It is good to hear again from Simon Hutton (“Support for car park plan”, Telegraph 9 March).
There was me thinking that young Simon had gone to ground after his disappointing result at last year’s General Election and his Party forming a coalition with a right wing Tory Party. I now find that Simon has been elevated to the prestigious position of Chair of Inverclyde Liberal Democrats.
Simon is perfectly correct when he points out that I and the majority of the Council voted against the Lib Dems’ proposal to spend £250,000 creating a car park at the former Adams Boat Yard in Gourock, although I am informed that there may actually be some dubiety over what boat yard the Lib Dems are referring to.
I also plead guilty to voting against the Lib Dems’ proposals to cut the posts of 10 classroom assistants; to increase burial and cremation charges by 20%; and to cut £440,000 more from the Social Work budget than the Administration. No wonder former Lib Dem Councillor George White could not bring himself to support the Lib Dem budget.
Mind you the Lib Dems voted against some of our proposals as well.
They voted against our proposal to allocate an additional £300,000 for the redevelopment of central Gourock, bringing our total funding commitment to £2.2m.
They voted against our proposals to spend £1m on the regeneration of Port Glasgow Town Centre and £500,000 on the renewal of the Clune Park area.
They voted against our proposal to spend another £300,000 on play areas.
The Lib Dem proposal for a car park at Cardwell Bay was of course nothing more than a political stunt.
If they had been serious about this proposal they would have approached the Administration in advance of the meeting to seek our support. Instead, as they have done every year of this Council, they refused to speak to us, knowing that without our backing the proposal would be voted down.
And what have they gained from this charade?
A chance for young Simon to get his name in the Telegraph again!
Well done Simon. Alan Blair must be very proud of you.
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I think that the tactics of the Lib Dems are now perfectly clear. They are in danger in going in to meltdown within Inverclyde, so throw enough mud and hope some will stick. They need to hold on to a member in Gourock, but with George White finally seeing the light and distancing himself from the poisonous Mr Blair their future in Inverclyde as well as Scotland looks bleak. Roll on 2912.
ReplyDeleteNice to see you show what the stupidity of
ReplyDeletelim dems choices for the area are.
I am though disappointed that you have chosen to step down.I salute anyone who can hold down a job,have a young family and work as a councillor with commitment .When I look at the make up of the Labour group this description seems to fit most of you.
I always question why some people want to become councillors. When you look at the independant and other party councillors ,SNP,Lib dems ,Im sure they are nice enough people ,but it seems to be made up of retired people or those trying to supplement a wage.The lack of effort put in by these people shows there is no passion for the people of Inverclyde, and without that passion to change things for the better then they are just there to get their party numbers up in the council.I think that this time round the lack of effort by councillors not really doing their job should be named and shamed. The public arent stupid and they know who is a stoodge and who really does have they communities wellbeing at heart.Really commited councillors are a benefit to a community and those given the privilige should not being doing this through boredom or someone facing early retirement.
What next for Simon,the council elections,holyrood,westminster again.Personal ambition over those they want to represent can be sniffed out a mile away,I will say it again the public arent stupid,which is why I hope you go on to bigger and better things.