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Friday 27 February 2015

ART WORLD AND BORIS JOHNSON SAYING GOOD THINGS ABOUT VICTORIA BORWICK

Click here KENSINGTON-A GLOBAL ARTS & ANTIQUES CENTRE to read what art and antique dealers are saying
This is an industry vital to the economy of the constituency.


And Boris has this to say about Victoria Borwick in the Standard.


THE DAME DECIDES......

Palmer-local debile
Cllr Palmer has forced the Dame to exclude all comments on forthcoming candidates-positive or negative.
Cllr Palmer has been posting a series of defamatory comments which leave the poor old Dame vulnerable to actions for defamation.

Thursday 26 February 2015

KENSINGTON HAS A BATTLE ON ITS HANDS.....WITH CONSERVATIVE HQ!

INCOGNITO DAME
The veiled and refined old lady could have been any one of those elegant ladies who potter around  Kensington Gardens with their companions.
Little did the Conservative bigwigs know the Dame herself had infitrated their meeting. 
She brings you this report.....


.....An open selection for Kensington's next Member of Parliament will take place on the evening of Friday 13th March when a short list of three candidates will pitch for the job at a meeting of Kensington Tories. 
More than 500 of the Association's 1700 membership are expected to attend and vote.
So far so good. 
But, between now and then a Borgia type process to produce the short list of three candidates will take place.
The local Conservative Association is on the back foot with power concentrated in Conservative HQ. 
It has its "approved" Candidates List and hopefuls will be decided from this list. About 200 of the "listed" are expected to apply and Central Office (Grant Shapps and the Chairman of The List) will produce a short list of six. 
It is only at this stage the Kensington Association will have the first chance to take part in the process by choosing the final short list of three candidates. 
The Kensington Association has let it be known that it hopes to be given six candidates-all with a local connection. Estimates are that approximately forty people on the list fit this bill.

This is a bonkers process and has no relationship to the empty word "localism" so often on the lips of David Cameron. When will our political Leaders "get it" and start to understand voters are sick and tired of being used as cannon fodder to shelter favourites? 
Kensington wants its own home grown MP. 
Not someone from Surrey. Or even Fulham. 
We have had outside celebrities forced on us in the last thirty or years and enough is enough.

THE DAME'S NEW BF
The new Association Chairman, Cllr Mills, has a fight on her hands. 
She needs to take a high profile in the world of affairs and articulate the Kensington View: "A local MP for Kensington". 
Nothing more, nothing less. 
And the Association has its own internal muddle to sort out. Its 1700 members include Chelsea and Fulham, who have their own Member of Parliament. 
Greg Hands's lot should have nothing to do with the election of a Kensington MP. 
WANDERING DIGITS
And Kensington is currently crawling with Fulham types who are just not welcome. 
They are just not couth and lower the tone.

Atypical was hideous, triple chinned Stephen Greenhalgh. Steve is the one whose fat little fingers didn't touch a ladies bottom-even if he apologised that they may have.....
They were all over the place at the Association AGM.
God knows what My Lord Cumudgeon thought of it all....

Locals who have declared are....

Jonathan Read
Victoria Borwick
Rock Feilding Mellen
Mary Weale
Daniel Moylan
Greg Smith.....not really local
Warwick Lightfoot
Quentin Marshall

plus sundry others from neigbouring constituencies

A RESIDENT DWELLS ON BORWICK

This resident, involved in the charitable sector, accurately gauges the character of Victoria Borwick. 
This is why the Dame has made it prominent.
It simply tells us why VB would serve us well. 
She may not to talk the hind legs off a donkey but what she does say is simple, clear and honest.

"Kensington has had a chequered history of Parliamentary Representation. 

Residents do not need the dreadful Moylan, everywhere he goes he leaves a trail of destruction, he kills everything that is good about this Borough and gives a damn about no one but himself. His track record speaks loudly for itself on Exhibition Road. 

