Labour response to scotter house consultation
22 July 2011 by Paul Rhoades
I received the following statement from the local labour group regarding tonight's council meeting and was asked to publish it once the meeting was underway. Copies of this letter were distributed to members of the public attending. I've just got in from work now, so here it is unedited and without comment, obviously if any of the local Tories would like to publish their version of events, then their statement would be treat with similar respect:
Dear Resident,
The Conservative group called for today’s meeting to discuss re-starting the consultation on Scotter House.
As a Labour group we carried out a legally-sound consultation process with service users and their families and the outcome was clear – that both the Lilacs and Scotter House should be saved. The Labour group accepted this result and announced, had we won May’s local elections, we would have used a £700,000 saving in the council’s waste procurement contract to save both facilities.
The Conservative group will today claim the consultation process for Scotter House was ‘flawed’, yet the very same consultation was carried out on The Lilacs which they have accepted. The Labour group has also received, in writing, confirmation from the council’s Legal department that the consultation was, in fact, not ‘flawed’ at all.
We do not believe the Conservative group should be re-consulting on the issue of Scotter House. The people have spoken and the result is clear. The Labour group has taken the decision not to attend tonight’s meeting because we do not wish to legitimise the Conservative group’s efforts to belittle the campaign of local residents who took part in a consultation period believing their concerns would be listened to. The Labour group believes it is despicable that those concerned about Scotter House should be used as political pawns as demonstrated in the nastiness of the Conservative motion.
The Labour group remains committed to saving Scotter House and members will be out on the streets next week joining the campaign to ensure as many people as possible tell the Conservatives exactly what they think. We firmly believe, in this case, actions speak much louder than words.
Yours faithfully,
Labour group members on North Lincolnshire Council
Dear Resident,
The Conservative group called for today’s meeting to discuss re-starting the consultation on Scotter House.
As a Labour group we carried out a legally-sound consultation process with service users and their families and the outcome was clear – that both the Lilacs and Scotter House should be saved. The Labour group accepted this result and announced, had we won May’s local elections, we would have used a £700,000 saving in the council’s waste procurement contract to save both facilities.
The Conservative group will today claim the consultation process for Scotter House was ‘flawed’, yet the very same consultation was carried out on The Lilacs which they have accepted. The Labour group has also received, in writing, confirmation from the council’s Legal department that the consultation was, in fact, not ‘flawed’ at all.
We do not believe the Conservative group should be re-consulting on the issue of Scotter House. The people have spoken and the result is clear. The Labour group has taken the decision not to attend tonight’s meeting because we do not wish to legitimise the Conservative group’s efforts to belittle the campaign of local residents who took part in a consultation period believing their concerns would be listened to. The Labour group believes it is despicable that those concerned about Scotter House should be used as political pawns as demonstrated in the nastiness of the Conservative motion.
The Labour group remains committed to saving Scotter House and members will be out on the streets next week joining the campaign to ensure as many people as possible tell the Conservatives exactly what they think. We firmly believe, in this case, actions speak much louder than words.
Yours faithfully,
Labour group members on North Lincolnshire Council
If you would like add your own news article to Visit Scunthorpe, Login or sign up, its free and easy and you can start publishing your own content here, straight away.
Comments
Yep,
Sounds like a U-TURN to me.
My Ward is represented by these Labour group people, so i had no representation in that meeting from my Councillors. i will be writing to democratic sercives and asking for them to advise on who i speak to about asking for my coucillors resignations!!!!
If they are not going to do the job they were voted to do then i want them replacing.
I couldnt give a fudge if the personal feelings of the councillors were to not attend. they are elected representatives and they no longer have that luxury. they go to those meeting to represent the people of the wards, not their personal agendas.
disgraceful behaviour. i hope i can find a way to get them all fired, unless they are willing to say sorry and promise to go to future meetings to represent the wards they were voted to represent.
Sounds like a U-TURN to me.
My Ward is represented by these Labour group people, so i had no representation in that meeting from my Councillors. i will be writing to democratic sercives and asking for them to advise on who i speak to about asking for my coucillors resignations!!!!
If they are not going to do the job they were voted to do then i want them replacing.
I couldnt give a fudge if the personal feelings of the councillors were to not attend. they are elected representatives and they no longer have that luxury. they go to those meeting to represent the people of the wards, not their personal agendas.
disgraceful behaviour. i hope i can find a way to get them all fired, unless they are willing to say sorry and promise to go to future meetings to represent the wards they were voted to represent.
If you would like to leave a comment about this article, Login or sign up now
Please Note
Views expressed on this site are those of individual posters, who by making these posts indemnify Visit Scunthorpe and its operators of any legal responsibility or obligation.
Please respect the privacy of others, if someone gives you infomation that you use in your post, please don't identify them.
Visit Scunthorpe is North Lincolnshire's only truly independent, non commercial, community news web site.
Established in January 2010 we have lots of members with a wide range of views who all contribute
independently with articles of their own.
You won't find dozens of adverts covering our site, or some poor attempt to promote local business services under the guise of offering a community service.
Here on VisitScunthorpe we are interested in just one thing, building an online community which is representative of the people of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire and the surrounding area.
Paul. Founder Visit Scunthorpe.
How it Works
If you would like to have the ability to add articles and comments to Visit Scunthorpe then all you need to do is sign up with a valid email address for an account. This is free, your email address is confidential and we don't send out spam emails.
Once you've completed the sign up then you are free to post and comment on well... pretty much anything, we just have some basic civilised rules to prevent people from inciting violence, hatred or making individual attacks.
If you have a web site or directory which covers either independent news and blogging, or is related to North Lincolnshire or Scunthorpe then get in touch to set up a reciprocal link.
I recall pre 5th May 2011 various local Labour councillors slating the local Tories for not attending council meetings saying that the Tories should be ashamed for not representing the people who voted for them. The term Pot and Kettle springs to mind.
I also recall post 5th May 2011 various local Labour councillors blogging that they would hold the local Tories to account at every oppertunity and they wouldn't neglect their ward constiuents a vioce by "doing what the Tories did" and not turn up for meetings.
Is the a Labour U Turn?
Reply Report