Dear Residents,
Tuesday evening (7th June) was an evening that Shepway District Council and its Leader, Councillor Monk would rather forget about. We would even imagine that the blame game has already started among the SDC Muppets asking 'Whose idea was it to talk to the electorate'?
The usual clowns were in attendance: Cllr Monk, Alistair Stewart CEO, Susan Priest, Rory Love and Chris Lewis.
The only item on the agenda was persuading Parish Councillors of the merits of having a 12,000 capacity New Town on our doorstep. For the time being, let's call it Bonkersville.
It was Susan Priest who opened the batting for the Muppets telling the audience of 27 Parish Councillors, or 29 if you include Councillors Carey and Hollingsbee, how wonderful Otterpool Park (sorry, Bonkersville) would be for the area using terms as 'Hugely exciting' and 'High quality, innovative design'. Ms Priest even boasted of how 'Shepway has a history of award winning open spaces'. Whatever that means! Anyhow, we won't bore you with the tired old rhetoric that we've all heard a hundred times before.
Slowly but surely a trickle of questions came from the audience which grew. Some councillors even having the audacity to show disdain. (Shock horror). By this time Cllr Monk and his cronies were running their fingers around the inside of their collars. Amazing how a little sweat can be so irritating. They could see that this wasn't going to be a pushover as they obviously all imagined.
Just in case you're all wondering where Councillors Carey and Hollingsbee were in all of this, they were tucked away in the corner of the arena imitating a pair of church mice.
Points were direct and honest. At last, Resident Councillors had the chance to voice their disgust at the underhanded way in which the purchase of the land from farmer Champney had been handled telling us all that it was purely for an income stream from tenant farmers. A month later – It's a New Town!!
Then, the question of all questions: 'For the record Mr. Monk. 'Can we have a show of hands including Cllr's Carey and Hollingsbee as to who thinks Otterpool Park is a great scheme' Monk retorted waving his hands; 'No, no, no. We're not doing that. Let's have a vote on who thinks it good for future generations' (or words to that effect).
By this time there was uproar in the Chamber and the questioner replied in higher than usual decibel's ' I'll pose the question for you Mr. Monk, to all Councillors here'. 'Who in this chamber thinks Otterpool Park is a great scheme'. There were no show of hands anywhere to be seen. And what of Councillor Carey and Councillor Hollingsbee. Were they too busy munching on a piece of old cheddar between them or too busy to notice the vote? Their hands stayed firmly down.
The questioner concluded; Mr. Monk, You're a disgrace, a bloody disgrace.
So there we have it. A council that hasn't a clue about what's going on in the district and couldn't care less. A Leader who didn't even know that a mass demonstration took place against Bonkersville last Saturday, and a couple of church mice that run with the pack.
And do they command any respect from the Parish Councils or the electorate that surround them. We would like to say; we don't think so. Actually, we know they don't
Now, the cabinet meeting is to be held tomorrow, 8th June. Councillor Monk has confirmed that it will be a free vote and that he in no way will influence the vote to take this scheme forward to central Government. Wouldn't it be amazing if those members 'positions' were diametrically opposed to ALL local Parish Councillors.
Starting at 5pm at the Civic Centre, Let's show those Cabinet members that we're watching them. After all, we wouldn't want to vote in the same old Muppet next time around.
S&DRA.
