I was surprised to see the letter published in this weeks (11th February 2011) Biggleswade Chronicle from Councillor David Lawrence. It seemed to me that it was a pre election plea to vote for him as he has been putting in 110% working for the people of Biggleswade and he does not accept much money for it. In fact sometimes he gives most of it away.
I have read his letter a number of times and I am as lost with this one as I was with his letter about "silos" last year.
"I today work well in excess of the five percent cash reward often using up to 50 per cent of the working week"
Councillor David J Lawrence gets an allowance of £11,200 a year, as a District Councillor as does his wife Councillor Jane Lawrence.
One measure of a District Councillors commitment can be the number of meetings they attend on our behalf. Central Bedfordshire publish these figures and for the period February 2010 to February 2011 Councillor David J Lawrence was "expected" at 14 meetings and attended 10. An attendance rate of 71%. Out of 66 District Councillors he came 59th in the attendance table.
He says he works up to 50 per cent of the working week (21 hours?) for £11,200. There are a lot of people who would like his job. The minimum wage for working 42 hours a week is £12950. He probably doesn't know that.
"...I hope that my efforts on behalf of the people of Biggleswade have and will continue to have a benefit for the town"
How does he know what the people of Biggleswade want, he is one of the few District Councillors who does not hold regular surgeries. When he does know he ignores them. He is one of the main drivers to have the health centre out of town, and his wife said at a recent Biggleswade Town Council meeting " we are the elected representatives and we make the decisions".
What precisely has either of them CHAMPIONED for the residents of Biggleswade and what have they actually ACHIEVED for the residents of Biggleswade?
ReplyDeleteWhen have either of them climbed down from their ivory tower and actually listened to what people want and voted accordingly in Town Council?
Biggleswade needs new blood on the Town Council but they only serve, with their cronies, to stitch up the selection of candidates so their is no real choice.
They have to go at the next election and if that means voting for a person of another party (which has no place in local government) then so be it - vote AGAINST them both.
Disillusioned of Biggleswade
Cllr Lawrence may work as hard as he says he does but he's not the only one. But is it all for the good of the community?
ReplyDeleteI have more than once come across the 'we know best' attitude of the Town Council and the Cllrs Lawrence team seems to excel at that.
Of course none of this is recorded in the Council Minutes - you need to be there to see what really goes on.
Here's an example - all the more relevant as we approach 'Fairtrade Fortnight' (12th March)...
At the Town Council meeting where the Biggleswade becoming a Fairtrade Town proposal was being 'discussed', Cllr Lawrence adopted a point-blank 'over my dead body' and 'not while I'm a Councillor' stance. Does he really have this power?
For Cllr Lawrence to use statements like 'I am a member of the Adam Smith Institute' as part of his reasoning for blocking the proposal is at the very least a 'strange' excuse.
Also quoted were the requirements for becoming a Fairtrade Town - one of which highlighted was that the Town Council must offer Fairtrade products (eg tea and Coffee) at its offices for meetings etc. He seemed upset that Fairtrade 'rules' were telling him/The Council what to do. (An obvious way around this might be simply to offer both Fairtrade and other makes but that wasn't discussed.)
Neither was the fact that, even with Global Warming, you can't for example buy locally-grown bananas in Biggleswade - at least not yet (or perhaps Cllr Lawrence knows of a local source?).
Nobody locally is going to go out of business directly as a result of Biggleswade becoming a Fairtrade Town. In fact Fairtrade status is very likely to be of more benefit to Biggleswade - and not only from the 'feel good' factor.
And, in any case - as the BBC keeps telling us - 'other products are available', so the Lawrences won't feel obliged to shop somewhere that doesn't have Fairtrade status on principle ...