We are in a time that is delicately balanced in terms of all of our financial and social wellbeing and its time to be serious for everyones sake. 

The only candidate suitable for this job is Victoria Borwick, she doesn't brag, she is highly thought of by local residents, is fearless in her commitment to them and has something that is clearly missing from politics today....integrity. 

Victoria stood strongly behind the families during the Tri Borough Special Needs School Transport debacle, has worked tirelessly for residents on local issues and still managed to work for our larger London Community during the Olympics and the Queens Jubilee both of which made us all proud to be Londoners. 

But its not just the very public agendas that Victoria has worked with and for, she has also championed issues that are not so headline grabbing but which matter to people living working and raising children in London. These have included Access to Childcare, Children in Care, Mental Ill Health, Disability Hate Crime. Dementia and FGM. She has addressed issues such as Transport, Congestion, Reducing Fuel Poverty, London Ambulance Service and Policing. All things that matter to people from whatever backgrounds they come from. 

There is not one politician that has so far been mooted for this very important position that has this wealth and breath of expertise as well as in-depth local knowledge and who most importantly cares about our community. 

If the selection committee does not select Victoria Borwick, they would yet again be making a dreadful mistake. 

CAMERON TRIES TO DUMP MATE ON KENSINGTON

Clare's carpet bag


There is an exquisite piece of nonsense in the Telegraph which you should read by clicking HERE

The thrust of the piece is that the voters of Kensington should accept a friend of Cameron's responsible for some of his more bizarre speeches.
And because she once drove a ice cream van she can spin she is working class!
But it's the impudence of Cameron that stuns.
He knows Kensington has been neglected by successive MP's, yet tries to foist another 'drop in' on us.
We need an MP who can hit the road running...one who know the constituency inside out...and that is not this 'poet', Clare Foges

The comments on the Telegraph should be read: they are hilarious!

TAXING TIMES....


A resident has written to the Dame asking whether she knew English Heritage, the useless quango charged with looking after our dwindling heritage had walked smack bang into a blatant conflict of interest in employing CapCo's architect, Richard Coleman.
EH retained Coleman to review Earls Court's heritage links.....
EH have granted a Certificate of Immunity allowing the South African's to smash Earls Court to the ground.
Before he took up the review Coleman had CapCo and planning specialists, DP9 as clients......

Still on Capco....it seems CapCo and Boris and Peter Hendy's TfL have a discreet little JV in that other sunny place for shady people, tax resistant Jersey....
Their joint venture is based at 22 Seale St, St Helier.
It's good to know that Boris is saving us taxpayer's tax by basing the biz in Jersey.

WESTWAY TRUST'S NEW BUSINESS PARTNER!

Here is some stuff about the Gumball 3000 founder whose company will be replacing Sarah Turvey's socially valuable stables.
Mr Cooper changed his name to Maximillion to reflect his love of money....

Maximillion Cooper net worth: Maximillion Cooper AKA Maximillion Fife Alexander Cooper is an entrepreneur, skateboarder and race car driver who has a net worth of $50 million. Maximillion Cooper is probably most famous for being the founder of the Gumball 3000 car race. 


Born in Stone, Staffordshire, England, Cooper launched his first company in 1999 after earning a Degree in Law from Sussex University. The Gumball 3000 is a popular international racing company that also puts on concerts and has a clothing line. The race is a 3000 mile international rally across public roads. The route is different every year and racers must finish the course in just seven days. Participants typically use exotic super cars such as Ferraris and Lamborghinis to complete the race. Cooper has four children with his ex-wife Julie Brangstrup, with whom he also co-founded the Gumball. Max has been the rapper Eve since 2010. Eve and Cooper actually met when she participated in the rally for clothing brand Puma, a few years back.

