Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Moss
No I did not, I simply wrote to all three Rishton Councillors to ask what they actually did for us and only Labour responded. I have never claimed to be a dyed in the wool red but at a local level they whizz all over the blues from the top of the viaduct.
I'm vaguely amused by the notion of the elected representatives not doing their best for the people because their views differ from the most vocal opponents. Presumably a good representative is only one who does exactly what the voters say? Having the benefit of seeing things from both sides of the fence, I'm glad I don't live in that world.
In Rishton alone that would mean spending our annual budget approximately 18 times over in less than a month whilst drastically lowering wasteful spending, putting in more play parks whilst simultaneously stopping any new play parks for fear of noise pollution and antisocial behaviour, preventing traffic parking on the streets whilst increasing the number of parking spaces, doing more to support local businesses whilst encouraging larger corporations to open stores in the village, promoting Rishon firms and helping people to get jobs but restraining local companies who get so successful that their traffic supposedly causes huge disruptions, getting better mobile telephony signals and internet connection whilst absolutely forbidding new masts to be erected, improving conditions on park footpaths which are damp in winter but restraining spending on that park because it gets all the money, increasing the number of litter bins and dog waste collections whilst cutting back on excessive numbers of staff, spending more on Christmas decorations but cut back on the ridiculous amount of trivial activity I support each Christmas and introduce a combined recycling wheelie bin costing well over a million quid to implement but absolutely under no circumstances increase Council tax.
Above all, I should stop claiming expenses and get my trotters out of the trough.
Despite this easy life I find that I still need to work six days a week and the queue of people waiting to replace me as Councillor is shorter than a midge's tackle.
By all means stand for election, wage a five month campaign out of your own pocket, replace me and do all the research and solve all the problems which have come my way over the past four years.
Being an active Councillor is not an easy job, the pay is lousy for the hours and the hassle is phenomenal. Half the battle is being able to see the bigger picture and the other half is being able to recognise that you will never ever please everyone.
We live in times of massive compromise and therefore massive disappointment but every decision is thought through and then thought through again, picked apart, revised, reviewed, costed over and over and then finally a policy is implemented which has more positives than negatives.
It is never ever going to please everyone but we never take decisions lightly.
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Congratulations on getting all that in without referring to Whitebirk at all
Taking you points in order...
1) I stand corrected, but you could have become a tory councillor if they and not labour had responded..point I was making still stands, you need either money to burn or a party to be elected
2) A good representative is one who does exactly what he is elected to do..represent the majority, vocal or otherwise. Just because you think you are the only one who is aware of both sides of an issue does not make it so.
3) In a nutshell...Noise pollution, ASB, traffic...all police matters. If you want to support local business stop fixing things that ain't broke. Larger companies will not come here regardless of whether Whitebirk is constructed or not. Central government has stopped you raising the council tax etc..etc..etc..
4) Don't think anyone has EVER accused you of troughing expenses.
5) Nobody said it was easy, but again do not assume that you are the only one with the intelligence to research the pros and cons of an argument.
6) Kindly explain why Whitebirk has more negatives than positives (after all that is the crux of this discussion), you could start with... how it will impact on the town centre redevelopment? what large stores have promised to take up residence in the Arndale if Whitebirk does not go ahead?, how many local jobs will be lost/gained?, what will the cost of this development be to the local taxpayers?
Fair play to you for standing your corner, it's more than the other lurking wet blankets ever do.