Hampshire County Council keep new £40m HQ under wraps (From Daily Echo)

Who the hell do these tin pot dictators think that they are.
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They are spending/wasting public money on the "add-on's", souvenir brochure's and lavish refereshments and all out of the public purse.
The sooner that this "leader" Thornber realises his place ( a public servant) the better. He is nothing more than a small person trying to wear big shoes

Havent the Echo got anybody in the lodge?

If the County Council are giving to us what they THINK is the way forward - listen to your conscience - is this the way forward? Here we are with our pitchforks and our farming methods - let me tell you we have survived for centuries - tell me - how long has this Government been surviving?When you are long gone - we will survive - we have the skills - have you?

goard

So, were all journalists turned away, or just your photographer? What about the BBC, ITN, local radio or journos from other newspapers in Hampshire? Could it have been that your bloke didn't get his credentials sorted out beforehand and when he rocked up at the do with no invite, a press card and an "I've a right to be here" attitude, the security told him to sling his hook?

It must have caused real pain in the Echo offices earlier this month to have to report that HCC was one of only three county councils in the country to be awarded the top rating by the Audit Commission. Surely the worst possible news as far as the Echo's concerned...

"Underwraps" is not a word.

The new Elizabeth 11 Court building, or parts of it, have been open for more than a year. The public, staff, users and partners have made extensive use of the building since its staged opening. The media, including representatives of the Daily Echo, have attended meetings in the building. The Editor of the local newspaper, The Hampshire Chronicle, was invited to attend the official formal opening by the Lord Lieutenant on behalf of the Queen, as were regional broadcast media so it is not true to suggest that the media were not invited. The doors to the building, including secure office areas not usually open to the public, were thrown open in September, like many of our other buildings, for the national Heritage Open Days event and a Daily Echo/Hampshire Chronicle reporter was also given an private tour of the building, unlimited photographic opportunities and interviews when the first phase was completed. We are extremely proud of what has been achieved and we have been delighted to have had the opportunity to showcase these acheivements to a wide audience, including a number of journalists from national publications, as well as the hundreds of external visitors who come through the Elizabeth 11 Court doors every day.

Taking the govt. published figure of £1,414 as the average council tax demanded for 2008/9, £40 million equates to the amount of council tax collected from more than 2,800 homes in Hampshire.

Oops!
.
That should be "... more than 28,000 homes ..."
.
(And I thought 2,800 was bad enough!)

Hampshire County Council wrote:
The new Elizabeth 11 Court building, or parts of it, have been open for more than a year. The public, staff, users and partners have made extensive use of the building since its staged opening. The media, including representatives of the Daily Echo, have attended meetings in the building. The Editor of the local newspaper, The Hampshire Chronicle, was invited to attend the official formal opening by the Lord Lieutenant on behalf of the Queen, as were regional broadcast media so it is not true to suggest that the media were not invited. The doors to the building, including secure office areas not usually open to the public, were thrown open in September, like many of our other buildings, for the national Heritage Open Days event and a Daily Echo/Hampshire Chronicle reporter was also given an private tour of the building, unlimited photographic opportunities and interviews when the first phase was completed. We are extremely proud of what has been achieved and we have been delighted to have had the opportunity to showcase these acheivements to a wide audience, including a number of journalists from national publications, as well as the hundreds of external visitors who come through the Elizabeth 11 Court doors every day.

Is it true, That our Southampton Councilor, The one that use to stand out side Colleges, And hand out National Front campaign leaflets, Was ask to attend.

Council's waste money. It's what they do. They do it to make sure they have nothing left over so they can go cap in hand to the government for more cash, rather than risk having less cash due to be prudent.

This is just an example of that. There's no way they want us plebs to see what they spend our cash on!!

It isn't just Echo reporters who are banned from the new building. The old Ashburton Court resturant and coffee bar was always open to the public but the new facilities are not. The argument about security is irrelevant as the new restaurant area, like the old one, is not behind security controlled doors. As an HCC pensioner I would have liked to visit the place but now I cannot do that unless I am invited by someone as a formal visitor. That is progress...

Hampshire County Council wrote:
The new Elizabeth 11 Court building, or parts of it, have been open for more than a year. The public, staff, users and partners have made extensive use of the building since its staged opening. The media, including representatives of the Daily Echo, have attended meetings in the building. The Editor of the local newspaper, The Hampshire Chronicle, was invited to attend the official formal opening by the Lord Lieutenant on behalf of the Queen, as were regional broadcast media so it is not true to suggest that the media were not invited. The doors to the building, including secure office areas not usually open to the public, were thrown open in September, like many of our other buildings, for the national Heritage Open Days event and a Daily Echo/Hampshire Chronicle reporter was also given an private tour of the building, unlimited photographic opportunities and interviews when the first phase was completed. We are extremely proud of what has been achieved and we have been delighted to have had the opportunity to showcase these acheivements to a wide audience, including a number of journalists from national publications, as well as the hundreds of external visitors who come through the Elizabeth 11 Court doors every day.

