The £350 million "field of dreams" that has become a failed muddy field of nightmares.
They built it, but no-one has really turned up. Until last week when about 60 travellers wanted to pitch their caravans on the cavernous white elephant part funded by European Regional Aid cash and shedloads of grant money trousered by the Rochdale Development (sic) Agency.
Tens of millions of cash spent on levelling hundreds of acres accessed by empty roads.
Take a visit to see where your money has gone. You will feel like you are on the film set of '28 Days Later' or 'Omega Man'. If you are lucky, you might even see an overpaid suited RDA zombie or PR Agent staggering around chanting about "exciting times".
..."This is where the hotel was going to be before they pulled out", "JD Sports are very interested -if the price is right (and the jobs can be moved from Heywood)"...
With tumbleweed blowing past the "Marketing Suite" it is no wonder Travelling Folk had a go at camping on the massive empty site. It is a lovely, very quiet site, just off the motorway.
In today's Rochdale Observer, poor PR Paul Rowen as current "Liberal" MP came out with a raft of kneejerk soundbites bordering on the racist about the "traveller invasion".Hats off to the Ob for their private joke. Beside the article is a huge photo of a ruddy faced Rowen with the words:
" 'Disgrace' : Paul Rowen MP".
A disgrace indeed. Several months on, "Banana Boy" still hasn't explained where his double bubble Councillor expenses went to. And there remains a huge black hole in Rochdale Lib Dem Party income and expenditure.
The current Rochdale MP's soundbites are another example of a split personality desperate for votes: Devout and Pro-Palestine yet beer swilling "In-ger-land" stout pub defender. An apparent generous donor (with public council expenses) to "Catholic charities yet behind the scenes someone who is trying to get a local Parish Priest "moved on".
PR Paul really does try to bat for both sides.
Local "Born and Bred" politicians love a bit of Gypsy bashing.
Given his own celtic roots and his employment, at huge public expense, of Dave Hennigan, one would think Paul Rowen would be more understanding of itinerant folk, of Irish descent, with no accountable means of support and varied abode?
Leader of the council Alan Taylor braved the chilly weather to join Paul Rowen in "slamming" the "disgraceful" travellers and doing "everything possible to ensure they move on".
The travellers were seen on a number of empty "bombsites" in Rochdale.
There are now quite a few in the borough.
Rumour is the travellers have a copy of the glossy brouchure from gold plated turd polishers - the Rochdale Development Agency. The impressive tome is called the "Renaissance Masterplan". Although full of "exciting regeneration aspirations" the sites that the RDA have got involved in usually turn into expensive muddy fields.
It seems everything this hugely expensive qualgo touches turns to shite. Perhaps John Hudson and the other grossly overpaid executives who waste public money could do with is some lucky heather.
Or do we all need some clothes pegs? Because the waste and mismanagement of Rochdale Council strategic planners and the RDA is starting to stink.
So, if the Travellers know about the other failed projects that have been 'touched' by the RDA 'magic', watch out for caravans in: Rochdale Town Centre, the old Akzo Chimical Works, old Birch Hill hospital, the failed Artisan/Barrett social housing project on the old Dale Mill site off Albert Royds street, the old Whipp and Bourne site in Castleton...
Those who love our town are sick of hearing lame soundbites from dodgy politicians that dare not scrutinise or challenge the real damage done to Rochdale by the inept, unaccountable, vain and grossly costly failure of town planning and "regeneration" .
The last word about the failure of the RDA and Rochdale Council should go to an unnamed spokesman for the Travelling Community:
"Wherever they go they leave a mess.
It is the taxpayer who has to foot the bill for the shite they leave everywhere.
They cost this town a fortune.
There are supposed to be laws to control this lot.
Can't they just bugger off and do their criminal shenanighans in another local authority ?
Half-finished building projects before disappearing with huge wads of cash?
They are just leaches on society -and have you seen the vehicles they drive?!"
35 comments:
The racist slurs against gypsies from Rochdale councillors doesn't end there.
