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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Arnold Woolley Flintshire County Council Leader


I have struggled for three years to make some councillors see sense about the amount of speeding through Chester Rd. Recently Arnold decided to take a look at my difficulties at getting an FOIE about the amount of speeding in Chester Rd from Flintshire County Council.
I have met Arnold on two occasions and exchanged emails on about 10 occasions. Once in his at office at Shire Hall and once on site at 8am in the morning waiting for my speeders to come along.

I often wondered why he took such an interest in one of perhaps 500 issues that surround Flintshire County Council at anyone time. A look around his website shows that he battles against inefficient practices all day long. If you look at how many people Shire Hall employs you would think the wages dept would be able to say exactly how many workers there are at Shire Hall.

Arnold got figures off various depts and the CE.  4433, 4780, 5247, 5250 and 7500 employees? This shows how sick our county council was. How far Flintshire County Council is from the real world. UK PLC needs 10,000 Arnold Woolley's in public services.

This is his website http://www.arnoldwoolley.com/index.html 

Penyffordd County Councillors Cindy Hinds and David Williams must regularly come up against the sort of rubbish that is part of Flintshire County Council management.

Illness Day 11

Some people including the medical think colds are just viruses end of story. I know through my reaction to colds that my body goes through a vast cleaning process.

Issues Gone.

1. Gout /arthitis left big toe.
2. Arthritis in shoulders.
3. Have more strength in forearms.
4. Digestive issues have gone away.
5. Reflux has gone away.
6. Certain yeast issues gone

Still to go

1. Sore Tonsills.
2. Some anger.
3. Some yeast issues

* most people have issues due to yeasts, it's just called something fancy

To the future.

1a Eat more alkaline foods, grapefruit one of the best, dont take with statins etc.
1. Legs should stay fit with 15 miles a week walking
2. Our multi gym needs putting back together
3. Some work on the mini trampolene which is good for the lymph.
4. Loose a stone, I am currently 12

I used to able to do a marathon in 3 hours 25 mins............My weight was 8.5 stone.

A New Government

We want to give the people the opportunity to make these things happen:
















Do you agree that the people have a right to be consulted on these issues?

 

Councillor Heesom has a Churchillian Moment



His "O" moment with the Omsbudsman seems some way off however

in The Leader The Vee Sign

Flintshire County Council Cockups

Read  Alison Halford's account below. I take the unusual step of copying it in full. There needs to be more than one copy on the net.

Postscript: This is now the only copy on the net. As a Flintshire ratepayer I question why a director gets paid for doing nothing. Why criticism brings threats of £800,000 payoffs.
Is Flintshire County Council corrupt?

Link Council Capers Alison Halford

-------------------------------------------------------------------

A special Audit meeting was held on 22nd January because members had been shocked by findings of Internal Audit review of Housing Maintenance and Repairs (Canton) at the Audit Committee of 16th December 2009.  Sixteen nasty problems were listed and it seemed we needed to ask why were the work force allegedly running the stores and from the faults found, it also seemed that some might be running off with the goods too in unchecked Council vans that staff are allowed to take home.
The “significant” categories ranged from tickets are not authorised, work instruction tickets are not validated nor are weekly routine stock checks conducted. Stocks held in vans, that staff are allowed to take home; are not checked either.
Rumours that Canton had big problems have circulated for years.  Now was the long awaited proof.  What were management doing, we needed to know.  The Housing Supremo and newly appointed deputy were summonsed before this Special Audit Committee to explain what had gone so dreadfully wrong. A simple question of problems of tickets not being validated seemed to floor the Director completely.  Enough time had elapsed to find answers to the expected questions surely?  Waffle but no substance was the verdict from members who had watched the debacle from the back. All were very unimpressed, and there were mutterings about ‘needs to know what she’s talking about and get a grip.’

