Councillor laments: God help Peterborough!

We seriously think that Peterborough City Councillor David Seaton has flipped and lost the plot, and could well fit in with the Kensington & Chelsea Tories, slightly to the right of Attila the Hun and then on some....read it for yourself below.

The Peterborough Tribune Blog started life as a simple information and news portal supporting a local  Neighbourhood Watch, when it started to question some of the misinformation doing the rounds, the four  Stanground Conservative Councillors vowed to close it down, and put all kind of obstacles both practical and legal in our way  ( including the cancelling of our premium free public liability insurance to cover street visits) we were even supported by the Home Office. At that point Julian Bray decided that if the humble blogsite was having such a positive effect then we would continue digging and try to put the truth element back into Peterborough politics.  The following email exchange has not been edited and is as Cllr Micheal Fletcher requested. For clarity we have added name references where this is unclear

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Julian,

I thought you may like to see this exchange of e-mails which are in response to my initial comments concerning the misleading statements which are constantly being spewed out.  Please circulate to the media. 

Regards

Cllr: Michael Fletcher.


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From: Nick.Thulbourn@peterborough.gov.uk
To: David.Seaton@peterborough.gov.uk
CC: mfletcher9@hotmail.com; COUNCILLORS@peterborough.gov.uk; lammas3000@hotmail.com; mark.edwards@peterboroughtoday.co.uk; itclippo@hotmail.co.uk; kate.wilkinson@abagri.com; h_plummer@icloud.com; johneharris@btinternet.com; fran_fox_1@hotmail.co.uk
Date: Sat, 9 Mar 2013 18:26:20 +0000

Subject: Re: God help Peterborough

Dear David

I would normally avoid these type of emails, but I am afraid I need to help you in this

Firstly lets start with debt growth - you and the conservatives are in the process of increasing the city council debt from £186 million at the 31st march last year to a whopping £676 million over the next few years. That is a huge 364% increase. Before you start looking for scapegoats, please look at your own actions.

Secondly the use of quoting stats from The Tax Payers Alliance, an organisational central to policy strategy and policy creation of the Conservative Party (specifically the old etonians branch)is at best unreliable.

This organisation is a very secretive organisation that advocates removing child benefit, closing children centres, NHS privatisation and to stop any school building projects - and so on.  All of which they feel should be part of the free market. This organisation is funded by a certain type of industrialist - with the added bonus of being Conservative Party donors.

They also do not support projects like the wind and solar farm as they believe the government at any level should not be involved in this type of project. And they are certainly against any type of subsidy. I have enough faith in the integrity of your leader, Cllr Marco Cereste, not to go down the route of being associated with this extreme right wing group with very specific self interests at the heart of what they do - nor should you.

I believe the Conservative government set up an independent organisation when they came to power, which I agreed with at the time and continue to do so. The Office of Budget Responsibility was set up to give impartial stats, figures and scenarios on budgetary policy. Their conclusion is much more balanced and I suggest you use them for analysis not the very dubious extremist TPA.


I hope this helps

Nick Thulbourn
Fletton & Woodston
07990 613473

Cllr David Seaton has subsequently asked us to include his reply to Cllr Nick Thurbourn, not sent to Michael Fletcher and therefore not included in the original exchange ...

Thanks Nick
So which bit of the TPA analysis do you disagree with? And I am no fan as they have criticised me personally in the past – at which point your group fully supported them.

If you are so against our proposals, what would you do? Specifically, not ‘philosophically’ which you hid behind on Wednesday? Paul Stainton on the BBC asked the question too so we all want to know.
David  

On 9 Mar 2013, at 15:27, "Cllr David Seaton David" wrote:


Dear Michael

I find your use of the word ‘rape’ below to be highly offensive. If you knew anything about that subject you would apologise.

It is interesting that, despite circulating such views, you and your opposition colleagues failed to put anything forward by way of an alternative budget or amendment last Wednesday – after spending considerable time with the Finance team. You promise residents one thing and then fail to back it up.

I mentioned the tripling of debt over a decade under Labour – much to the annoyance of certain people. You may like to read the attached;

http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/realdebt.pdf

I believe the following also sums things up well;

A pretty little girl named Suzy was sitting on the pavement in front of her home.
Next to her was a basket containing a number of tiny creatures; in her hand was a sign announcing FREE  KITTENS.

Suddenly a line of big cars pulled up beside her. Out of the lead car stepped a grinning man.

"Hi there little girl, I'm the leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband.
What do you have in the basket?" he asked.

"Kittens," little Suzy said.

"How old are they?" asked Miliband.

Suzy replied, "They're so young, their eyes aren't even open yet."

