Council Meeting 25 July 4 August 2011
 Last Council before summer had Alderman appointments; Trouble with minutes; Revised Constitution; RIPA changes; New corporate plan; Appointments to external bodies; Deputy 151 officer; and Standards Committee issues. Not a lot of excitement, but a few nuggets.... |
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Extra-Ordinary Council Meeting 18 July 2011
 Even before the Extra-Ordinary Council meeting due on 18th July, there have been some extra ordinary events taking place in the days leading up to it. The Mayor is charged to hold a meeting. The Conservatives are told to boycott it, St Louis the Magnificent goes to see Mr Woodward.... |
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Heroes and Villains 16 July 2011
 Aided by weasel words from officers, the cowardly Directors meet in secret and remove Cllr Louis Rigby's share and thus his vote as a Director. The exchange of contracts was effected on Friday: the last day before an Extra-Ordinary Council Meeting called to debate the matter.... |
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Conservative Group Meeting 12 July 2011
 Frenetic activity on the phone and email today as the Melton Grove story builds to aclimax. We get reports of the proceedings of the Conservative Group Meeting on Monday night and more news about the timing of the disposal. The gloves come off - and there's the Iron Fist.... |
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Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter 10 July 2011
 We finally give up on the higher echelons of the officer class at Fylde. It's time for renewal. In the words of one of our readers, they are out of control. It's really sad to see what used to be a first rate little council so badly abused. So what is it that's causing the problems?.... |
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Queensway Inquiry to Re-Open 8 July 2011
 St Eric announces the re-opening of the Queensway Inquiry and calls-in the Moss Road application. He doesn't trust Lancashire County Council to make the right decision themselves and he will now consider both the road and the housing at one single Inquiry.... |
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Melton Grove: Plumbing New Depths. 5 July 2011
 Fylde's Dim Tim's behaviour vies with Liverpool Militant's 'Degsy' Hatton as being the lowest to which an elected councillor can sink. He is key to the plan to sack the widely respected Councillor Louis Rigby from the Board of Melton Grove - because he's holding up the sale.... |
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Pressing Audit? 28 June 2011
 Fylde issues an inaccurate press release - even before their auditors have concluded the investigation. We wonder if it was issued under political pressure to damage the election chances of one of the candidates in the Kilnhouse election. |
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Fylde's Tyranny 22 June 2011
 When you can't win by the rules - change the rules. It's Easy Peasy. The Directors of Melton Grove attempt to remove themselves from Council control. And there are strange - remarkably rodent like - smells emanating from the process to select advisors and award the 'tender' . |
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Premature Ejaculation? 29 May 2011
Exclusive.
 Did Fylde Council suddenly and quickly issue a premature press release (about being cleared by their auditors on the pool tendering process) in order to damage the prospects of a candidate in a recent election? They've now removed it from their website. We bring you the details.... |
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A Humbling Experience 26 May 2011
 We are reminded what it is about Lytham St Annes and Fylde that make this area so special - and we look at what happened over the week following our invitation for counterbalance readers to help the residents of Melton Grove in their plight..... |
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Localism Bill: Third Reading 16 May 2011
 We review events in the Committee stage of the Bill as tomorrow at 3:30, it enters the House of Commons for its Report Stage and Third Reading. This is a huge Bill - over 400 pages long and its whole intention is to shake up local Government in the hope that something better will emerge..... |
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Call for Help: Melton Grove 15 May 2011
 As the closing chapters in the sorry tale are written, we look at the duplicitous and Machiavellian steps taken by those running the Council to sidestep the responsibility everyone knows they should have to Melton Grove, and exceptionally, we ask if our readers are willing to help..... |
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Election Analysis 2011 12 May 2011
 We take a first look at what the election results are likely to mean for both Fylde and St Annes Town Councils. The dust is settling and councillors are signing their acceptances of office, and finding out where they are - or where they are not, in some cases.... |
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Election Results 2011 6 May 2011
 The election results for Fylde Borough and St Annes Town Council. No great shocks - mostly more of the same. Richard Fulford-Brown has gone (to his evident shock) and Charlie Duffy replaced him (to the delight of Melton Grove and many more Lytham residents).... |
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Election: The Final Lap 1 May 2011