Was this appearance a “Kodak moment” for this Director? Members of Community & Housing Committee, responsible for scrutinising Canton had fought for months to be kept informed of progress and policy.  We were tired of having very little shared with us and felt that we were superfluous to the Director’s managerial style.   We had been told that things improving.  This scathing catalogue of missing stores and sloppy supervision came as a shock.
A deafening silence had stalked the corridors of County Hall ever since that amazingly inept performance on 22nd January. When after a week of ‘no show’ despite missing several important meetings and several Community and Housing budget meetings, people began to ask about this absence. When I asked why the Director had failed to appear to introduce a financial report, all I got was a black look stare from the Committee officer.  Rumours ran rife but the Chief Executive was not saying.
‘Highly paid people are paid to perform’- kept drumming through my head.  Despite months of patience, some aspects of Housing performance was generally deteriorating.  Time for action!  The report in which I hammered out my long standing and growing concerns, almost wrote itself.  It’s not that I had not been scrupulosity fair, having visited various officers including our Head lawyer and the Chief Executive himself to express my worries.  Nothing was done!
As I needed feedback from other members to ensure I had not wrongly criticised the officer, I despatched an early draft to a chosen trusty few. (One failed my trust).
No one objected and I sent the finished article to our Monitoring Officer on 26th January.   I asked that the first one should be destroyed but the second one needed official attention.
Unbelievably, it was shoot the messenger time with the opening salvo via an email from Head of Legal Services that made no sense at all.  It went from seeking amicable resolution to ‘You have potentially made difficulties for yourself’ and the intervention of the Ombudsman was not ruled out.  Reeling from this bizarre email, I met my Group Leader on 5th February as he reported that things were “quite serious now”!
Message was simple.  Head of Legal Services wanted me to withdraw the report and I was provided with a draft letter which suggested that I write in his words to Sue Lewis and to the Chief Executive.
The meeting spilled over into a Group meeting where I explained that was going on and I was given the warmest support. “If she wants a pay out”, she’ll have to fight for it” was the instant and unanimous response.  I felt very relieved.
When I read the Monitoring Officer’s email passed over by my Leader,  I could not believe what I was being asked to do. The draft report suggested that I “had inappropriately and mistakenly sent to a number of colleagues….I understand that the contents of the report have caused you (Mrs Lewis) distress resulting in arrangements being made for special leave of absence”…I (Me) would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise for any distress caused you by publishing my concerns in the way I did.”
I had already been told that my initial report has been copied to both the CE and to Mrs Lewis.  I DID NOT SEND MY REPORT TO THIS OFFICER.  The culprit, (and suspect it is an Executive “she”) did a foolish and hurtful thing.  Whoever leaked this highly critical document must surely consider their position.  To blame me for sending the Director into extended leave was wrong!
The Coalition is drifting, a senior member has admitted as such recently and more drift must surely follow as we are effectively leaderless. Cllr Woolley is too deeply involved with the Ombudsman investigations and writings in his Journal, used to make life difficult for Patrick Heesom and myself will come back to bite him. The manner in which this highly paid Director leaves the Authority is important. I am seeking information on how many other big pay offs have been made to disaffected staff over the years.

We pay huge salaries and we need accountability.  There must be an end to this culture of secrecy that allows ineffective management on some occasions to hide their own failings by buying the organisation/themselves out of trouble. Thankfully, with sufficient committed and determined members willing to override the leadership vacuum we can correct this. Bureaucrats are accountable to the public who pay them and our Council role is to make that accountability real.
There is so much more to tell. How the Local Authority now reacts is very important in financial terms.  A fair and sensible resolution must be found that does not pay out for incompetence.  Those in charge of paid staff must take responsibility for this debacle.  The County’s Whistle Blowing policy offers me no protection as those charged with ensuring justice and fair play prevails are those who seek to bring me down.
No wonder such emphasis has been placed on demanding that I withdrawn/rewrite/apologise for my report about the Director.  Unwittingly, I have cast huge doubts on the strength of the Ombudsman’s case as a hole has been blown in the Corporate Managements’ Team’s unsteady boat.   Whether irreparably holed and thus it will capsize with all hands on board, only time will tell!

