Jan Britton Fights For Secrecy!

The thin-skinned "Chief Executive" of Sandwell (aka "Sadwell") Council, Jan Britton, is at it again. He and his staff have tried a number of stunts to close down this blog the most notorious of which, of course, was his reporting of The Skidder to West Midlands Police because this highly-paid shrinking violet was claiming to be "harassed" by me calling him the "g***t a***b*" and putting a parodic photo on this blog of a doppleganger dressed in a pancake costume!

Readers know now that he himself writes a blog which is sent round Sadwell Council but which he is now trying to keep secret. Recently, the Halesowen News reported his use of the blog to criticise social workers for his own management's disastrous failure over a number of years in respect of Children's Services. This shitty attack was picked up and commented on by Private Eye Magazine, no less!

It has also become apparent that he has used the blog to slag me off on at least two occasions. In the circumstances, I put in a Freedom of Information Act request to see this great work. He has been at it for some time (which may be why he seemingly failed to notice Hussain's taxi contract bid, a number of bent deals and, as above, the unfolding tragedy in Children's Services - and he was supposed to be intimately involved in that shaming degringolade) but to be reasonable and proportionate I only requested sight of the great man's thoughts since 1st April, 2015.

Now SMBC are spending time, (our) money and energy fighting to maintain secrecy and refusing to give disclosure and I have been forced to appeal to the Office of The Information Commissioner (ICO) yet again in respect of this failing Council! Set out below is my appeal which I would normally place in a technical blog for the delight of Sadwell nerds only but it is worth you scrolling down to the original response from a public servant employed by us taxpayers, one David Haywood. I am used to vitriolic abuse from a number of people connected with Sadwell but I will leave it to you decide whether  a public servant - whom I have never met and who does not know me - should write to member of the public in this aggressive and insulting manner....

PS Where's the Wragge Report, Mr Britton?

Here is the FOI appeal:

APPEAL TO THE OFFICE OF THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

SANDWELL METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

Background

I provide a community news service scrutinising the activities of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC). Despite the esoteric subject matter of a blog I write (with help from others) on this subject, it has received over 350,000 views to date.

The Chief Executive of SMBC who is, of course, a public servant funded by the taxpayer writes a blog in Council “time” which is then disseminated via the taxpayer-funded computer system to staff. He is also in a politically-restricted post.

I have requested copies of the blog since 1st April, 2015. The Council have refused my request on the ground that it is vexatious and maintained that stance following internal review.

The Council have not claimed that it would be costly to provide this information and it would not be as it would merely entail pressing a few keys on a keyboard. Indeed, I limited the request to the current Council “financial year” (even though the blog has been running for some time) specifically to keep the request reasonable and proportionate.

It should be noted that the Chief Executive, Jan Britton, has used his blog to personally attack me on at least two occasions. Also, following yet another “inadequate” Ofsted report in respect of SMBC’s disastrous Children’s Service Department, he infamously used this medium to attack SMBC’s social workers and to shift the blame for this failure from his management team onto them. This was reported in the local Halesowen News paper and in Private Eye Magazine and was clearly a matter of both public interest and concern.

Where a (politically-restricted) Chief Executive is using taxpayers’ time and equipment to attack and criticise third parties it is clearly a matter of public interest that this material should be placed in the public domain. It is also in the public interest for taxpayers to be able to assess the efficacy of the management style of the Council where it is deliberately shrouding itself in secrecy in so many areas of its activity (I refer, without prejudice to the generality of this assertion, to the information already forced from this organisation via my other FOI requests to date).

I should also add that, as a community journalist, I take grave exception to the tone of SMBC’s highly personal attack on me in their original response of 9th February, 2016. I have never met nor spoken to the purported writer, David Haywood, Service Manager Governance, and I find it extraordinary that this public servant can abuse me in the manner that he has and to presume to comment on my alleged motivation for writing a long-standing and well-received community blog. The fact that my original request was couched in somewhat flippant terms does not absolve SMBC from complying with the provisions of the Act and does not justify personal abuse and vilification.

Original Request - 6th January, 2016

Vincent Alexandervich <thesandwellskidder@gmail.com>	Jan 6
to contact, Jan,

I am aware that the person purporting to be Sandwell Council's "Chief Executive", Jan Britton, writes a "Word on the Street" blog which is disseminated to the unfortunate staff. Clearly this is being prepared by a member of the paid service and is published via the publicly-funded computer system. In those circumstances, please forward copies of all of these blogs for the current "council year" ie from ist April, 2015 until the date of your reply.

Julian Saunders

Original Response - 9th February, 2016

Info Management <Info_Management@sandwell.gov.uk>	Feb 9
to me

This information has been marked as: IL1: PROTECT

Dear Mr Saunders,

Please find attached the Council’s response to your above FoI request.