See the Spin Doctors are out in force today!! make an official comment, leave column comments to us tax payers!

One star at HCC is Howard Firth, who I've had the pleasure of working with this year. Howard, you are a true public servant and a great guy with great ideas and sincere intentions. That is how they've got a top rating, not because of the likes of Kenny thornber!

ChrisEastleigh wrote:
So, were all journalists turned away, or just your photographer? What about the BBC, ITN, local radio or journos from other newspapers in Hampshire? Could it have been that your bloke didn't get his credentials sorted out beforehand and when he rocked up at the do with no invite, a press card and an "I've a right to be here" attitude, the security told him to sling his hook?

As quoted in the story, the leader of the council, Ken Thornber, confirmed that no media organisation from Hampshire was invited to the opening.

However, our photographer turned up on behalf of the editor of the Hampshire Chronicle, who had received an invite.

He acted in a professional and courteous manner, without having dealt with security - a press officer from Hampshire County Council refused him admission.

I do hope the staff from HCC posting on this article are on holiday and not wasting tax payers' cash by posting while at work!!

Good to see the Tories spending our money wisely as usual. (Not!!)

Ciaran wrote:
I do hope the staff from HCC posting on this article are on holiday and not wasting tax payers' cash by posting while at work!!

LOL! guilty conscience obviously and confirmed by the Echo comment that they photographer was refused admission. Smacks of something to hide.!

freemantlegirl2 wrote:

Ciaran wrote:
I do hope the staff from HCC posting on this article are on holiday and not wasting tax payers' cash by posting while at work!!

LOL! guilty conscience obviously and confirmed by the Echo comment that they photographer was refused admission. Smacks of something to hide.!

note freemantle he or she will not get back on the question of that nf tory councilor was he invited or not. i have heard he was

haha so as usual muppets get up in arms over a pathetic non-story. Are the Echo so hard up that they have given up reporting actual newsworthy articles? For this to be the main headline shows why no-one buys such a poor excuse for a newspaper anymore.
Where will you all go when they go to the wall? too much to hope you may get jobs as you'd miss Jezza Kyle.
This reeks of the same crap when Saints banned them. Echo the innocent party as always to nasty saints, nasty council blah blah when just a cheap rag that has a lousy journalistic code who wheel out right-wing rent-a-quote at every opportunity as if that is some sort of benchmark of public opinion. Who is Christine Melsom some unemployed layabout who hates paying tax? And probably the editors spinster sister!
Hope Saints keep the ban up

whelk wrote:
haha so as usual muppets get up in arms over a pathetic non-story. Are the Echo so hard up that they have given up reporting actual newsworthy articles? For this to be the main headline shows why no-one buys such a poor excuse for a newspaper anymore.
Where will you all go when they go to the wall? too much to hope you may get jobs as you'd miss Jezza Kyle.
This reeks of the same crap when Saints banned them. Echo the innocent party as always to nasty saints, nasty council blah blah when just a cheap rag that has a lousy journalistic code who wheel out right-wing rent-a-quote at every opportunity as if that is some sort of benchmark of public opinion. Who is Christine Melsom some unemployed layabout who hates paying tax? And probably the editors spinster sister!
Hope Saints keep the ban up

For your information, it most certainly is not a waste of time story.
Southampton council has more common purpose graduates than anywhere else. Common purpose are a charity protected by chatham house rules which means they can keep everything they do a secret...even though they are a suppose charity which the council spend thousands on every year.
These people are trained in neurolinguistics and to have "friendships" with head members of other agencies so that they may excercise control in areas outside of their boundaries..ie someone like CAFCASS could make friends with say and adoption agency like CORAM which would be a conflict of interest as one is supposedly supporting families while the other makes money from selling children...oh yes, that happened already.
It is essentially the Bilderberg group of the UK...which once was not only secret, but denied as a conspiracy theory until recently.
Now you have a big plush council building, which no-one is allowed to see inside despite the fact YOU OWN IT, NOT THEM!

whelk, and anyone else who wants to know who Christine Melsom is, go to:-
.
isitfair.co.uk

southy wrote:

Hampshire County Council wrote:
The new Elizabeth 11 Court building, or parts of it, have been open for more than a year. The public, staff, users and partners have made extensive use of the building since its staged opening. The media, including representatives of the Daily Echo, have attended meetings in the building. The Editor of the local newspaper, The Hampshire Chronicle, was invited to attend the official formal opening by the Lord Lieutenant on behalf of the Queen, as were regional broadcast media so it is not true to suggest that the media were not invited. The doors to the building, including secure office areas not usually open to the public, were thrown open in September, like many of our other buildings, for the national Heritage Open Days event and a Daily Echo/Hampshire Chronicle reporter was also given an private tour of the building, unlimited photographic opportunities and interviews when the first phase was completed. We are extremely proud of what has been achieved and we have been delighted to have had the opportunity to showcase these acheivements to a wide audience, including a number of journalists from national publications, as well as the hundreds of external visitors who come through the Elizabeth 11 Court doors every day.

Is it true, That our Southampton Councilor, The one that use to stand out side Colleges, And hand out National Front campaign leaflets, Was ask to attend.

