Cabinet this evening discussed the issue of the proposed sale of part of the Arts Centre to the Sixth Form College. At Council last week the Labour leadership came under fierce criticism for progressing this matter without bothering to inform or consult the local ward councillors.
At Cabinet, the Leader, Cllr Williams, and the lead member, Cllr Andy Scott, both apologised to the College ward councillors for not consulting them at an earlier stage. Furthermore, an amendment to the Cabinet paper added a period of consultation to the process.
Of course, some Labour councillors will try to present the initial failure to consult as merely an oversight. Yeh, as if! What this represents is a humiliation for the Labour leadership, who have been forced by adverse publicity to apologise. Their fictitious democratic credentials had been shown to be just that: fiction.
If the sale goes through, which would be a good thing for the Sixth Form College, though maybe not for independent arts in the town, at least now it will be done openly, democratically and with appropriate levels of participation by locally elected councillors.
2 comments:
"Help stop climate change"?! Didnt know you could control time and physics! It's always been changing and always will be, long before and after we've gone.
how very typical of labour councillors in this town..
if you pop along to nick wallis' blog the man simply rants on about lib dem councillors and tries to cover up for these folks even after the apology.... this simply means that he has no moral scruples whatsoever and whilst i acknowledge that your principles will not let you say that mike, I WAS RAISED LABOUR I AM NOW ASHAMED TO SAY, so i'll say it as loudly and as often as i damn well like because people like him are the reason i'll never ever vote labour again in my life!
a basic principle of councillors, like it or not, is that the following phrase is that which should govern their offices.. "ELECTED TO SERVE"
people like nick wallis, with or without his double- barrelled name (thorn-wallis) simply appear to have lost the direction of things a tad and now seek every opportunity to score points from other parties regardless of whether any practical benefit can be gleaned for the public of darlington (those whom they serve)
while i am sadly dissolusioned by labour, i remain 100% not lib-dem, but also never again labour!
i may have no political aspirations, mike, but i stand on my principles and good name as a true englishman and principled northener.
password still goosed but i'll sign my own name now
ian chandler
(not ashamed of who i am!!)
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