Regards

Stuart Taylor

Governance Services Manager

Governance

Vincent Alexandervich

thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

Dear Mr Saunders

Freedom of Information Request Ref: 1-729108818

The Council is in receipt of your Freedom of Information Request as follows:

“I am aware that the person purporting to be Sandwell Council's "Chief Executive", Jan Britton, writes a "Word on the Street" blog which is disseminated to the unfortunate staff.  Clearly this is being prepared by a member of the paid service and is published via the publicly-funded computer system.  In those circumstances, please forward copies of all of these blogs for the current "council year" ie from ist April, 2015 until the date of your reply.”

Under the Freedom of Information Act, public authorities do not have to comply with vexatious requests.  Where a request is classified as vexatious, the public interest test does not apply.

A public body may consider and determine that a request is :

- so patently unreasonable or objectionable that it will be obviously vexatious; or

- likely to cause a disproportionate or unjustified level of disruption, irritation or distress.

(source ICO Guidance  20141120)

The blog that you refer to in your request is an informal tool used by the Chief Executive to share his personal views on professional matters as pertaining to the Authority, and deliver messages to employees on matters in which he thinks staff may have an interest.  The blog is not disseminated to all staff.  Access to the blog is by individual choice.  Employees may also choose to subscribe to bulletins.

The Council is aware that you gather information through various sources including FOI which you then use in your several personas to publicly pursue your personal derogation of the Council, named employees and named elected members.  The Council considers that you do this because of a personal grudge.  The Council also considers that your actions cause disruption, irritation and distress and that you take pleasure in doing so.

The Council considers that your current request is without specific purpose, as demonstrated by its broadness.  The Council considers your request is solely designed for the purpose of ‘fishing’ for information without any idea of what might be revealed.

The Council believes that by requesting the entire content of the blog for a twelve month period you are simply looking for subjects that you can then use as ‘hooks’ on which to hang further requests for information in order to pursue your ongoing personal grudge and your repeated desire to disparage the Council, its officers and its elected members at every opportunity under the pretence of acting in the public interest.

The Council also considers that you are looking for personal commentary by the Chief Executive and other senior officers which can then be used, including by being taken out of context, for the sole purpose of undermining their professional standing and further attacking their personal reputation and that of the Council.  The Council considers that providing you with the information you ask for may lead to further irritation and distress to individuals.

The Council considers that the disparaging and opinionated terminology that you use in your request serves to support the negative intention beyond your request.

The Council considers that the effort required to meet a request of vexatious intent is unreasonable and that any reasonable person would not expect the Council to direct its resources from its primary purposes simply to comply with a request of this nature.  The Upper Tribunal in the case of Information Commissioner vs Devon County Council ruled that the purpose of Section 14 [of the Act] must be to protect the resources (in the broadest sense of the word) of the public authority from being squandered on disproportionate use of FOIA.

In accordance with Section 14 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Council has determined your request to be of vexatious intent and will not be responding to the request.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your request, and should be addressed to:

Information Management Unit

Sandwell Council House

Freeth Street

Oldbury

West Midlands

B69 3DE

Email – info_management@sandwell.gov.uk

If you are not content with the outcome of an internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours faithfully

David Haywood

Service Manager - Governance

Request for an Internal Review - 9th February, 2016

Vincent Alexandervich <thesandwellskidder@gmail.com>	Feb 9
to Info

I am patently not a vexatious applicant as my earlier FoI's have shown. Important information - which you have attempted to shield from public view - has been flushed out.

As of today, my well-respected blog relating to the Council has had nearly 340,000 views and it is an important means of letting the people of Sandwell see what is really going on.

The fact that you do not like the style or content of my blog is irrelevant to the operation of Freedom of Information Act 2000.

For the record, I have not made applications via a variety of persona. I previously used What Do They Know to make requests in my own name and then started making applications via this gmail account all signed "Julian Saunders".

If anything is "vexatious" it is your personal attack on me.

In the circumstances, please take this mail as a FORMAL request for an internal review pursuant to the Act.

Julian Saunders

Reply to Request for an Internal Review - 15th March,2016

Request for an Internal Review 1-732085669 [IL0: UNCLASSIFIED]

Inbox

x

Info Management	5:23 PM (16 hours ago)
to me

This information has been marked as: IL0: UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Mr Saunders

Review of Freedom of Information Request Ref: 1-729108818

I have completed the requested review of the following Freedom of Information Request as follows:

“I am aware that the person purporting to be Sandwell Council's "Chief Executive", Jan Britton, writes a "Word on the Street" blog which is disseminated to the unfortunate staff.  Clearly this is being prepared by a member of the paid service and is published via the publicly-funded computer system.  In those circumstances, please forward copies of all of these blogs for the current "council year" i.e. from 1st April, 2015 until the date of your reply.”

I can confirm that the Freedom of Information Act provides that a public body may consider and determine that a request is :

-        so patently unreasonable or objectionable that it will be obviously vexatious; or

-        likely to cause a disproportionate or unjustified level of disruption, irritation or distress.

