A by-election will be held for Nethercourt ward on Thursday 24 March.
The poll follows the resignation of Labour councillor Liz Green after she was disqualified from her role at Thanet District Council for not attending in-person meetings over a six-month period, which she said was due to serious health concerns.
Liz Green had been on the district council for nearly 19 years, most recently as member for Ramsgate’s Nethercourt ward where she lives. She says that despite feeling unable to attend the council chamber in Margate due to Covid concerns, she had continued to attend virtual meetings and deal with residents’ enquiries as normal.
However, Section 85 of the Local Government Act 1972 states that a member of a local authority loses office if they do not attend a meeting of council or committee that they are a member of at least once in any six-month period. The council can consider a reason for the failure to attend – and give the councillor an extension to the period of non-attendance before action is taken – but this must be before the six month period expires.
The seat will now be filled following a by-election for the ward:
From the candidates:
Anne-Marie Nixey (Labour)
n 2019 Nethercourt Ward, where I live, kindly voted me in to be their Town Councillor. During this time I’ve become Chair and have successfully negotiated various things for both Nethercourt and Ramsgate. I have a seat on the Scrutiny Panel for the TDC Levelling up fund, monies that were applied for under a Labour administration and won, and am the only Ramsgate representative.
My fellow Labour councillors and I have brought in the soon to be implemented 20 miles an hour scheme, in the Nethercourt estate, as well as worked with PCCO Litchfield to be able to rewild some of that estate allowing natural wild flower planting to be a priority, enhancing wildlife and the benefits that brings to the environment. We have ensured that the precept for the council tax will not be raised by the Town Council, sadly I cannot say the same for District and County portions. And we have campaigned tirelessly for the Secretary of State to be aware of the thousands of residents that would be affected by the proposed cargo hub at Manston, where we await a decision of its future.
I’m delighted now to be able to stand for district level, the only candidate who actually lives in the ward. My focus is to always put Ramsgate first and with this election I can. I’d like to hold TDC to account for our lack of market, the state of public facilities and general upkeep of the area. I know how much we do as a Town Council and would like to see TDC fulfil their duties to us.
During the day I am a teacher, where I work with special needs students, and a keen gardener. This will be the second year I will be showing my garden for the NGS and raising money for nursing charities. I’d be delighted to see you there!
Claire Tilbrook (Thanet Independent)
I am Claire Tilbrook, a local woman, born and raised in Ramsgate.
I am the mother of two beautiful children who are of course, occasionally monsters.
I am very proud of them because they have both adopted my attitude to life and understand it means working hard to achieve your goals.
For more than 20 years I have been a healthcare support worker in the community and also in care home settings.
For a few years now I have been working in the Blood Dept at the QEQM as a Phlebotomist which requires confidence and the ability to reassure people whilst taking blood samples. It is a job that is very rewarding.
I am able to support patients and my team to the best of my ability and sometimes it has been challenging especially working daily through the Pandemic.
I am also a committed, and reliable person who is looking to make a difference in our local community.
I want to hear about how we can make a difference to our community.
I am standing for local councillor with the Thanet Independents Party for the Nethercourt bi-election on March 24th, 2022 and very much hope you will support me.
John Davis (Conservative)
A lifelong resident of Ramsgate, I have a particular connection with Nethercourt, having lived in Nethercourt Gardens and Chapel Road for the first twenty-five years of my life. Founding Chair of the highly successful Ramsgate Action Group, I am also a key member of Ramsgate Regeneration Alliance, working to bring secure jobs and investment in training through the expansion of Sustainable Energy activities at the Port.
I would be privileged to represent the people of Nethercourt at TDC, and will continue to work with key stakeholders and businesses to bring quality jobs and training opportunities to the district.
With regard to the issues specific to Nethercourt, I believe the best way of promptly and effectively identifying and dealing with them is to be actually available, in person, to listen to and identify the concerns that really matter to this community, and to this end I will hold regular surgeries in the Ward, to ensure you have an opportunity to be heard. It would be an honour to serve as your District Councillor, and to provide a strong, established and reliable voice to help improve our local quality of life for this and future generations.
A statement from Thanet Green Party
After due consideration, Thanet Green Party has decided not to stand a candidate in the forthcoming TDC by-election in Nethercourt ward.
