Seventeen Windows

[Dave]

Well if that's what the Council have told you, then it will be very interesting to see what the Ombudsman has to say.   

Meanwhile, have a look at the Local Government Ombudsman website: http://www.lgo.org.uk/.  There are pages there entitled 'What we can look at' and 'What we can't look at'.  One of the issues listed in the latter section is 'Something affecting all or most of the people living in a council’s area, such as a complaint that the council has wasted public money', which to me sounds like your complaint. 

[sooty2]

Dave, I have been informed by the council in reply to my complaint that seventeen windows is beng investigated by the LGO and are awaiting the outcome.I am also told that they cannot uphold my complaint as the council has made their decisions to approve the scheme and the complaints process cannot intervene on this matter,All seems rather pointless having a complaints procedure

[Dave]

Andrew Stunnul the communities minister has been pro active concerning the Seventeen Windows saga, Informing us of a wde ranging enquiry and the case being passed to the Ombudsman.

I don't think this case could be considered by the Local Government Ombudsman, because the Ombudsman only deals with allegations of alleged personal injustice, where the claimaint is seeking a remedy or compensation on their own behalf.  Examples might be in education (e.g. child given a place in a school miles away, when there is one next door), or social care (e.g. granny not receiving enough financial support for her care home).  Unless, sooty, you are wanting Stockport Council to award you financial compensation for the pain suffered every time you pass Seventeen Windows.   

General complaints about local authorities are dealt with by Standards for England - the organisation Stunnell is planning to abolish! 

[sooty2]

Tricky, Natural was my description, I did not say that you said it,Just going for a long sleep now, YAWN ZZZZZZ

[Tricky]

Tricky,Have I missed something?How have I mis-quoted you? I cant post my complaint to the council as it was on one of their complant forms and would not save.I wish I had it, so that I could refer to what I had written to them,I also know what an auto reply is Thanyou

I didn't use the word natural or manmade (sic).. that's all. I simply referred to the land which Seventeen Windows sits on as being an overgrown mess.
(before any of the building work started)

[sooty2]

Andrew Stunnul the communities minister has been pro active concerning the Seventeen Windows saga, Informing us of a wde ranging enquiry and the case being passed to the Ombudsman.Thats very encouraging from a man who says lots of complaints are petty and cost a lot of tax payers money.

[sooty2]

Thanks for that Alan,I will do that in future if need be,

[alan@marple]

Sooty, with regards to the complaint forms, not being saved I agree it is very annoying.
What I do is to fill out the form then copy and paste it to Word or Works

[sooty2]

Tricky,Have I missed something?How have I mis-quoted you? I cant post my complaint to the council as it was on one of their complant forms and would not save.I wish I had it, so that I could refer to what I had written to them,I also know what an auto reply is Thanyou

[Tricky]

If they haven't addressed your complaint then why not write back to them and tell them so?

..As for the garden once being an overgrown natural mess,its now a manmade overgrown mess.

I'm not sure why you are misquoting me.. it's right there for you to see.



Your auto-reply simply advises you that the person you have emailed is away. They will get your email upon return and will hopefully act accordingly.

I will ask again.. why won't you post the Council's actual reply ? and maybe even your original letter of complaint?

[sooty2]

If they haven't addressed your complaint then why not write back to them and tell them so?

I have wrote back ,but the sender is on holiday for two weeks,it was an auto reply.I see there are some very high paying jobs on that website alan. As for the garden once being an overgrown natural mess,its now a manmade overgrown mess.

[Tricky]

I would tell you what it says if it was in reply to my complaints. But I think their reply should of gone to someone else.They say that I am concerned about the whole cost of everything,Strenghthening, widening,trafiic signals etc etc and that I would like the whole scheme abandoning. I don't think I could bring that about . Of course we need the road brought up to standard. My concerns are ,and always will be about the money involved in Seventeen windows and it's ugly eyesore of a garden which is a scruffy mess

I think we should move on from whether you think it's an ugly eyesore.. because that is only your opinion. (And you are entitled to it of course)
For what it's worth, I quite like it. Some of us are pretending it was a beautiful garden before.. It wasn't. It was an overgrown mess, but all of this arguement is of no consequence.

However.. please post the reply!

[Dave]

This is an interesting webpage:
http://www.standardsforengland.gov.uk/

Also:

http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2010/09/councillor-misconduct-to-be-a-criminal-offence/

Hmmm, very interesting Alan.  So the Communities Minister (who happens to be our MP) is concerned about taxpayers' money being wasted by 'frivolous complaints'.  ("Stunell said: ‘The Standards Board regime ended up fuelling petty complaints and malicious vendettas. Nearly every council had investigations hanging over them – most of which would be dismissed but not before reputations were damaged and taxpayer money was wasted.'")    

[admin]

If they haven't addressed your complaint then why not write back to them and tell them so?

[alan@marple]

This is an interesting webpage:
http://www.standardsforengland.gov.uk/

Also:

http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2010/09/councillor-misconduct-to-be-a-criminal-offence/