How to Sell Your Own Grandmother

It is often said that to be a good second hand car dealer you need to be able to sell your own grandmother. Well Nottinghamshire transport suprimo and ex second hand car dealer Richard (the Mason) Jackson obviously was able to put all his sales skills to good effort in delivering the votes of some independent councillors against the tram scheme last week.

It has now come out how he did it. It's rumoured that he went and spoke to each of the independents individually and offered them money saved for extra bus services in their area. He also said in the papers that the money spent on the tram would be twice the bus budget (we now know this is wrong).

So given that the amounts saved per year on the tram (now said to be about £0.3m/pa) which is less than 2% of the annual bus budget (not the 100% saving he claimed in the Evening post) it seems he has given away the same small pot of money 8 times to 8 different people.

He has effectively sold the same bus to 8 different people, all to use on different routes, all at the same time (about half a wheel each). As they say in the motor trade "they have bought a wrong-un".

Nottinghamshire has no more grandmothers left to sell.

I understand that at least one independent is "fuming".

There are Lies Dammed Lies and Richard (the Mason) Jackson

There are lies dammed lies and statistics. Well it now seems that ex Car dealer Cllr Richard (the Mason) Jackson cant do simple maths.

When the county pulled out the tram he said widely as follows

"Our financial contribution to this project would have been the equivalent of doubling our support for bus services across the county and I feel there are much more cost-effective ways of improving public transport for all county residents, which we will now be able to focus on."

So based on this, you would think that if the cost of bus subsidy in Nottinghamshire is nearly £13m per year (in fact its more than that), then the tram would also cost £13m per year.

THIS IS NOT TRUE.

On the latest figures we have obtained the tram savings by pulling out will be 13m over about 30 years or £0.43m per year a fraction of the bus subsidy.

The fact that the trams costs are over time was clearly made in Jacksons report to the council last week. So is this deliberately misleading or is it because he cant add up and is just plain incompetent.

Land Grab

Like many County Councils Nottinghamshire has traditionally owned a number of farms which they have let to tenants to allow different people to gain experience of the agricultural industry and to help rural areas. In many areas (particularly Tory controlled ones) these have been sold off.

We have received a rumour (we are checking the validity) that the Tory ruling group is starting to think about such a policy of sell offs for Nottinghamshire. Where this will leave the tenants we don't know.

Of course land values are quite depressed at the moment so I am sure that all the local land barons will be looking to increase their holdings if possible. Especially if there is prospects of housing developments in future. This new policy may seem odd as the county has refused to sell land to build the new football stadium but is perhaps quite keen to look into selling the farms.

Kay Cutts includes on the register of members interests membership of the country land owners association.

An Acorn short

Cllr Cutts (the Nora Batty lookalike) has personally signed off under delegated authority a revamp of the county oak tree logo which now has only 7 acorns instead of 8. The seven represent the boroughs the 8th was the city.

Cllr Cutts has obviously got her priorities sorted out in the Parish of Nottinghamshire

Calling all Tory County Councillors

Last Friday John Mann MP for Bassetlaw held his regular radio phone in. He stated that Bassetlaw Borough Council is a shambles. Immediately a Ms Quigley rang in to say it wasn't. What she "forgot" to say that she is a Conservative County Councillor also married to a Mr Quigley who just happens to be..... leader of Bassetlaw Borough Council. John Mann took 50 microseconds to realise this and questioned her how she felt about about the County Council pulling out of the Forest stadium. She replied that no-one had told her about this and it has not been discussed in the Tory group meetings.

So if any Conservative Councillors want to know what is going on in the Parish of Nottinghamshire then I advise them to keep an eye on this site, where I shall continue to keep you all informed. The County Council leader clearly wants to keep even her own members in the dark. I shall be writing to Ms Quigley inviting her to pay me regular visits. I could ask for a contribution of any information she may have, but it's obvious she will not have any.

