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Council: 25 July 2011
Extra Ordinary Meeting
Heroes and Villains
Con Group Meeting
Abandon Hope
Q'way Inquiry to re-open
Melton: New Depths
Pressing Audit?
Fylde's Tyranny
Premature Ejaculation?
Humbling Experience
Localism 3rd Reading
Call For Help
Election: Analysis
Election Results 2011
Election: The Final Lap
Melton Grove: Claims
Runners & Riders 2011
Road Block
Still a Shambles
Melton Grove Call-In
Post Cabinet 3.11
Short Sighted Vision
What a Waste
Funding Call Lytham Hall
Cabinet Misc March 2011
Rolling in it?
Political Capital?
Melton Grove Meetings
Melton Grove Scandal
Melton Grove Mess
Traveller Inquiry
Snippets Feb 2011
Select Evidence
Future Vision
Budget Prep: 2011
Tax Con: Cabinet's View
Tax Con: Parish Views
Gas Exploration
Tax Con: About Turn?
Tax Con? or Cock-Up?
Localism Bill Announced
Tax Con on Hold?
Tax Con Returns
Lytham - Premier League
Audit Called In
RSS Returns (or not?)
Abandon Tip
Knight to Porn Too?
Fools Mate?
Enter the Puppet-Master?
It's Friday.....
September Cabinet
Snippets: Sep 2010
Town Hall: 'Plan C' ?
Wesham Inquiry Opens
Cabinet Reshuffle
Wesham: The Calm
Car Park Call In

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Recent News and Views

Council Meeting 25 July   4 August 2011  
Council Meeting 25 July 2011Last 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....

Extra-Ordinary Council Meeting 18 July 2011  
Extra Ordinary Council MeetingEven 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....

Heroes and Villains 16 July 2011  
Heroes and VillainsAided 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....

Conservative Group Meeting 12 July 2011  
Conservative Group MeetingFrenetic 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....

Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter 10 July 2011  
Abandon Hope all ye Who EnterWe 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?....

Queensway Inquiry to Re-Open 8 July 2011  
Queensway Inquiry to re-openSt 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....

Melton Grove: Plumbing New Depths. 5 July 2011  
Melton Grove: Plumbing New Depths.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....

Pressing Audit?  28 June 2011  
Pressing AuditFylde 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.

Fylde's Tyranny  22 June 2011  
Fylde's TrrannyWhen 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' .

Premature Ejaculation?  29 May 2011
Exclusive.
 
Premature Ejaculation?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....

A Humbling Experience  26 May 2011
A Humbling ExperienceWe 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.....

Localism Bill: Third Reading  16 May 2011
Localism Bill: THird ReadingWe 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.....

Call for Help: Melton Grove  15 May 2011
Call for Help: Melton GroveAs 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.....

Election Analysis 2011  12 May 2011
Election Analysis 2011 FyldeWe 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....

Election Results 2011  6 May 2011
Election Results 2011 FyldeThe 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)....

Election: The Final Lap   1 May 2011
Election: The Final LapWe 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....

Melton Grove: The Facts   14 April 2011
Pre-Election Review: Runners and Riders 2011Following 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....

Pre-Election Review: Runners and Riders 2011   12 April 2011
Pre-Election Review: Runners and Riders 2011We 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....

Road Block   11 April 2011
Road BlockLancashire 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....

Still a Shambles   7 April 2011
Still a ShamblesFylde'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.....

Melton Grove Call In   27 March 2011
Melton Grove Call InFylde'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

Post Cabinet Report: March 20111   24 March 2011
Post Cabinet Report: March 2011Public 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.

Short Sighted Vision   20 March 2011
Short Sighted VisionClassic 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.'

What a Waste   20 March 2011
What a WasteAs 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.

Capital Funding Request - Lytham Hall   18 March 2011
Capital Funding Request - Lytham HallSurprise 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....

Cabinet Misc. March 2011   18 March 2011
Cabinet Misc. March 2011We 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....

Rolling in it?   10 March 2011
Rolling in it?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....

Political Capital?   2 March 2011
Political Capital?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....

Exclusive.  Melton Grove Meetings   2 March 2011
Melton Grove MeetingsWe 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....

Exclusive.  Melton Grove Scandal   20 February 2011
Melton Grove ScandalWe'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....

Melton Grove Mess   13 February 2011
Melton Grove MessThere's something fishy - or at least secretive - going on around the transactions aimed at moving Melton Grove housing out of the public sector. Not least there's a deal of confusion about who owns it and what's going to happen to it. It's a Limited Company with Councillors as Directors. Or is it?....

