ao.com creating 200 jobs in Telford

The devastating impact of Brexit on the economy continues with the terrible news of a major investment by home appliance distributor ao.com in Telford.

The firm recently moved into 75,000ft² premises in the town and has just announced the acquisition of a further 10 acre site to house a white goods recycling centre. The company expect 200 permanent positions to be created across the two sites.

Conservative MP for Telford who doctored constituent's email accused of bullying members of staff

Conservative MP for Telford, Lucy Allan, has been accused of bullying members of staff and recordings of phone calls left on an answerphone and given to the Evening Standard would seem to back that up.

Allan hit the news earlier this month after adding an abusive comment to the end of an email she had received from a constituent and posting it on her Facebook page. She initially denied inventing the comment before backtracking and claiming the abusive comment was from another email and she was adding abusive comments she was getting to the post. The post only contained the entire email from a constituent with the words "Unless you die" - apparently sent by someone else - added to the end, the post hadn't been edited and nothing was subsequently added to it but that's her story and she's sticking to it.

A few days after #Rustygate (as local residents started calling it after the pseudonym of the constituent who wrote the original email) Lucy Allan claimed that the police were investigating what was now being described as a "death threat" and her office started informally briefing influential locals they thought would be sympathetic to her cause that a Labour borough councillor was involved. "Rusty" went to the press revealing his true identity as the son of a Labour councillor rather than the councillor himself.

Things were starting to die down but Allan couldn't resist scratching that itch and decided to post what many believed to be a late night drunken Facebook post naming Labour borough councillors (ill-advisedly starting with Cllr Shaun Davies, cabinet member for anything in the papers and a practising solicitor) as the people behind a campaign of harassment, abuse and bullying of her, a "happy, friendly female" and her staff.

The post was deleted, along with her social media accounts but Allan still couldn't keep herself out of trouble. She is now accused of bullying and threatening a member of her staff, accusing her of stealing a computer and being an alcoholic and telling her that if she takes time off sick on advice of her doctor then should would be sacked. Allan has been through a few members of staff and some of them - her former campaign manager included - have come forward to corroborate the accusations made by Arianne Plumbly, telling the Evening Standard that Allan is a bully and that at least two complaints about her conduct have been made to the Conservative Party.

In recordings of phone calls given to the Evening Standard, Allan can be heard swearing at Plumbly when she found out that she was off work sick and threatening to fire her if she didn't come into work. She also tells her that she has no rights and can't go to an employment tribunal. Allan owns an employment law consultancy which makes her bullying even more unacceptable.

Only last month the International Development Minister, Grant Shapps, resigned from his post after a young Conservative Party activist took his own life due to bullying and sexual assault from within the party.

Conservative MP for Telford invents abusive comment from constituent

The Conservative MP for Telford, Lucy Allan, has been accused of doctoring an email from a constituent to include an abusive closing comment.

Unfortunately for Lucy, the constituent in question posted screenshots of the original email exchange showing that the email had been "sexed up".

When details were posted in the Telford group on Facebook, Lucy Allan allegedly reported the constituent's Facebook account resulting in it being suspended for a day. Faced with a barrage of negative publicity, Allan first claimed that the last line "Unless you die" was sent in another email before finally admitting that it was taken from someone else's email and added to Rusty's.

Allan is one of this year's new MPs, ousting Labour MP David Wright from his marginal seat in this year's general election. But inexperience is no excuse for breaking the strict MP/Constituent confidentiality or for making up abuse from constituents. It's lucky for Lucy that "Rusty Shackleton" is a pseudonym - not that she knew it at the time - because attributing false comments to somebody that could damage someone's reputation is libel.

"Rusty" has started a petition calling on Lucy Allan to resign which has been suspended while the parliament petitions people "check it meets petition standards". Apparently this might take a few days by which time most people will probably have forgotten about it. Which is convenient.

Swale borough councillors refuse to resign despite moving 150 miles away from their ward

Husband and wife councillors, Jean and Alan Willicombe, have attracted criticism from residents and some of their fellow councillors for refusing the give up their seats on Swale Borough Council after moving 150 miles away from Sittingbourne where they were elected to Lincolnshire.

The Willicombe's claim that they can still represent the interests of the people in Woodstock ward despite having no daily exposure to the problems and needs of the people they were elected to represent and that it would be unfair to make the taxpayer pay for a by-election when the seat is disappearing in 2015 due to boundary changes.

This sort of thing is quite rare but sadly not an isolated occurrence or even the most extreme example. In 2003 a councillor refused to resign after she moved to Bermuda just 3 weeks after being elected to Maidstone Borough Council. In 2010 a Telford & Wrekin borough councillor refused to resign after moving to Spain. A UKIP councillor in London tells us that at least three councillors in Merton have moved out of London but still sit on Merton Council.