Link Susan Lewis

Leader Letter Title - Police Hot Air over Danger Drivers


cc Chief Constable
Dear Leader
A letter for consideration
I see name and address supplied writes that dangerous drivers are ignored. He/she says that nobody seems to care. The above remarks are so true. Politicians, Councillors, North Wales Police, Arrive Alive and North Wales Police Authority are to blame for the continuing carnage and bad driving on our roads. 

Penyffordd has over 700 vehicles a day that hammer through the village. Roads at night are like race tracks. Until the above press North Wales Police do the job for which they are paid to do you can expect more of the same. The Balance your Bobby and Policing Pledge initiatives just so much hot air.


Colin Hughes
Chester Rd, Penyffordd

The above letter has been published in The Leader today. I wrote it when I was ill but it still stands up. There has been two deaths on Sealand Road within 3 yards of one another on successive days.

Why is this?
1. Mud and/or ice on the road.
2. A speed limit that should have been changed years ago
3. There is no traffic policing
4. Inappropriate speed.

I've also had an letter  from  Mark Tami MP today. It's from Gosafe cataloging my interactions with them . On first reading it makes me out to be a right plank. Lisa has read it and pointed out various issues. To be continued.

keywords   gosafe.org

Monday, February 22, 2010

What's happening in Penyffordd

Speeding that's what. I do have  two councillors on the case

I hate pain

The link below shows how doctors up until fairly recently did not take pain seriously enough.
My tonsils have been swollen and painful for over a week. Paracetomol will not stop the pain, Cocodomol will. Over the years I have been dismayed at how doctors view pain with little importance.

I once developed severe food poisoning from a holiday abroad and the pain from it was so unbearable I had to get Lisa to take me to Wrexham Casualty. Food poisoning gets you to the front of the queue. The doctor asked me some questions gave me an antispasmodic jab in the leg. I asked when the pain would stop to which he replied two or three days. The indifference to my agony by this ahole incredulous.

Anyway I want some hill billy heroin for emergencies
My strep throat appears to be getting better, as am I.


Link Huge Rise in Pain Prescription drugs

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Pain relief upgrade

Co Codomol gives a good nights sleep. My cold gallops along and so does the cold front. Three inches in Penyffordd, nine inches in Llandegla. 

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Colds and Cold


Green Lodge Farm Llandegla

My cold seems to be half way through. Very sore tonsils and a desire to do nothing. The second bit binds the most as the first symptom can be avoided with paracetomol.
Lisa is looking for better "mickey finn's" in Tesco's. Lemsip Extra come highly recommended, we shall see. 
The blackbirds have started territorial wars before dawn and we appear to have further cold weather to a week next Monday.

The normal spot for the dog walk will not be available due to snow so its up to Green Lodge Farm, Llandegla. The snow will be 6 inches deep but you can park just off the main road. There is always Elwyn to pull me out, that's if he has his tractor going. Last time I spoke to him I gave him details of a new starter motor that was on Ebay.

Elwyn's lambs will be due shortly. His wife Ruth takes time off work to help with the births. One year Elwyn bought a ram that looked ok but malfunctioned in a certain department. This was not realised until Ruth had booked the time off but no lambs appeared.........................

The lambs apparently start coming the 22nd which is next Tuesday.
My cold 8 days old and getting worse...........

Friday, February 19, 2010

Friday Night Entertainment - Before my Time

Sandy Denny - Fairport Convention

CASTLE Cement’s neighbours outline to Mold Crown Court how their quality of life was damaged by factory

CASTLE Cement’s neighbours outlined to Mold Crown Court how their quality of life was damaged.
In statements read to the court Anthony Poultney said he and his family had lived at Penyffordd for 40 years with a clear view of the site. He said: “Since Kiln Four was put into production there have been excessive dust emissions.
“My quality of life has been affected to the point where I have considered moving house.”
Dr Kenneth O’Hara said: “I’ve been reporting noise problems to Castle Cement and to the Environment Agency for nearly two years and the problem is still ongoing.
The noise can reach a level such that on occasion we have had to move to sleep in another room at the other side of the house.”

