For the last five months, three resident councillors have been trying to obtain general “dispensations” from the City’s standards committee to speak and vote on behalf of their constituents on matters which affect those councillors no more than any of their constituents. In any other local authority, where 100% of the councillors are elected by residents, it would be taken for granted that councillors speak and vote on matters affecting those who elected them. But in the City, where…

At the meeting of the Court of Common Council in July, Alderman Ian Luder put a “question” to the Chair of the Standards Committee that attempted to cast a slur on my character by insinuating that I was engaging in some kind of criminal activity.

His “question” was as follows:

“Could the Chairman of the Standards Committee confirm the rumours that a Member has made a claim for rights of light arising from the construction of COLPAI. If so, has the claim been settled, and…

Extract of email sent on 15 July 2019 from Councillor Sue Pearson to the Standards Committee

"The current dispensations policy – which claims to “maintain public confidence” - was demolished three months ago when, in a petition, residents demonstrated that the policy had the opposite effect. The public’s view of an acceptable dispensations policy was recently articulated in four identical requests for general dispensations which the Dispensations Sub-Committee…

I, like many other residents of the estate have been truly appalled by the treatment that our resident Councillor Sue Pearson was subjected to last year (2018)  because she spoke and voted at a meeting to prevent the planning permission for the COLPAI development to be delegated to Islington only.

The Monday morning meeting to vote on handing over planning powers was announced on the Friday before in what our local newspaper…