EMAIL

PLEASE NOTE DUE TO EMAIL PROBLEMS THE REVERENDS NEW EMAIL changed to

Revrushcliffe@googlemail.com

U-Turn on bus-pass use on tram

Following the vote yesterday to withdraw from the tram. A knock on was that it seems that Ms Cutts and her feckless transport spokesman and ex car-dealer Richard (the mason) Jackson did not know about, was that they could also by default withdraw from the free tram travel agreement that allowed county residents to use the tram free on their bus passes.

However in what appears to be a U-Turn they have now said they wont withdraw from the free tram travel deal in what seems a humiliating climb down.

However they also said they would save £30m over 30 years (i.e 1m/year) if they pulled out from the tram which turned out to be £18m, less the costs of withdrawing which we have now been told could be up to £5M (so 13m saved not 30m).

Actions speak louder than words watch this space.

Make the elderly pay

A reliable source tells me that Nottinghamshire County Council are poised to remove free concessionary travel rights for their residents when using the tram. Unusually for Kay Cutts, this time she is in line with central Tory Party policy who propose to ammend the popular concessionary travel scheme nationwide.

So if you're over 60 in Hucknall, Beeston, Chilwell, Compton Acres, West Bridgford or Gedling then you can jolly well pay to go on the tram - or get a car.

Remind us what job did Cllr Jackson, tranport portfolio holder have before he got this position. Wasn't it second hand car salesman?

Hucknall can plug off

Last month I revealed how it would cost £7.5 m to take out the Gedling bus plug as promised by the Conservatives. It gets worse. A source in Westminster tells me that when Transport minister Sadiq Khan came to Nottingham on 31 July he had two projects to announce: £540m for phase 2 of the tram and £10m for the Hucknall Inner Relief Road. He was to take the tram to Hucknall to announce the latter. However, he was advised by his civil servants that the county can't be trusted at the moment as they have "messed us about" with the Gedling Bus plug.

Mr Khan caught the tram as far as the Old Market Square and then went back to London. No doubt he has a better more reliable home for the £10m.

Hucknall? that's not in Rushcliffe

Phase 1 of the Nottingham tram system, to Hucknall and Phoenix Park has won awards and is recognised as the most successful in the UK. Quite rightly councillors and ex-councillors of all parties are proud to have been part of this, which is a fine example of Conservatives, Labour Party members and Liberal Democrats from several authorities working together.

Until this morning this was overseen by a committee consisting of officers and elected members from both the City and the County Councils as well as certain community groups such as Pedals and the Campaign for Better Transport. However, Ms Cutts has, apparantly without consultation, withdrawn from this committee (4 places). As an act of Parliament set up this arrangement and governs the operation, including finance of the group this may lead her into deep water. This also means that the County have no responsibility for a major transport infratructure to the only fully integrated rail hub in Nottinghamshire. Why should the City have to worry about Hucknall, it's not in the their area? Why should they worry if the link buses to the estates don't link? Why should they worry if the tramstop is vandalised? After all the leader of the County Council obviously doesn't care.

County Pulls Out of World Cup Bid

Reaction to the withdrawl today of the county council from the world cup bid is now up on Youtube (contains swearing!!). copy this if the direct link fails http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCJ_f-5Tqvk

Hot Council Funding News

In hot off the press breaking news the first major funding announcement for a priority council scheme after 5 months in Power.

Ms Cutts and Lynn Sykes (the member for Soar Valley) have been pleased to announce the County Council has been able to help fund new curtains for Barton Village Hall.

Flat Wheel Over The Tram

Despite Richard (the mason) Jacksons announcements today on the tram, a leak from county hall has said the Tories are apparently split over the issue. It has been overheard that he has been derided by one of his colleagues as “clueless”.

Also it has been suggested that Rushcliffe Tories are fed up with top NIMBY councilor Gordon Wheeler (who just happens to live on the proposed tram route) throwing his toys out the pram when he cant get his own way on the issue. He must be privately livid with the new administration for not being able to stop the scheme going past his garden in the first place.

