Tale of two towns

This is a letter I have sent to the Derbyshire Times.

A tale of two towns.

Cllr Watts, leader of Bolsover DC says he hopes to turn Bolsover into the Bakewell of North Derbyshire. Well it’s fine to have a dream, but the real world is shaped by hard decisions and the simple truth is that better ones are being made by Derbyshire Dales Council.

That Council is opening, not closing, public toilets in Bakewell and they fund a ten day long arts festival in the town, (instead of our excellent, but limited, two day festival held in Shirebrook). We can only be envious of Bakewell’s swimming pool, Fairtrade status, funding for a hydro-electric scheme and better recycling record. However it is the relationships of the Council to its local business that is most enlightening. In Bakewell traders have told the Council that a new supermarket would not benefit their town, where-as in Bolsover, even before a planning application has been submitted, the Deputy Leader is “delighted” to announce that Morrison’s are coming without any apparent regard for the impact on traders.

Derbyshire Dales is far from perfect but at least they seemed to have grasped that the purpose of a Council is to work with, not against, local people. It’s no surprise that their Councillors accepted independent advice and take a basic allowance of £4,100pa, not the £10,000pa that the Labour group in Bolsover pushed through.

Since I was elected I have tried to encourage ordinary people to get involved in Bolsover Council meetings. It’s not easy, and Tim Levers was just the latest to experience the indifference and hostility shown to anyone who tries to engage the labour group in debate. However Tim was, and is, absolutely right to point out that public toilets are not a nicety but an essential service for the most vulnerable in our community. As the only Councillor to vote against closure I’m pleased to offer what support I can and am full of admiration for Tim’s actions. He is not alone, BADGL are also challenging the Council’s proposals to allow green space to be developed. All these people give their own free time, without any payment or expenses because they simply want to build a better Bolsover may-be that’s why the letters pages are so supportive of them. If we really want to become the Bakewell of the North the Labour group have to learn to listen, put all the information they hold in the public domain and engage residents in a proper debate before making decisions.

Cllr Duncan Kerr, Green Party