key decision

I see that Erics made a "key Decision", yes it's to get rid of Labours "key Decision process" in council meetings which will enhance town hall transparancy.

Called the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

This new Law replaces systems introduced by Labour concerning  'key decisions', "quarterly reports" and 'forward plans' which will soon be history
Instead, a document must be produced saying what the decision is to be made and how to obtain the documents upon which it will be based.

Eric was quoted as saying

"Every decision a council takes has a major impact on the lives of local people so it is crucial that whenever it takes a significant decision about local budgets that affect local communities whether it is in a full council meeting or in a unheard of sub-committee it has got to be taken in the full glare of all the press and any of the public.

Sandwell Tory said

Let the people know

Sandwell Council Tax

Well its just over 12 weeks since the local elections and wow another Labour bomb shell, Council tax
increases could well be on the way.
The Government has protected Sandwell residents council Tax for the last 2 years by giving Sandwell council about £3Million extra each year to hold down the council tax bills, while the council sorts out its finance levels

Sandwell Tory said

What a coincidence,  there are no elections in 2013, lets see what excuses Labour come up with?

Answers on a post card   

Your photo's

Following our request for photo's, we have now had a few sent in

 This one is from Victoria Street , just 100mt from the main high street

Please send in a "Funny caption ", we respect your anonymity and the cleanest-funniest will by published

In a previous post we showed you Wednesbury's new pool 
 Is this is a new Pool for West Bromwich?

Sandwell Tory said 
                            Please keep sending them in

More Labour mess

I see we are committed to spending another £3Million to help foreign countries prison services this little jem was created in 2008 by the then Labour government.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman was quoted as saying
: "Foreign national prisoners should serve their sentences in their home country.

There's one little problem according to press reports a lot of them should not have been here in the first place and another report goes on to say : More than 11,000 of the 81,000 prison population are foreign nationals.

If you recall back in  2006 the then Home Secretary lost his job over the Home Office's failure to process the cases of 1,000 foreign national prisoners in England and Wales who could have been eligible for deportation.


One report quotes Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, saying
: ‘To some extent, this is the inevitable legacy of mass immigration of 3.5million people under Labour.


Read it for yourself

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7059283.stm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185675/UK-taxpayers-foot-revamp-jails-Nigeria-Jamaica.html


and a lovely bit from 2004

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/2004/may/24/prisons-foreign-nationals



Sandwell Tory said
Thanks Labour, two years into the new Government and were are still fixing your mess and I to wonder if these foreign cells have satellite TV and telephones ?

Europe's coming for your pension again

Under cunning new plans Brussels bureaucrats are coming for whats left of our pensions Called Solvency II, this new plan will force pensions providers to pump £Billions of your money into this latest scheme.



Older readers will remember that back in the 1990's the UK had the best pensions in the world
the private sector then took beating when Labour taxed private pensions £Billions a year

Back in 1997, 34 per cent of private sector workers had final salary pension scheme this has now collapsed to nine per cent


see more

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2175135/Gold-plated-pensions-private-sector-collapse-record-low-9.html#ixzz22wQCZO2M

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2184701/Gold-plated-pension-schemes-threatened-EU-bureaucrats-warns-Lord-Hutton.html


Sandwell Tory said

    In 1653 a man called CROMWELL said

YOU HAVE BEEN SAT TO LONG HERE FOR ANY GOOD YOU HAVE BEEN DOING. DEPART, I SAY, AND LET US HAVE DONE WITH YOU,  IN THE NAME OF GOD, GO, GO NOW."

    Should this apply to Europe?

Paying your rent in Sandwell

Well the elections are over, Labour won and in no time at all Housing offices begin to close 

remember this

Or perhaps you remember this 

Notice the weeds in the gutter

These are just two of the housing offices closed while under Labour control, places were one could report 

                                                                      1, Housing problems

                                                                      2, Anti social behavior

                                                                      3, Pay the rent

                                                                      4, Pay the council Tax

                                                                      5, Pay the Water Rates

                                                                      6, discuss council problems 

 People from the north of the borough can now catch a bus, or go in a car to Wednesbury (pay to park )

and that's if they can get a parking space 

 

the alternative is to go on the internet or ring a call centre ( if you have a phone)

Sandwell Tory said 

I wonder how many pensioners have i pads at £300 a go

 

New Pool for Wednesbury

I see that Sandwell is jumping the gun and Wednesbury has its new pool 

This one can also double as a car or pedestrian  washer

( note the surrounding ground is dry but the foot path soaked)

Do you know of a better pool in Sandwell ?
send us a photo (jpeg)

Sandwell Tenants right to buy

Following years of Labour slowly removing the discounts from council tennants right to buy scheme,  
the Government has set up a information route for the tenants who may be interested in buying their home

Under the new system eligible tenants can claim discounts of up to £75,000 off the value of their home 

take a look at the announcement
http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/newsroom/2186954



The Governments call centre phone number is 0300 123 0913

and the web site     http://righttobuy.communities.gov.uk/


Sandwell Tory said
The report goes on to say that some councils have already reported a surge in applications, but in a survey
approximately 80% of the tenants asked did not even  know there had been a change to the rules

Possible boost for Sandwell jobs

Under the Local Government Finance Bill introduced last year, there are proposals to encourage local authorities to start economic growth in their area

This new legislation changes the local government finance system, with financial measures that the Government is pursuing to support local economies.

This new Bill will and I quote the Governments site

    Enable local authorities to retain a proportion of the business rates generated in their area,
providing them with strong financial incentive for them to promote local economic growth.

    Enable local authorities to carry out Tax Increment Finance, giving them the ability to undertake  borrowing against future business rates growth, supported by the forecast tax increment that accrues from additional development.

Reference
http://www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/localgovernmentfinance/lgfinancebill/


Sandwell Tory said , So now its down to the Labour controlled council to see if they use this to bring back jobs and trade to help Sandwell residents it will also help reduce the debt Labour left us with


Here's the actual document

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/2146726.pdf

lets wait and see what they do?

No parking tickets from this car park

This was once a thriving car park on the middle of a small shopping area called Great Bridge, it was regularly used and residents from afar used it for the shops, market hall and regular car boot sales.

Then there was a plan! and the plan involved closing the car park and so its been for almost 2 years.

heaven knows what the effect on the local trade has been but some shops have now closed

Sandwell Tory said
I wonder if the "plan" involved the traders business plans?
and as I was asked this morning what happened to the plan?