Its taken nearly five months for the Muppets to get this far and their only transport policy to date is to say please park in a pub car park if you can and catch the bus.

Its round TWO of our “Wasting tax payers money on expensive consultants so we can just ignore them and make it up” Competition

More half truths today in an exclusive in the Evening post from ex car dealer Richard (the Mason) Jackson the Tory County Council transport spokesman about their public transport policy.

So todays question in our catchily titled “Wasting tax payers money on expensive consultants so we can just ignore them and make it up” competition is

Please explain in two words why the Tories seem to know better than the room full of expensive consultants reports and the independent public inquiry inspectors conclusions about the tram, with out actually having read or understood any of them.

Football Fan?

The position of the county council on the world cup stadium has now been exposed and Ms Cutts has been described as having no interest in football.

However we don't agree we just think that like her friend (see Taking a Gamble) she supports County. We have now been told Ms Cutts does not like Forest fans as she is alleged to have said they use West Bridgford as a toilet.

Gerrymanderer?

Well actually to be fair to Ms Cutts the items you have seen about the Forest Ground are not 100% true. As with all things they are achievable if you want to do them.

You could build a 45000 seater stadium on the forest site you would just need to knock down half the houses in Lady Bay and those remaining would get no light. Plus such a scheme has no parallel development that would allow regeneration or legacy for the area. So why does Kay Cutts support demolishing all these homes. We don’t know, so we have looked to history to see if tells us any lessons.

Of course Lady Bay is not a Tory area and if you follow Tory history Dame Shirley Porter (the millionaire Tesco heiress and convicted gerrymanderer,) of Westminster Council was found guilty of deliberately trying to get rid of people not likely to vote Tory by moving them into asbestos ridden council houses to try and cook the election books. So is Kay the new Dame Shirley?

OF COURSE NOT. This wont be happening in the Parish of Nottinghamshire as it would require some prior thought, planning and some ability to think up such a policy.

Watch your Back!

Yesterday you read it first on this site how Cllr Cutts had ignored advice by her consultants that the proposed football stadium would not fit at the City Ground.

Today that is news in the Evening Post. Also today the Chief Executive of Nottingham Forest has spoken out against Kay Cutts saying she has no interest in football.

Today we reveal that two Conservative Parliamentary Candidates (Nottingham South and Broxtowe) have supported the bid for a stadium at Gamston. We also hear that Kay Cutts is becoming less and less popular within her own party. She needs to watch her “friends” very carefully from now on!

ITS OUR NEW “Wasting Taxpayers Money Employing Expensive Consultants so we can Ignore Them and Just Make it up Competition”.

Its round one of our new competition

Here is the competition question
On the BBC politics show Kay Cutts was interviewed saying that any world cup ground should be built on the forest ground and that the County council were not consulted. It was then pointed out that the minimum ground size for any bid was 45000 and such a ground cant fit on the site.

We have now been told that the County council knew that the Forest ground was too small as they were told so by the bid consultants at least a month ago, and that senior politicians in the County Council were briefed on this.

So is this yet another example of Cutts Ignoring the professional advice that we tax payers are paying for, as she thinks she knows best with no apparent knowledge or skill to back it up. Email answers to the Reverend Rushcliffe titled.

Entry for the “Wasting taxpayers money employing expensive consultants so we can ignore them and just make it up competition”.

Kay Cutts New School Pet

Smoking outside the main door of County Hall by staff and visitors has always been severely frowned upon.

A few weeks back we are told Kay Cutts new tax payer paid political advisor (i.e. a member of council staff) was caught smoking out side the main door. When Cutts was confronted on this she is alleged to have said.

“He can smoke where he likes”.

Next for Removal?

Whats next for removal (well for once this is not related to the rumoured sacking of a member of the council).

In fact it relates to the removal of items from County Hall of value and heritage which Ms Cutts finds offensive. It is said the main items gone have been removed because they reflect the industrial and in part history of working class people in Nottinghamshire mainly related to mining, textiles and the social movement.

