“To the Nutclear family of St Tom, and well done to T.A. Griffin.
I have used and will continue to use the FOI Act. Just think if was not available, then how or who would have discovered the pranks going on with MP's expenses? Heather Brooke, author of, "The Silent State", is well worth a read.
The loading bay outside of the Coop, Dawlish, has been suspended from enforcement, until the Devon County Council erect signs that comply with the law. Guess what? we have had to put in another FOI request for the number of Penalty Charge Notices issued since May 2008, because they will not freely give them to us. The loading bay outside of the "Onestop", shop in the Strand at Dawlish, was not included in the Traffic Regulation Orders of 2008, but enforcement officers were happy to issue tickets for people who parked there.
We want to know how many people are entitled to get their money back, which was taken unlawfully, and guess what? It is going to cost £450 for them to do a search in order for them to provide that information.
I suspect there is some obfuscation there as the handheld computers automatically download the info that has been punched into them, and with a good search engine included in the software for that system, it would not cost anywhere near that figure quoted to provide the information. But, it would and does put a lot of people off of pursuing their request.”

“NEVER LIKED GRIFFIN
ARROGANT SELF OPININONATED BLOKE.
IF HE IS A PLYMOUTH ARGYLE FAN WHY DONT HE GO LIVE AMONGST HIS BREATHEN.”

“?
Hope Hannaford attends more Council meetings in EX-EXETER than he did in Dartmouth.
The man's a Charleton.
and Gribble must be a friend or Relation
or retarded.”

“You say: 'Mr Edwards said: "There was no need for the judge to be so punitive against individual councillors. It is a total electoral mess with Exeter now having only two thirds of its councillors."

It's a pity Councillpr Edwards did not ask the searching questions of his MP and the Chief Officers much earlier in the process and he obstinately and very clearly continued to assume that "all would be allright on the nignt".

Quite frankly it's not good enough as elected members as our representatives need to look after our interests and not just go along with their flights of fancy driven by impossibly expensive dreams.

What the judge said, it seems to me, is that the previous Secretary of State had acted in a similar irresponsible and arbitrary way and should not have done so.

Why did Cllr Edwards who seemed to be the flag bearer of UDI not ask the right questions about cost?

Why should such councillors not pay the legal costs they have caused us to pick up?

I think he should tell us why not and then we will be in a better position to decide how to vote in the forthcoming Council election..”

“Nuclear family

No No No
I Am not one Of Rob Hannaford's Yorkshire Terrier's.
I am more of a Bull Terrier type of Man.
But my flat is on the End of old Vicarage road and Cowick Street.
And being a bit of a Nosey Neighbour,
i see lot's of things.
I See the men in the Car wash opposite working very long hours and very hard,
Big respect Boy's.
I also see Mr Hannaford walking around looking and taking a general intrest in St Thomas, the man is a workaholic
and has earned my Respect.
Mr Griffin is a very clever man, who i admire a great deal,
He too would also make a fantastic MP

But sadly i could never bring myself to vote for Terry as he Supports plymouth argyle”

“To the Nuclear Family exactly how many questions under Freedom of Information have I actually put, to either Devon County Council, or Exeter City Council. I'll tell you, zero, exactly big zero. I may ask questions and make comments at meetings held in public, or public meetings, but as far as I remember I have never ever put a formal FOI to anybody.

What upsets many people is that councils hold meetings, and then really don't appreciate it when individuals actually turn up. Take the massive overspend on RAMM, the Exeter museum, questions asked, oh dear, we found that the foundations weren't up to it. Same with Exeter Cathedral, I once went into the roof void, and the cathedral had at one time actually been on the move, and had to have a major pinning operation.

Take the cathedral yesterday with the retiring organist, Mr Morgan. How much does anybody think that it will cost to clean the organ, whilst poor people struggle, money can be found by the church authorities to clean the organ. What a waste of money, and people are obliged to pay to go to the church, pathetic.

Did anybody know that the council, that is we the taxpayer, are paying to cut the grass on cathedral green, and that we the taxpayer are paying for a person to pick up all the rubbish, on their land.

The cathedral was taken from the catholics all those centuries ago, and why are we deprived site of the Roman ruins which lie beneath the grounds, unbelievable.

So, Nuclear Family, I could stand for election as a councillor, but I think that the day of the councillor is over, what Exeter needs now is an elected mayor, accept that it is never again going to be a unitary authority, but an elected mayor is the answer. Others see it that way as well, it is time for an elected Exeter Mayor, keep the Lord Mayor for the ceremonies, for all the flippary, but there must be an elected mayor for Exeter. With a democratic mandate, now what do others think?”

“Glad this is now resolvoing itself and that a sensible judge has spoken on this.

Let's have these elections. Perhaps the senior councillors should have been more careful and fully investigated the officers who pushed this one, particularly on the affordability.

Griffin is right as the question of surcharge should have been considered; luckily for them it was not (apparentlly). All this mess is the then Secretary of State's creation.

Exeter Councillors were mere petitioners BUT if they had been successful itm wouldn have been all of us in Exeter picking up the excess bills and putting up with fewer services as they could not have been paid for!”

“Mr TA Griffin is an eloquent man with plenty of time on his hands to indulge himself in all matters local government. Maybe he would make a good columnist but frankly he, and Mr Astley spend far too much time wasting council resources in an attempt to prove obvious inefficiencies.

Yes FOI is there to be used and abused, yes local authorities have to open their doors to the public around this time of year to have them scrutinise pretty much anything that doesn't have a name on it.

However, I would much prefer to see the likes of Griffin and Astley (Great name for a band by the way) put their money where their mouth is and stand for office.

Its all well and good publicly criticising and wasting staff time pointing out the bleeding obvious, why not put yourselves in the hot seat and try and do something about it?

There is no qualification to be a councillor - they're ordinary folk like you and me (yes some have egos), so lets all of you who take the moral high-ground put your names forward as independent candidates at the next set of elections.

No? Didn't think so.

Oh and Gribble, are you one of Rob Hannafords dogs? No human could possibly be that loyal without having a vested interest.”

“Oh not meant to include
Rob Hannaford or Natalie ,
as thet are doing a fantastic job.”

“Iain - With a couple of minor changes to your comment, with which I agree...
"What Exeter needs is a few selfless individuals who care about the PEOPLE and THEIR City more than their job, and people like that are few and far between, but they are the salt of the earth."
If only. Rest assured, ANY individual that fulfills your/our desires would soon be shown the 'error of their ways'.”