Get Carter: Councillor Cliff's 40-tonne gaff

I read the front page of the Sutton Post with interest this evening. I have to admit that I found the article to be most amusing! One of Councillor Scully's newly converted supporters has made a 'Peter Geiringer inspired gaff' over a refuse collection issue. It would seem that Scully's nearest and dearest do find the topic of refuse collection to be an extremely tricky subject indeed.

The Sutton Conservative hierarchy's efforts at negotiating the finer points of waste management matters have once again ended up on the front page of The Post, whereby the journalist covering the story has AGAIN given Scully's Tories a damn good leathering for their incompetence.

Upon reading the article it would appear that Councillor Cliff Carter has in his limitless pomposity ordered a council employee to send a 40 tonne truck to make a single garden waste collection from just one Borough resident- rather than wait for a smaller vehicle to be made available.

This event has obviously caused a significant drain on Sutton Council's financial resources. The fuel and manpower required for such a trip have created a large bill that could only be described as disproportionate to the objective of the task. Those interested in limiting the environmental impact of heavy vehicles will be appalled at the bloody-mindedness of Councillor Carter who allegedly still gave the go-ahead for the single collection to be made.

Here is the excerpt from this weeks Sutton Post article:

WASTE ROW AS LORRY SENT TO GET ONE BAG

"Cllr Clif Carter ordered garden waste to be collected by a dust cart traveling 12 miles".

COUNCIL Chiefs commitment to the environment has been criticised after a giant 40-tonne lorry was sent on a 12-mile trek to collect just one bag of green waste.

The collection was ordered after the bag - belonging to a resident in Aultone Way, Benhilton, was overlooked by workers during their rounds on Thursday June 12.

But the use of such a large truck has come under attack from one outraged councillor for being a huge waste of taxpayers' money.

Cllr Paddy Kane - chairman of the sustainable communities scrutiny committee at Sutton Council, said "One of our functions on the committee is to ensure we get best value for money. This is gross misuse of council resources".

Garden waste delivered to the recycling centre is composted at a facility in Beddington Lane to help the environment. Cllr Kane added "Sending a 40-tonne truck for one bag of garden waste is not environmentally friendly. It's absolutely frivolous".

The truck ws driven from its depot in Beddington Lane to Aultone Rd and then back via Kimpton reuse and recycling centre in North Cheam, where the bag was then offloaded.

Sutton North councillor Cliff Carter said he ordered the pick-up from Kimpton reuse and recycling centre on Saturday after they promised to collect the residents' bag twice bit did not.

He insists he did not realise such a large vehicle would be sent out.

Cllr Carter said "If you pay for a service you expect to get results, but there's no reason at all why they should sent out a large lorry".

But Cllr Kane (LIB DEM) said the depot supervisor advised Cllr Carter the truck was not suitable for a single collection - and this was ignored.

Judging by this and other examples highlighted on this blog it would appear that Sutton's Tory hierarchy do not consider either taxpayers money or the environment to be quite so precious as they would otherwise have us believe.

So in homage to Councillor Cliff Carter's 40-tonne gaff I have penned for him the following ditty. I hope that Cliff and the rest of Scully Il Duce's gang of sycophants enjoy my little rhyme:

THE OLD MAN PHONED THE DUSTMEN
(by S.Watch)
to be sung to the tune of
MY OLD MAN'S A DUSTMAN
(by Buchanan / Donegan / Thorne)
Lonnie Donegan - 1960

Now here's a little story
To tell it is a must
About an unsung hero
That helped move away your dust.

Sutton Council wastes a fortune,
Whilst Shields & Scully make a mint;
Old man Carter he doesn't earn that much:
next to those two fat cats he's skint!

Though the old man phoned the dustmen,
He's got an 'eart of gold,
He became a Councillor two years back,
Though he was eighty-six years old.
We all said "'Ere, hang on, Cliff,
You're getting past your prime";
He said "Well, when you get to my age,
It helps to pass the time."

The Sutton Tories they went canvassing,
around the ward of Sutton North,
Cliff shuffled along Aultone Way,
Knocking on every door and porch.
Councillor Carter he did beg for votes,
for supporters he did fish,
He thought "I need some free publicity",
...and soon he'd get his wish!

For one day whilst in a hurry,
A dustman missed a lady's bin:
He hadn't gone but a few yards,
When Cliff chased after him.
"What game do you think you're playing?"
Cliff cried right from the 'eart,
"I will be forced to phone your guv'nor,
And demand a 40-tonne cart!"

Oh, the old man rang the dustmen,
Cliff was in no mood for barter,
The dustmen thought "Who is this mad old sod?",
it was of course COUNCILLOR CARTER!
"Come collect this garden waste" said Cliff,
"I'll not wait 'til the smaller van gets back",
he ignored the dustmen's protestations,
and threatened them with the sack!
So off drove this enormous truck with great big rubber boots,
All that waste, just one pick up,
and a bag full o' daisy roots!

The Tory leader sought damage limitation,
So Scully jumped to Cliff's defence,
That despotic Tory leader,
Must believe that we're all dense!
"Cliff didn't know about the size of the truck"
Scully began to wail,
He's long since shredded all the evidence,
About this Kimpton Rubbish Dump tale!

Oh, the old man phoned the dustmen,
And now he looks a prat,
'cos the Sutton Tory carbon footprint,
Is the size of Mount Ararat.
So the next time you spot Councillor Carter,
He looks just like your grandad,
He'll be ask you for your vote next time,
So tell him "Cliff, you must be MAD!"

