Lincoln went to fortnightly bin collection.
In the local elections last week, the Conservatives took Lincoln. They did so by promising a return to weekly bin collection.
The other important issue was high rise buildings. In recent years, the city's historic skyline has been destroyed by some horrendous, extremely ugly high rise buildings. The good folk of Lincoln saw a Council in bed with big developers. There were rumours circulating of corrupt councillors and backhanders. True?
The leader of Lincolnshire County Councillor recently served a prison sentence for corruption.
It all sounds all too familiar to the residents of Farnborough. A rotten borough out of touch with reality, let alone the local community. A rotten borough where the leader of the council and the chief executive have regular secret meeting with a developer that has destroyed Farnborough town centre, where the deputy leader, a candidate in last week's local election, had on the front page of his Out of Touch election comic, computer generated graphics supplied by the developer.
In the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor, voting patterns are tribal. In the Tory areas they vote Tory, Labour areas Labour and in the Lib Dem areas Lib Dem.
You could stick a blue rosette on a donkey in the Tory ward of Knellwood and it would be elected, the only difference is a donkey would be of more use than the three useless councillors.
How else can one explain the reelection of the Deputy Leader of Rushmoor, the man responsible for putting several thousand households on fortnightly bin collection? A councillor who has nothing but arrogant contempt for the local electorate.
During the elections, he claimed only one person had objected to fortnightly bin collection, it was not a big issue, and the few who raised it with him, were happy with fortnightly.
The truth was people were greatly agitated by the issue, and were not just opposed, but were very, very angry. On the streets, it was extremely difficult to find anyone in favour.
A request to the council on the number of complaints re refuse collection, brought forth the the answer the day after Polling Day, that over 100 people had objected. All those who complained, received a visit from the Council to persuade them to change their mind!
But if the electorate insist on electing worthless councillors, they have only themselves to blame for the unpleasant outcomes.
One of the big differences between Lincoln and the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor, is a quality local press that is prepared to expose what is going on, unlike Aldershot and Farnborough, where the local press is not only compliant with the local council and big business, but gives the strong impression of being their unofficial PR agency.
Last year Bolton was controlled by the Lib Dems, who introduced fortnightly bin collection. The local elections saw the Lib Dems wiped out leaving them with only one seat on the council.
The historic city of Lincoln has decided not to return to the Middle Ages. What of the historic city of Oxford, with its fortnightly bin collections and rubbish strewn streets, is the arrogant Jean Fooks, the councillor responsible for dragging Oxford back to the Middle Ages in terms of squalor and filth, still of the view that the lady is not for turning?
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References
Beth Hale, Black Death bacteria found in bins left uncollected for fortnight, The Mail on Sunday, 6 May 2007
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'I blame Blair for Tory win', Lincolnshire Echo, 7 May 2007
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Keith Parkins, Local elections bin backlash, Indymedia UK, 24 April 2007
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Keith Parkins, Bin revolution gathers pace, Indymedia UK, 30 April 2007
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Red flag falls after 26 years, Lincolnshire Echo, 4 May 2007
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Sounds like....
12.05.2007 15:23
Observer