State of the Spendlove car park
| Liz Leffman |
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Mon 27 Feb 2017, 18:48 (last edited on Mon 27 Feb 2017, 18:50) Have sent Richard's post and photos to WODC - it is a horrible mess. Here is the letter I sent to the Witney Gazette today. As you will see I am pretty cross about this! "Over the past few days, signs have appeared in the car park in Charlbury, where I am the District Councillor. The signs suggest that free parking will be "at risk" if people choose to go along with the County Council's proposals for a unitary authority in Oxfordshire. I have been asked by several residents why West Oxfordshire District Council is spending money on these signs, and I can only answer that this is not being done in my name. A proposal came to Council last Wednesday, asking councillors to approve £25,000 to be spent on signs like these, plus other advertising against the County proposals. All of the Conservative and Labour councillors present voted in favour of spending this money. I and my Liberal Democrat colleagues voted against because we don't approve of spending tax payers' money on propaganda, which is what this amounts to. This follows a letter from Council Leader James Mills to all residents, peddling similar propaganda and claiming that if proposals for a unitary authority go ahead, then grants to Chipping Norton Theatre and Citizens' Advice would also be "at risk". There is not the slightest foundation for these claims. It is just scaremongering. A few months ago, Councillor Mills was proposing that West Oxfordshire join forces with Cherwell to form a unitary authority. It is interesting to note that while West Oxfordshire has free parking, Cherwell does not. How was he going to square that with his new partners? And if he thought that he could then, why does he now think he can't? Of course, like all of us, I find free parking very useful, but there are much bigger matters to sort out across Oxfordshire. The state of our roads is a disgrace, our children's centres are being closed, our bus services have been decimated. I can only assume that the reason the Conservatives and Labour on West Oxfordshire District Council are prepared to be so lavish with our money is because they just don't see the bigger picture. Best regards Liz Leffman
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