There are several reasons for our decision, but fundamentally we believe there’s a point of principle at stake, resulting from the resignation of former Councillor Liz Green.
Cllr Green was unable to attend face to face Council meetings for some time due to ill health, and as a result was advised by TDC she could no longer sit as a TDC Councillor and submitted her resignation.
Chair of Thanet Green Party, Councillor Mike Garner, said: “After permitting online Council meetings at the start of the pandemic, the Government has insisted for some time now that Councils hold all formal meetings face-to-face, despite continuing high Covid infection rates in many areas, which creates particular challenges for members with compromised health.
“We appreciate that Thanet District Council has to abide by the requirements the Government sets for attendance – but as a Party we believe Local Authorities should have discretion about face-to-face meetings and allowing individual Councillors to join remotely.
“I have written to the Leader of TDC, Cllr Ash Ashbee, asking her to add her voice to that of the LGA and other Local Authorities in asking the Government to permit Councils this flexibility. Under these circumstances, we felt it would not be right for us to seek to profit electorally from Cllr Green’s resignation, and accordingly we have decided not to stand a Green Party candidate in this by-election.”
Nice to see a political party standing by their principles and pushing for a very sensible change to councillor attendance requirements. Well done Thanet Green Party. In this day and age, where more and more work is done remotely, effectively and efficiently, with consequent environmental benefits of reduced need to travel, it’s about time that government and councils caught up.
Well done, Mike and your party
Please those in other parties take note and become more considerate in their behaviour
John Davis
Minder for Craig Mackinlay
Shame videos cannot be posted on here
Have heard about his outspoken abusive language to anyone questioning his backing of Manston freight hub and Roger. Not really a candidate they should be putting up for election in Nethercourt but I see their plans. You would never think that by looking at his smirking image above and no mention of Manston in his spiel would you though ? Don’t be fooled by it !
Most of Nethercourt is under the flightpath no wonder he doesn’t mention it.
In fact the alleged Thanet indie is also a planespotter as “Rev” Stuart Piper is rallying the troops to leaflet the electorate
Why anyone in Nethercourt would vote for planes flying 3-500 feet over their head is beyond me
Just move back to Southampton and shut up
why anyone would vote for Davis or the Indie is beyond me
Imagine voting for planes 300-500 feet over your head
Davis is a smarmy , heaven help the councillors and staff that would have to work with him if they disagreed with him!
Great for those not living in the ward to support flights over it isn’t it! Only one choice as far as I can see.
Not to I’ll to pick her allowance up
Good story Kathy!
Until we get to the statement by Mike Garner for the Green Party.
Sadly the Green Party has been very good recently at ignoring or abusing democratic procedures.
I refer specifically to Mike Garner who overstayed his Councillorship whilst living in France and even lying to a Secretary of State, stating he was still a resident in Minster. The Green Party for whatever reason attempted to bluff its way out of this local abuse of power.
Now we find them again, despite the facts of the case regarding the unwell former Labour Councillor, whimpering about Government rules, even though they had the opportunity, as with Labour, to place a motion at Council to adapt them locally, permitting extended virtual meetings as many other Councils throughout the country did.
It astonishes me that some members of the local Green Party are still doing deals and corrupting the democratic rights of local voters. If the Green Party doesn’t have a decent candidate to stand, then say so. Don’t try and twist the reality to suit a Labour/Green backroom deal. You are elected to the Council for the people not for the convenience of your own woolly narratives.
I would have thought the behaviour of our Prime Minister and now that of Mr Putin would give any political party, especially Labour and the Greens to start showing some integrity, honesty and intelligence whilst serving the people of Thanet, who let’s face it are pretty hard done by in the scheme of things in the UK.
Correction to my comment above. The Councillor who moved to France was Trevor Roper and not Mike Garner. Apologies for that Mike Garner as they say in the trade I miss-spoke or in this case miss-wrote.
much like the rest of your statement Clare
Why do you (a long time Labour supporter) dislike the Labour Party in Thanet so much.
How does not putting up a candidate “corrupt ( a very overrated word in politics)” the democratic rights of local voters? In fact how on earth do you even start to speak for local greens?
When does your halo arrive? will you have a party ?
