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Trunk road tree felling
8:13am Thursday 1st May 2008
Comments (42)Barnet Council has an excellent record on tree management and has the highest number of street trees of any London borough therefore I was astounded to read your article Hundreds of trees cut down in environmental crime' (Times Series, April 24).
Many of the felled trees overhung the North Circular Road, and the decision was taken to remove this danger from the travelling public.
To knowingly leave these trees in place would have amounted to gross negligence on Barnet Council's part.
A new management plan for the Glebeland Nature Reserve is under review and will start in 2009. Working in conjunction with the volunteer groups who undertake conservation work at the site this plan will identify the management requirements to further encourage wildlife and develop biodiversity.
Councillor Matthew Offord, Cabinet member for environment and transport
Your Say YourTimes Series
Don't Call Me Dave, People's Republic of Barnet says...
3:42pm Thu 1 May 08
Backbone went out following the introduction of the Local Government Act 2000 and the awful Cabinet system we now have to endure. Prior to that, Councillors received a modest allowance of a few hundred £££ a year which ensured that only those committed to public service sought election. Now a backbench councillor can earn a minimum of £9,735 p.a. just for showing his/her face twice a year. Cabinet members get an additional £17,000 and the Leader £34,000. Not bad money for a part time job! Councillors dare not criticise the Leader for fear of losing all their allowances.
Reality, Bites says...
3:49pm Fri 2 May 08
To be a Councillor you have to spend years pounding the streets handing out leaflets, dealing with residents problems, keeping informed of current affairs.
You have to give up most of your spare time either attending meetings, campaigning or planning your next piece of work.
Virtually nobody will ever thank you, but you will get plenty of abuse for your trouble.
Because you give up most of your spare time, you miss out on your family, you miss out on non-political social activities such as friends/sport/etc.
It costs money to be in politics, somebody has to fund the leaflets, the software, the badges, the props, the political agents, etc: and that money comes from the pockets of the councillors themselves OR the activist before he is elected.
And you do not get very much money for doing what is in effect a full time job, especially in London
So people who condemn councillors for taking expenses, should spend 8 years in the shoes of a political activist before they consider themselves qualified to comment.
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
6:19pm Fri 2 May 08
The bloke in Hale Ward who just got elected was 13 8 years ago. I don't think he's spent years pounding the beat.
You missed the point that Dave was making. Now it's a job, there are real financial risks to opposing council policy. If Offord went out on a limb, he'd lose his Cabinet bonus. Thats about £7 Grand, so it's not to be sniffed at.
That is why some of these guys lack backbone.
I don't think Offord got elected to decimate the natural habitats in Barnet. I suspect he knows he's wrong.
As I said above the problem is lack of backbone to go out on a limb. I don't think that a system of subservience does anyone any good.
Reality, Bites says...
9:09pm Fri 2 May 08
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
2:41pm Sat 3 May 08
I take it you agree with chopping down loads of healthy trees in a conversation area to save cash or are you just being pedantic?
Reality, Bites says...
3:44pm Sat 3 May 08
Joh, Doe says...
4:49pm Sat 3 May 08
Rog T IS making petty insults. He devalues all that he has to say, of whatever worth, by such low gibes.
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
5:11pm Sat 3 May 08
I'm sticking with the point of this thread i.e. chopping down trees, to which I really object, rather than indulging in silly arguments that are totally irrelevant to the issue which Matthew Offord wrote.
Paul Bond, Whetstone says...
6:08pm Sat 3 May 08
some of the comments posted here today need to be challenged: making personal insults against commentators is pitiful and Rog T should not indulge in such practices
W Offal, Barnet says...
6:16pm Sat 3 May 08
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
7:39pm Sat 3 May 08
I guess that is actually a backhanded compliment. If I'm the awkward squad, does that make you the extremely nice & servile squad?
Matthew Offord is the cabinet minister for the Environment in Barnet and so presumably he has access to all of the report which he could publish to refute my claims that these trees could have been pruned, if such things existed. If they don't then he's just blagging it. I know Matthew and if he shows me the documents, I'll post a retraction & say what a great bloke he is for doing a good job.
