Council was forced to carry out in October 2009 after I went to see the chaps at the Environment Agency and the Council was forced to prove the site was not contaminated for a public inquiry showed the entire site to be contaminated with lead, arsenic and brown asbestos.  I have already put up the clip of the inadequate removal of brown asbestos up here.  I can lodge all the relevant documents with the webmaster should you wish to contest what I am saying.  It is all there in black and white.

The first report from April 2006 actually said the children could be protected by prickly bushes from contamination hotspots.  The contamination experts employed by the Council inititally stated the site was safe.  It wasn't. 

My interference has saved the children being put on completely unremediated toxic waste.   How much do you cost that at?

You sound like a councillor!

[sgk]

Sheila, you know full well the findings of experts who surveyed the site. You simply refuse to accept the findings despite them having qualifications and experience in this sort of thing. How much has your interferance added to the budget & cost to tax-payer?

Let us not become over-confident in the findings of experts.  This is reminding me of Rochdale's asbestos fiasco and the bogus planning claim "of particular note is the absence of any asbestos contamination".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spodden_Valley_asbestos_controversy#Urban_village_plans

[Duke Fame]

Hi Alan

Stockport Council refused to reply under the EIR 2004 on grounds of cost with regards to the toxic waste dump school at North Reddish.  They knew the site was contaminated as they refused three planning applications in 18974 on grounds of contamination. When I tried to point out the site was contaminated (correctly) they banned all questions from me on grounds of cost.  It turned out after one hell of a fight that the site was entirely contaminated with lead, arsenic and deadly brown asbestos.

In addition the cost rose from £5.5 million in October 2005 to £7.5 million in December 2005 to £8.6 million by June 2006 and then on to £9.9 million. Why? I asked.  Don't be vexatious they replied.  One would have thought they would be asking those questions - they weren't.

The didn't remove the brown asbestos properly - just two blokes with a bin bag and a stick wandering around the site:-



Those kids and surrounding residents will  probably get lung damage and possible develop mesothelioma.  One fibre of asbestos can cause cancer. Asbestos cannot be destroyed.  If it enters the lungs it is there for ever.  The body doesn't like it and tries to surround it with tissue. That is when the damage occurs.

Sheila, you know full well the findings of experts who surveyed the site. You simply refuse to accept the findings despite them having qualifications and experience in this sort of thing. How much has your interferance added to the budget & cost to tax-payer?

[Duke Fame]

I'll just get this off my chest then will settle down with a glass of wine to watch Rev.

Were it not for the FOIA we would not know that the Leader of Stockport Council, if he attends a function in Manchester in the evening and has another function the next morning, stays in a 5 star hotel with a chaise longue at my expense. What, I wonder, is wrong with getting the 192 bus home?

In addition, the FOIA lets us know that senior council officers, who don't need them for their jobs, have Mini Cooper S Cabriolets, top of the range BMWs and Audi TTs at council taxpayers' expense. This has been going on since the 1980s. (Evidence available on request).

Also, they spend £23,000 per annum of our money on committee teas - fancy chicken satay and  delicate cream cakes.  A lot of the meetings they are feeding themselves for start at 6pm and end at 6.20. Eat before you leave home or buy a sandwich.  Most of the councillors don't work. What is the problem with eating before they leave home?

Or Dickie Leese wasting this sort of money on brushing up hos own inflated ego: http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/waste/2011/11/spending-4000-celebrating-saving-money-missing-point.html