I very much suit a halo Pat, which is more than can be said for those tatty titfers you wore as mayoress.
Last time we saw a suit like that, it was on the antique Road Show and it had trousers. A paper candidate and a Toady to the Austerity Party.
If I lived there I’d vote for Claire.
This is clearly a back scratching episode between the greens and labour regarding the non standing of a labour candidate in the recent villages by election ,caused by ex Cllr Roper’s resignation. Many subscribing labour party members in the villages ward were disgracefully denied to exercise their right to vote because of a backroom deal for which those responsible haven’t had the decency to answer for . I pay my subscription to the labour party not the greens , perhaps our ,”Leaders” would take note .
so splitting the vote to allow the austerity party to win is ok then
Labour party rules state all elections should be contested.In this case there was a candidate willing and ready to stand .The likely possibility of the green winning would not have been down to splitting the vote in this case but the principal here, is according paying labour party members their right to vote for their labour candidate.
Quite right Tom. It’s the clever dickery of Councillors like God Help Us that secures the corruption of process in local government. All the time votes are being traded to maintain control and that the enterprise of bickering over power at district council level continues, the real needs of the constituents, campaigning and effecting good local management of services like waste collection and recycling, housing and environment drop down the list of Councillor priorities.
Tom King you are talking absolute rubbish. Nobody was denied the right to vote. You may not have been able to vote for the person you wanted, but you still have the right to vote for any person on the ballot. I might have wanted to vote for Micky Mouse, but my democratic rights were not removed by his failure to stand. Please go away and take your illiterate comments with you.
Ramsgate Lover. Tom King has a right to say what he does. He is making a very valid point. People in Thanet Villages were denied by the Labour Party in voting for a Labour candidate as for there own reasons they decided not to stand. As far as accusing his comments as illiterate there is no smoke without fire. It is clear next year that there may well be deals done between the Greens and Labour in several Wards in Thanet
but to assert that not standing is somehow a corrupt practice is absolutely wrong
to take an example had Labour not stood in South Thanet in 2015 no doubt Forage would have beaten Mackinlay
From time to tame a deal is struck the latest was Southend
Former Councillor Liz Green wasn’t murdered as far as I know. A really stupid analogy.
A deal was struck in Southend- “God help us” is correct. Perhaps “an agreement was reached” would have been a better phrase.
A similar agreement was reached in Southend, as “God help us” points out.
Laurence Davies, read my comment. Tom King said that people were denied the right to vote. They were not. To say that they were is illiterate.
Enough said.
Ramsgate Lover. I think we both know what Tom King was getting at Labour members being denied the opportunity to vote for their party person. He could have himself explained more clearly, however to tell him to ‘go away and take his illiterate comments with him’ Not very nice is it. Still it is what I expect from some people who hide behind a pseudonym. Still I have voiced my view and as you would say ‘enough said’
Laurence Davies, you are right. I should not have said that. My views are coloured by current events which make me realise how important it is to understand what freedoms we have and to stand up for them.
Ramsgate Lover. Ok. Undertstand in the current awful situation we are witnessing in Ukraine it makes all of us realise how we should cherish what we have. All the best.
I would have preferred the Greens to stand someone. Not comfortable with this. All this crud about vote splitting is what stops genuine change.
Actually, as a long-term Labour voter, now demoralised by the bland dishonesty of Kier Starmer, I think it would be a very good idea if Labour and the Greens openly came to some agreement about whether to stand in which area/constituency etc. Then each Party could openly state that they are NOT standing in a given council area but that residents should vote for the other Party as their policies are increasingly similar.
Unfortunately, Labour leaders still suffer from the delusion that they will get elected next time by appealing to Tory voters by so changing their tune that they sound like the Tory Party anyway.
This is a long term strategy that depends on waiting and waiting until the voters finally get sick of the sleaze and economic damage caused by the Tories and, eventually, switch in sufficient numbers to Labour. The main factor in this calculation is that you don’t say or do anything remotely controversial, or radical, or even very interesting. Kier Starmer is just the man to lead that sort of effort!
Instead, Labour should openly announce a working relationship with the Greens, who have a distinctive voice, distinctive policies ,and sufficient voter support to make a crucial difference in many seats.