Wednesday 25 February 2015

DANIEL MOYLAN TELLS SELECTION COMMITTEE TO PICK HIM

Daniel Moylan tells all willing to listen that the selection committee would be mad not to pick him.
NOT RESIDENTS CHAMPION

Wiser residents know it would be mad if they did.
Moylan has always demonstrated utter contempt for the views of residents.
His last few years have been passed triple jobbing at City Hall-much to the relief of fellow councillors who took much pleasure in NOT electing him as Leader!

The triple jobbing has been immensely profitable providing Moylan with an income of close to £140,000 a year.

On Cllr Moylan's record can voters expect a kindly shoulder to cry on?
His record suggests not.... 
Moylan regards the rest of the world as stupid, but if such a brainbox how come Boris had to remove him as chairman of Olympic Legacy? 
Could it have been at the instigation of the rest of the Board?
And, as Aviation adviser, how did he manage to piss off so many MP's they all swung behind Heathrow?

Closer to home there are blatant examples of the man's disdain for those of us who live in the Borough.
His £27 million project to pave Exhibition Rd with pink granite shipped from China (and mined by political prisoners) was yet another example of sheer hubris.
His plan to wreck Sloane Square was fought tooth and nail by residents who had to endure his sneering and bullying.
Fortunately, James and Margaret Thompson put paid to this oafish idea.
And which councillor stood side by side with residents? 
None other than Victoria Borwick.
Daniel Moylan is a true Irishman.... great with the oratorical gifts. 
But we need someone who will fight for us and that person is not he.

BORWICK THROWS HAT INTO THE RING!

 Local girl, Victoria Borwick, has come out in the Standard today saying she wants to be considered for the Kensington seat BORWICK TO WANTS TO STAND





Tuesday 24 February 2015

A RESIDENT SAYS NO SNOW PLEASE

A resident writes...
says NO to Cameron mate....


SNOW SHO0-IN











Dear Dame

If the Sun is to be believed....and they seem 100% behind their source David Cameron is going to force another celebrity outsider on the voters of Kensington.
The Sun say that Dan Snow, the television presenter, is Cameron's choice. 
Note the 'Cameron's Choice'....

One hopes that the Constituency Association will tell Cameron that they will make their own decision.
In our midst, in Victoria Borwick, we have someone we know and respect.
She has served residents with passion, committment and intelligence and has done a fantastic job for Boris.
How dare Cameron think he can foist upon us someone who has done nothing for us and will be spending as much time as Rifkind pursuing his money making activities.

Victoria Borwick is a local girl made good in local government. She is the ideal candidate.

Kind regards

Peter H***s



A DIPLOMATIC ACCIDENT AT HORNTON ST

Tonight is a standout evening in the Town Hall diary.
This evening our councillors have laid on a huge feast for London's Diplomatic Corps.
TOWN HALL DIPLOMATIC DO

So why is the Dame grumpy? 
Well, she had hoped that a stiff, embossed invitation would be winging its way in the Mayoral Bentley. Sadly, it was not to be.


Some killjoys wonder what our councillors are doing pretending to be the Foreign Office: after all, is this not something Sir Malcolm would have been hosting in better, long gone days and how does it benefit us, the taxpayer?

But here is the funny thing. 
Our Borough hardly hosts the creme de la creme of the diplomatic corps. 
The majority of the countries based here are those you would not wish your children to be sending gap year postcards from. 
Most seem to be run by despots or gangsters-or both.
So why, in these desperate days, are we taxpayers being asked to fund, not just an irrelevancy, but a function best left to the FCO? 
The few thousand pounds it cost could have been spent, with greater efficacy, closer to home.
Come on, Nick... It was another pompous Pooter idea you can afford to can.


DON'T TAKE IT AS READ

The Constituency Asssociation has been mismanaged for years.
This is the moment for a clean sweep in every way.
The Dame hears that some naive members have been seduced by the rhetoric of failed ex councillor, Jonathon Read.
They need to think hard-and again.
In Earls Court, Read was cordially disliked. 
The arrogance of his ways eventually led to him being turfed out.
Do we really want, as chaiman, a man so hopeless, he cannot even keep a council seat?
Hardly much recommendation for a man who boasts of his campaigning skills.....