So far we have been told that stained glass windows reflecting some of these and a memorial to the child migrants trust have gone, as well as an expensive scale model of Cutts pet hate the tram. (We assume because when she saw it, it reminded her of her total and abject failure to stop it as promised at the election).

Well it is alleged from two source that the next thing potentially being considered for removal from county hall by Ms Cutts is a war memorial. That's all we know, we dont know which one and it would be a scandal if it were true, we really hope we have this wrong for once.

Kay Cutts says FA Off

Kay Cutts said during the election that she and the tories were the party of small business. What she did not say was that she wanted to create all these small businesses out of the major ones we have in Nottinghamshire.

This was further evidenced this week when she shot herself in the foot again and showed once again she has not got a clue whats going on. A combined initiative between all the local councils (including the County) and local business has been ongoing for some time and aims to encourage and help the UK win the bid to host the 2018 world cup. Submissions have been made to FIFA and the bid is supported in London by all the major parties.

What does Ms Cutts do in the Post this week publicly announce she going to try and stop it against national and local policy. What kind of impression does this create.

Someone in London has said she is being watched now.

Is she David Camerons biggest liability?.

LIGHTWEIGHT

It has been reported that president Obama thinks that David Cameron the ex Eatonian and tory leader, is a LIGHTWEIGHT.

Well one Tory wit from the East of Nottinghamshire has apparently described Kay Cutts being the county council leader as surprising as the someone who can just about cope with serving part-time in the village shop being made chief executive of Tesco.

All is clearly not happy in the Tory camp

Tory education policy

Cllr Owen has found himself publicly ridiculed for being out of touch about the £330,000 bus costs to close a school but none of this should be a surprise.

After all David Cameron the tory leader is reported to have told parents on a Leeds Council estate that he too nearly went off the rails at 16.

I am sure going off the rails while at Eton probably meant that you did not do your prep and matron got frightfully miffed. Not quite the same as a teenager on a drug ravaged estate mixing with the wrong crowd .

Such misplaced empathy from call me Dave the Eton toff just shows that he is the definition of the word he had to apologise for using a few weeks back.

what a shambles

Steamy windows

A fuming Ms Cutts is said to be furious that the local papers have cottoned on to the fact she is wasting a fortune of council tax payers money refurbishing her offices and having items removed from County hall that depict and reflect Nottinghamshires history.

But this should not be a surprise as she has no policies left to implement as they have all fallen by the way side as undeliverable, so she needs to do something to earn her large tax free expense account.

Its become rumoured now that the tories failed to look into any of the legal and financial implications of any of their policies before the election and now find they cant deliver any of them.

It is rumoured in County hall that she is looking to sack someone, after yesterdays performance it could be Cllr Owen the former teacher and the head of education. The only School teacher who can make 2 + 2 = 6

The death of local democracy

Kay Cutts has set a new low by announcing in the evening post that democracy is dead

She said in the post "Labour is not the ruling group," she said. "They are not aware of the debates and discussions that are taking place."

So if you are on the council but not in her group you cant be involved in any debate.

Pathetic.

Shutting Schools

The Tories at County Hall are considering closing Serlby Park comprehensive school in Harwoth & Bircotes, a former mining town the far north of the County and sending the kids 10 miles away to failing Retford Oaks school in leafy Tory Retford to boost the falling numbers at that school. All to the understandable fury of all concerned at Serlby Park.

Yesterday a demo took place at County Hall and the pupils and parents were treated to a lecture from Tory Cabinet Member and ex- teacher Philip Owen. He was asked by a child what the annual cost to the County Council would be to transport all the pupils attending Serlby Park school 10 miles to Retford Oaks and back.

The answer......£330,000!! For kids bus fairs!!

And this is an administration elected on a programme of Cutts..oops cuts.

His answer was met with a collective gasp and gales of laughter by everyone present.