Remember, the Tories won the 2019 “landslide” with only 43% of the voters. 55% of voters supported the other large Parties. There’s no need to chase after Tory voters with Tory policies. There just aren’t enough of them.
If there really was a “deal” between Labour and Greens in Nethercourt Ward, I hope it succeeds!
I will be writing an article about the Putinesque truth twisting of Mike Garner and Rick Everitt in connection with this by electionn. Once again they are cynically taking the voters for fools.
“Putinesque” is a ridiculous and appallingly insensitive adjective in this case. Mike Garner and Rick Everitt are not to be compared with Russia’s brutal, megalomaniac dictator.
of course Garner and Everitt are not brutal, megalomaniac dictators and I never suggested that they were. However, like Putin they distort and twist the truth and mislead the public. In that sense they are Putinesque in their approach to politics
I think that ever there was a distorted and twister of truth, it’s you.
Boris is a liar and truth twister just like Putin
tRump was a truth twister just like Putin
Nadine Dorries today praising the BBC and just 3 weeks ago she was accusing them of bias and threatening the TV licence
You in fact stood for Labour and Greens but became so unpalatable you lost your seat at TDC
Not sure you are the the upright truth sayer you think you are
You say in a later post that you are not senile. That would at least be an excuse for you rantings on here. However much I disagree with Ian Driver he at least he has the guts too publish his name unlike you! God help us your beyond help!
its “your” not “you”
If you actually believe your own words then you obviously haven’t done much research on the arch bandwagon jumper Driver
Still engaging brain before typing seems to be a perennial issue with Driver’s sycophants
Marva Rees, God Help Us and anyone else playing at pedantry. Remind yourself of the genuine and understandable reason for not opposing a seat in a by-election.
“The Conservative MP Sir David Amess has died after he was stabbed several times during a surgery at his constituency in Essex, police have said.
Amess, 69, an MP since 1983 who had represented Southend West in Essex since 1997, was attacked at a church in Leigh-on-Sea. He is the second MP to be killed in just over five years, after the murder of Jo Cox.
Essex police said a 25-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of murder. Officers were called to the scene at about 12.05pm on Friday, the force said, to reports that Amess had been stabbed, confirming he was the victim.
A statement said: “Despite the best efforts of paramedics, sadly, he died at the scene. A 25 year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and is currently in custody. We have recovered a knife from the scene and are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.”
The news prompted shock and distress across the political spectrum. Flags at parliament were lowered to half-mast.
The Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, said the killing would “send shock waves across the parliamentary community and the whole country. In the coming days we will need to discuss and examine MPs’ security and any measures to be taken, but for now, our thoughts and prayers are with David’s family, friends and colleagues.”
Dominic Raab, the justice secretary and deputy prime minister, tweeted: “Heartbroken that we have lost Sir David Amess MP. A great common-sense politician and a formidable campaigner with a big heart, and tremendous generosity of spirit – including towards those he disagreed with. RIP my friend.”
The health secretary, Sajid Javid, said he was devastated at the news. “A great man, a great friend and a great MP killed while fulfilling his democratic role. My heart goes out to Julia, his family, and all who loved him. Let us remember him and what he did with his life.”
Labour’s Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, said she was finding it difficult to comprehend the news. She said: “Sending all my love to David’s family and friends. It’s unimaginable to think what they must be going through.”
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, called it “a truly terrible day for British politics”, while Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said politicians were “united in sadness and shock”.
The Guardian understands that counter-terrorism police are assisting the investigation into the stabbing, which is being led by Essex police. Senior counter-terrorism officials are monitoring the situation closely and are being updated on emerging details of the attack and the suspect. Counter-terrorism police will usually stay involved in such an investigation until a non-terrorist motive is identified.
The incident will raise further concerns about the safety of MPs, who routinely hold advice surgeries to which anyone can turn up. In 2016, the Labour MP Cox was stabbed and shot dead by a far-right terrorist shortly before holding a surgery.
Brendan Cox, her widower, tweeted: “Attacking our elected representatives is an attack on democracy itself. There is no excuse, no justification. It is as cowardly as it gets.”
In 2010, another Labour MP, Stephen Timms, was stabbed twice at a constituency surgery by a student radicalised by online videos. In 2000, Andrew Pennington, an assistant to the Lib Dem MP Nigel Jones, was stabbed to death as he tried to protect Jones from an attacker who stormed his constituency office armed with a sword.