As a public body, Sandwell Council is permitted to apply the vexatious provisions to a Freedom of Information request.

Where a public body applies the vexatious provisions, it is not obliged to provide detailed reasons.  The Council in its initial response has, however, offered explanations as to why it is applying the provisions and I am satisfied that the Council has acted reasonably by providing an explanation of its application of Section 14 of the Act and that those explanations demonstrate a reasoned approach to the application of Section 14.

In conclusion, I am satisfied that the Council has acted within the rights conferred upon it as a public body.

If you are not content with the outcome of this internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any communications with the ICO.

Yours faithfully

Stuart Taylor

Governance Services Manager

Governance

Ext 3715

End.   16th March, 2016

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

PROUD TO BE TROLLED BY DARREN COOPER AND ANDREW HIPKISS.

email:  thesandwellskidder@gmail.com              facebook:  Julian Saunders

Confidential phone no: 07599 983737

Will Jan Britton Apologise to Hippodrome Volunteers?

Birmingham Hippodrome have been doing some excellent "outreach" work, bringing the arts out onto the streets for all to see. Back in 2014 they had the brilliant idea of bringing the wonderful Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo and her team over to create "Minimum Monument" in Chamberlain Square, Birmingham as a poignant, but transitory, memorial to the sacrifice of men and women in World War One.

Nele's work was the creation of over five thousand small ice figures which members of the public placed on the steps of the Square where they duly melted. In a masterpiece of logistics by The Hippodrome an absolutely amazing team of volunteers (of which I am immensely proud to have been one) spent every afternoon (and two Saturday mornings) FOR A FORTNIGHT making the ice sculptures in moulds. The event was a spectacular success with thousands in the Square and massive media coverage. The morning of the event had been particularly stressful for all concerned in the project due to adverse weather but all was well and we all found the event incredibly beautiful and highly-emotional.

Nele was doing media interviews etc after the event and so the volunteers adjourned to the pub before we all met up again. I put a couple of photos of us all on Twitter and Facebook including this one:

You will note that we are all wearing our "black" t-shirts and trousers/skirts which was our "uniform" for the event. Hold that in your minds if you will....

Regular readers will know that Sandwell Council and it's vicious Labour "leader", Darren Cooper, have put in considerable effort to shut this blog down (even trying to get West Midlands Police to do their dirty work for them.) Cooper and his associates having failed in that endeavour have resorted to attacking and harassing my wife and her employer together with a Birmingham charity of which she is a Trustee. Cooper has harassed my wife directly (eg threatening for unknown reasons to confront her at her place of work) and he and his pal, a local Regional Organiser from Unite the Union, also set about using Twitter to attack her employer, a Birmingham arts charity:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/labour-leader-unite-officer-harass-arts.html

But in early 2015 the out of control staff of Jan Britton - who purports to be "Sadwell's" Chief Executive at over £150k per annum - colluded with the reprehensible Cooper and the Council formally sent two letters signed by Darren Cooper to my wife's employer in a bid to have her at least suspended or preferably sacked for her job. This purely on the fallacious "reasoning" that because she has the dubious honour of being married to me (ahem) she is in some way culpable for what I write (and I happen to be rather proud of some of the exposes made in this blog).

Again, Skidder aficionados will know already that Jan Britton's staff and Cooper lifted the above photo from my Twitter or Facebook account and used it for nefarious purposes in one of the letters to the employer. The question is, why?

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/smbc-dis-hippodrome-volunteers.html

Let me take you on a short diversion here, dear readers. Over the last couple of years I have done other voluntary work for arts organisations in Brum including for the charity that employs my wife. During this period my wife and I have been subjected to an enormous trolling campaign on Twitter (which is still ongoing). So far, Twitter has suspended 15 accounts ALL of which Cllr Darren Cooper was DIRECTLY associating with and engaging with (as was his mate from Unite). In a sting operation he was caught out confirming that he knew the identity of one of the trolls and in another case (assuming he was not actually the troll himself) he was caught out passing highly defamatory information direct to the troll.

Back in December, 2014 a very sustained and vicious campaign started together with Unite the Union sending me electronic Christmas cards and staff (who are personal friends of Cooper) from the GMB union spreading malicious and untrue allegations about me. One of the now suspended troll accounts was called @bhamskidder and was being followed  by Darren Cooper several hours before the troll started tweeting!!!!! Some of the tweets attached a photograph which had, again, been lifted from my own Twitter account. A cropped version is shown here and you will note that I am wearing a black t-shirt although I have cut off the logo of my wife's employer for present purposes.

Not a pretty sight I know but a lot uglier with the stuff the trolls put with it ie that I had killed a child whilst drink-driving, defrauded a company I used to work for etc all of which was tagged to my wife's employers to cause trouble for her.

