OPINION AND INVESTIGATION.
Some time ago it seemed that after nearly two decades of getting nowhere with this single issue, Sandwell council via the rather controversial Matthew Huggins were turning the corner and producing an angling policy with some teeth- this would finally see a charge for fishing and an end to the real problem of free fishing and the anti-social behaviour that it directly encourages.
I briefed in March 2024 that because of the local elections, it had been put off. Following that however, the assistant director left his post and what followed was a period of silence from his successor Ben Percival.
Mr Huggins was unpopular with many, but I found him generally amiable and willing to embrace change and the dogmatic lack of scrutiny that had gone before. Many officers and also serving Labour councillors were actively briefing against him to third parties, and some are still Labour councillors in post. His standards obviously did not meet theirs. Their reason for doing this was that he appeared to make the Unite the Union staff work, something in parks at least which was a rarity, because they have for many years been bone idle fuckwits and incompetent. Since his departure, we have also had briefers that they have had to “put things right” that he left behind. To me this is just a long line succession of blaming the guy who led before, and in truth when you do fuck all in a year, that speaks more volumes to me than the bloke you are trying to blame.
Ben Percival as far as I am concerned is a waste of space yes man. With previous jobs in many local councils including Walsall and Dudley, it transpires that HE made the decision to kick the draft policy , which had already gone to scrutiny, into the long grass and do FUCK ALL with it.
I have over many years had to produce evidence of the harm that this “working mans sport” causes to wildfowl that live in Sandwell’s parks and open spaces. Unfortunately, Labour are soft on this type of hunting and always have been, preferring the hypocrisy of class war fox hunting that does not take place in their area as their “animal welfare” championing. They are not interested on evidence of animal harm in their own back yards however, pointing instead over there to the countryside filth who hunt with dogs. I had to produce evidence of harm to the corrupt Geoff Lewis, a walrus faced Friar park buffoon and angler who would not accept what I said, and so a large report was produced to show exactly the harms that his fishing mates were causing. I never heard off Lewis again, and thankfully, he is now worm food himself- and good fucking riddance as well!
We then had the odious cocaine junkie Darren Cooper- another angler who did favours for his fishing friends- also now gone and equally good riddance.
Most of Sandwell’s councillors are talentless union plants or “rights” activists advising scroungers how they can leach off working people. They have made a career out of this shite and think they are doing good in the world, when all they are doing is scrounging themselves off expenses and “special responsibility” payments. Many just tow the party line up till a point where they conspire against one another and form factions. We have seen this with both Labour and the Conservatives in Sandwell.
Councillor Richard Jeffcoat.
This individual stood as an “independent” in the elections of 2024. He had stood many times prior to this, originally in the ill fated Sandwell Green party and then on his own. Many people in Tipton Green were absolutely sick of “BWA Barracus” and co and he got the nod, ousting a cabinet member and promising scrutiny and challenge to the Labour Group.
I met him in Victoria Park and explained the long history of issues in Sandwell with parks and the harm that fishing does. I was hopeful that he would take this on board and campaign for change, challenge the council to kickstart the angling policy and introduce fees and charges which removes asb issues at a stroke. I was hoping that unlike the other Labour councillors, he would speak out and criticise those causing harm to wildlife by fishing. Despite promising much, he has delivered nothing at all in this regard, mostly because he appears incapable of understanding that formal means are needed via an FS case to get a formal response which can be later challenged. Anecdotal meetings and asides from bent Labour and their officers is very very naive and will not suffice as far as I am concerned when they have of course openly lied before. He has I am afraid to say been a bigger waste of space than a so called “Nightingale hospital” at the NEC.
Unfortunately, Jeffcoat has fallen prey to the coercive control of Sandwell labour, and Kerrie Carmichael in particular, whom he appears to be in the thralls of misguided awe. We turn to our old “friend” the behaviour change wheel, so used by the fanatic looney bin nutters of SMBC public health during the fascist plandemic hoax, coercing people to have a medical procedure with a harmful “intervention” they never needed.
Carmichael lost no time in putting Jeffcoat on numerous committees as a stated “independent” councillor. She has feted him and showered him with attention and praise, and the upshot of this, and I doubt he can recognise it, is that when this happens it usually exhibits a rapport of reciprocal appreciation. Not so much Stockholm syndrome but “Sandwell syndrome”. So he thought he was being rewarded, when in reality he was being bogged down with something to do to keep him out of the way from challenging the council machine. Thus he has just become part of that machine and is incapable any longer of challenging it from the outside.
“The maestro” has become the organ grinder’s dancing monkey. His social media posts reflect this habitually in how he refers to the council and its officers in reverent tones without criticism or scrutiny. He has voted with Sandwell Labour on numerous occasions. He has become a hamster in their wheel and is frequently pictured alongside the usual arachnoid suspects, one of them a grossly obese silent sloth. He has also been used as a useful idiot to get messages back to me repeating stuff from the BCW which of course I can see through instantly like a lighthouse shining onto murky waters. No one changes my behaviour, no one, I am not a fucking dog.
FREE ANGLING IN SANDWELL AND THE ANIMAL SHAMFARE “TASKFORCE”
One of Carmichael’s useful webs was the distraction creation of her “animal welfare taskforce”. Like the many previous utterly useless Labour leaders, in fact every one of them, she failed to address the angling issue in the emails below. This is her only real interaction with me apart from brief follow up replies, and anything else she claims is a lie. This is why retaining every email and response you ever send is important as a record of fact.