Amess was a well-known backbencher who during his 38 years in parliament campaigned on issues including animal rights. He was first elected in Basildon. He was married with five children.”
All the Councillor’s had to do at TDC was to pass a motion to extend virtual meeting for all or those still vulnerable to contracting Covid-19 as other Councils did.
Mike Garner clearly doesn’t accept or understand this. Liz Green was legitimatly disqualified and to make matters worse signed in for a meeting in which she didn’t participate. This has to be a corruption of a Councillors legal obligation. And then to protect RTC Councillor Nixey from any risk of not winning the seat to join Rick Everitt’s “We love our CEO” club.
Clare Dove- I did read about Sir David Amess’ murder when it happened. I don’t need reminding.
You forget Marva Clare Dove thinks she deserves a halo. Talk about putting yourself on a pedestal
And Clare I’m not that senile yet to understand your need to crucify the Labour party like Driver but try and curb your enthusiasm it is getting pedantic
Well, how extraordinary are you? Only yesterday, Councillor Pat Moore asked me when I was getting my halo?
I wonder if old guard Thanet Labour, New Labour, Councillors such as Everitt, Green, Moore and Scobie Snr, in particular, are gossiping up at Labour Party HQ over a cuppa, struggling to come up with put-downs in their inimitable coven-like bitchy way.
God Help Us or anon is probably a Labour Councillor as their understanding of the key issues is off message and their comments garbled.
In the last 15 years, they have all been culpable for the collapse of the local Labour Party in South Thanet and individually responsible for accusing people wrongly of being paedophiles, alcoholics, aggressive, vandals, shirt-lifters, and much worse.
There are of course a few exceptions.
The local Labour Party supporters and voters, in the main, have been seriously let down by these Nellies and inevitably their proteges pick up their bad habits, although I understand that newer Councillors are heartily fed-up with this core who refuse to change their ways.
There’s some reason-but we don’t know it- why Clare Dove and Ian Driver have a grudge against the local Labour party. And until we do know what this grudge is all about,
we won’t understand why they are being so vindictive.
Perhaps Labour Party members could let the general public know the reason for this vindictiveness.
Marva, soliciting gossip based on what you perceive as vindictiveness, rather than assessing what I am saying and questioning, and doubting the veracity of my points puts you well and truly in the pearls before swine club. I don’t understand how a fellow alto singer who sought to befriend me can become so petulant and petty.
I am sure Ian Driver can answer for himself. You forget to mention the other people on here and on social media who have also talked about this issue, aghast at the masquerading by both Labour and the Green Parties.
If my irritation troubles you then perhaps you should note that it is caused by liars and incompetent people who are in positions of power and by no means just in Thanet. With privilege comes responsibility and there’s not much of it about these days.
What the hell has singing got to do with political views?
I did not “seek to befriend” you or anybody.
Marva Rees strikes again! Let me explain to you if I may? Your reference to the agreement by the Labour, Liberal Dem and Greens to not contest the Southend West by-election following the murder of Sir David Amess in an earlier post follows the agreement by the major political parties not to contest the Labour held seat of Batley & Spen after the equally tragic murder of Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016. The Council by-election to be held in Nethercourt was brought about by totally different circumstances and has no relevance at all to the tragic events leading up to Southend West or Batley and Spen by-elections.
I said the latest example was Southend, not a thing about whether it was right or wrong. That was your and Doves assumption
God help us. ‘It’s “your ’ not “you” Typo error comrade! Were you or are you a teacher? One thing that Clare said in an earlier post intrigues me ‘it’s the clever dickery of Councillors like God help us’ well are you a Councillor? A very simple question! As for me being a sycophant, that’s the last thing anyone would describe me as. Plus I’m not a supporter of Mr Driver and never have been, but as I said before at least he publishes his real name and doesn’t hide behind a pseudonym.
Dove doesn’t have a clue
“your, and Dove’s, assumption”.
Where have I “struck again”, Laurence Davies? Please don’t start using the ridiculous language with which “Jenny Talia”, “E. Norma Stitz” and their equally juvenile pseudonymous friends enjoy attacking me.
