Glenn Goodall

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Council begins at 18.30:

• Glenn_Goodall  Readings council tax and budget will (hopefully) be set tonight… #rdg  #rdgcouncil   about 7 hours ago from web

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil some good questions to council - Redlands has had a surge in ASB, don’t we know it!   about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil ‘local area agreement’ passes - NI35 remains though about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil ‘Reading Cultural Strategy’ passes - no talk of fringe groups/events about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil Labour say Reading council tax is cheaper than surounding Tory admins. LibDems feel council tax is unfair regardless of level.   about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil Tories say… 0 % increase is needed - and yet no amendment tabled to back it up! Blah blah blah…   about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil Tories say… Improve frontline services, despite revealing there would be “cuts across the board” in an earlier meeting!   about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil Tories say… have “the will to offer a council tax freeze” but not means it would seem as no amendment was tabled!!!   about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil LibDems: if Tories won’t say how they’ll freeze council tax in opp how can they be trusted not to cut services when in power?   about 5 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil LibDem leader asked Tories if they would table a 0% now - the reply was NO! Genius! Clearly all talk talk talk   about 4 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil LibDems would re-engineer budget to get value for money & protect frontline services… “not from here!”   about 4 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil Tories say LibDems propped up Lab budget last year… I would say that at least we looked at budget & tabled something! :P   about 4 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil the budget is voted against by LibDems and Tories   about 4 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil round 2! Tories already against the motion… As are we :s   about 3 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil council chamber is in silence   about 3 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil second one hour recess   about 3 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgCouncil round 3 about to start   about 2 hours ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil thanks to the Tories not being present the budget went through!!! Sneaky Labs   about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil so tories dropped the ball… We voted against :s well I guess that’s labour politics! I’m in shock…   about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil so Tories were out of the room as the vote for council budget was called. Sneaky Labour got their budget - we voted against.   about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil Reading has an irresponsable Labour budget, thanks to Tories :(   about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil round 4!!!   about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil instant adjournment lol   about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil so then… Round 5   36 minutes ago from TweetDeck

• Glenn_Goodall  #rdgcouncil on council tax libdems and Tories abstained - labour get their budget thanks to dirty tricks & Tories dropping the ball   31 minutes ago from TweetDeck

Council closes at almost midnight…

Shocking and sneaky behaviour from Labour but if you want to blame a party for allowing the 2.2 % rise in council tax - it’s the CONservatives!

We said on several occasions  in the chamber that we were willing to go with a 0 % rise, if they tabled such an amendment.

We had agreed to vote for their 0 % amendment if it was shown to be legal and not effect frontline services…

…We didn’t anticipate the CONservatives dropping the ball in quite the way they did!

Once again, its time for the council to try and set a budget. Last time, this took three sessions to sort out - and the Tories put nothing on the table.

It will be interesting to see what happens this time… at various committees the Tories have been moaning about the sandwich budget - which we cut last time - so I suspect they will try to bring that back (just what the people of Reading want - well fed councillors at the peoples expense).

As ever, I will try and tweet when I can, this will be visible from the side bar or by following #rdgcouncil

With Labour generally making a dogs dinner of the UK, how can people seriously believe that the Tories would be any better:

So, Cameron was meant to have come to Reading last week (7 January 2010) but decided it was too snowy to make the 25 minute journey from London. Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Cleg managed to make it to all the way the Bath to have a one of his open town hall meetings in the same week (8 January 2010).

Apparently, Cameron has now rescheduled for this Thursday.

Nick Clegg also came to Reading last year (October 2008) and it’s quite interesting to compare the two meetings in there set-up.

Nick’s October Meeting:

• Traditional public meeting format (modelled on original Gladstonian Liberal principle!)
• Venue and details advertised in the press well in advance
• Held on a Saturday evening - so as any one could turn up
• No invite required (no vetting of people attending)
• No need to send an e-mail

Cameron Direct:

• Held during the day so many working people can’t attend
• Email required - no open access (airbrushed to perfection I’m sure)
• Secret venue “at a west Reading location”
• When criticised on the planning a Tory activist stated, “This is a rearranged meeting, in his already full diary, better he comes at 5:15 than not at all” (see Twitter).

Well, I was so wrong about twitter at first - shame on me! Clearly it has been used to great effect by my Lib Dem colleges, especially during the snowy period. Daisy and Kirsten posted updates from the council and investigated the issues posted on twitter, Warren fed the live updates from Reading buses (route suspensions and diversions), and I updated resident on the bin collection status.

This proved to be a popular and useful service, and was noticed my Ann Diamond.

Check out this interview on BBC Radio Berkshire: