It is rare indeed for a serving Councillor – especially one with a decade of experience at Town/Parish and/or Borough/District level – to come forward and state, publically and unequivocally, that local government in our area is not fulfilling its role – “Not Fit for Purpose”.
The Enquirer warmly welcomes the following Letter to the Editor by Councillor Rob BARNETT who, some months ago, ‘survived’ a seemingly malicious Code of Conduct Complaint by Councillor John NOCK – for publishing the truth about the shameful waste of money that is Whitby Town Council. (Councillor NOCK, remember, is the man who was censured for defending former Scarborough Mayor Peter Jaconelli – prolific paedophile and co-offender with Jimmy SAVILE).
Undaunted, Rob again speaks his mind – in the public interest.
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Dear Editor,
With a new Government in Westminster, there are new challenges, opportunities and yes, pitfalls! The question is, will Whitby, its Town Council and other corporate and civic backers be up to the challenges?
The opportunities are already there. Take, for example, the re-think on planning. Councils are given the opportunity to take much more control over what goes on in the local area. But, it will take vision and resolve to meet the challenges.
With this in mind, what have the Town Council and North Yorkshire Council done? A little scrutiny of the recent history of the story so far might help us understand the dilemma and confusion of the elected Councils – Town and County.
Whitby has thus far failed to see, in any notable way, the benefit of various initiatives, e.g. the Town Deal. We have heard of various so-called projects, which thus far have failed to materialise, e.g. Town Hall renovation, etc. I might add that many proposed projects are, in my view, vainglorious projects.
This brings me to the substantive point, which is that the residents of Whitby are totally disillusioned. They want to see progress on issues that affect them:
- housing,
- employment,
- schools,
- infrastructure,
- social care,
- parking,
- public transport,
- hospitals…
Furthermore, the Westminster Government promises to support worthwhile, locally-led initiatives. In this respect, our town has little chance of accessing even the crumbs from the table.
We lack the vision and planning to access funding.
However, we should not give up hope. I would hope that the Councils will step up to the plate and deliver for the people of Whitby. We should never forget where sovereignty lies – with the electorate. Residents have become so disillusioned, only a small proportion bother to vote.
The need to regain the trust of the people of Whitby is paramount.
“Trust walks slowly in but gallops away on a horse!”
Yours, etc
Cllr Rob Barnett
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