ALMONDSBURY AND SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Herewith the full text of my letter in today's Bristol Evening Post.

"The Information Commissioners Office has recently found that Almondsbury Parish Council failed to respond to my request under the Freedom of Information Act. The Council was also found to have ignored correspondence from the Commissioner’s Office. A Decision Notice dated the 28 July has been issued.

During my efforts to obtain information from the Clerk to the Parish Council, in respect of the campaign to ban fuel tankers and other hgv’s from North West Bristol suburban roads, I received a final email on the 12 March stating that the then Chair of the Parish Council, Cllr Sheila Cook, was dealing with the matter. Nothing further was received.

As a result of of this situation a formal complaint was made to South Gloucestershire Council on the 8 August, "that Executive Member Councillor Sheila Cook, in her capacity as the former Chair of Almondsbury Parish Council, following my request under the Freedom of Information Act to the Parish Council on the 2 February 2009, did ignore my request, and did ignore correspondence from the Information Commissioner’s Office, all as stated in their Decision Notice under reference FS50237638 dated the 28 July 2009", and further "that in my opinion this was conduct contrary to law and unbecoming an elected member of a Parish Council within South Gloucestershire, and conduct unbecoming an Executive Member of South Gloucestershire Council".

The complaint has been acknowledged and referred to the Assessment Sub Committee of the Standards Committee on the 28 August.

Readers may remember that Cllr Cook objected when I said she had resigned as Chair of Almondsbury Parish Council, in my letter to the Evening Post on 5 June, “show some concern for the safety of the young”. In her letter of response in the Evening Post on 22 June, she said she had decided not to stand for re-election. The exchange continued in the Evening Post on the 27 June, but Cllr Cook did not respond.

Readers will also be aware of the campaign’s petition and presentation to South Gloucestershire Council on the 20 May, Evening Post report 23 May. A totally negative response was received by letter from Cllr Brian Allinson on the 20 July. As a result I made a further statement to South Gloucestershire Council on the 29 July. This statement drew attention to the fact that the minutes of the 20 May Council meeting failed to record the petition and statement.

I also said that the response from Cllr Allinson on the 20 July was full of bureaucratic platitudes, showed that he had failed to listen to reasoned argument on the 20 May, and that he could not solve the transport problems from the Depot and Land Fill sites in Hallen by sending them over the boundary into Bristol.

I then argued that Cllr Cook supports a minority at the expense of the children and young people of Bristol, and that under the aims of the West of England Partnership, Cllr Cook, South Gloucestershire’s Executive Member for Children and Young People, also has a partnership responsibility to the children and young people of Bristol.

The silent responses of both Cllr Allinson and Cllr Cook at the Council meeting were a revealing portrayal of the selfish attitudes that exist in South Gloucestershire today.

The full text of my statement appears on www.bantankers.blogspot.com

The reconstructed Hallen Road/Ison Hill railway bridge reopened on the 7 August, with the same reduced width pinch point and the same substandard alignment as the old bridge. This matter is not going to go away and will continue to haunt South Gloucestershire Council until they are prepared to open a sensible dialogue with Bristol City Council and the residents of North West Bristol".

Not too long to wait to see what their responses will be!