Sunday 15 February 2009

IN THE BLUE CORNER.......IN THE RED CORNER.......!




Having read Chris Wells' 'Opinion' on page 34 of this week's Kent on Sunday concerning the well known difficulties in Thanet of having a large number of 'looked after' children from around the Country, let alone the County, combined with a large number of vulnerable adults, I was surprised to see from our 'local blogs' that this issue has ignited into a 'political spat'.
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Chris Wells seemed highly critical of KCC (Tory controlled) and its Social Services Department. He also found time to praise initiatives in Cliftonville that as far as I am aware, Cllr Hart and Cllr Johnston have been very involved in as local TDC Councillors.
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What I find surprising is that this issue seems to have sparked off a 'political' spat. Both Cllr Wells and Hart, share the same concerns about the issue of Thanet being used as a convenient 'dumping ground' for very vulnerable children and adults and would be expected to be supportive of each other in their common cause. Cllr Hart seems to think that Cllr Wells has 'stolen a march' due to the County Council Elections in May whilst I think Cllr Wells is being outspoken and critical of policies, that having left a Cabinet Post at KCC, he is now 'free' to speak his mind on. .
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I urge them both, and others, to accept that on this issue, they share common cause and agreement on, whilst in other areas they may differ. My understanding is that they are both putting themselves forward as KCC Councillors for the same Thanet area in May and it would be nice for the electorate to see good debate about issues and concerns, including those where a view is 'shared'. 'Political' sparring and point scoring is unseemly and is not the issue; how to ensure a child from Birmingham is not 'dumped' in Cliftonville by its City Council is.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am starting to suspect that the elephant in the room that we have been ignoring is that actually local councillors don't know how to do anything other than randomly bitch at each other.