There is really only one intelligent choice as chairman and that has to be Councillor Julie Mills.
Clever, personable and genuinely nice, Julie will be the sort of inspirational leader the constituency needs.

As usual, the Dame's 17th cent ormulu mounted telephone has been trilling away. 
It's the Usual Suspects all trying to gain her ear and persuade her to back them. 
The Dame's fabulous Faberge telephone

First off, young Feilding Mellen. Sadly, the Dame had to brush him off with a 'come back in several years time when you have learnt judgment and how NOT to alienate ordinary people'. 
Then a very bombastic Danny Boys Moylan telling the Dame how clever he was. 

The Dame had to remind him of how the past would so often came back to haunt one....
Pooter Cockell has still not called. 
Were he to do so the Dame would be forced to remind him his expenses record and love of money would not auger well.

Clearly, the choice needs to be a 'quality' local political personality with a track record in 'local' local government.
Let's hope the right choice is made: it won't be too difficult.



Monday 23 February 2015

THE DAME AHEAD OF THE CURVE

The Conservative Constituency Association committee should re-read Malc's response to the Dame's critique of his numerous extra mural non executive directorships.
He sidesteps the Dame's focus, instead inviting the old girl to have a cuppa and a dry biscuit!
The Dame won't be bought with cups of tea and turned him down......


  Dame,
 Thank you for your invitation to respond to your friendly article in Hornets Nest.
 You wrote in your article that you had invited my Labour opponent to meet you. 

So far as I am aware (as you keep your identity secret I do not know who you are) we have not met. 
I would be delighted to meet you and could do so either at a place of your choosing or (if it would not be misunderstood or misrepresented !)  we could meet at my office in the House of Commons.
    Turning to your article it would appear that you have been misinformed. I have been domiciled in London for some time  as London has been were we have lived since I became MP for Kensington 10 years ago. Our house in Scotland is in the process of being sold.
    Secondly, you take issue with my practice of inviting constituents who need to see me to my office in the House of Commons. We provide a streamlined service more suitable for the modern age. A large proportion of all problems from constituents are communicated by e-mail. I, and my excellent staff of three give a quick response which can often mean a letter going from me or my staff right away to, for example, the Director of Housing or the Home Office instead  of waiting for a surgery the following week. If constituents need a personal meeting with me because they need time to explain their problem or because of its complexity they get a meeting. We often receive thanks from constituents for the quality of the service they receive.
You imply that I am inactive in Kensington. You are again misinformed. This evening, for example, I shall be in Campden and Holland . Next week I shall be in Pembridge. Recently I was at an event in Abingdon. I spent last Friday in North Kensington. I visited the new Academy, met with the Principal, toured the building and met many of the pupils. Later that day I went up to the Hub in Kensal Road for a meeting with youngsters who had invited me there. I attend meetings in Dalgarno of all the organisations, including residents, who work to improve the quality of life of those who live in that part of North Kensington.
As I hope we will meet in the near future I will leave it until then to discuss with you how I plan to continue doing a robust job for my constituents.
Feel free to publish all or any of this as you choose.
         with best wishes
            Malcolm

WILL POOTER COME TO THE AID OF MALC....VERY DOUBTFULL




Jack Straw's behaviour is as heinous as Malc Rifkind. 
If Straw had a connection with the Borough he would have got the same kicking.


When the Dame wrote what Malc described as an 'awfully polite' article about him he neglected, in his reply, to address the matter of his myriad non executive directorships...typical politician/ lawyer!

Interestingly, Malc and his best friend, Sir Pooter Cockell have much in common. 
Both grabbed every chance to make as much money as possible: Malc thorough his many NED's and Pooter by garnering as many local government sinecures as he could.
But, then who but an idiot would wish to pay an ex fag salesman for advice.