A number of the troll accounts which Darren Cooper directly associated himself with, and interacted very publicly with, also hinted to the charity that I was a paedophile and unfit to work with children. They kept referring to criminal record checks to imply that I was unfit to do voluntary work together with less "subtle" stuff:

02/12/14 That's a shame do you work with kids (copied to the charity);

And this from the troll account Darren Cooper has been caught passing stuff directly to:

Cooper wants to be the new West Midlands Mayor and Britton, the Trojan Elephant, is already second in command of the admin side of the new talkshop - black days indeed lie ahead for arts organisations in Birmingham and the wider region. But Darren Cooper is famously/notoriously intellectually-challenged and his lack of any sort of judgment is legendary. Here he is writing about me to one of the troll accounts directly HIMSELF - making highly-defamatory statements that I have committed unspecified offences (which, of course, I have not):

And the answer to the riddle of the picture of The Hippodrome volunteers? Quite simple - the reckless prat Cooper had seen the picture of me wearing a black t-shirt in one picture and just assumed - whilst writing an important official letter as Leader of Sandwell Council to get a woman outside Sandwell sacked from their job - that the picture in the pub related to the same organisation! Can you believe that? And Jan Britton's equally reckless staff failed to check and just used taxpayer-funded Sandwell Council to send it out.

I have spoken to a number of volunteers in the photograph who confirm that neither Jan Britton nor any member of staff sought their consent to use the photograph to attack and bully a woman and that had he sought such consent it would most certainly not have been forthcoming. They are disgusted that, having worked on such a brilliant project, their image has been hijacked by a Labour local authority in this absolutely appalling way.

What do you say readers? Time for Britton to issue a formal public apology to the volunteers?

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

PROUD TO BE TROLLED BY DARREN COOPER AND ANDREW HIPKISS

email:   thesandwellskidder@gmail.com       facebook:  Julian Saunders

Confidential phone no:  07599 983737

Confederation of Bangladeshi Organisations

In my post of 8th March:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/nick-neeraj-please-be-bstards.html

I mentioned in passing that even though the Confederation of Bangladeshi Organisations has four years left on a taxpayer-subsidised lease for Greets Green Resource Centre it wants to acquire more land from us, the public, and be granted a new 25-year tax-payer subsidised lease from the Labour Council even though, in its last published accounts, the comrades also gave them just under £90k as well! This at a time when the dimwitted "leader" of Labour Sandwell, Darren Cooper, is making swingeing cuts to frontline services.

The charity relies almost entirely on grants from SMBC, BBC Children in Need, The Big Lottery and Heritage Lottery Funds etc. None of the grants referred to in their last accounts were in respect of property - indeed, two were specifically for resourcing "women's empowerment" which is somewhat ironic given the image of the official opening at Greets Green:


The last accounts were made up to 31/03/15 and the next set are not due to be filed until 31st December but I can now tell you on the very first day of the new accounting period this small charity - reliant totally on grant income - managed to buy the freehold of 8-10 Carters Green, West Bromwich for £125,000 CASH!!!!!

The subsidised rent for the next quarter of a century (on top of grant income) has been recommended, despite the need for cuts, by our old friend Nick Bubalo and he is requesting that he and Ms Neeraj Sharma be left to do a secret "deal" on this. The Land Disposal Committee under the joke Chair, Bill Gavan, is meeting in secret session this afternoon to nod this through although I am sure Gavan will give Bubalo a thorough - but secret - grilling as to why a small charity needs further taxpayer subsidy when it can find £125k down the back of the settee for a freehold property!!!!!

Sandwell - Labour are about to shaft you yet again!!!!

I have also written to this charity on your behalf about the mystery £80k loan mentioned in my earlier post. Here is the email and I will advise you by way of an addendum of the reply:

"THIS IS NOT A PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION

Dear Sirs,

Your latest accounts filed at Companies House state that you received an £80k interest free loan from "an affiliated group" towards the purchase of a freehold property.

For the benefit of Skidder readers, can you please state which groups your organisation is legally affiliated to as there is no mention of this on the Charity Commission website nor in your accounts. Please also state which "affiliated" group made the loan and the terms of repayment."

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

PROUD TO BE TROLLED BY DARREN COOPER AND ANDREW HIPKISS

email:   thesandwellskidder@gmail.com             facebook:   Julian Saunders

Confidential phone no:  07599 983737

Nick & Neeraj - Please be B*stards!

Now you see it, now you don't in the wonderful world of the sale of (our) public land by Labour Sandwell Council.....

The Asset Management & Land Disposal Committee meet on Thursday under the laughable chairmanship of inexperienced councillor and Sandwell Labour "Business Ambassador" Bill Gavan who, as shown in a recent blog, has been involved in a whole string of companies, er, dissolved at Companies House!:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/only-in-sadwell.html

Unemployed Bill is refusing to confirm that he is one and the same as the "William Gavan" who donated £5,000 to West Bromwich East Labour Party in April, 2015:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/dear-bill.html

Don't bother to turn up to the meeting on Thursday as, apart from the reading of the minutes of the last meeting, the whole thing is to be held in secret. If you try and take a look at the minutes you will see that they are also heavily redacted so that us plebs are kept well and truly in the dark.