Traveller Inquiry   8 February 2011
Traveller InquiryWe report on the Planning Inquiry in public that opened in St Annes on 8th Feb. The Inspector is very flexible, We have a top specialist London Barrister batting against Fylde, but St Eric has made his task much more difficult - and it could be about to get a lot worse....

Snippets February 2011   8 February 2011
Snippets February 2011BREAKING NEWS: Cala Homes lose their second Judicial Review, Whyndyke Farm plans,  Freedom Of The Borough, Fylde's Spending Published Online, Expensive Dog Doo, Tax Con: Cabinet Decision Called In, St Annes Library, Youth Service To Be Cut, Queensway / Moss Road.....

Select Evidence   3 February 2011
Select EvicenceThe Fylde Civic Awareness Group gives evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee showing how Fylde people want to abandon the discredited Cabinet system and return to a more democratic Committee system that's based on one-councillor-one-vote.  Find out more .....

Future Vision  31 January 2011
Future VisionWe're happy to report an excellent initiative from FBC. They are about to embark on a proper consultation and a community-led approach to their new local plan. Anticipating St Eric's Localism agenda, they want everyone's view of what Fylde should be like in 20 years time. Find out more .....

Budget Preparation: 2011  27 January 2011
Budget Preparation: 2011We report on the Scrutiny meetings held to recommend Draconian savings to FBC's Cabinet, only to find it's all a bit of a  waste of time. Members were pretty cross about the process that left them trying to make sense of figures that were 12 months out of date and £100,000 inaccurate .....

Tax Con: The Cabinet Speaks  20 January 2011
Tax Con: The Cabinet SpeaksDeputy Leader Susan Fazackerley chairs a Cabinet meeting  to consider the Policy Scrutiny report. They're not happy bunnies. Asset Transfers are off the agenda for a while, and the future for Strategic Assets is uncertain. Kirkham gets a kick in the teeth. We have all the story.....

Tax Con: The Parishes Speak  12 January 2011
Tax Con: The Parishes SpeakWe report a meeting of Fylde's District Parish Liaison Group'  called to consider Fylde's 'Asset Transfer' scheme. Fylde officials say they won't attend the meeting. They cancelled it without consulting its Chairman. It's all going horribly wrong.....

Gas Exploration  9 January 2011
Gas ExplorationWe report on a public meeting run by Fylde's Green Party to explore the plans of Cuadrilla Resources to test for gas in Fylde's shale deposits. Lots of assertions, but light on hard facts, we found the meeting disappointing. That's not to say everything is fine and safe. As yet, no one knows.....

Tax Con:  About Turn?   7 January 2011
Tax Con? or Cock-Up?Fylde's Policy Development Scrutiny Committee  considered the 'Asset Transfer' scheme and were distinctly unimpressed. One Councillor said he would fight it all the way. The Cabinet says it has abandoned the plan - without even meeting to discuss it. What's going on? Will it cost us more?.....

Tax Con? or Just a Cock-Up?   30 December 2010
Tax Con? or Cock-Up?Fylde's Policy Development Scrutiny Committee meets on Thursday 6 Jan to consider what to do as its 'Asset Transfer' and 'Strategic Asset' schemes descend into farce. Fylde is now between a rock and a very hard place. We speculate how it might affect your Council Tax bill next year.....

Decentralisation And Localism Bill Announced   28 December 2010
Decentralisation and Localism Bill is AnnouncedOur take on what's in the Decentralisation and Localism Bill that was given its 'first reading' in Parliament this month, There are huge reversals for planning and for housing, and lots of other changes. This legislation will fundamentally change Local Government as it is known today.....

Tax Con on Hold?   23 December 2010
Tax Con on Hold?Saint Annes Town Council finally make public their consideration of Fylde's Great Council Tax Con. They decided to defer the offer of  taking on the smaller open spaces - at least until after the May election. What does their decision mean for you, and what about the costs?.....

Exclusive.  Tax Con Returns  16 December 2010
Tax Con returnsFylde is pushing St Annes and Kirkham Town Councils toward the final stages of the Great Tax Con that could sidestep the Government capping limit and see another £300,000 taken in tax from the people of Fylde for no practical benefit. We have the first news and an explanation.....

Lytham - Premier League?  2 December 2010
Lytham - Premier LeagueBlackpool FC is eyeing up land in Lytham for a training ground.

