Dear Mrs Oliver,
I will of course arrange for
the Fo I officer (I do believe he has your address) to send what
information we have regarding your question last night. Following your
email this morning it will now be logged as an FoI request . I
did make it clear last night as part of my response
your specific question would be answered.
However I must disagree with
you when you called it a rant. I suspect my obvious prediction of
your question and my own previously prepared response which I read
out to you in a calm and polite manner highlighting the unscientific and
untenable attempt to make a geological link between two sites was not the
answer you expected or wanted. I did not point out in council that a Geological
unit , would not be expert in airborne contamination, as Geology
happens under the ground and is not airborne . I did not make
this blatenetly obvious point in public as I did not want it mistaken
as sarcasm as I always remain scrupulously polite, as is expected by the code
of conduct. However just because you didn’t like my response it did not make it
a rant. I have been commended by colleagues whose opinions I value,
who considered it a robust and detailed response.
My point about the sister
site status is geological not commercial. My point which I clearly made last
night is that each site has to be treated as unique, with regard to it’s
geology, topography and what has been tipped, as determined by the results
of professional geological examination with due regard
to the building techniques and final use of the building. This is all dealt
with in the report, copies of which you have now received. I am
unable to to use your unqualified, and cheaper ( but hardly free, as
explained by your impact on FoI last night) advice and avoid the
professional fees. To do so would make me guilty of the disregard for the
public welfare and public finances of which you are always so ready to
accuse me and others.
The access to council files
you ask for would not be unreasonable for an elected member of the authority
with a demonstrable legitimate interest in the matter. However I note that you
have never put yourself up for election, and so avoid the constraints of the
code of conduct as well as all that messy campaigning business of actually
gaining a mandate from the electorate.
I however am bound by the
code of conduct and endeavour to the best of my abilities to remain honest ,
and treat all with respect in my written and verbal responses.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Weldon
Executive member CYPD
From: sheilaoliver [mailto:sheilaoliver@ntlworld.com]
Sent: Thu 27/09/2007 21:23
To: Cllr Mark Weldon
Cc: Leader; John Schultz; Steve Lamb; Peter Devine
Subject: Sister sites
Dear
Councillor Weldon
Please
could I have an answer to the question I asked tonight. That ridiculous
rant from you did not answer the very precise question. I need
to see that Stockport Council has ascertained that GMGU is qualified to carry
out the work I mentioned, given the interesting email. Make it a FOIA
request if you like. Whatever, but I want to know.
Regarding
my many FOIA requests, may I point out that if the council simply let me read
through their files without the ridiculous dance we have to go through, then
the whole process would be both simple and cheap. It is the Council
that makes the difficulties in trying to conceal information which then takes
hundreds of emails to prise out of it. Anyway, my complaint has now gone to
Richard Thomas, so that is all in his hands. He is supposed to be a
decent chap.
I
couldn’t understand why you laid in to me on the sister site issue. As I
was driving to kickboxing it finally dawned on me – you haven’t
a clue what you are talking about.
Know
nowt, don’t spout!
Poppet,
they are both Jackson’s Brickyards sites comprising infilled claypits at a
time when no records were kept, but – BUT they were sold together in the
same land deal by their owners Christian Salveson who were the parent
company of Jackson’s Brickworks. I have the document from the
Council’s own archives. So the sites at Adswood and Harcourt
Street were sold presumably on the same day by the same owner to the same
new owner. I think that confims sisterhood, don’t you angel?
I
shall tell Labour and the Tories that you got it totally wrong.
What you need to do is research, as I do when I not illegally prevented from
doing so.
As
always, Councillor Weldon, all my love
Sheila
