Sunderland Rates Relief based talk

Just to let you know that work goes on with this but it has moved to the boroughs themselves and the councillors seeking reelection. This is a hot political topic anywhere Scientology has a home and the councillors there, armed with good information, can cause a lot of trouble for Rates departments that have granted rates relief and, with this good information, can persuade the local public to get on their side and get reelected as a result. I am seeing to it that they will get that "good information" they need. You will hear no more about this except from official news releases as I won't be posting anything about any developments here. It has all gone underground and the fight moved to where brave individuals can make political capital out of it. I hope they padlock their waste bins.

Is this any use to you, Roland? It contains a very recent UK price list.
The whole mailer is posted for context......

Hi thanks, I sent Sunderland Council the price page a few weeks ago so they know what this "charity" (that they gave rates relief to) charges its members.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/legal_advises_received_re_51_faw#incoming-153616

Saw this. With a good pub across the road then why isn't the Tardis being picketed on a regular basis? Also all the businesses in the area leafletted and then retire to the pub?

http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-william-jameson

A: The pub is not good; it's dirty and usually full of tards
B: The Tardis is always shut, and 2 people protests outside an effectively closed business are uber-dull
C: I have 'freeposted' this: http://forums.whyweprotest.net/threads/sunderland-rates-relief-based-talk.63067/page-9#post-1355485 (with relevant links added) to as many businesses as my 'expenses' will permit, and I don't wanna leaflet maskless in the town centre
D: You are not my German puppeteer

A: All the Spoons I have been into so far in the UK have been OK
B: They can't always be shut because the local council have accepted that they have helped hundreds of people in the Sunderland area and have given more than three thousand people free help and services. It can't be done if the place is shut most of the time. Also, they are always open on Sundays to give Sunday Services because they say so and they do not lie because they are a religion.
C: Freepost sounds good but I don't know what it is. If this is an effective means to get it to Sunderland traders in the town centre then maybe I should make a contribution.
D: No, I am not your German puppeteer but we have a saying here that "work liberates" which should be an inspiration to the rest of Europe.

I'm not spending my hard earned Sunday pissing around there. Also the town centre's always dead on a Sunday. Freepost is 'free', so thanks for the offer but it's ok.

Sorry Roland, you caught me at a bad time. I retract the over-reactive tone of my posts

No problem.

I still don't see how Freepost works in this case. Freepost is for when you pay for others to reply to your mail for free to a single address, is that not so?

Great if word is getting out to local businesses about how they pay rates and might go bust in the current economic climate but the Church of Scientology does not have to pay rates because their local Council decided they were so good for the local community that they could use the premises for free.

I don't know if it really is a big issue in Sunderland among the local businesses there, however, nor even the public. If I were a trader there I'd be hopping mad and very angry with the Council. But then I live a long way away in Germany.

The granting of rates relief in Sunderland has repercussions across the whole of England and endorses and legitimises the cult which, as a result, will draw in new members to result in lost fortunes, broken families and perhaps lost lives. And this decision was made on the basis of what I personally think was a highly misleading application. And that the decision was upheld not only after receiving conclusive evidence to counter the claims made in the application but also in defiance of Eric Pickles MP urging local authorities not to grant rates relief to this organisation. What happens there, in connection with this, comes down to what the local residents and traders there feel about it and whether they take this up with their local councillors and make this a local election issue.

Looks like the scilons have got church/mosque symbols on Google Earth

They'll be having minarets on the rooves if the NoI gets its way.

Good show and I hope they stop giving rates relief to cults as well.

http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/local/sunderland_council_chief_takes_pay_cut_1_3136730

Another money saving tip is to get rid of those Council-employed solicitors and use a local firm of solicitors instead (if you are a local rate-payer then perhaps there is a mechanism for writing in to suggest this). I am sure the Business Rates department could work just as well using an outside firm to give them legal advice.....

....hell, get rid of the Business Rates department as well and let some school kids run it as part of their homework.

This old poll on the Sunderland Echo website (from October 2010) seems to have reset itself and zombied back onto the newsfeeds for some odd reason.
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/daily_poll_1_2442270

I checked it and I got this...

Daily Poll 23-10-10
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Should the Church of Scientology be exempt from paying £30,000 business rates in Sunderland?

Yes
0 (0%)

No
4 (100%)

wtf?

Did this cult-loving council, the most generous one in the UK with local ratepayers money, ever give up their legal advice they got?

Wasn't this supposed to be reassesed in June 2011? Is anything being done about it?

They used the South Australian thing on their application? Priceless, send them photos of the address IRL, the derelict bungalow owned by a Greek couple for the past 40 years who have nothing whatsoever to do with Scientology.

Ok i think we should modify the OT rates leaflets and hand them out at raids.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/foi_email_and_electronic_filing

needs redo

Someone's been busy... ^

The issue still seems to be with the ICO according to the latest annotation on WT's request: http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/51_fawcett_st_sunderland_sciento So no change from what you (Roland) were told in February this year afaict, i.e. that if the ICO rules the information should be released then it will be: http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/legal_advises_received_re_51_faw I'm not sure how or whether this affects the other request above re: emails.

I think we can rule out any effect the legal advises had as it did not contribute to them being granted rates relief judged by the new information released. It all comes down to the letter sent out that starts at page 5 in the following document.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/45807/response/204795/attach/2/Section Bii.pdf

It is clear that Sunderland council did not bother to look into the negative aspects of this cult not limited to its actions and effect on adherents but also in the deceptive way it potrays itself.

Some gems from the first document:

"My client is recognised as a charity in Australia." pg 47

"My client as you know is a South Australian charity, and not required to register with the Charity Commission in England." pg 60

"21 Given that Scientologists do believe in a Supreme Being and that their congregational services include expressions of reverence for that Supreme Being, and seek that Supreme Being's intercession through prayer," pg 88

Is the Sunderland Org permanently closed these days? I am wondering if that affects their non-domestic rates relief.

The web site appears up to date.

https://www.google.ca/search?q="Sun...hannel=sb&gfe_rd=cr&ei=KBl4U_LmOuGV8QeLx4HQBg