"And what kind of kittens are they?"

"Labour supporters," answered Suzy with a smile.

Miliband was delighted. As soon as he returned to his car, he called his PR chief and told  him about the little girl and the kittens.

Recognizing the perfect photo op, the two of them agreed that he should return the next day; and in front of the assembled media, have the girl talk about her discerning kittens.

So the next day, Suzy was again on the pavement with her basket of "FREE KITTENS," when Miliband's motorcade pulled up, this time followed by vans from  BBC, ITV, ABC, CNN and Sky News,

Cameras and audio  equipment were quickly set up, then Miliband got out of his limo  and walked over to little Suzy.

"Hello, again," he said, "I'd love it if you would tell all my friends out there what kind  of kittens you're giving away."

"Yes sir," Suzy said. "They're Conservative supporters."

Taken by surprise, Ed stammered, "But...but...yesterday, you told me they were LABOUR SUPPORTERS."

Little Suzy smiled knowingly and said, "Yes.

But today, they have their eyes open."

Regards

Cllr David Seaton CON

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From: michael fletcher [mailto:mfletcher9@hotmail.com]
Sent: 09 March 2013 11:42
To: COUNCILLORS; Stewart Jackson; Mark Edwards; Dawn Clipston; Kate Wilkinson; Helen Plummer; John E Harris; fran_fox_1@hotmail.co.uk

Subject: God help Peterborough

Well you all heard the leaders (Cllr Marco Cereste CON ] red faced near hysterical rant on Wednesday evening when he tried to justify the so-called achievements of this administration.  What was it, all shops in the centre occupied, thousands of jobs created, houses being built, outsiders see the city as some kind of utopia and want to come and live here and so on and so forth.   No mention of the care homes deliberately run down and closed or the proposed closure of eight childrens activity centres, or the rubbish strewn overgrown environment etc: etc:

Well, how come on a recent walkabout Cllr. Fox (IND) and myself saw umpteen shops empty. Exactly where are all these jobs that have been created by this council, because that is what he implies. ##The following morning on BBC Radio Cambs: we heard of all the large employers who have folded which accounted for thousands of jobs lost including Thomas Cook’s recent announcement that they are to make yet more employees redundant.

As for people wanting to come and live here, I suppose he means the unemployed from London.  Has anybody tried selling a house in Peterborough lately? I know of umpteen nice properties that have been on the market for months on end, some for 2-3 years, even at vastly reduced prices there are no takers.

The truth is, everywhere you look there is despair and dereliction. I know of people  who are struggling to make ends meet, others have lost their homes through redundancy. As a result families have split up and some marriages have ended.

Look around Fengate, Orton and North Bretton, there are any amount of industrial units of all sizes empty and rotting. At Orton there is the most magnificent office building standing empty. This has been offered to the council at about half the rent they are proposing to pay for a future building to be erected adjacent to the railway station. Guess which one is the favourite of this administration.

Then we come to the most harebrained ill thought out scheme of the lot, the Solar Panel proposal at Thorney and Newborough.  These fertile fenlands, probably the most productive in the whole of Europe, were created by our forefathers centuries ago and form a significant part of our heritage.

I find it hard to understand how any indigenous Englishman can stand idly by and condone such a proposed rape of this food producing asset. Maybe this one reason alone is beyond the comprehension of Cllr: Marco Cereste. But how can any councillor even condone such a scheme without even taking the trouble to attend any of the numerous meetings which have been held in order to present the facts to the general public?

These meetings have been attended by many people, not only those farmers whose livelihoods are being threatened but by those who want to hear truthful comment. They have included Stewart Jackson MP, the prospective UKIP parliamentary candidate supported by party members, MEP’s, Ed Murphy for Labour and of course our own Independent Group of Councillors.

Not one of these people spoke in support of the scheme.   Most shamefully not one conservative councillor other than Cllr: David Sanders could be bothered to attend. The rest, the ones whose votes are counted upon to commit Hari-Kari at the next election are like a bunch of Lemmings prepared to forsake all conscience and principle in order to support a scheme they have no knowledge or concept of whatsoever.

Who does know the financial implications of this proposal?   We are told it may cost anything from £190million to £400million but it will definitely make a profit of £100million over 25years.

All the calculations I have seen, which have so far cost something like £3-500K to produce, are all indicative, that means guesswork.  More informed opinion says it will be lucky to make even 0.8%.

This most fertile land will be destroyed, the farmers will lose their livelihood, all food production will be lost forever and it is a good bet that the future taxpayers of Peterborough will be saddled with a most enormous debt.

Cllr Michael Fletcher.
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