The case for Cricklewood redevelopment

Any major redevelopment, such as the one proposed for Cricklewood, is bound to generate strong feelings. Many aspects of the scheme will be changed as the plans are developed. Barnet as a council seek to listen to all sides and make decisions in line with the policies agreed as best for the borough. Protest groups hail minor changes as "great victories". Blogger claim success as minor details are changed.

All of these comments neglect to mention the fact that the council have a huge task managing such applications. Staying the same is not an option. Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. The job of the council is to do what's best for everyone. If every development that ever upset anyone was abandoned, we'd all be living in mud huts.

Like all major road, rail and airport developments, there is a mass of objections. When the new resources are finally opened, the protestors use them just the same as everyone else and we all end up asking ourselves what the fuss was all about. When the fantastic scheme at Cricklewood is finally finished, I'm sure it will be the same.

A great place to start with the Easycouncil

The news this week was dominated by a malicious blogger who having insulted the Mayor of Barnet, went running to the Standards Committee when the Mayor gave him a bit of his own medicine. Unlike the legal system where the cost of legal fees discourages this sort of thing, the blogger got the whole thing free, courtesy of the taxpayer.

Maybe this type of case and the numerous other trivial freedom of information act requests, costing hundreds of pounds would be a great place to start with Mike's Easycouncil concept. You could still file silly complaints, you could ask all the questions you like about the cost and thickness of the leaders toilet paper, but you'd have to pay for privildge.

That would save millions up and down the country. Lets face it, who else is served by this ridiculous waste of money, other than malcontents and self publicists who only launch complaints to see themselves on telly

Mike is making a name for himself

Everyone is sitting up and taking note of Mike's innovative leadership in London. Ken Livingstone was talking about Mike on his show on LBC 97.3 this morning. The Guardian had not 1, not 2 but 3 articles about Barnet this week.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/aug/27/barnet-council-conservative-party


http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/aug/27/tory-borough-barnet-budget-airline

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/aug/27/conservative-barnet-borough-council-leaders

The truth is that the left is scared to death of Mike. They know his policies will save a fortune and will see substantial reductions in Council taxes. Once Mike has proven that the ideas work in Barnet, Conservative Councils up and down the country will follow the lead Mike has given. This will result in a sea change in the way councils are run and may well see the end of Socialism at Council level.

It won't surprise me at all if Mike Freer becomes the second Conservative prime minister from Finchley.

With enemies like these

I was shocked to see that the biggest critic of Mike Freer, blogger Rog T, was actively promoting a blog which featured a man wanting to filmed on the toilet. Shameful. These are the type of people who oppose Mike Freer. I suspect that Mike Freer was closer to the mark than anyone realised when he called Rog T a "one handed blogger".

Lucky to have Mike in charge

I was rather disturbed to see that our neighbours in Harrow Council are bringing in an ID scheme for council tenants. Surely we have enough big brother style schemes already. We are lucky that Barnet has Mike Freer in charge. He would never agree to such a crackpot initiative.

Mike on Conservative home

Mike has penned a superb article for Conservative home. His friends are also pleased to hear that he's recovered from a nasty bout of swine flu and is fighting fit again.

Sorry for the recent lack of posts. I've been too busy on the campaign trail and then a well needed holiday ! I think we can all take heart from the fantastic result in Norwich.

Mike gets a ringing endorsement

The votes have been cast, unlike the Euro elections where turnout was as low as 10%, the byelections for Barnet resulted in a huge swing to the Conservatives and a massive turnout, well over 40%. This can only mean one thing - a huge endorsement for the Leadership of Mike Freer. Whatever the bloggers of Barnet may say, the public love him and recognise all of his hard work.

Barnet has a new Mayor

Barnet Council got a new Mayor this week. Councillor Brian Coleman, one of Londons best known and most popular politicians took over from outgoing Mayor John Marshall at a Mayormaking Ceremony on Tuesday at the recently refurbished Hendon Town Hall. The New Deputy Mayor is Councillor Hugh Rayner. For the full details Click here for Londons best Read.

My fave piccie of Mike

The apprentice gets a few tips from a truly grand Master !

So who says that Barnets Youtube initiative is a waste of money?

Well I suppose you can guess who, can't you. The moaning minnies who hunt through every council document, every press release and every statement to find some mud to fling.

I thought I'd check the Youtube site out. I looked at the most viewed page. The most viewed page is for the recycling with over 2,000 views. For me the most informative was the cashless parking video (590 views).




The idea of councils using Youtube is in its infancy and Barnet leads the way. A small minority of moaners think that this is a waste of money and that the cash would be better spent on inquirys into football stadium sales. I think that things which improve the quality of life of residents are well worth the small cost. Barnet is lucky to have Mike Freer in charge, not some dinosaur who's idea of communication is to invite the local Union leaders to the Town Hall for beer and sandwiches.

Rog T is playing away !

Rog T claims in his blog that he's a good Catholic and a family man. As you can see, the Friends of Freer have uncovered evidence that he's been playing away!

Naughty old Rog T !