Malcolm and Pooter are peas in a pod....

Sunday 22 February 2015

MALCOLM RIFKIND-THE 'GO TO' EX FOREIGN SECRETARY FOR BUSINESS CLAIM C.4 'DESPATCHES'

Sir Malc Rifkind  is to feature in a Channel 4 'Cash for Questions'  investigation going out tomorrow night.

Read what Malc is quoted as saying he can fix...LINK
And Jack Straw is just as bad!







"Malc told undercover reporters from this newspaper(Daily Tel) and Channel 4’s Dispatches, to be broadcast on Monday night, that he would submit questions to ministers on behalf of a paying client, without revealing their identity.
Sir Malcolm also described himself as “self-employed” and had to “earn my income” — despite being paid £67,000 by the taxpayer for his work as an MP. The disclosure that two of Britain’s most senior politicians are embroiled in a new “cash for access” scandal highlights Parliament’s failure to address the issue which has plagued British politics for a generation"

A RESIDENT WRITES ABOUT NON ENFORCEMENT

The Dame wishes more of you would write in with your thoughts on life in the Borough.
This is an excellent addition to the debate. 
Thanks Local Resident


Dear Dame,

Having lived in our fair borough for some decades, I have been forced to acknowledge that basically I am living on a sand dune:when it comes to keeping the streets nice, and noise and other nuisance at a bearable level, air pollution at bay as much as possible, and avaricious developers on the straight and narrow where listed buildings and conservation area properties are concerned, it seems to be two strides forward , then sliding one step back...

After discussing this with neighbours, the general feeling seems to be that, although layers of laws, by-laws and regulations exist, our council seems strangely reluctant to enforce them .
Why is that, one wonders...? 
We are told, that there just is not enough manpower to cope 
with it all. 
How is that possible, when the Leader of the Council in one of his roadshows proudly declared that in the past fiscal year RBKC had managed to save £28m, and yet there is money in the pot to purchase designer chairs to be bashed about by schoolboys(Holland Park Academy); to purchase expensive items of public art, and support loss-making musical extravaganzas?

Although some enforcement officers are working very hard, and one feels that the improvement  of an area is of genuine concern to them, the same cannot be said for all of them, or indeed for all of their senior officers.

Planning enforcement has made a goodish effort, although anything rightly or wrongly considered a "minor infraction" is still likely to fall through the cracks. 
Transportation and Highways have made slip-ups in the past, and then, to compound matters, sadly found it necessary to stick by their "misinterpretations" (they don't make "mistakes" , don't you know). 

Environmental Health find it impossible to hand out fines to taxis , coaches and other large vehicles with Diesel engines found parked up with engines idling , of which there are many to be found in our borough . Also , barking dogs in the night and some hotel machinery stand a fair chance of flying
under the radar .

So why is our council so bashful, when it comes to dispensing fines??? This is tantamount to
disregarding a potential source of additional council revenue, which might go some way to improving living conditions in our densely populated streets. 

Until someone pulls their finger out, we shall have to circumvent homemade pavement and road obstructions, crunch through sand and grid on the pavement, hear barking dogs at half-hourly intervals during the night, narrowly miss unsecured skips in the roads when driving home at night,
and cough our way through the heavily air polluted streets of RBKC.

My plea to RBKC enforcement officers..... will you please, please exert some control over the miscreants, who make the lives of many of us a misery on a daily basis!!! 
One wonders, if failure to do so could amount to aiding and abetting...

