HELP!........What would you do if you were me?

[Ian M]

First of all this has nothing at all to do with sublimation etc but, I just need to get this off my chest & ask what would you do if you were in my shoes right now.

Just under 2 years ago my council decided it needed to build a very large waste recycling plant & chose a few sites where this plant could be built. They went ahead with consultations with residents in the various areas they were looking at & seemed to be doing everything by the book. One of the sites they were looking at is just over 1 mile from my house where they already have a waste site where all the district refuse wagons go to dump their daily loads. No we wasn't that surprised when the council decided to build this new & very large waste recycling plant on the present waste site near where I live.

Last Wednesday the council decided to have a special residents forum so they could announce who had got the contract to build & run the new waste recycling plant & we all settled down to ask lots of annoying questions that residents do at times like this. We have all said that they are going to build the plant no matter what we say or do now so, we just have to hope that they keep to all the promises they have made us. The second part of the residents forum was to tell us all that they are also going to build a new household waste dump between where we live & the new waste recycling plant which we didn't know anything about. The council offical assured us all that all 3 of our local concillors had demanded this new dump right on our door steps which we knew was a pack of lies. The problem we all had was none of our 3 councillors had attended the forum & we were all smelling a rat (excuse the pun) by now. I have since contacted one of the councillors who has gone mad as he says he never wanted the waste recycling plant let alone a household waste dump just round the corner too.

I have asked for the council to run the residents forum again with the councillors in attendance this time to find out who is telling the truth. I have also been in touch with our local MP who cannot be bothered to reply at all. The councillors have all now gone very quiet & nobody is now returning emails or phone calls to any of us.

Now, this is the best bit I have found a council document on the internet which they have forgot to remove & it is from 5 years ago. This document shows the council officals had already decided where the new waste recycling plant was going to be sited & also the household waste dump too. It appears the public consulatation has been one big sham.

Now the question is do I go public with what I have found to the press etc because, an ex councillor friend of mine has told me if I do it could cost my local council around £30 million and they would have to start everything again from square one. What would you do?

[smitch6]

i'd go to the papers too right
why should they have 1 rule and when we want something they say no

[Renniwano]

Make sure you get a copy of the page that file is on and a screen shot with date etc.... just in case !!! lol

But I agree.. why should it be one rule for one and one for another

[hughb40]

Hi Ian

Sympathies! 5 years ago we were told an incinerator would be built on our business park - go figure! We formed a group to study the application as we had an open mind and just wanted to know the actual implications - suffice to say we uncovered all sorts of horror stories and double dealing.... this issue united our community and we rapidly realised that the scheme was just a get rich quick scheme for the developers and that as it ticked a 'renewable' energy directive the council were quietly supportive of it. We fought this all the way and twice they pulled the planning application the evening before it was presented! So it never went to a vote of democratically elected councillors! Instead the council determined they couldn't reach a decision in the allotted time so allowed the develoers to appeal. We took it to a public inquiry (the council refused to take part and attended as a silent party! - what a farce that was, we represented ourselves against the hired solicitor advocate of the developers and their expert witnesses. All those present thought we had made a compelling case but we knew that the Planning Inspector had previously ruled in favour of a wind farm development acknowledging local harm but in theinterests of national good etc etc and so it came to pass that some time later he published his decision that despite some local problems it would be in the national interest etc.! Our only course of action left was judicial appeal in High Court but we did not have the funds for that...along teh way we served freedom of information notices on various bodies including our own council and were stonewalled several times but we appealed to the Information Commissioner who censured our council and we found so many documents that showed their true position! Anyway during the 5 years we fought it the economic climate has changed so much with regard to the economic subsidies on these schemes that teh developers have not been able to secure the finance - so victory of a sort! Oh and the same planning inspector has just ruled in favour of an incinerator 20 miles away after a public inquiry! I could go on but suffice it to say when you overturn stones you will be surprised at what murky creatures are scurrying around out of sight! And yes our MP was conspicous by absence.