Marva Rees because you comment on some issues just for the sake of it and have failed or chosen to ignore on this occasion the distinguishing circumstances that I explained above between Batley & Spen/ Southend West and this local government byelection In Nethercourt.
Laurence you state this is your real name
How would anyone know as you can use any name real or otherwise to post?
We only have your word for that
And- new today- “Ivor Bigun”. Or it might be “Bigan”. Aren’t they hilarious? humour.
What does “just for the sake of it” mean ? Either you’re interested enough to comment on something or you’re not.
not just “humour” but sophisticated adult humour
“God help us
March 3, 2022 at 10:27 pm
Dove doesn’t have a clue”
Oh yes, I do.
How many TDC Councillors have signed a TDC Non-Disclosure Agreement(NDA)as part of their dismissal from TDC?
a) None
b) One
c) >1
If you aren’t sure you could ask yourself or a friend.
No idea what you are on about
I’ve never been a TDC cllr nor indeed an officer
You still haven’t a clue
Clue:- which current Councillor was an officer at TDC?
The Clare story is a reality, it wasn’t disclosed to the relevant people.
Thank you.
Nethercourt By-Election: Labour and Green Truth Twisters Cover Up Secret Deal
Dishonestly and taking the public for fools is something I despise in politicians, especially those engaging in Putinesque truth twisting whilst hypocritically masquerading as defenders of the moral high ground, and pretending to have impeccable ethical standards.
This is why I call out Green Party councillor Mike Garner and Labour councillor Rick Everitt for colluding in the concoction of a cock and bull sob story to cover up their own personal failures in preventing an expensive by-election in the Nethercourt ward, and to draw attention away from what I believe to be secretive electoral dealings between the Thanet’s Labour and Green councillors.
Background
The Nethercourt byelection was brought about by the disqualification of former Labour councillor Liz Green for breaching Paragraph 85 of the Local Government Act 1972 which says that “a councillor who fails throughout a period of six consecutive months from the date of his last attendance to attend any meeting of the authority …. ceases to be a member of the authority”.
Her disqualification became effective at midnight on Sunday 16th January 2022, six months after she last attended a council meeting on 15th July 2021.
To avoid the public humiliation of being kicked out of office for neglecting her civic duties Green tried to save face by resigning from the council on 9th February 2022. Technically speaking the council should not have accepted Green’s resignation because on the date she resigned, she was no longer a councillor and did not occupy a post to resign from!!
The Liz Green Sob Story
When it became clear that Liz Green’s career as a councillor was finished both the Labour Party and the Green Party appear to have put together a sob story about her fall from grace. A story which totally distorts the truth, and one which they hope will generate a sympathy vote for Labour when the by-election takes place on 24th March.
The story depicts Green as a hardworking councillor who fell victim to cruel and heartless laws leading to her being thrown off the council because she was vulnerable to Covid and didn’t feel safe attending face to face council meetings.
In election leaflets being delivered throughout the Nethercourt ward the Labour Party fuels its claims about Green’s unfair treatment by saying that she has been “punished for following covid advice”
In the Isle of Thanet News, Labour leader Everitt said that “It seems ridiculous that a hardworking and experienced councillor has effectively been removed from the council for following the government’s own Covid guidelines, and the specific and personal medical advice she had received… If that’s the law then the law is an ass”.
Like a parrot perched on Everitt’s shoulder, Thanet Green party leader Garner repeats his masters voice saying to the News that “we believe there’s a point of principle at stake, resulting from the resignation of former Councillor Liz Green ……. Cllr Green was unable to attend face to face Council meetings for some time due to ill health, and as a result was advised by TDC she could no longer sit as a TDC Councillor”
These public statements and leaflets are, I believe, deliberately misleading and deceitful. They shamefully avoid telling the whole truth about Liz Green’s removal from the council which is that she, and her party leader Everitt, had many lawful options at their disposal to keep the non-attending councillor in post and to avoid a costly by-election.
Whilst it is true that paragraph 85 of the Local Government Act 1972 disqualifies a councillor from office if that person fails to attend a meeting over a six period, the same paragraph also allows an absentee councillor to request an extension of the six month rule, providing that such a request is submitted and approved by the authority before the expiry of the initial six month period.