Marvellous Matthew Destroys Dismal Dismore

With the holiday season upon us, we all need a good book to read. Here's one which every right thinking person should take a look at. It's savage, witty and a fine read. Now I'd always been of the opinion that the MP for Hendon, Andrew Dismore was a bit of a non-entity, but it seems that he's to blame for far more than we all thought. Quentin Letts "50 people who buggered up Britain" currently has pride of place on my bedside table and it certainly opened my eyes to the damage Mr Dismore has done as a MP.


Whilst we are on the subject of Andrew Dismore, I was most impressed with the way Matthew Offord, PPC for Hendon put him in his place on his fine new blog. Matthews blog is witty, incisive, irreverent and not for the namby pamby PC brigade. I love it. Of all the Barnet political blogs, it is far and away the funniest and the best. Beware of cheap imitations.

I'm thinking of starting a "Mum's for Matthew" blog in his honour. Anyway, back to the ironing.

NOTE : Sorry to say I've made a big boo boo. The author of BARNETSTHIRDEYE blog has let me know that he's NOT MATTHEW. He's very much younger and much more handsome (gosh, he must be very handsome indeed). He should put his picture on, he'd get loads more fans if he's that handsome. Is it just me or do the local Labour party have a policy of only having ugly recruits - look at Rog T. Many apologies to Matthew, it was only because it was so good, that it fooled me - Sorry Matthew.

Labour isn't working

A very interesting story on the Times website. Those of us of a certain age remember this poster well. It is amazing that it is still as powerful today.

Rather funny really to think that everyone on the poster was a Conservative !

Mike's friends in action

A great letter in this weeks Times

Brian Gordon spells out why cheap opposition shots are way off the mark.

Mike gets the recognition he deserves

Check page 9 of the Hendon Times this week. There is a poll showing that 77% of Barnet Resident's think Mike is doing a great job. There is also a letter from Mr A Gupta saying that Mike has cut costs, eliminated waste and pulled council finances out of the red. It is great to see that ordinary people like what they see.

Welcome to Barnet's most successful blog !

It's a funny old world. I only started this blog to counter all of the nasty and unfair comments about Mike that various Barnet malcontents were continually publishing in the various Barnet blogs. It seems that these bloggers were rather upset to find that rather more people read Mike's leader listens blog (figures announced at the recent Hendon residents forum) than their rather dull efforts.

Well even Mike's fantastic blog cannot keep up with the Friends of Freer. We've put Google Analytics in to track us and it seems that a whopping 75,000 of you have visited in the last month. It seems that people rather like reading good news and what a great job Mike is doing. I really never ever expected this much interest ! Thank you

Yet again Mike leads the way !

It seems that Barnet is at last getting the respect it deserves under Mike Freer's leadership. It seems that even Hazel Blears is a big fan of Mike. She's been paying tribute to the innovative Future shape scheme, and has been praising Barnet for its pioneering and innovative approaches taken to involve local residents in shaping policy across the borough.

The use of social networking sites such as Youtube and Facebook, along with informal neighbourhood meetings known as Leader Listens are cited as improving dialogue with local people to give them a direct input into improving local services.

In response to the compliment Mike welcomed the support of the Communities Secretary and went on to say: “Our unique approach is now being copied across the country by other councils and public services showing that Barnet has been the trailblazer in bringing true public engagement to those the council serves.”

Good for the goose !

The various bloggers of Barnet have been in uproar recently. For year's they've been hurling insults at Mike. Recently he spoke frankly and honestly about his feelings regarding the criticism and guess what? They don't like it up em Mr Mainwarning

A criticism of Mike !

It may surprise you to know that the Friends of Freer are not completely uncritical of Mike !

One thing we've often asked him and he's yet to give us a satisfactory answer to, is why he's so nice to the 5 or so malcontents in Barnet who feel the need to post multiple comments on every single thing he does, no matter how good bad or indifferent. Mike meets lots of people every week who he gets on really well with, but it seems there are some people with nothing better to do than wait for Mike to say something and then make nasty comments.

Now the question The Friends of Freer ask ourselves is this. If these armchair critics are so clever, why haven't they got proper jobs? Any suggestions?

Mike Freer - Cutting back the costs

Mike has been busy recently trying to get the government to ease the financial strain on businesses and Council Tenants. At a meeting of London Councils, Mike forcefully argued for a freeze on business rates. Mike said that business rates were going up by 5% and London Councils should be arguing for them to be frozen in London. I don't think too many people (apart from Gordon Brown) would disagree with that.

In Mike's excellent Leader listens blog he details how Council tenants will face a rise fo between six and nine percent. Mike argues that this Government driven rise should be reconsidered, given the current financial climate.

One practical step Mike's council have introduced is to inroduce special parking permist for builders working on residents homes. This will help companies and residents who are involved in work improving homes.

This follows the success of the permits for religious leaders, which allows community leaders to buy Borough wide parking permits to allow visits for the needy.

We are lucky to have a council leader like Mike who cares about all sections of the community.