Matthew is a big boy and quite able to look after himself, without the help of his "servile squad". All of you faint hearted types rushing to his defence are clearly unfamiliar with the great British tradition of hurling insults at politicians. Winston Churchill, our greatest ever PM was the finest proponent of this. You should check his banter with Lady Astor if you think I'm bad.
I happen to hate the type of bland, passionless, namby pamby debate you lot would have us all stick to.
Much as I dislike Brian Colemans politics, the one thing I like about him is he is unafraid to be very rude to people who he thinks are idiots. We need more of this not less.
If people do not want to be called spineless , they should either retreat from public life or develop a backbone.
If they don't want to be called pedants they should not start leaving pedantic posts on local paper websites.
I've been called everything from a Loony Lefty to a fascist on this site in the last few months and I couldn't give a monkeys, I find it quite funny.
If Matthew wants nice comments, he could always do the job he's paid to do and protect and nurture the natural habitats in Barnet by bullying the treasurer of Barnet for some money to pay for it. It's called going out on a limb and that is where the backbone comes in. Comprende?????
John, Edgware says...
8:27pm Sat 3 May 08
When somebody actually said that Councillors of all persuasions work very hard and might deserve some reward, his emotion couldnt bear that and so he made dismissive personal comments rather that tackling the point in question.
When multiple postings pointed out that his personal comments demeaned his whole argument, he reacted emotionally.
Obviously he can only react emotionally and does not think his argument through: ergo he is intellectually bankrupt.
To compare himself to Churchill is so lame: more of a Hague than Churchill if truth be told.
Danny, Southgate says...
9:39pm Sat 3 May 08
The far left and the fascists are but two faces of the same beast: National Socialism.
A telling trait of National Socialists is when they dont like the opinion of a person, they attack the person.
In fact, the only difference between the two sides is that the fascists have better parties.
We need beware the person who reacts with violent emotion and makes petty attacks.
Danny, Southgate says...
9:56pm Sat 3 May 08
As otherwise said, the public are often right, especially when many people come to the same decision.
Donald, Finchley says...
10:22pm Sat 3 May 08
.
Reality, Bites says...
10:36pm Sat 3 May 08
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
9:46am Sun 4 May 08
Left & Fascist? I guess with you guys I now know where the Moron in Oxymoron comes from.
So come on guys, answer the question which seems so difficult. Do you think that the Council should have chopped down sa load of healthy trees on a site of scientific importance to save a few quid? do you support this sort of vandalism or not. STop squirming like worms on a hook and answer the question.
Reality, Bites says...
11:07am Sun 4 May 08
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
12:41pm Sun 4 May 08
I'm surprised you haven't rang your mates and got them to join in this time
Donald, Chelwood says...
1:50pm Sun 4 May 08
He should be ashamed.
Dawn, of the Hotel Age?? says...
8:53pm Sun 4 May 08
BNP supporters are not interested in the truth, only in what satisfies their idle emotional whims.
Donald, East Finchley says...
11:21pm Sun 4 May 08
Don't Call Me Dave, People's Republic of Barnet says...
11:31pm Sun 4 May 08
For generations, local councils ran very well with elected members receiving only nominal allowances. Everyone who knows anything about local government knows that it is the officers who do the day to day work and they, quite rightly, get paid for it (even if some are grotesquely overpaid). We, the people, were never consulted about the changes that allow some councillors to claim over £40,000 a year. In Barnet, more than £1 million of our money is spent on these allowances. Are we getting value for money?
People used to stand for election out of a sense of civic duty - just as some give up their spare time for charitable purposes. What sort of society is it if we only seek to serve our local community if there is a pay check involved? How many of the current councillors could honestly say they would stand again if the present allowances were scrapped?
Commentators talk about the democratic deficit and nowhere is this more true than in Barnet with the unhealthy powers of patronage afforded to the Tory leader. Labour elects its members of the shadow cabinet. For the Tories, cabinet posts are in the gift of the leader. For proof of how damaging this is for democracy, you only need to witness the disgraceful treatment of Cllr Christopher Harris who was sacked for having the audacity to stand up for the residents who elected him by opposing Mike Freers proposals to flog off Hendon Football Club. No wonder, Cllr Offord does his masters bidding.
