Old Grumpy notices yet another photo of Cllr Islwyn Howells,
Cabinet member for education, in the Western Telegraph.
The accompanying blurb; part of the prodigious output of the county
council's press office, can be found in almost identical form
on the authority's website.
The purpose of these press releases is to persuade the people
of Pembrokeshire of the importance of Cabinet members, though
anyone who believes that Cllr Howells plays anything other than
a walk-on part in the council's education service probably has
fairies at the bottom of their garden.
This latest press release tells us of a seminar where Cllr Howells
and members of the planning department helped 30 sixth-formers
to gain "an insight into the planning process and the policies
that help to determine planning applications."
No doubt they were told that, unless material considerations indicate
otherwise, the law requires applications to be decided on the
basis of the development plan.
No doubt they were not told that members of the ruling Independent
Political Group, of which Cllr Howells is a leading member, use
the planning system to feather their own electoral nests.
And Old Grumpy wonders if Cllr Howells found time to tell the
sixth-formers about his role as local member in the refusal of
the Uzmaston Tetra mast, despite the clearest possible advice
from planning officers that the application fell within policy.
Had he got round to it, he would also have explained that planning
inspectors are likely to view as perverse any decisions based
on political considerations rather than on planning grounds with
the result that the council may be ordered to pay both its own
and the other party's costs.
In the Uzmaston case this amounted to a whopping £180,000,
though I don't recall the council putting out a press release
about it.
The defrocking of Derek Conway MP, who paid his sons large
amounts of public money for doing nothing in particular, has lifted
the lid on a whole variety of Parliamentary expense scams, not
the least of which is the "John Lewis list" which allows
MPs to claim for a variety of household goods for their London
(second) homes up to a value of £23,000 per annum.
While discussing this matter over dinner with Grumpette, she wondered
what happened to these items when the MP either retired or was
kicked out by the electorate.
Not unreasonably, she suggested that, as the goods had been paid
for by the taxpayer, they should be returned to the taxpayer at
the end of the MPs term of office.
And, she wondered, what was to stop an MP, who was about to retire,
from fitting out their second home with a new kitchen (£10,000)
in in order to inflate its sale price.
Of course, these second homes are a scam in their own right because
MPs use the allowances provided by the taxpayer to pay the mortgage
and then pocket the profits on the eventual sale.
Now I hear that the Parliamentary authorities are to appeal to
the High Court against the
Information Commissioner's decision that details of these "John
Lewis list" expenses should be published.
No wonder politicians are despised by the public.
More bad news on the Merlot front, I'm afraid, with the Tory
party now claiming they have 25 candidates lined up for the forthcoming
county council elections.
And I have two bottles of the red stuff riding on the total being
less than 19.
This, on top of the the adverse outcome of he Six Nations Championship,
means I will have to give up either drinking or betting.
It is difficult enough funding my own consumption never mind that
of half the county's population.
I am told the Conservatives are, in their own words, on a mission
to "turn Pembrokeshire blue".
Old Grumpy wonders what their friends in the ruling Independent
Political Group think about this.
And equally interesting, how many of these candidates will be
up against the present clique of Tories and fellow travellers?
Not many, if any, I predict, though I'm not taking bets.
Indeed, there are some who believe that the Tories and IPG have
reached a secret understanding about which seats the official
Party will contest and those in which the unofficials will be
allowed to go about their business unmolested.
This may be pure conspiracy theory, though it is difficult to
understand why xxx Birt-Llewellyn is standing in Carew rather
than his own seat of Wiston.
Perhaps the sitting member for Carew, David Neale, should be asking
why he has been targetted by the Tories rather than whoever Peter
Stock has recruited to stand for the IPG in Wiston.
As one of the IPG's most accomplished synchronised voters, he
certainly can't be accused of disloyalty.
I expect the picture will become clearer once the full list is
published.
For instance, it will be interesting to see if the party puts
up a candidate against card-carrying Cllr David Wildman in the
Conservative stronghold of Burton.
After all, Cllr Wildman was originally elected under the Conservative
banner before taking a fancy to the greener grass provided by
the IPG.
My money - metaphorically speaking - says they won't because rules
would require Cllr Wildman's expulsion from the party for opposing
an official candidate.
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