Independents’ record not so good

Published: 12:08 PM January 26, 2011

Updated: 4:20 PM November 1, 2020

SO that I do not receive a letter from Janice Dobson accusing me of such, I should clarify at this early point that I am not associated or connected in any way with any of the local political parties – the Independents for St Ives included.

I simply write to say that Janice Dobson (Letters, January 12) seems to be under the misguided impression that what the taxpayers of St Ives want is local councillors and their ‘friends’ constantly blaming each other for everything. All her vitriolic letter does is talk about what she believes ‘the last council’ did wrong.

Michael Burke’s letter (December 29) asked what had happened to the money spent by this current council, not for a list of what the previous council did or did not do.

With the country rapidly tiring of hearing ‘blame the last lot: it wasn’t our fault’ at national level, does she really think that this is a progressive message that anybody wants to hear locally?

With such a defensive response from Janice Dobson, one wonders if Michael Burke has in fact touched a nerve with his understandable concern over what has happened to the town’s money under the current council.

Having now controlled the council since 2008, is it not time that the Independent councillors took responsibility for their actions instead of still blaming others?

Finally, having read different accounts of the alleged Council Tax increase over the last few weeks, I decided to check the facts for myself. I found that in the three years of the current Independent for St Ives-controlled council they have increased the amount of Council Tax that we are paying by nearly 25 per cent. And that, Ms Dobson, is a matter of public record.