May 2007 District Council elections are now imminent in West Somerset, UK and many in the local population can’t wait.
The Tory majority that has ruled, seemingly for ever, in West Somerset, UK is seen by many locally as clique ridden, paternalist, old fashioned and just plain wrong in it’s policies.
Clique ridden because those who have the private ear of the local Conservative Party may feel that their ideas are listened to, those outside the local Conservative Party certainly do not. Letters and emails are just not replied to.
Paternalistic because the inner circle of Tory rulers give the impression that they think they know what is best for us in West Somerset and, no matter how many of us stand up and disagree, they still carry on blindly with their policies. Surely, when the whole of Minehead Avenue is filled with ordinary people protesting against their policies, let alone the packed and vocal public meetings, they should start to suspect they have made some dreadful mistakes and start rethinking? Events have consistently proved otherwise.
Old fashioned because their approach is paternalistic, hierarchical and top down. No modern organisation operates this way these days because it just doesn’t work in the modern world. The most valuable resource West Somerset has is the knowledge, know how and energy of all of it’s population. Those at the top of the local Tory hierarchy, in their splendid isolation, could have used the energy and goodwill of the West Somerset population for the benefit of the local community. Instead, they chose to consistently antagonise those who were trying to contribute to the debate. Many local people believe surveys and consultants paid for out of local people’s taxes were manipulative and biased, seeking only to confirm unpopular policies on an unwilling population.
Plain wrong because their policy of building new Council offices at huge expense was and is very unpopular. Local people were highly vocal at public meetings and in the local press with suggestions of better ways of spending the money. These were ignored and the Tory majority continued with their policies.
Plain wrong because the Tory Council’s policy was a double whammy against local businesses. Selling off publicly owned land to national retail organisations was widely believed to be damaging to existing local businesses whilst also preventing local businesses making use of the land themselves to grow and expand and develop the local economy.
At the packed public meeting in the West Somerset Community College that was called because of the extent of opposition to their policies, the Leader of the West Somerset District Council publicly refused to accede to the popular request at the meeting to call local elections and let the local people decide.
For many in West Somerset, it then just became a matter of waiting for the next elections for an opportunity to remove the Conservative ruling majority many believed was completely discredited.
In May 2007, West Somerset will decide at the polls which direction is right.
West Somerset can opt for building a strong, prosperous and democratic community that calls on, uses and develops the wisdom of all of it’s members.
Or West Somerset can vote for West Somerset to continue as a rural backwater where businesses struggle, jobs are few and wages are low which is the legacy and blight of too many years of local Tory rule.
Rob Watson