Link The Daily Post

The fact is traffic noise off Penyffordd Bypass and traffic in Chester Rd is the main environment irritant NOT Castle Cement dust.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Do not try this at home

Last year my melons went no where. They sulked. I put this down to cold soil. Ralph who Lisa saw in the Post Office says spuds were traditionally sown on Good Friday. I have some ideas for soil warming including solar water panels and 50 gallon plastic drums insulated with Kingspan.
Also I have some rope lighting. I have some beds made out of Kingspan. I intend putting the rope lighting in the bottom coverd by some slate then filled up with rotted manure and compost. The temperture to be initially controlled by a timer ie. 15 hours. I also have a soil thermometer. Melons like above 20degrees C. Rope lighting uses very little current. Best to keep the fork and shovel away from rope

Link http://www.gardengrapevine.com/BottomHeater.html

My cold and the Bolero

The cold started with tiredness folowed by lack of appetite, then nothing. Now my tonsils start hurting late afternoon onwards. Mr Paracetamol sorts them out. Now the mucous and the coughs. It builds as the beat in the Bolero does. Nights seem to last a thousand hours. I went to bed last night woke up for the toilet and was amazed to see the Chinese still open and quite a few cars around. Insomnia the curse of the masses. I wake myself from silly circular abstract dreams. Perhaps I should re-read the books I have on Astral Projection to try to control my nightly meanderings. The idea is to wake up inside the dream. The first stage in this is to know you are dreaming and just watch.......................

Improvements in Penyffordd

Penyffordd Youth Club is being kitted out, new double glazing and floor.
Work has started on a site for allotments behind the swings. I am of the opinion these are for children. The grown ups were asked and didn't want one.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Climb down by the climate lobby

No global warming since 1995.
Hockey stick data lost.
The earth has been warmer when there was no industrialisation.

Suck on that Prime Minister and Minister Milliband who called us all "flat earthers"

Link The Daily Mail

and further..........Professor Andrew Lacis

Chapter 9 is possibly the most important one in the whole IPCC report - it's the one where they decide that global warming is manmade. This is the one where the headlines are made.

So, bearing all of these facts in mind, here is Andrew Lacis's comment on the Executive Summary of Chapter 9 of the IPCC's AR4. [Emphasis by The Devil.]
There is no scientific merit to be found in the Executive Summary. The presentation sounds like something put together by Greenpeace activists and their legal department. The points being made are made arbitrarily with legal sounding caveats without having established any foundation or basis in fact. The Executive Summary seems to be a political statement that is only designed to annoy greenhouse skeptics. Wasn't the IPCC Assessment Report intended to be a scientific document that would merit solid backing from the climate science community—instead of forcing many climate scientists into having to agree with greenhouse skeptic criticisms that this is indeed a report with a clear and obvious political agenda. Attribution can not happen until understanding has been clearly demonstrated. Once the facts of climate change have been established and understood, attribution will become self-evident to all. The Executive Summary as it stands is beyond redemption and should simply be deleted.

Links
The Devil's Kitchen 
Dr Andrew Lacis

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Further sickness

 Then perhaps I can leave it alone. My symptoms do not appear to be as bad as Lisa's perhaps I got mine last Wednesday off someone else?

My wife's friend's husband has got prostate cancer. Not the standard one but a fast developing one that has perhaps reached his bones. He's done the female hormones which shrink your parts. This stabilised the psa reading for sometime. It's supposed to be single figure but his first check revealed 200+.

Anyway things have started going down hill again the psa shooting up. First opinion is 5 months extra life if he subjects himself to chemotherapy. To which he and I when I heard were heard to say "F".

He is to have a second opinion.

The medical profession and many people seem to have little interest in the way nutrition has a part to play in illness.

I would imediately start taking five omega 3 oil capsules of a very high purity.
( I currently take one a day)
Fresh grapefruit* ( I take every day) , carrot and beetroot juice would be on the daily menu.
Red meat would be stopped.
Perhaps just fish.
10 grams of vitamin C a day.
Perhaps a raw fresh wheatgrass mixed with the carrot juice.
That would be for starters to build up the immune system.
Mild exercise to stimulate the lymph.


and no chemo.............................