Below I outlined what I have witnessed in this park – criminal damage, breaking rules, no care for anyone or anything, animal cruelty, littering and in general all the people who fish there are just scum.
8/6/2025
10/6/2025
“Afternoon Ian
Thank you for your email.
I can only apologise that you have not received a response regarding the questions you have raised to council, and I agree that is not acceptable and will look to rectify that as soon as I can.
I will ask for the report about Saturday from the Wardens so that we can look at how we can improve the service when people are seen camping and fishing in a park as you had witnessed and kindly sent the photos through.
I have emailed you before made it clear that I understand your frustrations regarding the wildlife – I too am passionate about animal welfare and would dearly love all abuse to any animal to stop. We started the Animal Welfare Taskforce to help improve lives of animals and we are working with the RSPCA on several issues including fishing. As soon as we adopt a new instruction on fishing I will forward it to you.
With best wishes
Kerrie “
There is more on this “task force” further on in this post.
13/6/2025
Out of the blue, and obviously because he had been told to, I then got this from Ben Percival who suddenly wanted a meeting.
22/6/2025
I had not seen his email, I was busy catching birds and other matters in Sandwell parks but replied with caution and suspicion about the intentions of such a meeting.
23/6/2025
Percival replied and do note his reference to Huggins and the phrase below which I will also return to later on in this post.
“I’m keen to better understand the position of and background to a range of issues – including the draft Fishing Policy – before proceeding further. This was the purpose of the suggested meeting – you clearly have a long history of involvement with wildfowl welfare in Sandwell and I’d welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you to be better informed on how to proceed with the Fishing Policy and associated matters.”
I did indeed meet with Ben Percival and my concerns were well founded in that despite wanting to “learn” from me, he had already decided on a free fishing model with no enforcement. the big idea it seems is to get the environment agency to do licence checks, which if you know the vast area they cover, they are not going to visit Sandwell’s dogshit parks on any regular basis. He got both barrels, and he deserved it.
“Hi,
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I’ll keep this one brief. This is your opportunity to tell the policy makers what you think of angling in Sandwell. Personally I don’t think much of it at all, except it consumes a great deal of my time, caused by some lazy fucking bastards who do not care.
saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk
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27/4/2025“Thanks, as always, for the time you spend on our natural environment.
It is our working group’s plan to visit all our nature reserves. We are not a formal committee of the council, but we have had a big impact in recent council meetings, with measures to ban firework displays and events with celebration balloons from council land, and to encourage restrictions on these activities which are potentially deadly to wildlife.
I think I said in my last note that the next meeting is during May, and we’ll be looking at the angling policy. I told you that there are quite strong feelings round the table about angling, so I hope we can implement stronger measures than we have at the moment, and we may decide that the policy needs to be re-written. I’m sorry this hasn’t happened sooner.
And I’m aware of the problems caused by bikes and yobs. A lot of these matters, such as illegal vehicle use, are for the police to enforce. I’m working with the police to ensure that they take these crimes seriously. I keep being told that the police are too busy to patrol our open spaces, or that they aren’t interested in low-level crime. But someone being maimed by an illegal bike, whether they’re riding it or they’re a passer-by, isn’t low-level. And I am working to make sure that the police take damage to our environment seriously.
I’m on your side, and I understand and share your frustration. I will keep you informed of any progress I make. But, whether it’s our local police force, Sandwell Council’s environmental protection officers, the council’s parks department, or the canal and river trust, I’m getting the same reply everywhere – they don’t have the resources to address problems with the enforcement necessary to make a palpable difference. I want an unlicensed angler to know that they risk being fined, or a kid on a bike they can’t control to know that it will be impounded – but we have to trust to the authorities to police and enforce these things. And I keep being told we have no money.
Thank you, as ever, for your passion and commitment.
Richard”
Sandwell council replied to my request where it became clear that this taskforce consisted of Carmichael, Crompton, Jeffcoat and Hartwell as councillors. A couple of other council officers I believe are named and redacted RSPCA officials, I’m guessing none front line staff but PR agents.
The terms of reference for this group are as follows.
“To form a working group, referred to as “Local Animal Welfare Task Force,” to discuss and make recommendations in relation to promoting responsible pet ownership, protecting wildlife and natural habitats, championing high-welfare food procurement, supporting animal welfare causes, and creating a unified approach to animal welfare policies and practices within Sandwell.”
I asked for minutes and two meetings that had been held of the quarterly format were supplied.
No mention of fishing matters or wildlife at all, mainly owned animals and council tenant interface matters
and May 2025.
At minute 3 we get this concerning a visit to Warrens Hall Park.
The only concern from this taskforce appears to be signage, rather than the damage that this activity is doing where fishing is free. This site is the only one in Sandwell where any club have an operative input. Quite why they visited here rather than the site where most problems that I raised are happening speaks volumes. What is the point of ignoring the issues, and me except to pretend that everything is rosy?
This is far from the message that Jeffcoat communicated to me, and appears to show no interest in managing or addressing enforcement. You need a rod licence to fish anywhere, except it seems you are the imbecile David Lammy who gets away with it in the two tier justice system that operates in the UK for political cunts like him.
At minute 5 Jeffcoat raises a point which is unclear as to what he is actually asking for in that they need some info on angling?
Hides behind fake profile
Imagine someone caring about wildlife, instead of egocentrism. What a “Jimmy”
If a warden at the council is promoting something which is not true, they should be sacked