A fortnight ago FDC failed to win the prestigious “Council of the Year award”. They were similarly thwarted in “Most Improved Council” category. One wonders if the judges perhaps visited Fenland to judge FDC’s real performance for themselves.
Over the last couple of years FDC have displayed an obsession with entering for any, and every, award going. In polite circles this is called ‘spin’. Wags have even asked if FDC will be lobbying for the creation of a prestigious ‘Council with the best anagram of their name’ award, in which they would surely be leading contenders, as ‘Fenland District Council’ rearranges itself nicely into ‘Conflict Ridden Lunatics’.
I ask myself if I really am fortunate to live somewhere blessed by the benevolent stewardship of a potential ‘ Council of the Year’ contender, when I consider FDC’s:-
* Inability to include satisfactory road safety measures within the Planning Process they administer,
* Whole hearted embrace of Wind Turbines, irrespective of suitability of location,
* Lack of endeavour to develop public access to our unique waterways,
* Failure to try to secure any of the huge pot of money available through SUSTRANS - which could have gone toward providing safe cycle routes in the District, for use by residents and tourists,
* Chronic failure for over a decade to ensure civic improvements to accompany new houses.
Chatteris must surely be the most deprived of the Fenland Towns with:-
* No Public leisure or fitness facilities,
* No Public Swimming Pool,
* Nowhere for kids to kick a ball around without getting muddy feet,
* No public tennis courts,
* No all-weather pitch for our children’s teams to practice and play on,
* Nowhere suitable for teenagers to informally meet,
* Little or no toddler play equipment within a convenient, toddler length walk of their home,
* No effort to promote and encourage the economic well being of the shopping centre,
* Insufficient accessible Public transport,
* Minimal interest in helping make roads safe for cyclists or pedestrians,
* Less public green space that the national average, or recommended minimum level, let alone a country park.
Chatteris appears to be the ‘lost world’ of the District. FDC seems happy to ‘flog off’ the Town’s assets’ but refuses to commit to reinvesting the money back into the town.
And for over 30 years Chatteris has been helping finance the leisure facilities in the other Fenland Towns which are inaccessible to Chatteris residents!
Surely the well being of the District is the ultimate measure of a council’s performance ? Some might argue that this is a more important criteria than, for example, a complaint system which invariably clears FDC of ever making a mistake, and unfailingly boosts their own customer satisfaction rating surveys.
Walt
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3 comments:
Mr Howes didn't exactly distinguish himself when he stood unsuccessfully for election for the Parson Drove and Wisbech St Mary ward of Fenland District Counci in the April'08 by-election. On that occasion he produced the least election literature.
Chris Howes clearly failed to 'connect' with the electorate and polled just 3% of the District Council vote. He faired little better in his bid to avoid finishing last, coming in 20 votes behind the UKIP candidates. In fact I would say that his sole achievement by standing for the Lib Dems in the District by-election was to give the other candidates a good laugh at the count. The unsuccessful Mr Howes now goes under the pseudonym Water Burnett.
The good people of Parson Drove and Wisbech St Mary ward clearly didn't feel inclined to give Mr Howes any democratic mandate.
Since Mr Howes is clearly heavily involved in local Lib Dem politics, one can assume he's planning to stand for the Parliamentary seat himself.
The burning question now remains whether North East Cambridgeshire will return him with a rousing majority ? Will he do any better than he did (or didn't) in Parson Drove and Wisbech St Mary? Can he do any worse ?
I'm still chuckling over the the extent I must have got under Freadver's skin for him to return home from the count and immediately sit down and furiously pen this lengthy comment in the early hours of the morning.
I completely fail to see what relevance the comment's author can feel it has to the article on the performance of Fenland District Council to which it is attached. Let me explain, Martian Curtsy, a blog article is intended to generate intellectual debate, and any following comments develop that debate in a relevant manner.
There is however a mild irony that the comment was posted less than an hour after the Count finished, but as I write, more than 70 hours after the conclusion of the Count, the official election authority, FDC, have still failed to post the result on their web site. Another example of FDC's beacon like efficiency (or lack thereof ) ?
Chris Howes
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