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Subject: Resignation of Chief Exec

Author: Owl with the view Date: 10/28/2001 4:13 pm WEDT

So if I may I would like to get this straight - to clarify my understanding of what is being said on this Watchdog website.

Richmond Council is basically insolvent?

In his last report the district auditor described this boroughs finances as "in a Precarious state" (ask your councillor?). Things have become much worse since then, there is an admitted 6m additional overspend in Social services for example. The Richmond upon Thames rate payers pay the highest council tax in London, we probably have the wealthiest population of any borough yet we cannot afford to pay for most essential services. We are selling off our boroughs fixed assets at an alarming rate and the proceeds seem to go AWOL to a mysterious black-hole where they are never seen again. Why don't they go into the borough coffers as they would in other councils?

The Council is now going to sell off choice parts of our public parks, allotments and cemeteries. Surely this cant really be true? Are they not sacrosanct either? Will they sell the bodies of our forbears too or will those just be left under the Berkeley Homes housing.

The Twickenham Swimming Pool Site (worth approx 12 million pounds), a major public asset, is to be given away to a developer. GIVEN AWAY? When we are so broke how can they give away an asset like that? The council seems to have employed a succession of Crooks as Executives, and when an honest one comes along (e.g. Mr Lowe) they are removed very quickly indeed and in secrecy.

The Council's previous chair of social services was a disqualified company director, a person deemed as dishonest by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the High Court of Justice. A person who the Liberal Democrats allowed to remain as Chairman of Social services for 3 years whilst he remained disqualified under the Directors Disqualification Act 1986. As a direct consequence we have suffered a catalogue of Social Services disasters which are still continuing today.

The council employs a Strategic Director (under the ridiculously ill conceived, catchphrase "Opportunities for all") who is under investigation by the Charities Commission for alleged criminal acts while working at his last two previous employers which were both registered Charities. He is now to leave Richmond council after 4 years employment at 90,000 pounds pa with a personal "enhancement" of over a quarter of a million pounds. At the same time most essential council services are suffering severe cut backs, even the Richmond Citizens Advice Bureau is cutting staff and may have to close.

We have a so called "independent" local press whose editor is a overt disciple of the Lib Dem majority party who has ensured that over the years the real truth has not emerged.

There is a wide spread belief throughout the borough that certain officers in the Richmond Planning Dept are corrupt. It is unquestionable that all Council Services including Planning have never been more inept than they are at the moment (ask anyone contesting a planning application). Morale amongst council officers is at an all-time low. Moral amongst many elected members is at an all time low. This council is hated by well informed citizens in all parts of the borough.

Surely in any conventional business this would all be the responsibility of the Company Chairman or Chief Executive Officer. With a track record like this the shareholders would have to act decisively and the CEO would be replaced, no room for equivocation. The buck stops at the top, that's one reason CEO's are paid so much. In Richmond, we, the Council tax payers, are the shareholders. I call for the immediate resignation of the Richmond Council Chief Executive, Ms Gillian Norton and her Deputy Directors ( the CEO and the board) and the whole Cabinet (all the executive members). I charge them with mismanaging our borough, taking us into dept and presiding over an inept and corrupt regime. We require a complete restructuring of the way the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is managed. Who will second this?

The Owl with the View

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