Regards,

A local resident 

Saturday 21 February 2015

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT ROCK FEILDING MELLEN

No one doubts Nick Paget-Brown is a substantially better leader than his predecessor, the unloved and unlamented Pooter Cockell.
Unlike Pooter, Nick is genuine and, as politicians go, honest.
He is having to undo years of disregard for residents and it's no easy task.
He has another intractable problem....a young and clumsy political wannabe. 
At the time of the last leadership election the Young Turks...Marshall, Mosley et al, decided they needed someone of their age group to balance out the generational bias.
They alighted upon Rock Feilding Mellen and forced him upon Nick Paget-Brown: it was a bad calculation.
The Dame has yet to meet this young man so can only go on what she hears.
His colleagues find him immature and lacking in judgment and residents, with whom he has dealings, find him arrogant and overbearing. 
ARROGANT BOY
But worse, they look at his background and feel he has arrived where he is, not through merit, but because he is the grandson of one earl and the stepson of another.

Nothing wrong with that if you have the abilities-Rock does not.

He has succeeded in pissing everybody off. 
In the north of the Borough he is despised and in the south people ponder what possible qualification he has for leading a powerful Borough.

Sadly, for Nick he is lumbered with this liability. 

CONSULTATIONS ON BASEMENTS, TRANSPORT AND STREETS STARTS


This is the moment to comment on the draft SPD's.
If we don't we have only ourselves to blame......


Consultation on Draft Supplementary Planning Documents –
(1) Basements and (2) Transport and Streets

Regulation 12 of The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012

The Council adopted a new Planning Policy, CL7 on Basements in January 2015. The Council has now produced a draft Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) on Basements. This SPD provides further guidance on Policy CL7. When adopted this SPD will replace the Council’s existing SPD on Subterranean Development, 2009.

The Council has also produced a draft SPD on Transport and Streets which provides further guidance on a number of relevant Core Strategy policies. This SPD will replace and update the guidance set out in the Transport SPD (2008) and the parking standards set out in the Council's Unitary Development Plan (2002). It also provides additional guidance on streetscape matters that relate to development.

There is a 6 week consultation on these documents, starting on 18 February 2015 and ending at 11.59pm on 1 April 2015. The draft SPD documents, a consultation statement and other associated documents; along with the facility to respond to the consultation on-line can be found on the Council’s website using the link below –


We prefer to receive your consultation responses on-line using the link above, however, you may also respond by email or post using the details below –

Draft Basements SPD


Email – planningpolicy@rbkc.gov.uk ; or

Post –

Planning Policy Team
Planning and Borough Development
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Kensington Town Hall
Hornton Street
London W8 7NX

Draft Transport and Streets SPD


Email – james.mccool@rbkc.gov.uk ; or

THE DAME WISHES SARAH TURVEY & ANGELA McCONVILLE THE BEST OF LUCK

Those who want to save the Westway Stables must have been overjoyed to read the joint statement put out by Sarah Turvey and Angela McConville.
Particular praise needs to go in the direction of Angela. 
It takes a lot of guts to revisit a situation where firm decisions appear to have been made.

Sarah and her supporters have been given a respite until July. In just a few months they need to work up a serious business plan: one which Westway can feel comfortable with.

No one doubts Sarah's skillsets in running an equestian centre and her deep committment, but even she must realise that management is not her forte. 
She really needs some support in this area.

One clever supporter of hers told the Dame, "Sarah and her supporters needs to go into next week's meeting with a very clear strategy; one which Westway Trust can have some faith in. 
She also needs to apply for charitable status so she can fund raise and cut her business tax by 90%"
There is much to play for, but there seems to be goodwill on both sides: an essential component to bridgebuilding.




Friday 20 February 2015

FAILED COUNCILLOR BEGS THE DAME FOR SUPPORT

A irkesome Dame duty is fielding lobbying phone calls and emails from grovelling nonentities desperate for her patronage.
Over the weekend the Dame expects to enjoy 'Me Time'.
She was unamused when her major domo, ex Cllr Phelps, announced a fellow refugee from Earls Court was on the 'blower'.