Exclusive.  Audit Called in at Fylde   25 November 2010
Audit called in at FyldeThe closing chapters in the St Annes Pool story are about to be written. The unsuccessful tenderer has complained to Fylde's external auditors about improper handling of the tendering and contract awarding process that saw the YMCA charge £1.6m more than his bid. We have the details....

Regional Strategy Returns (or not?)  22 November 2010
Regional Strategy Returns (or not?)Cala Homes has won its High Court battle to have the Regional Strategies reinstated after the Government had abolished them. But will this judgement make any difference? Will Saint Eric take it lying down? We think not. We have the low-down and all the details on what it means....

Abandon Tip    21 November 2010
Abandon TipWhy did FBC's officers suggest the Queensway estate for a commercial waste facility?. We also report an uncomfortable meeting for LCC's Councillor Albert Atkinson who decided St Annes Tip would close, then wouldn't even discuss it with out MP....

Knight to Porn Too? 1 November 2010
Knight to Porn Too?In a surprise move, Fylde's Standards Committee has been sidelined, and the report into allegations that Cllr Simon Renwick breached the Code of Conduct will be sent to the National Tribunal for consideration and possible action. So what brought about this change of heart? We have the low-down for our readers....

Fools Mate?  15 October 2010
Fools Mate?Part of Fylde's Standards Committee will consider the report into allegations that Cllr Simon Renwick breached the Code of Conduct when pornographic images were found on a laptop that had been allocated to him. The whistleblower who found them is now unemployed. So what's going on?....

Enter the Puppet-Master?  7 October 2010
Enter the Puppet-Master?As the constitution of St Annes on the Sea Town Council is mangled and mauled yet again by an insecure Borough Council that is ignorant of its role, we ponder whether the Commissar has become a Puppet-Master, and is manipulating Fylde's decisions from behind the scenes....
 

It's Friday  1 October 2010
Its Friday.....As we've said before to those that have signed up for our notifications....
  It's Friday......
       It's Eric Pickles .......
             And another one bites the dust.  ......

September Cabinet   30 September 2010
Cabinet: September 2010We bring our readers the latest inside track on - Fylde's Regeneration Framework - what's it all about?; Rubbish accounting - The Wyre contract looks set to lose money; Council Tax referenda proposals; Shoreline Management schemes to protect Fylde from flooding; and St Annes Pool operation ......

Snippets September 2010   29 September 2010
Snippets September 2010Promenade Fountain; Fuming over Smoking; Political balance - what is it how is it worked out; Local Enterprise Partnerships the bids go in; Wesham Inquiry Update decision date announced; Fylde constitutional change but only temporarily; Housing Links severed with NFH; the Battle of Little Hardhorn .....

Town Hall 'Plan C' ?   28 September 2010
Town Hall: 'Plan C' ?The Commissar's plan for a new White Elephant Town Hall is dead. After spending £800,000 on plans that Fylde could never afford, we're heading into common sense territory with Cllr David Eaves who branded the former £7m scheme 'Pie in the Sky.'  We might say - 'we told you so' ......

Wesham Inquiry Opens   14 September 2010
Wesham Inquiry in Public OpensThere are developments even before the Inquiry opens. We're keeping our readers up to date day by day as the case develops (as far as we can - it's now expected to run on until perhaps Thursday next week!) ......

Cabinet Reshuffle September 2010   6 September 2010
Cabinet Reshuffle September 2010New Leader David Eaves shuffles his Cabinet. Roger Small steps down as Deputy Leader, Susan Fazackerley steps up. Princess Karen switches to finance, and Freckleton's Cllr Tommy Threlfall enters the Cabinet for the first time in Princess Karen's old shoes. And more change is on the way.....

Wesham: The Calm  7 September 2010
WeshamL The CalmThe calm before the storm. We report the final public meeting of the Wesham Action Group who are taking part as a 'Rule 6' Group at the Public Inquiry that starts next Tuesday (14th) in The United Reformed Church Hall in St Annes. The Inquiry has a public gallery, so our readers can call in to watch progress if they like.....

North Beach Car Park Call-In    6 September 2010
North Beach Car Park Call-InWe report an interesting little meeting to consider whether to call-in a decision to implement charging for car parking on North Beach Car Park.  It was a classic Blue Peter decision (Here's one I made earlier) but it showed that the 2007 intake of councillors are finding their feet and flexing their muscles.....

 


 

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