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The Bradworthy Wind Turbines
Councillor
Christie's Weblog
From your Torridge District Councillor Peter Christie
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17th February '08
At the last Full district council meeting I and councillor Miranda Cox once again raised the issue of climate change, its impacts in the area and what we should be doing about it. Our original motion which cited figures and targets has been watered down to one which is fairly vacuous and contains nothing solid but leaves us waiting for a report back from our officers over what we could do. In order to try and get something moving I did ask when we would get this report – to be informed by councillor Bob Hicks that it would be ‘Dreckly’. I would add that he was honest enough to admit that members of his committee who had not accepted the original motion ‘don’t have a clue what is being talked about in many of the details.’ At this point the Chief Executive John van de Laarschot joined in to say ‘We need a plan that gives best value to TDC ratepayers. Climate change is a crucial element of our future plans but the challenge is to prioritise what we can achieve as a council.’ Councillor Des Shadrick wanted our original motion to be factored into Torridge’s ethos remarking that ‘The issue is not going to go away’ – though as I have reported before a small rump of councillors would like to pretend it doesn’t actually exist. The debate ended with councillor Hugo Barton suggesting that a small working group could be set up to push the matter forward reckoning ‘It wouldn’t cost the Earth’ – which got a well-deserved groan from the councillors.
The recent astonishing misuse of taxpayers’ money by a Tory MP where he paid his sons and others for doing virtually nothing incensed local councillors recently. We are governed by the Standards Board for England who look into any complaints against us – you may recall their recent involvement in rather unfortunate proceedings at South Molton and Holsworthy as reported in the Journal. As councillor Caroline Church asked ‘Is there one set of rules for MPs and another for councillors?’ – and received the answer from our solicitor that, well, yes there was - which led councillor Philip Pennington from the Monkleigh/Littleham ward to say all our MPs are a joke. Certainly the case of Mr.Conway is appalling and I see his party leader Mr.Cameron has acknowledged that some 70 other Tory MPs employ members of their family. To be honest I can actually see why this could be acceptable but what worries me is how many MPs don’t seem to regard their role as a full time job but, as I believe our own MP Geoffrey Cox does, still continue to earn fairly healthy incomes outside of Parliament. Knowing my own work load as a Torridge councillor I find it unbelievable that MPs, who represent a much larger number of people than I do, can honestly do a good job if they have a second (or third or fourth) job as well. Perhaps we taxpayers could demand 100% commitment for the very generous pay plus expenses parliamentarians receive. What do you think?
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