What will happen to your ward now? (Brentwood & Ongar Liberal Democrats)

Brentwood & Ongar Liberal Democrats <info@brentwood-ongarlibdems.org.uk>

What will happen to your ward now?

March 23, 2009 12:00 AM
By Linda Price in Brentwood Gazette - letters page

Linda Price, candidate for the Hutton South by-election

Linda Price: "What will happen to your ward now?"

ON Wednesday March 18 at full council Brandon Lewis announced that he had decided to stand down as leader of the Council. He feels that he has accomplished all that he set out to do.

Good for him. I don't know that all the residents of Brentwood would necessarily agree with his view of what is right for OUR town.

However, the following day in his blog as Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Great Yarmouth he sets out his stall by proclaiming to the residents of Great Yarmouth that he is determined to give 100 per cent to them. He goes on to say that now is the time to move his time, energy and focus to Great Yarmouth full-time. How lovely for the residents of Great Yarmouth.

I would like to know exactly where that leaves the residents of his ward in Hutton South who elected him to office in the first place.

It would appear to me, if I were one of his residents, that my ward councillor no longer has any interest in the problems facing them because he is looking to further his own ambitions. That's fine and good luck but, if that is the case then I feel Mr Lewis should not only have stood down as leader of the council, but also as ward councillor, because by his own admission he is determined to give 100 per cent to Great Yarmouth, which doesn't leave an awful lot of time, energy and focus for Brentwood.

stood as the prospective Liberal Democrat candidate in the Hutton South by-election last October. I spoke to several people who were not happy with the way things were going and did have issues, so with Mr Lewis being actively engaged in Norfolk 100 per cent of the time, just how is he going to fulfil his obligations to his ward residents?

I would also make the point that Mr Lewis is being paid an allowance as an elected member, so perhaps in these fraught times, if he intends to fulfil the whole of his tenure as ward councillor, he should forego his allowance and give what time, energy and focus he can spare to Brentwood pro bono.