Friday 26 September 2008

No wonder Cumbria County Council are in the bottom 15%

My presentation of your petition with 200 signatures to censor the area Highways Engineer, Nick Raymond, fell on not only deaf but unsympathetic ears.

This was not Democracy in action - far from it!

The aim was to try and persuade the Cumbria County Councillors that the Highways Authority had failed to supervise the contractors who have dug holes in Market Street so that the setts were left in atrocious condition after they had finished their work.

The chairman, Geoffrey Cook, failed to recognise that Area Engineer totally evaded answering the question that was posed and prevented other councillors discussing the issue even when a request for further information was put by one councillor. Most councillors totally failed to understand the cause of the problem.

One councillor thought that the cobbles were in bad condition because of the amount of traffic on the road and was suggesting that asphalt was the solution. This is clearly not the case. The cobbles that have been laid correctly are in beautiful condition. It is the ones relaid by contractors like Balfour Beatty that are the cause of the problem. The workmen were incapable of doing this skilled job and no adequate jointing material was used.

The text of the written reply that was read by the Chairman is awaited. No reference at all to the supervision of the contractors in the answer can be remembered which was the whole point of the question.

Once again perhaps 'Yes Minister' officers were able to hoodwink ignorant politicians with evasive answers.

My mistake was not to have posed a very clear question in words of one syllable. I should have realised how far short of the mark our councillors are. No wonder Cumbria County is in the bottom 15% of those in the country according to the audit commission.

We will push forward now to use the legal system and take civil action on behalf of the 200 signatories against the county with the reserves of cash that have been donated already.

Once again a Liberal Councillor, Geoffrey Cook this time, has shot himself in the foot, now with the collusion of the other parties. Wendy Kolbe, the Labour Councillor for East Ward who is responsible for Market Street said absolutely nothing.

When will we have people fit to govern us?

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