Furthermore, several councils up and down the country, including Medway council in Kent, introduced blanket absence extension policies over and above the normal six months for all of their councillors during the Covid pandemic.
Regarding her safety at face to face council meetings I assume that Councillor Green had followed Government advice and was double or treble vaccinated, which would have significantly reduced her risk of contracting Covid had she attended meetings.
It was also open to councillor Green, under the Equality Act 2010, or Health and Safety at Work legislation, to request a personal risk assessment covering her attendance at meetings. Had she done so, it may have resulted in special adaptions being made to the council chamber such has providing her with more personal space, changing her seating arrangements, having windows opened, the provision of protective screening, medical quality face masks and face shields, the installation of fans and air filtration systems.
In the event neither Green, Everitt or Garner made any efforts whatsoever to utilise any of these lawful options to prevent Green from being removed from office.
This probably explains why the Liz Green sob story is misleading and deceptive. By failing to mention the available options to save her, Green, Everitt and Garner are able to sidestep the need to explain why they failed to use them. In so doing they also avoid being exposed as the political incompetents they really are. But there is more!
Secret deals.
In 2021 I revealed that former Green Party councillor for Thanet Villages ward, Trevor Roper, had mislead voters into believing he was living in Minster when in fact he was living 500 miles away in France. My exposure of his dishonesty forced him to resign and a by-election was held on 11th November 2021.
It is interesting to note that during the 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 council elections the Labour Party had always contested the Thanet Villages seat. However, when the November 2021 by election, to replace the disgraced Roper, took place, there was no Labour candidate!
Trusted sources in the Labour and Green parties tell me that a secret deal was done between the leaders of the two parties in which Labour agreed, totally against its own internal rules, not to field a candidate in the Thanet Villages by election so as not to split the progressive vote.
Like all secret backroom deals there was of course a clear understanding that the Green Party would repay this favour when an appropriate opportunity arose, which it did when Liz Green was disqualified from being a councillor.
The Liz-Green sob story provided perfect cover for Green leader Garner to falsely and dishonestly claim that her unfair treatment in being removed from the council caused his party decide that “it would not be right for us to seek to profit electorally from Cllr Green’s resignation, and accordingly we have decided not to stand a Green Party candidate in this by-election”.
Garner’s manufactured excuse exposes how the so called leaders of the Thanet Council Labour and Green groups of councillors treat the voters of Nethercourt and the district.
They pedal misleading stories to unfairly gain public sympathy, whilst at the same time stitching up which party will stand and where. In my opinion, this is nothing less than political corruption and both Garner and Everitt should be removed as party leaders and forced out office by the public in 2023.
I don’t know what you’re suffering from, Ian, but I’m sure you can get tablets for it.
Chill out. There are terrible things happening in the world today. Get a sense of perspective.
stop trying to censor me by guilt tripping. I am well aware of what is hapenning in the world and am appalled, but that doesnt prevent me from making commentary about what is happening on my doorstep. I find your reference to my mental health and my need for tablets odious. But for the record a daily sertraline and the occassional use of cannabis works just fine. Maybe you should try this too
Phyllis Quot.
It is precisely this perspective that you overlook at your peril.
Each Councillor has training and a large handbook which few appear to read or maintain an interest in Government and their Party policies.
As Ian Driver points out the Labour Group have broken their own Party rules and may well be subject to disciplinary action.
The lack of many Councillors’ ability to think critically and in essence just function as paper councillors is precisely the cause of the death of democracy and can give rise to dictatorships as evidenced by Putin, Franco, Hitler, Stalin et al dictators who arise from constitutional, counterrevolutionary, and fascist corruptions of government.
There are local people who want to believe these issues are unimportant, like yourself, but these practices and issues are at the root of democratic failure and capitulation to the powerful few.
Wake-up people!
Ian Driver is obviously not an impartial writer. His style of writing makes this clear.
of course im not impartial im calling out 2 politicians for being, in my opinion, dishonest however i am being truthful How about you?
How about me being truthful- about what?
More cul de sac comments.
Why don’t you comment on the issues set out before you, they are serious? Do you agree with the findings or disagree and why?
Neither.
I wonder how John Davis would deal with constituents who happen to have a skin tone that he doesn’t like.