Cancer cells are produced all the time by our bodies. The immune system kills them. An immune system damaged by chemo is no defence against............

My wife's friend's husband fights for his life.

*grapefruit and quite a few drugs including some statins do not get on together inside you. In fact reactions can be fatal.

I'm Sick

As you get older I'm sure health issues become larger especially in the head. Lisa has had a cold all last week with conjunctivitus thrown in for good measure. So when Lisa's cold started I had a talk with her about ways to stop me getting her cold. This did not go down well but I can't see why we should have to share everything.

Anyway I was doing realy well until yesterday. 8 days with Lisa's cold fading and me not getting it. So yesterday afternoon I felt tired so I lay down for half an hour, this turned into two hours, then another two hours and then another two. Guests arrive for meal at 8 and I do not feel like eating even though I have only had a bacon sandwhich at lunchtime. So I feel very tired with no appetite but no other symptoms.

Fast forward this morning. Tiredness nearly gone but the snuffles have started plus the sore glands.

Properties sold in Penyffordd district

Sales recently added within 500 metres of CH4 0LJ
• Stone Cottage, Penymynydd Road, Penymynydd, CH4 0LJ - Sold for £155,000 on 12-11-2009
There have been no recent sales added within 500 metres of CH4 0HP, but you can view all previous sales information by visiting OurProperty.co.uk.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

FOI data report for Chester Rd Penyffordd June 2008

Data supplied by Flintshire County Council
Speed Limit 30 mph, a major route to school
Recording device position near bus stop
Dates 6 June 2008 to 16 June 2008
Number of days 10
Number of vehicle speed recordings 25225
Speeds are static which do not show that most vehicles are accelerating or deaccelerating
Highest speed 74 mph
Lowest speed. 8 mph
No of speeds below 20 mph 4400

Number of vehicles deemed to be using not Penymynydd Rd to and from Chester Rd  20385

Since the speed data is affected by traffic coming out and going into Penymymydd Rd plus buses stopping and starting at the bus stop everything below 20 mph will be removed to give a clearer picture

Vehicles speeds  25mph and under 7829
Vehicle speeds over 25mph 17396

3 vehicles equaling  70  mph
6 vehicles equaling  60 - 69 mph
76 vehicles equaling 50 - 59 mph
1274 vehicles equaling 40 - 49 mph
7321 vehicles equaling 30 - 39 mph








Wednesday, February 10, 2010

FOIE News

In May 2007 and June 2008 Flintshire County Council's representative for Arrive Alive now called the All Wales Safety Partnership recorded traffic data on Chester Rd, Penyffordd.

I then made an FOIE request (R001967) to FCC for the above data in MS Excel format. The FOIE was denied telling the outright lie that the data could not be exported in Excel format.

It's at least a year and maybe 18 months this nonsense has been going on. I have been bombarding officers and councillors over this issue. Finally Council Leader Arnold Woolley got involved which led to Lisa my wife and me in Arnold's office with the FOI guy and the road safety officer who recorded the data.

I was allowed to see data on the screen and could ask for reports but they were still stonewalling on handing over the data. Came away with little except a posibility that the 30mph limit would be pushed back.

Three weeks on after further pushing I have finally got 2008 data. They say 2007 data has been lost. I must be the only person in the UK who has ever asked for this data and they have "lost" half of it.

They were having a little trouble exporting the data so I supplied them with the software manual that I had asked the traffic data collection company for.

So the data arrived by email in PDF format protected by a 128 bit encrypted password. I can browse data but not copy it. Also there are various conditions such as asking permission before publishing data on the net.

The time stamp has also been removed in case I logged registration numbers and times while the recording device was installed. They are suposedly protecting drivers identities.
What a laugh.

The above data should be supplied free to communities so they can see the exact danger that vehicle spose to communities.

Instead Arrive Alive fool communities with averages. For example Chester Rd average at a certain point in the 30 mph zone is 28mph. This hides a 1000 speeding vehicles a day.

It stinks.

I hope to be able to move on from that above.

