Hull Liberal Democrat Councillor sacked.

McCobbs Revenge.

Not towing the party line within the Nasty Liberal Democrats in Hull has led to the sacking of one of the newest Lib Dems councillors. The only crime committed seems to be voting for themselves. Nasty man Dave McCobb has already lined the seat up for one of his old school friends.

Hull Liberal Democrats are all about money and greed.

It seems the Hull Liberal Democrats are still all about money and greed. A comment former deputy leader Janet Toker used to describe the party in Hull. Recently the Area Committees met to elect chairs for the coming year. It seems the Lib Dems are having difficulty getting members to toe the party line when it comes to chairs of committees and the additional allowance involved. One Lib Dem member was in such a rush they even managed to nominate themselves for the post ahead of the party nominee.

Sloan dash for power defeated.

Andy Sloan made a dramatic dash for power as he stood for Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group and the Council. Unfortunately for Andy he received a just one vote, his own. Even his fellow ward councillors failed to back him!

Labour Group Elect New Leader.

This week I attended the first Labour Group meeting following the council elections. One of the first items to be decided was the election of a new leader after Ken Branson stepped down. I am please to say that my East Hull colleague Steve Brady has been appointed with Daren Hale continuing as Deputy.

Hull Liberal Democrats are all about money and greed

Janet Toker the former Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Hull made this stinging remark in her resignation speech fro the party. The comment clearly still hits a very raw nerve with some sections of the Hull Lib Dems who are currently still squabbling over paid positions. I have even had outraged comments sent to me regarding the matter. However, as usual with the yellow Hull fib dems without a backbone and sent anonymously.

John Prescott

Last night I attended the East Hull Labour Party meeting at which John Prescott announced his intension to step down as Deputy Party Leader. Of course it wasn’t a surprise and the date had been widely tipped for some time. The meeting gave John an opportunity to thank the local party and people of East Hull for the support given over the past 37 years and to outline some of the many achievements of the Labour Government over the past 10 years.

Lib Dem /Tory packed comes under pressure.

The Lib Dem /Tory pact on the Hull City Council is coming under intense pressure this week as the squabble for extra council allowances hots up. The ruling group no longer need the support of the two Tory councillors and they now face losing their highly paid additional allowances so the positions can be handed out to new Lib Dem councillors. Former Lib Dem councillor and ex deputy leader of the council Janet Toker famously left the Lib Dems following a similar squabble claiming the local “Liberal Democrats are all about money and greed”. The result of the squabble will be very interesting and will have an impact on the council for the rest of the year. If the two Tory councillors are given the highly paid posts of Chair of Planning and Chair of Licensing they will continue to vote with the Lib Dem group for the next 12 months. However, if the money and greed group win the day two Lib Dems will be appointed and every vote in full council will be on a knife edge.

Full Drypool Result

James Parker .............. Conservative ............................138

Janet Toker..................Independent ...........................139

Gary Wareing ...............Labour ...................................1234

Angela Wastling ...........Lib Dem .................................1642

Total votes 3059

Turnout 31.17%

Drypool does it again

Well after what must be one of the longest election campaigns in the city i lost the Drypool Council seat late on Thursday night. It is now some years since a sitting councillor was able to hold the seat most recent councillor only able to manage one term in office.

The election campaign as always was huge fun very tiring but finally disappointing. I must thank everyone who helped with the campaign especially Jill my wife who has had to put up with the ups and downs of months of leafleting telephones and of course mountains of paperwork stacked all over the house.
My agent Bobby organised a wonderful campaign and managed to organise huge amounts of help in the ward from the university Labour Club. Oh and he really did try to kill me near the end of the campaign.

Vote Wareing X

The Drypool campaign is now in its final week with the result looking like it will be a very close result. The vast majority of postal votes have now been cast with over 600 already returned. The represents a very large turnout of the potential voters. This is the final week of the election campaign with the postal voted opened on Wednesday and polling stations open on Thursday.

First week

Campaigning is now well underway in the area with 3 weeks left until polling day on May 3rd. Much of this week has been spent leafleting, talking to residents and dealing with problems in the ward. I have been able to sort out problems with fly-tipping, housing repairs and street cleaning issues this week.

Nomination Papers In

With the local elections in Hull taking place on the 3rd of May nominatios for candidates are currently open. On the first day 8 nomination papers went in including my own.

Hull Liberal Democrats to be investigated for Election Fraud

Leading Liberal Democrats are to be investigated over alleged election fraud during the Local Council Elections in 2006. A 50-page report recently submitted details the allegations together with supporting documents.

Lib Dems bosses turn off CCTV system.

Lib Dems turn CCTV off.

The Liberal Democrats who control Hull City Council have never supported CCTV in the city. When the system was first proposed they did everything they could to prevent Hull getting a system despite huge grants being available from the government for a system.

Now we discover that staffing of the CCTV control room is being run down with job vacancies left uncovered for months.

They have undermined the system and staff and the confidence of residents in the city.

Street Sweeping Concern

Over the past few months many residents have contacted me regarding the decline in the standard of Street Sweeping in Drypool since the Liberal Democrats took control of the Council. It has been suggested to me by a resident that this is a deliberate policy on behalf of the ruling group in order to justify putting Waste Management out to a tendering process and letting a private company move in.

Cycle Track White LIghting

Following the Groves Residents meeting i contacted the street lighting department at the council. They agreed to visit the area and following the meeting arrangement have been made to improve the lighting on the Dansom Lane cycle track. The current lighting heads will be replaced with new white lighting. Also a dark spot identified at the in Whitby Street will be rectified with a new street light.

Meeting with Cllr Collinson

Following the budget setting meeting I had arranged a meeting with Cllr Mark Collinson the Liberal Democrat portfolio holder for Highways regarding the implementation of the Labour amendment to the budget. A very interesting meeting.

Groves Residents Association Meeting.

The second meeting of the Groves area residents association took place on Sunday 4th of March. Again a very well attended meeting which is due to the enthusiasm of Vicki and Sean. The meeting was well run with a large number of issues aired. The formation of the association is beginning to make a real difference to the area.

Full Council Meeting.

The Hull City Council Budget setting meeting took place on the 1st of March. After a 6 hour meeting the Liberal Democrat budget was agreed with a number of Labour amendments. Unfortunately the Lib Dems gave up debating the budget of even debating council policy and instead decided to make crude personal attacks. This is quite typical of the poor Lib Dems approach to politics in general. They have very little in the way of debate but concentrate on personal comments and attacks on individuals.

Sloan attacks Castle Street improvements.

The future of the A63 traffic improvements was put under serious doubt last night at a local residents meeting. Cllr Andy Sloan the Hull City Portfolio Holder for the economy and regeneration spoke against the proposed improvement and the plan to reunite the city with a cut and cover tunnel for Castle Street.

This is the first time I have heard the scheme dismissed by a senior figure in the council and must put the future of the improvements in doubt.

A tremendous amount of work has gone into providing a united front from the city in the call for Castle Street to be improved.

The Cut and Cover proposal has won widespread support from business leaders in the city, the media including the Mail unite the city campaign, political support from the council and MPs and has won the backing of the regional representative in competition against other traffic schemes in other parts of the region.

Lobbying for the scheme has won fund for design and feasibility studies which if successful would lead to full funding.

The danger now is that if the Liberal Democrat administration are moving away from the plans currently under consideration the scheme could then lose support and funding and be put to the back of the queue against other transport projects.

There are many other projects in the region desperate for the fund allocated to this project.