Right, let's settle this then everyone can climb down off the moral high ground.
Firstly, my apologies for not always replying straight away. Things such as work and sleep occasionally prevent me from being poised with an arsenal of answers at my computer screen 24/7. When I don't have those answers I will try to find out or at least point you all in the right direction.
Secondly, I have already presented the facts behind the removal of the benches several times to various people in various ways and it is patently obvious that there are still those of you who think there must be some sinister cover up which I am not revealing. If anyone has a problem with what I present as fact to the public at large then it ceases to be my problem as there is little else that I can do to persuade someone other than telling it how it is. Long before control of HBC shifted I strove to get answers for Accyweb and you seemed satisfied with that, now a number are convinced that I have suddenly turned into someone different who is deceiving you all or trying to hide something.
By all means question council policy, it is your right as a taxpayer to do so and I would never dissuade anyone from taking an active interest but at least listen to the facts and the reasoning behind decisions. If you still don't agree then that's fine by me but I have gone over the facts behind the removal of the benches half a dozen times now and am still being asked to answer the same questions. Let's have a precis for the final time:
Complaints have been received (largely from the people who use the Market Hall) regarding drunks loitering and peeing up the walls and on the benches. The drunks enjoy being arrested because they get free food and lodging for the night. The police have liaised with HBC to try and remedy the problem and a solution put forward involved removing the benches for a trial period to move the drunks away from the Market Hall. No one is suggesting this is ideal or is a complete solution to town centre drunks. Clare Pritchard is responsible for all town centres across the borough and has been involved in the discussions. There is a Town Centre Manager although I personally won't risk dragging a council officer's name through the mud in a public debate. The problem has apparently got much better since the benches were removed and they will be going back at some point in the near future, when exactly I do not know as I am not part of the discussions.
That is all I can tell you. I have neither defended it or criticised it, I have simply told you how it is. The council were presented by a problem from residents and the local police and attempted to solve it in what was perceived to be a reactive way. Whenever this happens it will ruffle feathers and sometimes HBC will get it wrong. I'm not saying that this decision was right or wrong but it does appear to have remedied the problem it was intended to solve.
At the risk of further fanning the flames, this thread is raging against the temporary removal of some benches, not some huge financial scandal or closure of a major public amenity. I realise it affects certain residents much more than others but a quick read through of Cllr Smith's finance report demonstrates the real problems affecting the borough just now:
http://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/downloa...Monitoring.pdf
In real terms, with all the cuts being imposed by central government together with the necessity to replace a fleet of waste disposal vehicles that the Britcliffe administration didn't budget for, we will have just £19,000 left over next May as things currently stand. Way off topic but an indicator of why HBC are concentrating more on finance than town centre benches.
It has been levelled at me that I spent 18 months attacking the Britcliffe administration. Of course I did, I was in opposition and tried to get to the bottom of anything which didn't smell quite right. However, he isn't here anymore and my energies can be directed into proper attempts to whittle out the waste I saw so much of previously. I now have a position at HBC that allows me to root around from the inside and as the Cabinet are all too aware I won't tolerate it from my own lot either. I would invite you all to keep an eye on the activities of my committee to see just how I am trying to sort out bigger problems:
Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee
I sadly don't have the time any longer to spend hours enjoying discussions on this forum, much the same as the other Labour members. This is not because we're dodging bullets but because the five main contributors have all ended up with fairly intensive jobs up at the council. At the moment, you have members on the council (and even your MP) who are prepared to give reasoning behind council decisions, something I don't ever remember from our illustrious predecessors.
It pains me to be so blunt on this forum as I have spent many happy hours debating endless topics but recently it seems that whatever facts I give out are treated with utmost suspicion and any attempts to give people tips on the right way of going about things are suddenly my way of side-stepping issues.
As a final point I would like to reiterate that if anyone has any comment, query or problem that they want a proper answer to then the HBC Enquiries address is the one to go through if you want the facts from someone other than a councillor. Ask anything and you will be given a log number and a reply within 10 working days, it is a great system:
[email protected]