From: Garry Calver
Sent: 15 February 2013 08:53
To: David Smith
Subject:Re: 106 money
Dear David
Please forgive me if I point out that I can assure you that I fully appreciate how this situation arose and it is you who appears to be missing the point. We have no concerns about members of the public seeking or being provided with information or with journalists following up on such information in order to confirm its accuracy. Our concerns relate to the fact that elected TDC councillors representing Harwich are still being told that this information is not available which, I am sure you would agree, is a genuine concern.
With regard to your suggestion that the Labour Group was in some way responsible for the manner in which the HTC councillors elected to represent the CRP in 2007 discharged their duties, I fear that we must agree to disagree. I would further suggest that it would be difficult for any objective individual to examine what occurred between May 2007 and May 2011 and share your opinion. However, as I said in my previous email, we all see things differently and are entitled to our own opinions.
With regard to your expressed opinion on the present council I must advise you that I personally consider your views to be very offensive and extremely inaccurate. As I have previously advised you, there is a level of co-operation between councillors that has not been present for a considerable length of time and it is a pleasure to be part of a council that is focussed on the tasks for which it has been elected. As you have widened your remarks to include the entire council I will, as a matter of courtesy, advise all councillors of this correspondence.
Finally, I am sure that you are very proud of your late wife’s connection to Harwich Borough Council. My great uncle, George Calver, was elected as an Alderman of the Borough in the 1930s and it is something of which I am extremely proud.
Kind regards
Garry
—– Original Message —–
From: David Smith
To: Garry Calver
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2013 7:12 PM
Subject: Re: 106 money
Dear Garry,
I am disappointed that you failed to understand my e-mail and have assumed things that are wrong.I advised HMS of this information not Peter Halliday who was just rersponding to questions put to him by the reporter.
I still don’t understand how you found it so difficult to get this information when I found it so easy.You were obviously not going about it the right way.If you go on the TDC website you can also obtain-as a collegue of mine has done-all the 106 money available to every town and village in Tendring.I just sent a letter asking about Harwich and Dovercourt-nothing more complicated than that.There should be no concerns about how this information is being released-as usual you and your collegue see conspiracy where none exists!
I was very disappointed but not surprised by the comments in your final vitriolic paragraph.As I recall events of the era you quote it was you and your collegues who took it upon yourselves to do everything you could to tear the CRP apart rather than trying to work with it for the good of the town.I suppose bickering was perhaps the wrong word to use as most of todays councillors just sit there like zombies unable or unwilling to utter anything while the Ivan and Garry show is in full flow.No constructive imput from most of them and an ineffectual chair who lets you two get away with rambling on for ages.What I did detect was an undercurrent of distrust that will sooner rather than later erupt.
You are probably too young to remember the old Harwich Borough Council but I attended a lot of meetings with my late wife’s father councillor Harper-the last elected Alderman in the town-and he always told me,”Whatever our politics at the council we are all independent.We leave politics at home”.
A good lesson for todays bunch.
Tony Blair uttered those immortal words,education,education,education.Your words should be,Harwich,Harwich,Harwich.There is no room for politics in local government.
Regards,
David
Fri, Feb 8, 2013 at 3:53 PM,
Garry Calver wrote:
Dear David
I am disapointed that you are willing to regard your assumptions as fact without waiting for my response but that is a minor concern.
I can assure you that an e mail trail exists via which it can be proved that we have been seeking this information from TDC officers for a considerable length of time. Following Helen’s phone call on Wednesday afternoon a further e mail was sent politely pointing out that HMS had been advised by Cllr Halliday of the information and could officers please now provide us with the confirmation of its accuracy. A response was received this morning apologising for the fact that they could not and that the information we are requesting will not be available until, at the earliest, next week. I would hope that, now you are aware of this, you will appreciate that we have genuine concerns as to how information is being released.
I am extremely surprised by your suggestion that ‘bickering’ on Harwich Town Council is interfering with its ability to conduct its business. Indeed, after enduring the four years between 2007 and 2011 during which the council was torn apart by the in fighting between the councillors elected in 2007 to represent the Community Representatives Party, it is now a genuine pleasure to sit on a council which is mature, constructive and united in its endeavour to do its best for Harwich and Dovercourt. I have been advised that you were present in the public gallery during the last meeting of the council and, if this is true, you will have personally witnessed that every vote was unanimous and that constructive input was put forward and accepted by all members, irrespective of political persuasion. This being the case, it is hard for me to imagine what evidence you would have to substantiate your suggestion but everybody sees things differently and, of course, are entitled to their own opinions.
Kind regards
Garry
—– Original Message —–
From: David Smith
To: Garry Calver
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2013 12:39 PM
Subject: 106 money
Dear Garry,
I am mystified by your comments in today’s Standard concerning the 106 money for Harwich.You say you have been seeking information through official council channels about this money.Well then you must have been using the wrong channels as I just wrote to TDC and asked for the figures and back they came supplied by that nice Councillor Guglielmi.I then contacted the Standard as I felt the public had the right to know about all this available money and Helen obviously asked Peter Hallidayfor a quote.I see no reason for you to criticise Peter Halliday when you failed to look for or find this information yourself! Perhaps Harwich Town council should stop the bickering and do the job the public expects it to do.
Regards,
David Smith
100% for Harwich, Dovercourt & Parkeston