Good Riddance to 'Ten Ton Henderson' and his ￡203,375 per annum

John Henderson, Chief Executive of Staffordshire County Council earned a package of ￡203,375 between April 2020 and the end of March 2021.??Not forgetting of course that Cllr Alan White, leader of Staffordshire County Council, said: "At the county council we are committed to keeping and attracting the very best staff and our levels of pay are in line with many other large local authorities" (costing expert needed here). ??

In essence, at Staffordshire County Council, there are seventeen top executives each earning more than 100,000 per year. Combined, they receive a total of ￡2,384,273.

Yes, as thousands of us were heading for the cost-of-living cliff edge, Newcastle Borough council announced their latest money making racket in that they are demolishing the Merrial Street Civic Offices in Newcastle-under-Lyme and embarking on an ￡11m redevelopment of the site paid for by the Future High Street Fund (FHSF). Or did Staffordshire County Council announce it? You see Staffordshire County Council and Newcastle Borough Council are so inextricably linked we don' t know which authority we are under. What we do know is that both councils are run by the Tories but?some services are run by Newcastle Borough Council and some by Staffordshire County Council. In essence, the people of Newcastle-under-Lyme live under two local authorities. How confusing.

However, local people had total clarity when a beautiful Victorian school was demolished by one of the councils (Staffordshire County Council) to make way for their Little House on the Prairie (the councils’ new HQ) even though the existing Civic Offices (the building now demolished) were completely fit for purpose.?It can be argued therefore that the Tory government through local councils are just shifting capital to massive building corporations who are the only ones benefitting from these get rich regeneration schemes.

What’s more, the dust pollution and environmental damage caused from new builds cannot be quantified, whereas regenerating and refurbishing old buildings is the modern and progressive way forward.

Besides, some of us would also like to know why Newcastle-under-Lyme is under the jurisdiction of Stafford, when we have so little in common socially, politically or culturally.?Can someone explain this anomaly?

Historically, I have had the misfortune of raising important issues with ex-chief of Staffordshire County Council and ex-Afghan tough guy ‘John Wayne’ Henderson (see horseback image), one such matter being the 24 deaths due to Covid-19 at Bradwell Nursing Home in 2020. ?I argued that care homes were in such a poor state, residents did not stand a change when the pandemic hit.?It goes without saying that care institutions that are poorly run, are unhygienic and have poor safeguarding methods are a breeding ground for viruses.?I am talking about what led up to the outbreak, and how the poor operational/hygiene standards at many care homes had allowed the coronavirus to sweep through and kill so many vulnerable people.?

The response from institutional dinosaur Henderson was very predictable and some would argue, not from the Western age but from a bygone Jurassic Park.?You know what I mean; when those under the cosh switch the focus. In Henderson’s case, instead of addressing the issues I had outlined, he expanded on dramatic accounts of heroic care workers fighting a deadly virus at Bradwell Hall (staff who were, and still are, being paid a pittance).?The spin might have prevailed with the Apache’s – I mean Afghanis when ten-ton Henderson was changing hearts and minds, but it certainly doesn’t wash here in Newcastle.

By addressing my MP as Aaron (who I brought the matter too) in his response, Mr Henderson implied familiarity suggesting they are both of the same mould. This institutional trick is regularly witnessed on Newsnight and such like, whereas those facing difficult questions appeal to the interviewer for leniency by referring to them by their first name to remind the interviewer that they are both institutional cogs in the same political, social, and cultural mechanism.?

As a postscript to this piece, I would like to afford a mention to that other former Staffordshire County Council Executive Phillip Atkins OBE, the OBE in this case standing for ‘Orrible’ Little Man.