Who is that then I wonder?
To whom are you alluding to Southy?
Surely not the little chappie?
Surely not!!
I can't believe it!
I do hope there is no truth to this.
Youthful indiscretions can sometimes come back to haunt one.

Militant Ford Worker wrote:

southy wrote:

Hampshire County Council wrote:
The new Elizabeth 11 Court building, or parts of it, have been open for more than a year. The public, staff, users and partners have made extensive use of the building since its staged opening. The media, including representatives of the Daily Echo, have attended meetings in the building. The Editor of the local newspaper, The Hampshire Chronicle, was invited to attend the official formal opening by the Lord Lieutenant on behalf of the Queen, as were regional broadcast media so it is not true to suggest that the media were not invited. The doors to the building, including secure office areas not usually open to the public, were thrown open in September, like many of our other buildings, for the national Heritage Open Days event and a Daily Echo/Hampshire Chronicle reporter was also given an private tour of the building, unlimited photographic opportunities and interviews when the first phase was completed. We are extremely proud of what has been achieved and we have been delighted to have had the opportunity to showcase these acheivements to a wide audience, including a number of journalists from national publications, as well as the hundreds of external visitors who come through the Elizabeth 11 Court doors every day.

Is it true, That our Southampton Councilor, The one that use to stand out side Colleges, And hand out National Front campaign leaflets, Was ask to attend.

Who is that then I wonder?
To whom are you alluding to Southy?
Surely not the little chappie?
Surely not!!
I can't believe it!
I do hope there is no truth to this.
Youthful indiscretions can sometimes come back to haunt one.

yes the little chappie
well he was not standing out side the school gates with a bag of sweets, well i hope he was not.
our man from the valley thinks we have a short memory, but to many can remember him back in 1979.
i more concerned lo, was he invited and did he turn up. if its true, it will just go to show what this ken thornber senate is all about.

The old Ashburton Court building no matter who is in power in Hampshire was outdated, delapidated and majorly needed something doing to it. Any council in power would have undergone a refurbishment scheme of the councils headquarters. Various regional offices have been relocated in the refurbished building reducing costs to the taxpayer. This building is designed to last long into the future and to be cost effective to run. The Echo needs to do a proper article on this matter and look into all the facts instead of publishing a poor article that was written by some journalist down the pub!

What's the big deal?

It's only offices inside, Im sure we all know what an office looks like.

Daily Echo wrote:

ChrisEastleigh wrote:
So, were all journalists turned away, or just your photographer? What about the BBC, ITN, local radio or journos from other newspapers in Hampshire? Could it have been that your bloke didn't get his credentials sorted out beforehand and when he rocked up at the do with no invite, a press card and an "I've a right to be here" attitude, the security told him to sling his hook?

As quoted in the story, the leader of the council, Ken Thornber, confirmed that no media organisation from Hampshire was invited to the opening.

However, our photographer turned up on behalf of the editor of the Hampshire Chronicle, who had received an invite.

He acted in a professional and courteous manner, without having dealt with security - a press officer from Hampshire County Council refused him admission.

Fair enough, I missed the line "Cllr Thornber confirmed that press and media organisations from across Hampshire had not been invited.", but their response and yours confirmed that the Hampshire Chronicle editor had been invited. So it wouldn't be true to say that no press had been invited, because the editor was. You've confirmed that the photographer didn't have an invite, only the editor. So he could have taken a camera in?

If you organise a do, for anyone, public or private, and people turn up without an invite, you don't let them in, full stop. Basic security/fire limit/common sense approach, not sinister in any way. If two people turn up with one invite between them, you probably let in the extra as their guest if you're in a good mood and you've got the room. If one person turns up with someone else's invite, then maybe you let them in, or maybe you say, we didn't invite you and there isn't an invited person for you to be the guest of and be responsibile for you, so sorry but no. Again, all common sense.

I've got no love of the council. A vaguely-related organisation are kind enough to employ my wife, but that doesn't affect what I'm saying here. Personally I think the Senate is a bl**dy silly idea. Ken Thornber will have a shiny office irrespective of whether the workforce get to sit in a new building or not. He's the boss, that's life, not just politics.

If the coucil replace an old, expensive to heat and maintain, office with an initially pricey, but cheaper to maintain office, what's the problem? Similarly, any company will tell you that if you invest in half-decent office furniture, you get less staff sickness through back problems, better staff retention, etc., saving you money in the long run. This is all common sense and as somebody said earlier, would have happened whatever party was in power. It's called investing in your future, not wasting public money.

This remains a complete non-story and has been presented in a sensationalist and partial manner. Either you have an agenda to maintain, or are reacting to a perceived snub to your own sense of importance.

tHIS is what really worries, are we prepared for such a disgraceful disregard for Public Opinion - who are these Pirates, who are these Dictators - look at Zimbabwe, and then to our own governence and deep in our bones feel 'we are next', how on earth can a whole Nation be 'taken over' by a sort of 'neo nazi regime? I will be the first to resist.

goard