Barnet Council Has Lost The Plot – Let’s Hope Mark Shooter Becomes Leader

But what is surely unacceptable is for LBB to apply to itself for planning permission when it had a sitting tenant on the land. Everyone knew the tenant wanted to leave to facilitate the development provided it enjoyed a share of the sale proceeds. It was wrong and value destructive for LBB to apply for planning permission safe in the knowledge that its award would enhance the value of the sale proceeds to be given away to the third party.

By 2004 a culture of non-scrutiny had set in, and the district auditor bent over backwards not to find anything wrong.

The last seven years have seen Council standards slip into the mire. The Council should start behaving with integrity. It needs a fresh leader with integrity and moral fortitude. I hope Shooter gets his chance.

Last year Kate Salinger acted with great integrity by standing up to proposed increases in allowances for Councillors. She was thanked by Eric Pickles MP but savaged by the leadership and stripped of her responsibilities.

This spring, LBB has tried to force the 45 allotment societies to run their own sites from April 2012 under draconian lease terms. Pressure was applied through a new cosh – an unlawful attempt to increase the rents by 200%. Under threat of litigation LBB recently backed down. What a staggering waste of taxpayers’ money this sorry saga is now shown to be. There has been no apology from LBB to the allotment societies for the stress and misery of the unlawful and now withdrawn rental increases.

A noble lawyer from East Finchley is challenging LBB in the High Court over the unjustified 150% increase in parking charges forced through this January.

Cornelius is coloured by his leading role in the present regime and his disinterest in looking into the gross misconduct of the Council and its senior officers. I have had no contact with Andrew Harper but I fear the same applies to him. Mark Shooter seems to me to be an honest man and a passionate believer in the community and the values that most of us share. Let us hope that he is given a chance. At present LBB’s conduct has reached such a nadir as to make that of the Borgias appear to glow with moral virtue. Forgive me mentioning my immense personal pleasure to be Lord’s on Sunday. I was lucky enough to watch Dilshan break a batting record which had stood for 27 years. I was a guest of the Chief Executive in his grandstand box, sitting two places along from….Sidath Wettymuny, the man whose record score of 190 was set 1984. Wettymuny, as the photo shows, is still in great shape, enjoying golf and looking much younger than his 54 years.

I introduced the subject of Council allotments at this lunch. I explained that allotment gardening is the source of the expression “Losing the Plot”. I explained how, shortly after WW2 with food rationing, vegetable cultivation sites were at a premium. Allotment site managers strictly imposed the rules compelling plotholders to cultivate. There were long waiting lists and anyone who broke the rule risked being stripped of their plot. One young chap, who had gone away for a long weekend and unwittingly allowed a few weeds to germinate was devastated to face the ultimate punishment on his return. He was stripped of his plot, and went mad. This is the source of the expression “losing the plot”.

As Sidath Wettymuny shook my hand at the end of a rainy Sunday he remembered the tale and cautioned me “Don’t Lose the Plot”. I hope not to. It is a beautiful plot as illustrated in the second attached picture of my wife inspecting our cabbages.

Barnet Council have badly lost the plot. Under Mark Shooter many of us would regain hope that they would find it once again.

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here