Another award for Mike Freer's Council

Barnet Council has been recognised for its innovative work with Muslim communities by the Government Office for London. The award, for Best Overall London Project, presented on 17th February at the Prevent 2009 One London Conference, is in recognition of the Council’s groundbreaking approach to engaging with members of Barnet’s Muslim community through the borough’s schools, community organisations, university and mosques.
Using research findings from one of its partners, Middlesex University, the Council designed its projects specifically to reflect the diversity of the borough’s Muslim community.
Among the projects undertaken by the council and carried out by the Barnet Muslim Engagement Partnership was the 2008 award-winning Madrassa Citizenship Programme which was adapted to fit mainstream, multi-faith schools. The programme aimed to improve inter-faith understanding among school pupils through a series of workshops taken by different faith leaders. Other programmes included empowering local Muslim women to become public influencers and increasing the self-esteem of south Asian, Somali and Afghani young people through performing arts, sports and national youth accreditations.
The project also succeeded in challenging myths in the community through its critically acclaimed exhibition ‘Muslims in Barnet’ portraying the positive contribution of Muslims engaged in daily life.

Commenting on the award Mike said “This award recognises and reflects the breadth of projects undertaken by the council across the whole of the Muslim community in Barnet over the last year, and our overall efforts to work with all faith communities.”
“Not only has our innovative approach in understanding the complexities of our local Muslim community helped increase self-esteem among residents, it has also been recognised by other government bodies who are looking to Barnet to see how to successfully deliver projects like this.”
“We are fortunate that our communities do live peaceably together and projects such as this continue our history of working with all faith communities across the borough.”

Barnet Leads the Way

Barnet Council is leading the way in London. Under the Leadership of Mike it has developed the most innovating and exciting website in London. I've put a few links to this so you can go straight there yourself. Check out the interesting and informative YouTube videos and the Fantastic pictures on the Flickr Site. See why people such as Boris are flocking to Barnet to see how a modern Council in the 21st Century does things. It makes me proud to live in Barnet.

When the going gets tough, Mike gets going

It's been a tough week for everyone. Barnet had the worst snowfall for years. It's times like this that I'm glad Mike Freer is the man in charge. Read this press release about how Barnet Gritters were on the road from 3am on Friday, in preparation for the snow.

http://www.barnet.gov.uk/highlights/adverse-weather-services/hazardous-weather-gritting-updates.htm

Read this story from the London Daily News to see how other boroughs have struggled

http://www.thelondondailynews.com/rubbish-snow-joke-londons-streets-mess-p-2331.html

You won't see too much thanks on the other blogs for Mike or the council's workers. You will here. Thanks

Mike Cuts the Mustard !!!!

Some very interesting questions and answers at the last Council meetings.
Strangely these haven't been reported by the usual suspects in their blogs :-


Question 26
Councillor Brian Gordon
For how many successive years has our Council managed to keep Council Tax increases below inflation and how has this been achieved?


Answer by Councillor Mike Freer, Leader of the Council
Unlike the previous Labour / LibDem coalition who increased Council Tax above inflation every year they ran the Council, this will be the 5th year in succession we have delivered a below RPI increase in Council Tax. We are one of only a handful of London Councils to have achieved this.
This has been done by tight budget setting and control. We have consistently reduced the base budget by £10m every year, largely through efficiency measures that protect priority services. We have ensured spending is within budget through rigorous budget monitoring and proactive budget management. All this has been during a period of below inflation grant settlements i.e. real term grant cuts.


Question 30
Councillor Brian Gordon
Can the Leader please comment on the latest Government Formula Grant Settlement for the Borough?


Answer by Councillor Mike Freer, Leader of the Council
Barnet’s grant increase is 2.2% below the national settlement of 2.8%
The percentages cannot hide the poor settlement for London in particular where grant increases will not be enough to meet inflationary pressures let alone new service demands. In fact, it is likely that the NLWA levy increase alone will exceed the grant increase. The current minister has made it quite clear his intention to help his northern supporters by continuing to drain grant away from the economic capital of the UK to the less successful regions. As evidence I need only refer to the flawed changes made in the last couple of years to grant allocations for adult social services that have deprived London of much needed resources to support the vulnerable.

Mike Stands up to the bullies

Why will Mike Freer make a great MP? Because he's prepared to stand up to the bully boys and take action. In his latest blog he details the tough action he's taken to stand up to the cowardly thugs who threaten hard working family businesses in Barnet. If you have any doubts about the way in which the conflict in Gaza has been exploited by various supporters of terror, left wing radicals and other bandwagon jumpers for their own ends read this article in the London Daily News. Have any of the other Golders Green and Finchley Candidates gone public with support for Israel?

Barnet Council Tax rise below inflation again

This week Barnet Council's cabinet met to discuss the budget for the coming year. They are proposing a rise of 2.81%, well below the rate of inflation. Congratulations to Mike on keeping taxes rises down when the grants from government have been cut.

How have Labour and the Lib Dems reacted? As ever they are looking both ways at the same time. They berate Mike for having to raise tax at all, whilst complaining that services are being streamlined. They've also taken to criticising Mike for using the reserves to ease the burden on families. Given the raids on reserves when we had a Lib/Lab administration, this is rather rich. Doesn't it occur to them that the reserves are funds earmarked for a rainy day. Given the economic situation, surely that rainy day has arrived and families in Barnet deserve a break.