This sort of behaviour, whilst legal, is morally wrong and the legislation covering the eligibility of councillors needs to be changed so that the criteria must be met continuously to remain a councillor. All too often the LibLabCon political parties will field candidates that don't want to be councillors and don't intend to stick around for a full term just to keep up the numbers. It deprives residents of effective representation and is just inexcusable.

South Telford Rights of Way Partnership

The Ramblers Association are marching on Shropshire Council's offices today in protest at cuts of up to 40% to the budget for footpaths and rights of way.

Stirchley & Brookside Parish Council was one of the founding members of South Telford Rights of Way Partnership (STROWP) which is an excellent model for the Ramblers Association to adopt for Shropshire.

I spoke to our parish clerk this morning for some history on STROWP as I was aware of the work it currently does but not of how it came into being.  I was surprised to learn that it was set up some 20 years ago to fight against foothpath closures by Telford Development Corporation (TDC) who were building on vast swathes of green space that is now south Telford.  The group has evolved over the years into its current form where it is more concerned with promoting the walks around south Telford and ensuring footpaths are properly maintained.

STROWP produces leaflets for self-guided walks around south Telford as well as at least one guided walk for fundraising.  The parish councils involved - Stirchley & Brookside, Madeley, Dawley Hamlets and The Gorge - fund a part time project officer for STROWP who organises these events, surveys rights of way and co-ordinates maintenance and repair jobs by Community Payback and volunteers.

The partnership works really well for the parishes involved, promoting the walks in south Telford, keeping the footpaths well maintained and informing people about areas of local historic interest.  It costs about £1 per household per year to fund the Stirchley & Brookside's contribution to STROWP which really isn't very much money for such a valuable service.  The idea could easily be transferred to Shropshire - the parish councils that have a lot of footpaths which are likely to suffer most from budget cuts could collaborate with each other to form a similar group and co-ordinate volunteers.

I was interviewed by BBC Radio Shropshire this morning about this very subject which was apparently airing this afternoon.  If I can find a listen again link I'll post it here!

Cross-posted from: Cllr Stuart Parr

Mobility Scooter Stolen in Blakemore

There really are some sick people in the world and unfortunately it looks like some of them are in Brookside.


Today's Shropshire Star is reporting that a 59 year old man has had his mobility scooter stolen from his back garden in Blakemore over the weekend.

You either have to be very desperate or morally desolate to steal somebody else's possessions but I didn't think anybody was that desperate or devoid of morals that they would steal a mobility scooter from a disabled man.

If anyone has any information on this theft you can contact CrimeStoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or contact me anonymously and I will pass on the information on your behalf.

Cameron runs scared of UKIP in Telford

I was tipped off this morning that David Cameron was planning to visit Telford at 1pm today, at the motorway services. So guess where I was at 1pm today ... well, it would have been rude not to go wouldn't it?

Video: Shropshire Star

I managed to successfully infiltrate the crowd of Cameronian groupies with a UKIP poster without anyone noticing and had a chat with the photographers from the local paper.  Then someone had a phone call to say he was delayed in Dudley and would be half an hour late which was lucky because that gave enough time for the two UKIP candidates to turn up as well.

Shortly after the UKIP candidates turned up came the announcement that Cameron had cancelled his visit.  The official reason given was that so many people wanted to talk to the Messiah in Dudley that he simply didn't have time to stop at Telford on his way to Newtown.  The journey from Dudley to Newtown took him up the M54 through Telford and past the services that he was supposed to be visiting but he didn't have time to take the 704yd detour (I've measured it on Google Maps) up the slip road and round the corner to meet his groupies who'd been standing in the rain for 45 minutes to touch the hem of his Armani suit jacket.

The unofficial reason - given to me by someone who was there - was that Cameron had been told some UKIP people were there and had called it off because he was worried.  It's amazing what some people will tell a complete stranger!

The incumbent MP for the Wrekin decided to battle on and give a rousing speech for the reporters party faithful so they all gathered round him, gazing rapturously into his beaming face, holding their Conservative posters up behind their backs for the photographers.  All of them too engrossed to notice the three UKIP supporters standing between them and the cameras with UKIP posters or the big grins on the faces of the photographers who, I would imagine, were pretty pissed off with being stood up by the Messiah.

They weren't the only ones who were pissed off either, the TV cameraman that was there didn't bother interviewing the Tory candidates after Cameron cancelled and interviewed the two UKIP candidates instead.

All in all a productive and entertaining lunchtime.  Cameron bottled out at the first sign of trouble, the local Tories were livid (Mark Pritchard was fuming) and UKIP got some valuable publicity at their expense.

It was more entertaining than putting UKIP posters up outside David Wright MP's office last night while Labour Party activists watched me!