Many thanks to Council Leader Arnold Woolley.

keywords   gosafe.org 

Short People - I have been one all my life



Randy Newman a class act.

Link Wikipedia

Monday, February 08, 2010

The Duke of Westminster's Garden Centre

Veg plugs will be coming in this week the following varieties will be available.

capsicum hot-cayenne
Capsicum Sweet Green
Capsicum Sweet Red
Capsicum Sweet Yellow
Capsicum Sweet Banana
Strawberry Temptation
Tomato Gardner's Delight
Tomato Italian Plum
Tomato Money-maker
Tomato Sun gold
Super Marmande
Tumbling Tom Red

Other varieties of veg plants will be in stock from the beginning of April i.e. carrots, lettuce, cabbage,beans, raddish, leeks, onions, beetroot, cauliflower etc

Penyffordd Community Council Meeting Wednesday 10th February 2010

It is now 36 months since I sent a polite letter to PCC pointing out we had a lot of speeding traffic passed the house. Nigel the clerk came on the phone saying that speeding was nothing to do with the council.

This of course is not true. Are  the council still risking lives of Penyffordd residents by not pressing the agencies* in charge of traffic policing to do their job?

There is also the matter of environment.

*North Wales Police, All Wales Safety Partnership.

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Black Gold

After the walk today we went up to Green Lodge farm Llandegla. Elwyn the farmer said I could help myself to his pile of well rotted cow manure. I went up with three empty sheep vitamin buckets to put the black gold in. When I got into the field I was suddenly surrounded by about 30 expectant sheep who spotted the vitamin buckets. They must put good stuff in the vitamins. Elwyn says the vitamin buckets are £20 a throw. The empty buckets are good for growing tomatoes in.
The black gold does not smell and has red wrigglers and nematodes in it. Not so sure about the nematodes though.....

Link
Invertebrates of the compost pile
Red wrigglers

Friday, February 05, 2010

Carl Sargeant AM receives black belt


Last week Carl's minister's car was reported to have been involved in an accident. The details were brief but didn't look serious. So I fired off a get well soon email that was a bit flippant. It now turns out the accident was a head on with seat belts locking and air bags initiating. Carl has been in some discomfort since the accident.

I would imagine just sitting or lying will be causing great discomfort.

Carl is a heavy chap and would require a lot of stopping by seat belts.
Unless you have been in an accident* you may not know that seatbelts cause large black bruises and airbags make your nose bleed.

*thankfully not me

Anyway Carl hopes to makes it to next weeks WAG important voting.

Get well soon Carl

Link Daily Post
 

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Impass

With regards ongoing unpoliced speeding through Chester Rd.

1. Mark Tami MP has written to Chief Constable Mark Polin on my (and others on Chester Rd) behalf
with regards no traffic policing of Chester Rd.
2. Penyffordd Community Council have had postponed meetings due to snow, ice and panto rehearsals.
3. Arrive Alive ?
4. There is a possibilty that the 30 mph limit can be pushed back.

keywords   gosafe.org 

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

On our dog walks

we see buzzards most days. The crows and ravens dive bomb buzzards who never offer any retaliation even though they are larger and have the ability to inflict damage. However here are two buzzards fighting over food.


Link The Mail Online

Cllr Colin Bithell in The Leader on Padeswood bridge lorry incident

As Roland Cleth says stupid lorry driver, no more no less.
My comment at the bottom.

Link The Leader

Monday, February 01, 2010

Lorry hits Padeswood railway bridge

Link The Chronicle

My next letter to The Leader

is constructed and they have not even put the article on their website. The Daily Post are running a story about getting more Flintshire County Council workers on their bikes for better fitness. Bikes and vehicles do not mix especially on A roads. Lisa, myself and the dogs were nearly seriously injured / killed  in our car last week when a Dragon Fuel Oil lorry came 3 foot over a white line on a bend on the notorius A5104 outside Penyffordd going to Treuddyn.

A and many B roads are race tracks there is no traffic policing.

Until Sustrans and the like construct alternative cycle tracks to A roads, deaths of cyclists will just rise.

Link Daily Post
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