There are three items on the agenda. I am only interested here in one but the other two make interesting reading. One item deals with the disposal of the Union Street Car Park in West Bromwich which is supposed to be surplus to requirements despite paragraph 6.2 of the SMBC report stating "there is a significant demand for car parking in this area generated by surrounding commercial uses"! As in some of the other disastrous land deals on Chief Executive [sic] Jan Britton's watch, Nick Bubalo has "estimated" what the sale of the park would raise (a secret of course) but the report helpfully sets out that Labour could grant a short lease instead and it doesn't have to be for full commercial value as long as the public are not shafted for more than £2m! You don't think they might already have someone lined up for a deal do you readers? I am sure Bill Gavan will find out (ROFLMAO).

The second deal is timely with the election coming up and votes to be bought (sorry, garnered). Once again the agenda is heavily redacted but in 2010 Labour granted a 10 year lease of  the old Housing Office in Harwood Street, West Bromwich to the Confederation of Bangladeshi Organisations who now run the Garretts Green Resource Centre there. As it is International Women's Day we should, perhaps, remind ourselves of the turnout for the opening:

The Confederation (a registered charity) were given a 10 year lease in 2010 but now want to take over an adjoining parcel of land which is currently part of an amenity space for the local area and cancel the remainder of the existing lease in favour of a new 25 year lease instead (to also incorporate the extra land). The comrades want to agree this long lease at a subsidised rent for a massive 25 years even though the Charity's last accounts show that Labour also gave them grants of a whopping £89,252 in year ended 31/03/15. And all this has been left to Ms Neeraj Sharma and Mr Nick Bubalo to sort out without having to take into account any commercial considerations. We know what fantastic deals Neeraj and Nick negotiated for the public in the land sales to the sons of Cllrs Hussain and Rouf and so I am sure we all hope they will be as tough on the Bangladeshi Community before election day (now weeping bitterly onto my keyboard....)

(Incidentally, even though this small charity wants a 25 year lease for Harwood Street they also feel the need for another property too and are said in the accounts to be purchasing 8-10 Carters Green. Presumably they are expecting plenty more dosh from the comrades for a few years to come in addition to their subsidised rent! Strangely, they also refer in the accounts to an £80,000 interest free loan from "an affiliated group" without actually specifying who this "group" might be.)

And now to the final item - sale of yet more open space but an interesting one. Yet again the comrades are trying to keep most of the details secret but this involves the sale of heavily contaminated land at the old T & S Elements site off Hall Green Road and Needwood Grove, West Bromwich for housing. Part of the site was owned by a company called Judmick Estates and the other part - officially designated as open space - by SMBC. Judmick wanted to develop the whole site ie not just their bit. It is claimed in Council documents that this was also the only game in town for us taxpayers and any other interested parties were to be locked out (where have we heard that one before, eh, readers?) Judmick sold their part of the land on to Christchurch Land Limited (such is the carelessness with which Jan Britton's out of control staff operate, the minutes for Thursday's meeting calls this company "Christ Church Limited" when no such company actually exists).

Christchurch Land began clearing-up their site and made a planning application - DC/12/54434 - both in respect of their patch and the publicly-owned land. They had been involved in direct discussions with various people in planning and directly with some Labour ward councillors.

In May, 2012 the, then, Land Disposal Committee of Hussain (currently under voluntary suspension from the Labour Party), Eling (who lied about the Casino costs fiasco and was the main architect of the disastrous Council Tax Benefit fiasco) and Ian Jones (proven liar on BBC radio and also currently under voluntary suspension from the Labour Party) agreed to sell the land to Christchurch Land on terms to be agreed by, er, Neeraj Sharma and Nick Bubalo but with an important qualification - that this pair should SPECIFICALLY consider deferred purchase or profit-sharing agreements. In other words, even these three could see that the developer was getting a good deal by SMBC locking everyone else out and selling to them and they wanted a piece of the action (this did not always work with the sleazy "socialists" as the dodgy sale of the plot at Florence Road, Smethwick to Cllr Rouf's son was done via a type of deferred purchase arrangement and us taxpayers were still shafted right up the axxx!)

Unfortunately, the SMBC website is not allowing me to access the planning application documents today and so I cannot tell you about that. Yet more "openness" from Jan Britton's shambolic organisation:

Anyway folks, Christchurch Land then sold their patch on to Mar City Homes Limited and the meeting on Thursday is to amend the deal so that Christchurch drop out and the cunning comrades sell to Mar City instead but this time there is to be NO requirement for deferred purchase/profit sharing. As above - now you see it, now you don't! Instead the terms are to be left entirely to Nick Bubalo to negotiate and Sharma is to do the legal stuff. Nick has already decided a - secret - "estimate" of value (again we have seen this before with disastrous consequences for us taxpayers) and it is even suggested that as the land is "undevelopable" on its own it may be sold at an undervalue. This is bloody unbelievable! Even if it is true that the land cannot be developed on its own by SMBC it is clearly of considerable value to the proposed developers and so why the f*ck is the redacted report even talking about sale not being at the best consideration obtainable (a legal requirement save where exceptional circumstances apply)?