Despite Councillor Carter not caring about the damage this exercise was to inflict upon the environment and the local taxpayer's pockets it would be interesting to know just how much money was wasted on this single collection.

Nice work, Cliff!

Peter Geiringer: Club Med's Tory Councillor

If you were one of the Belmont residents who voted for Peter Geiringer at the last election then you might be interested in the following facts.

The local Conservative Councillor for Belmont ward will not be available to help you with any issues that may be affecting either you or your fellow residents, namely because he is about to begin slapping on the Ambre Solaire and topping up his tan on the deck of an ocean going vessel.

Peter Geiringer is about to embark on his third cruise of this year despite our only being in the month of June!

Now we must be careful not to begrudge anyone who can afford such luxurious excursions in the sun. However, it might be worth questioning whether Councillor Geiringer really requires three fortnight-long holidays in the space of half a year despite being duty-bound to represent the interests of those Belmont residents who elected him into office.

Can Peter Geiringer really offer an effective service to the local electorate whilst he is repeatedly sprawled out on a sun lounger or dining at the Captain's table a couple of thousand miles away?

The Watchman has learned from one of his Conservative party sources that the Sutton Tories produced the following quotes for a leaflet which was distributed in the Belmont ward. A few comments have been added in purple font which Belmont's readers may find helpful:

"Your TWO Conservative councillors, Pam Picknett and Peter Geiringer (Notice Picknett's name is mentioned first for a change - is that because Geiringer is thousands of miles away?) were so dissatisfied by the previous document that they insisted that a newly worded replacement document be sent out - this time with a reply paid questionnaire....
Pam Picknett (Notice she's the only one quoted) who is now deputy chairman of the Conservative-run Belmont, Cheam and Sutton South Local Committee on this Lib-Dem run local authority, said: "We wanted to ensure that every household in the road could have their say on this issue - the new form explains in more detail why the council officers are so keen to progress this matter....

TOGETHER, WE'RE FIGHTING FOR BELMONT'S COMMUNITY (Well, one 'fighter' will be off on yet another sun-seeking mission in the Med whilst his Belmont constituents are fending for themselves!)

Sutton Conservatives have launched a set of groundbreaking "Policy groups" set up to listen to you with view (sic) to shaping our next manifesto....

WE BELIEVE THAT THIS LIBERAL DEMOCRAT COUNCIL HAS GROWN DISTANT FROM THE RESIDENTS IT SERVES (Not as distant as the Med though) NAMELY YOU....

Our policy groups will be talking to outside experts who will sit on the groups alongside local Conservative councillors to listen, reflect (Imagine pausing to reflect on the sun deck with a glass of Pimms in one's hand. Bliss!), and respond to your concerns and priorities....

The groups will cover a wide range of areas including Law and Order, Community and Environmental Sustainability, Health and Wellbeing (Councillor Geiringer should be consulted on this issue- those cruise ships carry a full compliment of masseuses, spas and saunas), Education, Transport (if only Sutton had it's own harbour), Housing and Planning....

We're (sic) are committed to making Sutton a better place for all residents (the irony being that if you are off on your nautical jollies you have very little time to dedicate to fulfilling this pledge to the same voters that elected you into office!)

I understand that Councillor Peter Geiringer will be back in his ward by the beginning of July. I am sure that Belmont's residents will join me in wishing Peter a refreshing holiday and hope that he will thoroughly enjoy any other foreign excursions he may or may not be planning to take this year.

Ship Ahoy!

Scully's truly undemocratic Sutton blog

"Comment moderation has been enabled. All comments must be approved by the blog author."

The above statement is becoming rather tiresome but we are getting very used to seeing such ridiculous censorship from Councillor Scully.

I predicted that Scully would re-enable moderation four days ago in the following post which I left on his blog under the thread 'K.O. for the P.O.':

Scullduggery Watch said...

"Oh and by the way it is nice to be back posting on your blog again, Paul. Though I am just wondering how long it will be before one of my pearls of wisdom upsets your sensitive disposition and you delete it! I take it that we can look forward to seeing moderation being enabled on your blog (for the third time) very soon."

-29 May 2008 18:24:00 GMT

I hate to say I told you so but alas I have been proven correct in my prediction. Scully enabled moderation throughout the evening of Sunday the 1st June and during the morning of Monday the 2nd of June 2008.

The strange thing is that there appeared to be no catalyst for Scully to have MODERATED HIS BLOG FOR THE THIRD TIME IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS. He will of course claim that the thread at the time was a sensitive topic and that political capital should not have been made out of the issue, and he would of course be correct in this regard.

However, there is nothing wrong with a logical and rational debate. The posts on the recent tragedies in Carshalton appeared to be on topic and many condolences had been forthcoming from all sides of the political spectrum. If the debating of the matter was so very unacceptable then why did Scully bother to have posted the thread in the first place???

Councillor Scully was doing a very good impression of a man attempting to make political capital out of a very tragic incident. Why else would anyone have chosen to post a subject but then moderate the feedback as soon as he received criticism for how he had chosen to comment on the issue?

One thing is for certain: Scully likes to claim that he has "spent two years offering the only truly open political exchange in the Borough" however this is complete nonsense as he had already enabled moderation on two separate occasions by the time he made his grandiose claim. This third attempt to stifle debate just goes to prove that there is no such thing as democracy where the hierarchy of the Sutton Tories are concerned.

Democracy in the Sutton Conservative party R.I.P.