Are We Really Being Consulted On The 2012 Budget?

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Stoke-on-Trent City Council are currently running a ‘Consultation’ on the 2012 Budget with a number of events around the city. When you here the word ‘consultation’ you like to believe that you are going to be able to influence some of the proposals in the budget book.

Ian Norris has already been pushed down the FoI route with his request for information on the budget, with the response due the day before the consultation closes, giving him little time to do anything useful with the information, if it does get presented on time.

It seems that the decision to close the Wedgwood Memorial College has already been taken and just needs to be rubber-stamped by the Cabinet at their meeting on 15 December which is a day before the last public consultation event and over a week before the consultation closes on 23 December.

More worryingly it seems that some decisions on the budget are being made at meetings that don’t exist, 2-CE04 HR Initiatives, on page 22 of the budget book for instance, was, according the Business Impact Decision, Discussed and agreed at Cabinet on 6 October. Discussed at Labour Group.

Now if you check on the meeting calendar you will be hard pressed to find the cabinet meeting on 6 October nor any minutes to support the agreement.

Pits n Pots asked the City Council about this meeting and a spokesperson said

The meeting referred in the budget book was a closed ‘CAPS’ (Cabinet Agenda Planning) meeting not a cabinet meeting this was a mistake. 

So can we trust the information that is presented in the Budget Book, if this is a mistake, how many other ‘mistakes’ are there?

Have Your Say

  • Ian Norris

    “Discussed at Labour Group” wasn’t aware they were only group on Council.

    As for Budget question to Cllr Pervez, I’m still waiting

  • Ian Norris

    Mike yes some decisions have already been made as the cabinet were keen to accelerate the mandate for change, hence over £3million has already been committed to decisions proactively made this year

  • Mike Rawlins

    But are the decisions already committed not at the end of the budget book in their own section?

  • Ian Norris

    They are yes, maybe the HR one should have been put on committed as well.

    I particularly like Chief Exec saying he will save £28,000 by removing position the Olympic organiser after the Olympics have finished

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/ianfantom Ian Fantom

    There seems to be an agenda here.

    When Friends of WMC Association were campaigning in 2007 to keep the college open they stated that the college was financially self-supporting, and so they interpreted moves by the Council as an intention to close the college down for purposes of asset stripping. They also expressed concern that the uncertainty being created by the manoeuvres of the Council could bring about the demise of the college. An inquiry by Staffordshire County Council concluded that the college was indeed viable. So what did they do? They modified the purpose of the college so that it was no longer self-financing, then claimed they had to close it for budgetary reasons. Chutzpah.

    My interest in the College was not only as an occasional participant of the courses, in particular the Esperanto Summer Schools, but as a member of Esperanto Association of Britain, whose HQ are now in the college premises. In 2003 I had a part-time job as Information Officer for the association, when I met with the new Principal, Jill Ward, who struck me as professional and go-ahead. She and I discussed ideas for developing educational facilities with the Esperanto association at the college, which was the basic idea of moving there in the first place. We were, however, both puzzled at the negative attitude of some of the leading lights of the Esperanto association. I left the job seven months later.

    In 2005 I joined the Management Committee of Esperanto Association of Britain, and was charged with investigating the reason for the long-term membership decline. I became concerned at what I was finding. Amongst many other things, I found disturbing information about Esperanto House. The main mover for that relocation was the then Principal of WMC, who had shortly beforehand learned Esperanto and joined the Management Committee, thus having a potential conflict of interest. There was never any vote on the arrangement, though there had been on a draft, which was a fraction of the length of the final agreement.

    The Esperanto Association had built Esperanto House and paid for it for the College, leading members to believe that they had a 99 year lease on the house. In fact, they had the lease for only one room. It made no sense, but it was steered through. It seems that Esperanto House was a Trojan horse.

    The response from the Esperanto committee in 2007 to the appeal from Friends of WMC Association was to ignore it. The former Principal was on that committee, and was a member of the Friends of WMC Association. So I sent out information on this to various members, suggesting that they may write to save the college. After all, Esperanto House is part of the college. The response from the Esperanto association was scathing, accusing me of disinformation. That made no sense at all, unless the Esperanto association’s Management Committee was complicit in trying to close the college.

    Having given evidence to the inquiry, I recorded it on YouTube, since I envisaged that eventually the issue would crop up again, when the Council would attempt to close the college next time. The YouTube videos may be found at http://www.youtube.com/user/ianfantom .

    I think there should be a public inquiry.

  • John J

    ian . I looked u up to verify ur statement. it seems u make a habit of complaining mate if its not esperanto its 911 .http://ow.ly/7ST7L

  • Gary Elsby

    All of those in opposition have a habit of complaining, it’s called opposition.

    The opposition have a duty, if at all interested in local or National politics, to offer alternatives.

    The degree of hostility against opposing views is determined by a certain level of intelligence or basic common sense.

    If you constantly attack opposing views you are either:
    1. Part of the ruling party
    2. unintelligent
    3. Mental

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/ianfantom Ian Fantom

    Thanks, Gary.

    I didn’t actually see myself as being in opposition to anyone, but just doing research into the decline of Esperanto in the UK. I was then set upon when I discovered things that members weren’t supposed to know. We had all been led to believe that the capital of the Esperanto association was being eaten up, and that was the main reason that members were persuaded to sell their property in London. I was the only one who checked, and found that the capital had been increasing dramatically. That wasn’t exactly opposition. When they knew what I had found they vilified me in order to get me off the committee (which I had intended to leave anyway). The selling of the London property led ultimately to the removal of the association to Barlaston.

    The point about John J is that he issued a character attack anonymously. He didn’t criticise my views at all. That’s called ‘ad hominem’ attacks. People who do that have no argument, and their motive has to be suspect. If they do it anonymously, then they are cowards.

    You may have seen in Staffordshire Newsletter yesterday that I called for a public inquiry.

  • Guest

    Esperanto? Lets concentrate on our kids coming out of schools with a full grasp and working knowledge of English. Who needs some pretend language that no one gives two hoots about.

  • Guest

    Decline of Esperanto Where did this self-fulfilling fantasy come from. More incorrect information about Esperanto;better to get the facts straight I think !!

  • Guest Helen

    Primary school teachers that have tried Esperanto as a first foreign language for 7 or 8 year olds enthuse about the usefulness of Esperanto in improving the children’s English grammar. Consult Springboard to Languages for details.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/ianfantom Ian Fantom

    In the UK, since 1992, as you well know, Brian, as a representative of Esperanto Association of Britain. That is what I was tasked to investigate as a trustee in 2005. I gave you a full set of my research reports on two occasions, firstly on paper and secondly on CD.