The Incompetance starts to shine through as true colours are revealed

The Forest of Dean District Council full meeting on July 27th , was for those of us in attendance confirming the troubled waters the Forest of Dean faces for as long as there is a Green party administration in place, supported by what was once referred to as the Labour group.
Be in no doubt , as far as the Council is concerned there is NO Labour group.
What there is , is a group of Labour members who act and vote as a Green Party seconds team, and they are led by a drop in wannabe candidate whose only ambition is to be named as the Parliamentary candidate.( he obviously enjoys losing elections)
The previous leader of the Labour group, once highly respected, has unfortunately damaged her record as a keen and powerful advocate for the community and for the Forest by being no more than voting fodder for the Greens in exchange for a chain of office.
It is very sad and frustrating.

But we must face the fact that if there is an environmental angle to a question , or to a motion, Labour Cllrs will be instructed by their Wannabe Leader to vote with the Greens, however damaging and however hypocritical .
This was never more prevalent than last Thursday concerning a motion about MOTOCross or scrambling events that many young people enjoy.

This motion, calling for more Council enforcements on such events that will undoubtedly mean such events don't happen and those youngsters will instead revert to riding their bikes in the Forest, was originally put to council debated and rejected just 6 months ago.
At that time, that very same motion was voted against by the Labour Group, very vociferously by their current leader and by the now Chair of council.
Miraculously, 33 weeks later and following all the deal making over positions in Council the Labour group now support the Green Party's suppression of motorsport in the Forest of Dean.They alongside the Greens won the vote
How very convenient for everyone , apart from those who enjoy motorsport.
Similarly. The Conservative Councillor for Tidenham, produced a motion that seemed sensible to everyone except the Greens and Labour.
He wanted the Council to extend and commit to working with MPs and government to alleviate the traffic issues that face Sedbury , Lydney and Tidenham as well as Chepstow.
A long standing issue, Our administration was really vocal on the issue for 6 years and everyone knows its something that needs sorting. Labour candidates even campaigned on the subject in the recent election.

The Greens , fearful that traffic alleviation may mean new roads or bridges went into full no more road building mode. We had talk of fire and pestilence, disease and death. Well not quite but they really don't like road building.
Nothing new there, we all know that the Green Party's idea of stopping traffic issues is to sit in front of said traffic
Labour , this time voted with the Greens and quite clearly believe the issues in the area are not important enough to have discussions with other organisations and sort the issue.
How convenient for everyone, unless you're from Sedbury, or Tidenham.
The Labour Group ( Green second team) leader is already fighting a general election that hasn't been called, and doing nothing for the Council. Preferring cheap soundbites to policy, smart arse comments to substance and all the while doing exactly as the Green party tells him to , only allowed his own view on licence.
The Progressive Independent Leader, Cllr Julia Gooch reminded the new Leader of the Council about his comments concerning the salary of the chief executive that he made last year when an interim was hired.
Amongst must gnashing of teeth the Leader back then said how terrible it was that the council was paying so much, it was wrong morally and he and the Greens would do things much more cheaply and in a very different way.
Under questioning on Thursday he admitted he had been wrong and he now knows the salary is correct and proper.
So all that fuss? All that nastiness and all the abuse shown to the previous administration due to the comments made by members of the new cabinet including the Leader was all unnecessary .
There were some high points. The Progressive Independents did get a motion put by Cllr Tim Gwilliam, calling for fairer fuel prices for rural communities.
Cllr Jamie Elsmores motion asking for Green Party support for the retention of Cannop Ponds was successful as he gave the Council Leader no wriggle room.

The team also managed to get committment that our Leisure services will be considered a statutory service and that the Council should work to ensure each of our towns have youth clubs open at least three nights a week.

But we have worries. Cllr Bernie O'Neill is hugely concerned by the autonomous public decrees by Extinction Rebellion member and current Cabinet member for Finance, Cllr. Moore, that they will be disinvesting from anything to do with Fossil fuels.
While admirable, this would cost the council in its very first stage and on the very first investment over a quarter of a million pounds , as well as nearly sixty thousand pounds in interest.
That is massive for the Council.
Will the Labour Group support that ?
Will their skilled U turning also allow them to now support the single settlement at Churcham? A much despised Green plan which is already starting to resurface and will do doubt be put forward by the Green administration by the Autumn.

The “other Independent group are having similar issues with their leader being part of the Green coronation.
There is much to worry about, we know many genuine Cllrs are getting worried and we are aware that internally there are real concerns about the direction the Council is being placed by the Greens and their second team.
However, there are some chinks of light, people are seeing through this sham, they are seeing the incompetence and the one eyed ideology.
There is still hope.
As a footnote, one Green councillor brought their poodle to full council on Thursday.
That's how highly they regard your Council, however the poodle did at least make a little bit more sense. than many of the Cabinet members and Green Councillors We suspect it may have a position as the leaders special advisor  by the end of next week.