And while we are on the subject of democracy, how is the council allowed to get away with making members of the ruling party chairmen of key scrutiny committees? It makes a mockery of the whole system. Scrutiny chairmen with aspirations of joining the Freerloaders in the Cabinet will simply not rock the boat. In Westminster, the key Finance Committee is always chaired by an opposition MP. By the same token, Barnets Cabinet Overview & Scrutiny Committee should be chaired by Labour.
On the subject matter of trees (the original point of this thread), take a look at the excellent letter in Saturdays Daily Telegraph from His Honour Judge Simon Brown, Master of the Garden of the Inner Temple: http://www.telegraph
.co.uk/opinion/main.
jhtml?xml=/opinion/2
008/05/03/nosplit/dt
0301.xml#head2
Reality, Bites says...
8:37am Mon 5 May 08
But to return to the overriding purpose of this thread: We've been having some great fun with Rog T, lets not spoil that.
Reality, Bites says...
8:44am Mon 5 May 08
PS, nice to have a reasonable human being expressing 'green' ideas, rather than the annoying Green party and other lefties
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
10:46am Mon 5 May 08
That point was clearly a little too subtle for the Moron squad. Either that or they have a complete inability to tell anything other than porkies.
Well Mr "Reality Bites" (Nice name is it rhyming slang?) and Mr Donald et all.
Why can't you just answer a simple question regarding these trees?
You might find people trying to ensure that Barnet stays a green leafy borough "Annoying green lefties". You always do until something affects you then you morph into "outraged of Berkhampstead" or wherever you come from.
So what is your view on green issues. Come on boys, develop some Gonads and tell us what you stand for? Surely you know.
Reality, Bites says...
10:50am Mon 5 May 08
Who, Knows where says...
10:53am Mon 5 May 08
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
10:55am Mon 5 May 08
Do you actually have any thing intelligent to add?
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
10:58am Mon 5 May 08
I suspect this is the only poking you'll be doing for the forseeable future
who, knows where says...
11:05am Mon 5 May 08
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
11:06am Mon 5 May 08
who, where says...
11:25am Mon 5 May 08
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
11:32am Mon 5 May 08
Well you must have the healthiest Prostrate in Barnet then.
By the way, why aren't you posting under your usual monica? I'd recognise that turn of phrase anywhere
but, where is she? says...
11:50am Mon 5 May 08
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
11:58am Mon 5 May 08
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
12:07pm Mon 5 May 08
Elvis has left the, building says...
12:14pm Mon 5 May 08
But know it's time to say Thank You, Thank you and good night.
Elvis has left the building.
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
12:57pm Mon 5 May 08
To quote Greg Lake
"And I woke with a yawn at the first break of dawn and I saw him right through his disguise."
I just wonder why you don't put the effort into looking after the environment that you do into getting your mates to post stupid comments on this website?
Until we meet again ....
Rog T, Mill Hill says...
8:42pm Mon 5 May 08
Reading the letter, it struck me how intelligent and compassionate Lady T was. Not qualities we would always associate with her later public profile. At the time she was a hard working local MP doing her best for people in her constituency who didn't even have a vote.
Now as you probably can tell from the postings above, I am not a Tory, but the Lady had class.
Maybe this is a lesson the modern Barnet Tories could learn.
I would suggest that the Candidate for Finchley would especially benefit from his predecesors example.
Don't Call Me Dave, People's Republic Of Barnet says...
10:22pm Mon 5 May 08
There is more chance of the Pope's wife giving birth to triplets than there is of the Conservative candidate for Finchley emulating the success of his illustrious predecessor. Thatcherite he aint!
Whilst Maggie contracted the hubris syndrome after some ten years in office, Mike Freer already has it!
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Rog T, Mill Hill says...
12:15pm Thu 1 May 08
It is bad enough having all of Offords distortions & half truths once.
I know a firm of tree surgeons very well who are familair with this stretch. This is cost saving by Barnet Council as most of these trees could simply have been pruned. This is a recurring cost however (you have to do it regularly), wheras vandalism and destruction of these trees is a one off cost.
Barnet pay lip service to Environmentalism. It all goes out of the window when they actually have to make difficult decisions.
What we need is politicians with a bit of backbone. Not these invertebrate careerists we seem to be ruled by.