SLDC Chief Executive, Lawrence Conway

 The Government is talking about you, Lawrence Conway aided and abetted by  Cllr Helen Irving.

Councils urged to curb health and safety ‘jobsworths’

"The Government has urged local authorities to stop misusing health and safety rules to ban activities that are not dangerous and start using “common sense” instead."

This is exactly what happened over the pottery that was removed from Mill Dam Park fencing last year: brought about by the actions our District Cllr Helen Irving. This story was highlighted by the Westmoreland Gazette editorial saying "Lawrence Conway haven't you got better things to do" - than back the removal of this harmless pottery from the park fence. Helen Irving should be ashamed of her role in supporting such a negative Chief Executive. Even Conway's Officers, Deborah Wright and Jim Maguire were extremely unhappy over being ordered to remove the pottery for Health and Safety reasons. However they felt they had to do as they were told by their boss Lawrence Conway.

At a meeting with local residents Conway stated that they should not do any work in the park unless they were being supervised by a SLDC officer for Health and Safety reasons. Furthermore the pottery should not be put back up because SLDC considered that it was dangerous. Irving raised no objection - it was she who had raised the matter with SLDC in the first place. Basically the excuse was that residents' actions wouldn't be covered under the Council's insurance. 

This directive is still effective in the park to this day. But are the locals taking any notice? Isn't it time for Conway to reconsider his policy and instead welcome any work being done to maintain a SLDC Park? One that is much used and much loved by the local people.