I wasn't at the meeting myself, but I am reliably informed that one councillor from Milnrow referred three times to the presence of such travellers in his ward as 'an infestation'.
From Milnrow eh? Come on, name names. Has that polished up turd person come back to haunt Rowen in a banana cossie??
Let's hope that Rowen, Smith and Co are paying attention to what's going on in Corby and London today.
Have just asked around and had it confirmed. Three times he said that travellers in his ward were 'an infestation'. The spirit of Goebbels lives on.
Come on. Name names.
John Keith Swift looks like a cheeky chappy. Not trusted with any committee seats though. Denis Kershaw Whittle looks like he might have been twittering too much. He's on Standards. So he must be fair-minded and of good judgement. HERE.
The RDA have been robbing Peter to pay Paul for years.
They failed to get the CO-OP to return home. As a consolation prize the pharmacy office was relocated to Sandbrook Park - from Middleton.
If JD Sports come to Kingsway then how many will lose their jobs in Heywood?
Kingsway Business Park has been a farce from the beginning. Those who have been involved (and been paid shedloads) need the sack.
No golden handshakes or pension deals. Just the sack for their abject failure and profligate waste.
Denis Whittle, standards, fair minded, good judgement??? What? That's no moon, it's a space station!
He's the man who was caught showing porn to a police officer.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1035269_councillor_in_porn_allegation
NEW-ish.
So Whittle, of Standards, ain't got none? But was he the one in this case? or the one they won't let on any committees he's so genial?
Wrong and wrong. It was Alan 'Hitman' Brett. Chair of Rochdale CLP, agent to Simon Danczuk, former Labour council leader, former Labour PPC.
Duh! Allen Brett wasn't there, Dave. He was handing out banana leaflets to outraged voters in Rochdale...
for the last few months £140k pa Rochdale Council Chief Executive Roger Ellis has been in full panic about the Dale Mill fiasco.
Now there is yet another wheelbarrow full of taxpayers cash to dig these morons out of a hole.
Together with their politician mates, these golden boys couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.
Dave Hennigan's antics in Rochdale are getting stranger and stranger.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad4ntm-o0Nc
so Bretty is a bullying bigot.
how is that news?
That Bretty is a bully, a bigot and a convicted thug is no news at all. That Labour have him as their chair and agent should be newsworthy though.
What is also clear is that the author of this site (Chris Paul) has not the slightest interest in exposing bigotry unless he thinks he can pin it on a party other than Labour.
Note the sea change in the sad bastard's attitude. When he thought it was a Lib Dem who was responsible for those remarks he was desperate for a name so he could link it in to all sorts of other accusations that the fat paranoid waster has come up with. As soon as he is informed that it was a then Labour councillor he seems to lose interest in the affair.
As he does with all sorts of other matters. Homophobia is OK if is done in in support of Labour, so is taking money from property developers, so is doctoring photos. And so on and so on and so on.
What anutter prick.
Errr sorry "Two Faces of Chris Paul" but Allen Brett has not been a councillor for the last 15 months, so how do you work out that he made racist comments about travellers at the Council meeting? Also, it was stated a Milnrow councillor made the comments - Bretty has not represented Milnrow as a councillor for over 19 years, so once again you are clearly wrong.
What a co-incidence - a Lib Dem makes racist comments about travellers at the same time the Lib Dem Council decide to stop funding Rochdale Centre of Diversity. RCD and it's predecessor, the Racial Equality Council has existed for over three decades in Rochdale and has done some excellent work with cross-party support from all three groups on the Council. But now, with that petty-minded man Taylor at the helm, it now loses council funding probably for the simple reason that is not an organisation that the Lib Dems can control.
Funny isn't it - the Lib Dems are about to spend OUR money on a "rebranding" of the Council, but they can't put the money towards better race relations and community cohesion - no money for race relations but plenty for public relations - scumbags!
I think you have it all wrong.
I think this blog is written by Dave Henneghan as a way to show his boss up and pave the way for his own candidature.