More leafleting in Telford!

It's a busy time for UKIP in Telford &Wrekin with 3 by-elections being contested over the next couple of weeks.

Last week the Telford & Wrekin branch, assisted by party members from round the West Midlands, leafleted Shifnal and Wellington.

This week it's the Nedge ward, covering Holinswood and Stirchley.

Because the Nedge ward is so large, leafleting is being spread over 2 days starting today.

Anyone wanting to help out can meet at the Nedge club today or tomorrow at 10am.

NHS Trust blames EU regulations for cut-backs

Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust are currently consulting on changes to the services they provide at the two hospitals. Services are going to have to be cut back and there's even the possibility that both hospitals will have to be closed and replaced with a single hospital.

Along with the usual reason of never having enough money, the booklet they've produced lays the a large portion of the blame on the EU Working Time Directive and the fact that abolishing our opt-out is going to mean staff shortages and increased wage bills.

It's refreshing to see someone like an NHS Trust going off message and telling people that stupid EU regulations are to blame for bad things that are happening. But what would be really refreshing would be the NHS Trust and other public services such as the fire service who are suffering at the hands of EU regulations to begin actively campaigning against them.

The NHS has a duty to provide a public service and if the EU is stopping them from doing that then they have a duty to oppose it.

Telford leaves city region with immediate effect

Excellent news from the West Midlands NO! campaign …

---

I would love to have been a fly on the wall in Simon Murphy’s office today when he got the call from Telford & Wrekin Council announcing that they were leaving his city region quango with immediate effect.

A week ago to this day I wrote an email to the leader of Telford & Wrekin Council, Andrew Eade, after writing about the city region’s plans for independence:

Andrew,

Re: http://www.westmidlandsno.org.uk/2009/02/16/city-region-wants-independence/

You either don’t know what the city region’s plans are or you do know and either don’t understand or don’t care. Whichever it is, we should not be a part of this.

You have plenty of soothing words about how you don’t like it but you want to make sure we don’t lose out if we leave and how the city region doesn’t have any real powers. But soothing words are worth nothing because the city region will have statutory status, it will have a legal personality, it will be allowed to apply for its own money, it will be allowed to enter into legal contracts and it will be able to make statutory policy that Telford will have to abide by.

This is nothing like the benign organisation that you and others have told us the city region is. So what’s the truth Andrew? You don’t understand the city region or you’ve been lying about it?

Stuart

Councillor Eade told the Shropshire Star “I’ve always said we would stay in the City Region to try and maximise any benefits to our community”. He hasn’t always said that - prior to the last local election he said that he would pull Telford out of the city region if the Tories won. It’s taken close to two years and a lot of back-tracking for him to put his words into action.

Maybe the timing is a co-incidence, maybe the email I sent played a part in the decision to leave. Either way, it’s a big victory and further proof that Greater Birmingham the City Region of Birmingham, Coventry & the Black Country really isn’t going to turn the West Midlands into the land of milk and honey.

---

Comments at West Midlands NO! please

Shropshire Star: Basic rule of finance ignored by Mr Brown

The following letter was published in the Shropshire Star tonight by Malcolm Hurst, UKIP's PPC for Telford:

Basic rule of finance ignored by Mr Brown

The basic rule of finance is don't spend more than you earn. Second is don't borrow more than you can repay. In other words: live within your means.

Not so for the Labour government. It would appear that Gordon Brown has invented his own rules. For 11 years he has conned the population and parliament into living beyond their means. The inevitible result which most people saw coming was the crash.

And, would you believe it, he reckons that the only way to save the British economy is to keep on spending and borrowing.

He has all the answers. After all for 11 years he had been in control of it all. Incompetent stockbrokers or banks will be bailed out by the Brown government - with your money.

If you are a hardworking individual with financial difficulties, however, tough luck - you can go bankrupt.

And if you think you can handle your affairs sensibly, then don't worry he will keep on spending your money for you, building up further debt. It is called fancy names to confuse us: "government borrowing" or the "national debt". But have no doubt, you will pay for it. When will we get a sensible government?

Malcolm Hurst
UKIP Telford

Remembrance Day

The Waveney branch of UKIP attended the Remembrance Day service at Lowestoft yesterday and chairman, Jack Tyler, laid a wreath.

John Woodhead, the branch treasurer, said about 1,000 people attended the service which is an amazing turnout for a Remembrance Day service. There are some high resolution pictures of the service on the UKIP East website.

I attended the Remembrance Day service in Aqueduct in Telford yesterday where my two eldest boys represented 1st Brookside Cubs & Scouts. There were about 40 people there in total which isn't a bad turnout when you consider that Telford didn't even exist during the two world wars and Aqueduct was only a small town.