It is no wonder that many people view local councillors with disdain, as the events at the Boldon, Cleadon and Whitburn CAF meeting on Thursday (17.04.07) would have had even the eternal optimist reaching for the sick bag. For myself and other residents of East Boldon the meeting was an opportunity to see what developments had emerged to ease Metro parking congestion in the area. You can imagine our disgust to find that the item wasn’t even on the Agenda as a matter for discussion. Despite the fact that we packed out the last CAF meeting with the largest turnout of public members ever experienced by these Wards, the councillors did not have the decency to give it any committee time. Surely then, our own three ward councillors would fight for us to have the matter tabled so that at least a discussion could be entered into. Wrong! Despite being warned before hand that we had been ignored, only one of them bothered to turn up. Donald Wood (Con), Cameron bless his soul, is always present and correct, but put it this way, if there was ever going to be a fight, Donald would be better employed holding the coats! David Potts (Con), a man more elusive than the Scarlet Pimpernel, could not be bothered to grace us with his presence. Without the press or a large audience to fetter his ego, Mr Potts would rather spend his time on other things (or indeed in other countries) instead of representing his own constituents. With only three appearances in the last 18 months, David could solve his problems and identity issues by sending a friend or a “look alike” because to be honest, nobody really knows what he looks like anyway. The issues of “numbers” was slightly eased when Jeff Milburn (Con) arrived, albeit 1 ½ hours to late. However, Jeff must have had a very busy day (like us all who are self employed or in full time employment) because he promptly fell asleep (that reminds me, I must have that camera phone picture transferred to PC for the local press. I can see the headline now; “Rip Van Milburn!”). So there you have it, the Ward was outnumbered by six Labour councillors to one Conservative, and as a result we were swept to one side. Life is difficult enough when you’re so heavily outnumbered but when one of your councillors can’t even be bothered to stay awake and the other makes fewer public appearances than Bin Laden, the odds for success are pretty poor!
As an effective opposition in this ward the Conservatives are a disgrace; how they got re elected is beyond reason! They never question anything, they let matters go through on the “nod” and not once have they defended or spoke up for their ward. So far, £9000 has been transferred to “good causes” in the CAF area but not a penny to their Ward! Why? Because these Councillors cannot be bothered to take to the streets and find a worthy cause! The only form of opposition in this Ward is coming from the public who have finally realized that they must stand up and speak for themselves. Regretfully, the three wise monkeys who cover this area are going to have to be sidelined when it comes to achieving improvements for this community. If anybody fancies a good night out in June, check the Council’s web site for the next CAF meeting date. With residents already drafting local newsletters and flyers, the turn out for this meeting should make for prime time entertainment! And do you know what, they dont need any help from their Councillors!
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2 comments:
I think I'd be tempted to do a little research to verify some of your comments Peter;
"They never question anything,"
"not once have they defended or spoke up for their ward"
" these Councillors cannot be bothered to take to the streets and find a worthy cause!"
Perhaps a little search through the Gazette archives might help here.
Incidentally, perhaps one of the reasons that little gets spent in the ward is the inbuilt 6 - 3 labour majority on the CAF!
Sorry to have been a nuisance.
“They never question anything”
eg. The massive failure re South Tyneside Homes and the draw down of a £167 million grant was raised by the public, not the councillors, who did not understand the significance of the failure to get the money
“Not once have they defended or spoke up for their ward”
eg. A Boldon Colliery councillor said publicly that she did not think there was a problem with parking in East Boldon and didn’t know what all the fuss was about. He two councillors for this ward let this go unchallenged even though the public members present hissed with disbelief
“These Councillors cannot be bothered etc”
eg Not once did I see any of the ward councillors out and about during the recent election
The Gazette archives will be a good point to start, but just remember on the Metro issue, all press coverage has been initiated and organised by myself with councillors present for picture opportunities only. The 100+ turnout at the recent CAF was a result of my leaflet drop. The next few weeks will be the tester. Ward councillors are already on the back foot with a quickly set up meeting with transport officials at the council to the exclusion of those members of the public who have driven this campaign.
The point on the majority in the CAF is true, which it is even more imperative that all three ward members play an active part, not just when the press are there!
Nuisance, not really, merely another point of view.
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