DEADLINE on complicity in Council Corruption

Rochdale Chief Exec. on Two Jobs & Milking Owd Folk!

Praise be to GOD for Corruption!

For men are Human

And Judges are Bribable

And With Corruption!

Even the Innocent may get off.

by BERTOLT BRECHT in the Three-penny Opera.

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LETTER FROM MARK BIRKETT:

To: Brian Bamford

Date: 1st March 2021

Re: Rochdale Council Vote / Huge Hike to Care Home Fees Whilst Ignoring Whopping £50k Pay Rise for Chief Executive Steve Rumbelow

Dear Brian,

You heard it here first; two days from now, on March 3rd 2021, all 60 x Rochdale councillors will be 'considering' hiking care home fees to Rochdale's elderly by 5% in order to 'save' £80,000 / year on the council budget.

Unfortunately, what they won't be considering is reviewing the second full-time job the Chief Executive Steve Rumbelow has at the NHS. This NHS job pays Continue Mr Rumbelow no less than £50,000 / year on top of the £140,000 / year he was already earning as Chief Executive, taking his salary just a fraction under £200,000 / year ... half as much again as the Prime Minister.

The money is eye-wateringly insulting enough, but the key issue here is that no-one can do two full-time jobs simultaneously. And there isn't a workplace on earth that would pay someone two full-time salaries for two part-time jobs. Yet on July 18th 2018, that's exactly what Rochdale's councillors voted to happen.

That's why - on 19th January - I wrote to each of them to suggest that they put forward / support a motion to review this indefensible situation. But not one of them has agreed to do so. Most haven't even acknowledged my letter. Our councillors don't seem to mind enabling Mr Rumbelow to trouser an extra £50,000 / year for this NHS role but it's the elderly in Rochdale that are now likely to end up paying for it. The moral horror of this 'proposal' should be obvious to everyone.

Neither the NHS and RMBC are benefiting here. And certainly not the average Rochdale taxpayer, many of whom have lost jobs and businesses (not to mention loved ones) over the last year. The only beneficiary is Mr Rumbelow. That's why there should be an immediate judicial review of this untenable and intolerable situation, with Mr Rumbelow's pay packet reduced by whatever proportion of his working day now being handed over to the NHS.

Sadly, Mr Rumbelow has turned the entire machinery of Rochdale Council into ignoring my complaints, including allowing the Borough Solicitor Asif Ibrahim to advise all RMBC councillors "not to respond" to my communications about this which, in addition to being a disgraceful interference with everyone's right to democratic representation, breaks their own RMBC Member Code of Conduct on multiple points (inc. their legal obligations re: 'scrutiny', 'accountability', 'transparency'). And he refuses to answer any further letters from me about this.

The perenially useless Rochdale Online won't cover this pay abuse. Neither will the truly pointless Rochdale Observer. Both 'media outlets' are thus a total disgrace to the town. Exactly the same can be said about Tony Lloyd MP. Another politician who refuses to respond to constituent concerns. He knows about all this and has done nothing to stop it.

The local elections are in May. So, don't forget what happened here folks. Don't waste your vote. Rochdale Council and the entire 'body politic' here is rotten to the core with cronyism, nepotism and sheer incompetence. It needs to be stopped. We urgently need caring, principled, decent and intelligent people running the Council and our town ... right now, we have nothing of the sort.

If you are horrified by this proposed care-home fee hike, or horrified by the greed of RMBC Chief Executive Steve Rumbelow who is taking home so much of your hard-earned money for an impossible-to-do second job (and who has the gall to refuse answering ANY questions about it), or horrified by the sheer incompetence of Rochdale's councillors who voted for all this to happen ...

then ... PLEASE SHARE THIS POST WHEREVER AND HOWEVER YOU CAN

Best wishes,

Mark Birkett

Taxpayer, Kingsway Ward

Rochdale