I would suggest that if you want to fight it you form a campaign group with proper constitution and attack on all fronts, media, councillors, politicians, planning (Did they have an Environmental Impact Assessment done? - needs to be done if scheme over a certain size then look at any conditions imposed and who will monitor those etc etc. But would I fight again? probably not, it was all consuming, and 'they' won in the end.

Good luck .

[RogerC]

IMO fight in any and every legal way you can. Councils are there to 'serve' not be bloody little dictators. It will be worth contacting the three councilors that are supposed to be supporting the development and find out the truth. If it is the case that they are not supporting the development got to the press and if nothing else the Council will be shown to be liars. The 'Freedom of Information' act is your friend.

[WorthDoingRight]

After reading the above posts I thought you guys might be able to assist me also.

I need some advice on what could be a life changing decision.

I've suspected for some time now that my girlfriend has been having an affair. The usual signs. Phone rings, I answer, someone hangs up. She started going out "with the girls" a lot recently although when I ask which girls it is always "Just some friends from work, you don't know them".

I always look out for her ride coming home but she always walks from around the corner, I can usually hear a car driving off as she walks towards our house. If it really is a taxi why not just get dropped off in front? I once picked her cell phone up just to see what time it was and she went beserk and screamed that I should never touch her phone again, and why was I checking up on her.

Anyway, I have never approached the subject with my girlfriend. I think deep down I just didn't want to know the truth but last night she went out again and I decided to check on her. I decided I was going to hide behind my car which would give me a view of the whole street so I could see which car she was getting out of. It was while I was crouched behind my car that I noticed rust on my exhaust tip.
Should I take it to the dealer for replacement, or should I just take the opportunity to buy the aftermarket 3" I've been looking at. Its a big decision so I thought I would ask for your advice. Maybe I'll just try to buff it out.

Please help me out.

[mrs maggot]

After reading the above posts I thought you guys might be able to assist me also.

shame you replied with that, another post might have been a good thing for that :frown: yep its funny, and its often posted as a reply, but come on say something serious in reply surely ??

Ian - with the luck you have, make sure your back is covered, and it wont be by most papers. How about a lobby group, or register a new account for twitter or facebook and start off there, if it stinks as much as it looks, there will be people who will not want it to come out, and be prepared for a very tough road ahead.

[WorthDoingRight]

shame you replied with that, another post might have been a good thing for that :frown: yep its funny, and its often posted as a reply, but come on say something serious in reply surely ?.

I am sorry if you found it out of place in a forum entitled 'Take a Break'. I actually thought it might cheer Ian and others up, especially with the dilemma he has on his hands which only he can ultimately attempt to sort :frown:

[Ian M]

Many, many thanks Steve, Nikki, Hugh, Roger & Laura. Your words & help mean so much at this time for me.

A councillor from another ward has found out what I've been upto in the last few days & has asked one of our 3 MP's to contact me to discuss what I now know about all the lies & shams the council officals have been doing. Also on top of thsi someone has suggested I contact our newest MP who is non other that George Galloway who they said would be more than interested to hear about what has been going on. Now I'm not a George Galloway fan to be honest but, he really is shaking the leaves on the trees here in Bradford right now which is something we could do with.

Once again many thanks for all your help.

[hughb40]

Many, many thanks Steve, Nikki, Hugh, Roger & Laura. Your words & help mean so much at this time for me.

A councillor from another ward has found out what I've been upto in the last few days & has asked one of our 3 MP's to contact me to discuss what I now know about all the lies & shams the council officals have been doing. Also on top of thsi someone has suggested I contact our newest MP who is non other that George Galloway who they said would be more than interested to hear about what has been going on. Now I'm not a George Galloway fan to be honest but, he really is shaking the leaves on the trees here in Bradford right now which is something we could do with.

Once again many thanks for all your help.

Hi Ian, speaking from experience its important to let off steam over governmental/council diktat over the little people otherwise it will grind you down. I've sent you a PM as didn't want to go off topic re council strategy. Hang on in there