GHASTLY LITTLE
FELLOW

With a roll of his eyes the disgraced Phelps announced kicked out Earls Court councillor, Jonathon Read wanted a few minutes of the Dame's time.
The very oily Read, hopes to take over from Milord Carrington as chairman of the KCFC Association and was all over the Dame like a cheap suit.

He claimed to the Dame that his skills were 'campaigning'. 
"Come on Jonny Boy" said the Dame, "if you were so damned good at campaigning how come the voters of Earls Court kicked you out on your arse?"
Read, in his time as a councillor was not just deeply unpopular with residents, but with fellow councillors and officers too. 
His other claim to notoriety was supporting every intrusive and unwanted planning application.
The KCFC Association has enough issues without electing this deeply unattractive and divisive man as chairman.

Read's silly manifesto claims...." we have tested skills in campaigning"
Well, those 'tested' skills seem to have deserted him at the last election!

RUGBY PORTOBELLO TRUST PRICED OUT BY OPERA HOLLAND PARK

This story is about much more than the meanness of Opera Holland Park: it's about how an incredibly effective K&C charity, which  does so much to help local children get a grip on life, with support from a network of committed volunteers. Please read about its work by clicking on this LINK
The Dame rarely gets emotional, but she did when she read of the wonderful work of this charity.
So she wants to know why Opera Holland Park, which costs us mugs close to a million pounds a year, is no longer affordable for the Rugby Portobello Trust.
It's a disgrace that a brilliant charity such as the Rugby Portobello Trust cannot use OHP for their event: it sounds as if it going to be a wonderful evening and all success to the Trust.




Dear Supporters,
We are writing to all of you who have been loyal supporters of our annual opera gala to tell you about our exciting plans for a new musical event in 2015.  On June 24th we will be presenting an evening of  “Midsummer Music”, hosted by Dame Janet Suzman, DBE and featuring charismatic international concert pianist Melvyn Tan and lyric soprano Nadine Benjamin, hailed by Opera Now magazine as one of the top ten rising operatic stars.
This unique event will take place at the state-of-the-art facilities of Kensington and Chelsea’s newest Academy, Kensington Aldridge Academy (http://www.schoolsplus.co.uk/kaa/facilities/). All tickets will be £70 and will include a drinks and canapé reception at 7pm and the evening will finish at 9:00pm.
Due to the increasing costs associated with Opera Holland Park, we felt it was time to create a new event, and we are delighted that such distinguished artists are joining us to make this a very special event in our summer calendar.  An official invitation and more details will follow and we look forward to welcoming you all on June 24th.
With best wishes,
The Rugby Portobello Trust

WESTWAY LINED UP GUMBALL 3000 FOR STABLES SITE NEARLY SIX MONTHS AGO!

Back in November, Angela McConville was showing off to all who would listen at Westway that she had a sponsor to take over the Stables site.
So why was she playing cat and mouse with poor Sarah in the intervening months? Why did she pretend that  Sarah's unique contribution to the community could be saved?
McConville's actions stink of rank duplicity.

In November 2014 McConville had lined up this curious organisation Gumball 3000. All the lies in the Westway statement are just that....LIES

This is what one journalist had to say about McConville's new best friends......as they say, you are judged by the company you keep....


"I came here to get a glimpse of the Gumball 3000, an annual celebration of wealth, exotic machinery, and a casual disrespect for traffic laws whose ragtag list of sponsors includes Uber, YouTube, MTV, Krispy Kreme, and Grenco Science, makers of the G Pen marijuana vaporizer. It’s a rally on public roads — think Cannonball Run, but real — and this year, participants are driving from Miami to the Mediterranean island of Ibiza, stopping briefly in New York to hop a plane across the Atlantic (yes, cars too)."