And the HQ is Swarbrick's Caravan of Love
Is it just me or does the concept of "Dave Hennighan MP" have the sort of ring to it as "Fred West childcare"
That said, still sure that the "agent" is after Paul Rowen's lucrative seat
It was said by Bretty. I got two phone calls about it the morning after he said it, one from a Labour councillor - 15 months ago at his last ever Council meeting and was said about travellers in his Balderstone ward.
What I actually said was a councillor 'from' Milnrow. He is! Check the elctoral register. You believed it was a councillor 'for' Milnrow because that's what you wanted to believe as that would make it a Lib Dem.
Now get condemning.
John Swarbrick, haven't you anything better to do with your taxpayer funded time than fire off a few pathetic shots in the dark about Allen Brett? Aren't you supposed to be tending to some casework or giving answers to angry residents about why Paul Rowen is so hopeless at representing them?
Must agree with your comments about the Homophobia on this website The Two Faces of Chris Paul.
Not only is it offensive but it's not even clever and thus very boring.
This Chris Paul should be ashamed of himself.
IMHO I disagree.
homophobia is a subjective matter whereas the uncovering of lies, cover-up, corruption and misleading representations from current politicians can be objective.
The truth hurts.
'Homophobia is a subjective matter'. Now I really have heard it all. Do you think the same of racism?
Obviously you do. Only when it falls from the mouth of a Labour member.
I used to work with the dear departed RCD. The organisation showed just how toothless it was when it refused to take up any action on the basis that the meeting wasn't transcribed and that Brett only had a week left as a councillor so it was pointless referring him to the Standards Board.
The fact that our CEO was at the meeting with the Labour PPC was irrelevant.
The same pathetic shots in the dark you mention were also passed on by a Labour councillor.
Homophobia and racism seem to have something else in common other than being mishandled by Trevor Philips. They are both deemed OK by Chris Paul when committed by Labour but grossly offensive when it is a Lib Dem or Conservative.
What anutter prick.
yes racism is a subjective matter too.
Anon, as an RCD officiando surely you should know that?
The guidelines about a person's perception of a racially motivated crime is important.
Just like members of the Travelling Community could feel about the current Rochdale MP's viceral dogwhistle soundbites about "invasions" and "doing all he can" to remove Gypsies.
The smears about racism and homophobia are very predicable from Drake Street Fib Dem HQ.
For instance, take Father Paul Daly. The Heywood parish priest who asks awkward questions. He receives a torrent of abuse and bullying from Drake Street via email and text message. Attempts to get him "moved on" Smears questioning the priest's vocation and hospital chaplaincy.
Dirty bullying smears from the like of John Swarbrick and Adam Power whilst Paul Rowen is sunning himself doing charidee work in a Catholic children's home in Kenya.
Who pays the wages of Master Power and the grubby old sidekick Mr Swarbrick? Rochdale Lib Dems or are they "caseworkers" paid for from the Parliamentary allowance.
Or is the largest slice of that taxpayer's funded booty used for "Agent" Dave Hennigan?
planning corruption in Rochdale has been going on for years and has been cross party. That is why those now in power are hoping that those in the know will keep quiet.
The old familiar names are well known.
Ask certain property developers about the likes of messers Brett, Sanderson, Ted Flynn and Norman Smith. The list is far longer than that. It is a murky web of deceit, intrigue and corruption that has helped make Rochdale the shoddy mess it is today.
The muddy fields of Kingsway and the failed Town Centre Redevelopment are just the culmination of officer led councillors and fat cat regeneration bodies more interested in jobs for the boys and creaming off a bit of spending money for their retirement and holidays in the sun.
It will all come out in the wash. One day.
John Swarbrick is a disgrace!
To suggest that Rochdale Lib Dems are sex offenders is a smear.
To actually give the name of a particular local Lib Dem who was found guilty of having sex with a minor- together with the court details and publication date of the serious sexual offence is just telling it how it is.
Proven facts have power.
Simple smears are just examples of weakness and attempts at bullying.