 We look at Fylde's political landscape in the final week of the election campaigns and assess how the candidates are doing, the main issues, what the trends are and what sort of implications there might be for Fylde in the next four years depending on who gets voted in.... |
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Melton Grove: The Facts 14 April 2011
 Following a letter to the LSA Express from Cllr Patricia Fieldhouse, we received a copy of a response from the Melton Grove Resident's Association. We have published the full text of both, so our readers can form their own views on the claims made by either side in this matter.... |
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Pre-Election Review: Runners and Riders 2011 12 April 2011
 We preview the 2011 election due on May 5th and look at the runners and riders - the candidates competing to win a place on Fylde Borough and St Annes on the Sea Town Councils. We give a personal view of their form to date, but see many new names that are unknown to us this time.... |
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Road Block 11 April 2011
 Lancashire County Council decide to disregard the advice of Fylde members to delay the moss road until the Queensway decision is known. They approve their own planning application for the road, but then counterbalance's own Saint Eric Pickles steps in and puts a stop to that bit of nonsense.... |
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Still a Shambles 7 April 2011
 Fylde's Council considers the decision to sell Melton Grove and whether to give £300,000 of the proceeds to Lytham Hall. The meeting is an absolute shambles. Items are mal-administered and missed from the agenda altogether. Honestly, you couldn't make it up..... |
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Melton Grove Call In 27 March 2011
 Fylde's Scrutiny Committee debates the call in of the decision to sell Melton Grove. Many residents will find the background to this story incredible. The Scrutiny Committee did a really good job of testing the decision. It was found wanting, and will now be debated at Council on Monday |
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Post Cabinet Report: March 20111 24 March 2011
 Public Platform, Scrutiny Minutes, Wyre Waste, Lytham Hall / Melton Grove money matters , FBC Solutions Ltd and other issues. We report the Cabinet's deliberation and consideration. Cllr Fiddler talks a lot of common sense and Queen Elizabeth has lots of questions that can't be answered properly. |
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Short Sighted Vision 20 March 2011
 Classic Resort status, and '2020 Vision' that was set to polish St Annes promenade to perfection, is abandoned for a 'more modest' scheme, and the vision has been shortened to next year. Also, there's a scheme to do up Ansdell shops if some funds arrive 'unexpectedly.' |
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What a Waste 20 March 2011
 As we have been predicting for two years, Wyre Council have now said they won't even let Fylde onto their tender list to bid for the contract to empty Wyre's bins again. This contract has been a disaster for both Councils. Seems to us that the problem is toward the top of the tree.
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Capital Funding Request - Lytham Hall 18 March 2011
 Surprise surprise. Just as Melton Grove is being lined up for sale, along comes a request from Lytham Hall for £300,000 to help their lottery bid along. Will the Council give them the 'blood money' capital receipt that is so tainted it risks damaging the Hall itself in the eyes of local people.... |
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Cabinet Misc. March 2011 18 March 2011
 We look at some of the smaller 'giveaway' issues in the Cabinet agenda for Wednesday next, and wonder if there is an election in the offing? We also look in a bit more depth at the tail end of the 'Tax Con 'for this year, and at 'FBC Solutions Ltd' which we think is a harbinger of trouble....
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Rolling in it? 10 March 2011
 The Ansdell Business Group reforms to consider how to spend £100,000 on regenerating Ansdell, or is it £22,000?, and is it coming from the sale of Melton Grove? or the sale of the Blue Bus Co? and why has the date of the next Cabinet been moved back a week?. We're heading into trouble again....
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Political Capital? 2 March 2011
 We ask if the Council's plan to sell off of Melton Grove will produce a 'blood money' capital receipt that is so tainted with shame that no one will want to own up to using it. We think this scheme brings more shame to those who support it than anything Fylde Council has done before....
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Exclusive. Melton Grove Meetings 2 March 2011
 We report two meetings held last week about FBC's plan to sell off Melton Grove. The residents had their own get-together to form a Residents Association, and the current and potential future owners of the site met with residents to tell them what was going to happen to them....
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Exclusive. Melton Grove Scandal 20 February 2011
 We're appalled at the way some Councillor Directors of Melton Grove have sought to abandon their duty and responsibility toward present and future residents. The deceptions practised in this story of asset stripping have even shocked us - and we're used to incompetent behaviour....
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