No doubt Bill Gavan will be demanding to know full details of the "deal" which Bubalo recommends must be done on his figures.......... I do hope Mar City will be happy with the tough deal Bubalo "negotiates"...... We need Nick and Neeraj to finally be tough b*stards!

Oh and by the way - Mar City Homes Limited is one of a number of "Mar City" companies some of which are said by Companies House today to have failed to comply with the law and file their accounts which is normally a source of considerable worry for most people:

Mar City Developments Ltd - accounts due 31st January, 2016 overdue;

Mar City Properties Limited - FIRST accounts not yet due;

Mar City Land Limited - accounts overdue from 2nd October, 2015!

Mar City Homes Limited which Nick is so anxious to do business with must have changed their accounting dates since Companies House say accounts are not due and yet this Company has not filed accounts since year ended 31st December, 2013!!!!

Floating above all this is a Public Limited Company - Mar City Plc - where even stricter rules apply but even that plc has overdue accounts from 31st December, 2015:

No doubt Darren Cooper's secret state of Sadwell is intent on acting in our best interests. Fear not readers, all will be well! And Bill, just get on and do what Darren and Mahboob have told you to do.....

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

PROUD TO BE TROLLED BY DARREN COOPER AND ANDREW HIPKISS

email:   thesandwellskidder@gmail.com              facebook:   Julian Saunders

Confidential phone no:  07599 983737

Sandwell Presents: "It's A Cock-Out"!

News reaches me that Darren Cooper has been deliberately covering-up two serious incidents involving "Sadwell" Labour Councillors - at least until now.....

This story involves penises and so you may safely assume that I am referring to two male "comrades". But a little background before I start.

Over the last few days an anonymous caller claiming to have contacts "at the very top" of Sadwell Council has been phoning me - on a withheld number, natch - insisting that I immediately write a story about three named Labour Councillors. The allegation regarding one councillor is small beer and I will refer to the more serious allegations below. The gentleman has an asian accent and regularly phones from the roadside as I can hear cars passing close by. A taxi driver perhaps? He also claims to speak for elements of "the Muslim community" who are allegedly "shocked" about the indecent nature of the allegations.

What is particularly strange is that this "informant" let slip something about MY medical history which is only known to immediate family/friends and to THREE people in Sandwell. All very mysterious!

The question is - who is pulling the strings here? Only last weekend the hypocritical arch back-stabber Tommy Watson was bemoaning in-fighting with the Labour Party but it would at least appear that "someone" high-up in the Sadwell Dick-tatorship is determined to drag down three "comrades"  - and just before the election too! Curious timing if nothing else.

Allegation one is that a VERY senior Labour Councillor was caught exposing himself and urinating in a Sadwell bus shelter. It has all been hushed-up by Cooper and Co. (This story has also been leaked - boom, boom - to me from a very reliable source).

Allegation two concerns indecent images on a telephone. Again Cooper and Co have known about this for some considerable time but, er, covered it up.

I have emailed both councillors. The VERY senior councillor has declined to comment. The other councillor gave me a truthful answer to my direct question based on my knowledge at that time but which was rather disingenuous (at best) given further information received.

Of course, Darren Cooper himself declines to mention his first marriage, the serious incident involving his vehicle and why he repeatedly told people he had received his home extension funds from a certain private individual.

Regular readers will also know that Cllr Paul Moore confirmed another local cock story to The Skidder ie that one long-standing (boom,boom) married Labour Councillor has been enjoying carnal relationships with the daughter of another!

Classy place, "Sadwell!" Mind you, we know that most of the male Labour councillors have no b*llocks and so perhaps we should be relieved that they do have some working dangly bits!

Unbelievably - and apparently without irony - my excitable informant/agent provocateur has been urging me to make an official complaint to - I kid you not - Members' Services! 

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

PROUD TO BE TROLLED BY DARREN COOPER AND ANDREW HIPKISS.

Confidential phone no:  07599 983737            Facebook:   Julian Saunders

email:   thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

Darren Cooper's Favourite Troll Down!

Mystery surrounds the disappearance of the abusive and grossly libellous Twitter troll account of Darren Cooper's "hero" and "guru", Andrew Hipkiss as well as his ludicrous "blog". Unlike most of the other troll accounts Cooper has deliberately chosen to interact with, however, Hipkiss has apparently removed the accounts himself whereas the others have been suspended (eventually) by the useless Twitter. And so there is always the possibility - police please note -  that the account will be resurrected. West Midlands Police are also aware that Hipkiss is highly likely to be involved with other "sleeper" accounts and it will be interesting to see what they will do if they suddenly become active!