After more research it seems this Chris Paul has form for homophobic remarks.
On his other blog, Labour of Love, he makes reference to Lib Dems asking 'young boys' to become their friends on Facebook.
Ironic really considering he is in fact the one who HAS been trawling through Facebook, Myspace and goodness knows what else for information and pics of young Lib Dems.
Scary and weird stuff.
ha ha Anon 10.58.
a fat worm on the end of your hook but the fishing is going badly.
Adam Power has also got a MySpace account where he tells his chums about his job working for an MP.
Is anyone who reads that really cruising for young Rochdale rough Lib Dem trade?
What about the silver surfers - peter Rush on Facebook and John Swarbrick on Caravan World.
Are there Rochdale borough Lib Dems who have a proven track record, ney, criminal record for their predilictions for the younger female?
More Bebo than Friends Reunited?
The name John Heyworth keeps cropping up. Why is he known as "Heymaker" on Rowen Online? If there is grass on the pitch eh John?
Thank fuck Cyril isn't on the interweb. Christ knows what sordid filth he would be surfing.
This isn't about gender or orientation. The criticisms of certain Rochdale Lib Dems are about their abuse- of power and vulnerable people. Pure and simple.
The truth will out.
LEGAL NOTICE:
For the avoidance of doubt let it be known that my client, Chris Paul, has nothing whatsoever to do with the production or publishing of this ridiculous and rather scurrilous website.
For the avoidance of doubt let it be further known that by a process of habeus corpus, ad hominem attacks, old nostrums, sub poenas, D notices, textual analysis, DNA tests at the scene, and asking around in the gin palaces of Rochdale and Levenshulme it has been determined that my client, Chris Paul, is hereby being libeled, defamed and slandered by employees of one Paul Rowen MP, funded, like his 40p banana and possibly £9.99 TV services (mucky movie for the use of), and no doubt "within the rules" his local campaigning, by the tax payer.
And whereas and wherefore hereaforesaid it is known that the wreckless allowance claimer and employer of reputational risks Paul Rowen MP, aka Mister Bananas, is responsible for those so libelling my client, Chris Paul, this is in the law of tort and the court of twat proving beyond reason that in Rochdale calling Rowen "bananas" is part of the cut and thrust of local fruit and vegetables, and not something over which to utter a legal threat never mind an bananas apoplectic writ.
Chris Paul here. The real Chris Paul.
Paul Rowen sent an unstamped package of unsolicited crap to a Rochdale teenager including an invitation to become his facebook friend. Like some sort of pie-eyed piper he is trying to round up young voters. That teenager was male but presumably Mr Rowen is also inviting young girls to be his chums on facebook?
I'd like to think that whatever gender they are the teenagers of Rochdale so approached by this sweaty old good-for-nothing bastard tell him to go swivel.
Paul Rowen is bananas. Official.
REALLY LEGAL NOTICE:
For the avoidance of doubt, let it be known that the blog know and registered as Rochdale's Alternative Website ("RAW") is not an emination of the Labour Party or Chris Paul Esq / Labour of Love.
RAW reserves the right to maintain its position of scrutinising potential civic incompentance,media manipulation, mismanagement, corruption and serious claims of criminal impropriety and sexual abuse.
As for the current Rochdale MP, Paul Rowen, RAW defends and maintains that we are within our legal rights to use satire, substantiated fact and fair comment to publicise and scrutinise the use of Parliamentary monies to pay for 40p banansa in pubic orifice.
Correction: that should read "40p bananas in public office".
you naughty RAW boys and girls.
keep this up and expect a roasting from "banana Boy" Paul Rowen or his bunch.
Or a good thrashing from Spanker Cyril Smith- a man with a criminal record and extrmemely serious accusations of historic sexual abuse that remain unresolved.
Chris Paul's Solicitor,
Wondering if you can help me?
Hypothetically, how much trouble, if any, would I be in if I was part of a charity that hadn’t declared its accounts for say the last 5+ years?
Is Rochdale Lib Dems a charity?
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