[Acrylic-bob]

So it seems the the Community Wardens are History despite the public outcry and their undoubted contribution to making the town a safer place for all of us.

The Idiot-in-Cheif has decided to pull the plug. The Council were told by central government that funding was available for two years and that when it ran out the council would have to arrange funding itself.

HBC and Barking Britcliffe did nothing to attempt to sort out further funding, except to complain that the government were cheating the borough and to whine that HBC's lack of action was everybody elses fault but theirs.

Thus we have the situation as reported on page 13 of this weeks Observer under the headline "Community Wardens given P45's".

The leader of the Labour Group, Cllr. David Myles, You remember, the one who thinks that a suit and tie places a barrier between him and the electorate and who thinks it is perfectly acceptable to attend his own wedding dressed from head to toe in medieval armour, has said that not enough had been done to save the Wardens. And added that "I would like to know what efforts are being made to secure the funding which would keep them in place".

Laudable sentiments. After all, the money has to come from somewhere and HBC has only a limited budget.

Which does nothing to explain how HBC can suddenly come up with £100,000 to fund "birthday parties" for Area Councils. Nor does it explain why Cllr. Myles felt justified in supporting the 26% increase in councillors allowances.