Happily, Darren Cooper himself - incredibly the Chair of West Midlands Police and Crime Panel - enjoys the full protection of West Midlands Police. Many of you will be familiar with the history of Cooper and the trolls but it needs restating since some fine day all this is going to come tumbling out and there will have to be an enquiry into the Police's very deliberate inactivity (also in respect of another leading Sandwell (aka "Sadwell") councillor.)

Wannabe West Midlands Mayor (ROFLMAO) Cooper and his (ex?) bezzie mate from Unite the Union, Brian Rickers, deliberately interacted with these troll accounts which, after much effort from the victims, were eventually suspended by Twitter. They were used to harass and (to try to) intimidate me and my wife and also to attack UKIP:

@crow_ian; @colinduval10; @OoOctavius; @bhamskidder; @brumskidder; @tiviskidder; @kingsnortonlady; @Gemmawool15; @the1nformer; @mrsskidder; @julesnlinda and @notukipinsandwell.

One of the particularly vile accounts had only ONE follower BEFORE it went live alleging, inter alia, that I had committed fraud and killed a child whilst drink-driving. You will not be surprised to know that the sole follower was Cllr Darren Conrad Cooper!!!!!!

There are two dormant accounts which Cooper and Rickers were interacting with which have not been closed down: @wmskidder and @westbromskidder

Another troll account - @clownjames - was set up to intimidate a friend of The Skidder and such is the arrogance of these jokers and their knowledge of immunity from any police action they called the account "Wayne" to deliberately mock one of the detectives involved in the fraud inquiry into Sadwell Council.

With sterling work from The Skidder's archivist a database for use in future legal action (already in hand) is a current work in progress and will be an invaluable reference source for anyone moronic enough to ever consider voting for Darren Cooper either in Soho and Vic or for Metro Mayor. There is a lot more to come on the site but do take a look:

http://trollnemesis.blogspot.co.uk/

We know that Cooper teamed up with the brother/half-brother of the mysteriously-named Cllr Steven "Frear", SMBC employee Paul Kerton to harass and intimidate myself and my wife:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/twitter-troll-no-2-double-header-darren.html

Darren Cooper used his own account to try to intimidate my wife (eg threatening to confront her for unknown reason at her place of work; eg lying that he had been in contact with a charity of which she is a trustee; eg using Sandwell Council to write letters to try and get her suspended or, preferably, sacked from her current job etc). He also teamed up with Unite's Regional Officer to harass my wife's employers:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/labour-leader-unite-officer-harass-arts.html

Of course, Cooper uses the sexist terms "wifey" to describe my wife and the more derogatory "Mrs Skidmark". He has also used his account to put up a covertly-obtained photograph of me.

We don't know when Andrew Hipkiss first came on the trolling scene. We now know that he was the troll "OdgenW" which was eventually suspended by Twitter. He did have an account in his own name @AndrewHipkiss which appeared in some of the trolling.

Here is a (part-redacted as it was also sent to two charities) Tweet from the vicious troll account @kingsnortonlady which Cooper regularly interacted with:

(You will note that Rickers is mentioned as is an account purporting to be that of SMBC employee and Unite member, Paul Reeves).

There has been much hoopla in the press this week about an alleged "change in the law" relating to trolling but this is lazy journalism as the law has not changed. It has been a criminal offence to troll for sometime (Protection from Harassment Act and Malicious Communications Act) but new guidelines to prosecutors are being set out. West Midlands Police initially took the harassment of myself and my wife as the even more serious offence of witness intimidation (bearing in mind that I was supplying information - quite openly - to the Sandwell Council Regional Fraud Team enquiry.) Even though Twitter have allegedly made it easier for law enforcement officers to obtain information, a senior officer apparently decided that WMP would not commit "resources" to seeking information on the troll network. Whether this was genuinely a decision made with regard to cost (fairly minimal) or another attempt to protect the Chair of the West Midlands Police and Crime Panel remains to be seen..... The moral of the story, of course, is don't openly try and help the police.

Incidentally, West Midlands Police have been well aware for some considerable time that Darren Cooper frequently interacted with the numerous troll accounts via his Sandwell Council iphone and yet they failed to secure the records even though the Regional Fraud Team were actually in the Kremlin investigating the dodgy land sales by Jan Britton's out of control staff!

But then the situation changed. Twitter finally suspended Andrew Hipkiss's @OdgenW - which Darren Cooper regularly interacted with. In a beautiful "sting" operation, myself and A.N.Other caught Cooper out and he admitted that he knew the identity of @OdgenW (now known to be Hipkiss) and also that he was passing information to the foul troll @Gemmawool. Two detectives of West Midlands Police read my famous blog on the sting and took the trouble to contact me to say that this was a "gamechanger" and that there was now a clear prima facie case to, at the very least, investigate Councillor Cooper's contacts with the trolls (assuming, of course, that he is not actually one or more of the trolls himself). But yet again, West Midlands Police declined to investigate their old chum.