Thursday 19 February 2015

LOCAL RESIDENT DEMOLISHES UNTRUSTWORTHY WESTWAY TRUST LIES

LOCAL CHILDREN LEARNING TO RIDE

This pack of lies from the office of Angela McConville, doubtless took her overpaid team 60 man hours to put together...... a concerned local resident demolishes it minutes 






19 February 2015
Statement from Westway Trust on the tenancy of
Westway Stables Limited


The Lie:The lease of Westway Stables Limited, a tenant of Westway Trust, expires on 21 February 2015. The tenant had an option to extend the lease which it did not exercise within the given timeframe. 

The Truth:Sarah had some very health serious issues with her eldest son at the time. 
She missed the deadline by 2 days. She told the trust of her intention to renew. 
The trust was waiting for her to make a mistake; this was their opportunity for a landgrab and that's just what the unscrupulous Trust did.

The Lie:The tenant was notified in May 2014 that the lease would not be renewed on expiry.
As a tenant, Westway Stables Limited has been in persistent breach of its lease; this has included persistent rent arrears 

The Truth:Sometimes the rent was paid in arrears but any debt was always settled, in full; how else could she have remained a tenant for 20 years?

The Lie:and a failure to maintain the property to a reasonable standard. 

The Truth:The property was in a disgusting state when Sarah took it on; in fact the trust used her to front the removal of the notorious tenants and the dying animals that were there at the time. There were emaciated rabbits and chickens stuck in cages; there were horses dying on their feet and in such a state Sarah had to call the RSPCA who were forced to shoot them where they stood.  
She personally saved one pony by feeding him by drip; she slept there (which she had to due to threats of it being burned down)
She discovered the site was being used as a heroin storage spot and poured it down a drain! Those same drug dealers told her they would torch her home and kill her children, but she persisted. 
No one from the Westway Trust would dare take these people on.

The Lie:Westway Stables Limited has been unable to operate a financiallysound business.  
The Truth:So a service that lasts 20 years is unsound? 
The Lie:According to its accounts filed at Companies House it had negative assets as at 31st March 2014.  
The Truth:Miss McConville went to INSEAD. Didn't they teach her that many companies operate successfully with negative assets.
The Lie:Westway Trust, having examined the options.....
The Truth:More lies...what options did they examine?
.......took the decision to terminate the lease.

THE PROCESS
The Lie:The decision to terminate the lease was not taken lightly. 

The Truth:It was taken in light of your determination to relocate the BMX/ skate park under the Westway so you can use that valuable land for luxury retail outlets. But you have to give the BMX skate park an alternative, so getting rid of the stables solves your problem. That doesn’t really fit the Trusts remit.  Go to the stables and look at the client base, it’s culturally diverse, it has a strong mix of Muslims, Hindus, Travellers, Moroccan’s; children from lower income families. 
These people do not congregate at the skate park; they mix at the stables.

The Lie:Westway Trust examined various options, was open to alternative forms of funding 
The Truth:Another blatant lie....a personal cheque guaranteeing the whole year rent for next year was dismissed.
The Lie:and management and behaved in a responsible manner throughout the process, including:
The Lie:Being clear about the process from the outset.  We have been transparent with Westway Stables Limited as to our requirements in order to consider a renewal of the tenancy – a credible and robust management structure and significant financial investment.  
The Truth:All were submitted and dismissed by you.
The Lie: Having regular contact with Westway Stables Limited. Over the course of the review period, we have invested considerable time and resource (senior management has invested over 100 hours in the last six months) into trying to reach a solution 
The Truth:demonstrate just how you tried to reach a solution?  with Westway Stables Limited.  
One meeting and a handful of emails takes 100 hours, how do you calculate that?
The Lie:Providing a generous lease and facility improvements. Westway Stables Limited has benefited from a reasonable lease, 
The Truth:It was a normal lease which was calculated in the normal way in relation to the business rates, so how is it generous?  
 (for which the tenant is liable)  
The Truth:No she isn’t liable the last lease did not require full repair

The Lie:as well as improvements to the facilities paid for by Westway Trust.  
The Truth:Do you mean that piece of 2 x 2 wood that was put up to prop up a wall?