For anyone who thinks Cooper is a fit and proper person to be either a councillor, the Chair of West Midlands Police and Crime Panel or, even more improbably, the new West Midlands Mayor you MUST MUST MUST read my blog on the sting operation which exposed some of Cooper's activities:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/cooper-exposed.html

Back to Hipkiss who likes to think he is very clever. Eventually even Twitter could not stomach the @OdgenW account - which Cooper was so actively supporting and interacting with - and suspended it. The very next day Hipkiss morphed his above-mentioned @AndrewHipkiss twitter account into @Ennabran. This was a big mistake by the great man since we were eventually able to ascertain his identity (which he initially tried to keep secret whilst continuing to troll myself, my wife and UKIP.) We were then also able to identify him as the troll @OdgenW.

Please again see the excellent work from the Skidder archives at:

http://trollnemesis.blogspot.co.uk/

Twitter are not really concerned about trolling and Hipkiss knew that if he got enough followers they were unlikely to shut him down as they are more concerned with making money than protecting trolling victims. He set about contacting all of the vociferous Corbynistas accounts etc and, almost overnight built up over 3,000 "followers" (he has plenty of time to do this as he does not work). Twitter have locked his account at least once and also suspended him once but they still refused to close the abusive account even though they KNOW he was previously the troll, @OdgenW!!!!!!

As my archivist put it Twitter, "once a troll - always a troll!"

When West Midlands Police tried to close down this blog I gave them certain other evidence ON TAPE including the full addresses of Cooper, Rickers and Hipkiss in respect of the trolling. Despite trying to exercise my legal right to obtain a copy of the tape by sending them a recorded delivery letter (which they did receive) they have failed to send a copy of the tape to me. Perhaps they don't want some of the content to get into the public domain........

When I exposed his identity, Hipkiss "came out" and the idiotic Cooper (plus the likes of Cllrs Edwards, Sandars, Gill - aka Shergill - and even Sandwell Council itself all started interacting with and encouraging him!) made a very public display of "welcoming him to the Labour family" (pass the sick bag, Alice):

If this wasn't enough evidence of Cooper's total lack of judgement he followed this by having a go at the travelling community and offering to use his influence to favour his "guru":

The unemployed Darren Cooper is still a registered nurse with a background in mental health. Hipkiss repeatedly states that he is mentally-ill and so one must wonder whether it is morally and professionally appropriate for "Nurse Cooper" to have repeatedly egged him on with his destructive trolling and blogging.

Hipkiss continued his trolling until Thursday night when he made this non-guru-like utterance:

Both the Twitter account and the highly libellous blog have disappeared (at least for now):

Let us hope that Nurse Cooper's massive encouragement of Hipkiss's trolling has not caused "Andy" to have some sort of medical emergency..... I sent an email to Cllr Cooper yesterday asking for his comments of the demise of his "hero's" accounts but he has declined to respond to date. I also tried to ask him about this when he was leaving The Oldbury Kremlin yesterday but he just drove off without comment.

A new troll account recently appeared (being followed by Unite the Union's Brian Rickers) @Brummys1 (see the trollnemesis site again) and as the troll started to attack my wife's employers again the matter has been referred to West Mercia Police. It will be interesting to see if they take a more robust approach to all this than "Darren's" mates at WMP!

(Incidentally, to take the piss the trolls are often copying in the new WMP Chief Constable via Twitter. He knows "Darren" via the Police and Crime Panel and is apparently prepared to be held up to public mockery by "the Leader's" [sic] associates. How weird is that?)

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

PROUD TO BE TROLLED BY DARREN COOPER AND ANDREW HIPKISS

email:  thesandwellskidder@gmail.com               facebook:   Julian Saunders

Confidential phone no:  07599 983737


On Facebook? Join The Sandwell Skidder Readers' Group!

Britain's Thickest Council Leader 2016 - Extended Deadline!

EXTENDED DEADLINE

BRITAIN’S THICKEST COUNCIL LEADER, 2016

WITH EASTER BEING EARLY THIS YEAR THE DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS FOR BRITAIN’S THICKEST COUNCIL LEADER HAS BEEN EXTENDED FROM 1ST APRIL TO:

12 NOON, FRIDAY 15TH APRIL, 2016

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT WE ARE SEEKING THE POLITICAL COUNCIL LEADER WHO HAS SHOWN PARTICULAR DIMWITTEDNESS IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS AND NOT THE HEAD OF PAID SERVICE.

PLEASE ALSO NOTE THAT THE LEADER MUST STILL BE IN SITU TO QUALIFY FOR NOMINATION.

WE HAVE ONLY ONE NOMINATION TO DATE - AND WOULD LOVE TO SEE SOME COMPETITION!

SEND YOUR NOMINATION(S) WITH REASONS TO:

thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!