Do Thanet councillors think the people worthless?

Written by Matt B · first published 20/02/2009

What exactly was the point of those "consultations" held by the council? Clearly it was not to gage the opinion of the voters 90% of which opposed the sell off which is happening with apparent cross party support.

Clearly Thanet has no democracy and no one gives a damn.

Even Roger Gale (MP) seems resigned to the fact that the council can do what they like and things like legally binding covenants can go hang for all they care.

No wonder the Council has no moral issue with robbing old ladies.

It seems to me that all councillors think that we the voter are, approximately, worthless. These consultations appear to have been nothing but a cynical show of "following the rules" before doing exactly what Sandy Ezekiel and co feel like doing and it has the backing of all the "lessor councillors" no mater how strongly they protest otherwise.

Look at David Green, for example. He is widely regarded as being the most likely to pay any attention what-so-ever and his response to the councils disregard of public opinion is to hold a meeting where people can talk about what they feel. We did that already and largely said we didn't like the idea's put forward at all.

Or let's look at his "opposite number" Conservative councillor Simon Moores. Unsurprisingly he has failed to even mention the sell off on his blog.

So let's pay a call on Cllr. Mike Harrison - nope he's talking about the airport but the whole sale "assist disposal" against the wishes of the people gets not so much as a blinked eye lid.

This sell off has been headed to rubber stamping with a largely silent support of the council (as led by Sandy) of every last councillor. The council doing as it always has - the exact opposite of what the public wants shows scant regard for voters and a total moral bankruptcy among councillors.

Why such silence? Even James Maskell (who often has a strong "councilly" opinion on many mattes) has had nothing to say on the sell off. Does no one actually care that the council are ignoring everything they have been told about the will of the people?

It seems to me that, were I prone to suspicion, I would have seen an opportunity to get bloggers so busy getting worked up about an in principle authorisation for something that may or may not happen that the true story (Thanet District Council's disregard for public opinion (again)) slips past while the bloggers fight like well trained dogs.

If this were the case it would take some seriously cynical and cold planning.

However never attribute to cunning that which can be equally attributed to stupidity. I would rather bet that Thanet District Council simply got lucky with their endless drive to pay no attention to voters what-so-ever.

When it comes to positive change the only voices I find speaking out against having a Directly Elected Mayor are those with something to loose - the councillors. How convenient.

Let's not forget who exactly voted for the China Gateway that no-one wanted. Oh yes, that would be almost all the councillors - from both parties.

The local Labour Party and the local Conservative Party have exactly nothing to differentiate them from each other and appear, to me, to operate as one large and badly organised party rather the the two we have always assumed we hve had.

Who exactly does that leave me to vote for? If every choice is a worthless worm but I can not morally bring myself to join the 60% of Thanet that never votes - what then?

Think you can do better? · read more items categorised Thanet · Don't miss a thing: Subscribe Today · Help: what's a feed? · This site is operated on set principles of policy and disclosure read them here

Public Comments

Mike Harrison wrote:

Matt,
Perhaps if you come to the special Cabinet meeting this afternoon you will see that we (Labour) am opposed to selling off some assets.
I assume you are talking specifically about Northdown House, for the record I am opposed to that and have voted against it on several occasions.
There are of course several bits of land that have no useful purpose that could quite rightly be sold of.
Mike H.

20/02/2009 08:57:08 AM

Matt B wrote:

I am talking of The caves, the maritime museum, the tennis courts, Northdown House and all the other properties where there was a resounding "NO!" from the people and yet not the slightest visible protest from any councillors.

With such a disregard for public feeling I expect a full on outcry. Nothing else does the people justice.

Voting the will of the people is not wrong but it is not enough. The now calls for a full and if need be dramatic rebellion against the cabinet that says louder than ever "The people have said no - respect that!"

Anything less is fail.

20/02/2009 09:46:54 AM

Rocky Raccoon wrote:

Matt. Yesterday I was checking out and tracing people. I got the trace (not by electoral roll) to a street, in Manchester, which only has one house registered with voters (and they have moved out). That street of around 70 houses has only had two registered voters for say the past ten years.

The ........... Investments Co Ltd seem to own a lot of the property there. They do reputedly do not maintain property. They do not listen to complaints from other residents about their tenant behaviour etc

But they get the same housing benefits for their hovels as decent landlords get. Their margins allow them to stand the tenants skipping with rent arrears. This is why the tenants do not register to vote. It eludes the debt recovery people.

The system (LHA) is set up to enable claimant tenants to pocket two months housing benefits before the landlord can get rent payments direct from the council.

IE to provide claimant tenants an extra wad of cash once or twice a year as they change tenancies.

Landlords in the North are saying "Why can't you be more like that Thanet Council in Kent." Thanet Council has a reputation afar for being quick to get landlords their rent direct and trying to keep tenants stabilized (and hence their children stablized) in one home rather than keep skipping.

It is like the TDC Building Regs Enforcement. Helpful and not putting you through iterations of trying to guess what will pass inspection. Tell you, agree it, do it, pass. Advice on hand etc. And we were loathe ever to let on about this because if cllrs found out there was something good going on at TDC they might step in to fluff it up.

After pre-loading context, Matt the reasons people don't vote do not totally reside on disaffection with politics. Even if you had a team of blessed saints stand for TDC the turn out would be the same.

What are the implications of the �267,000 Butler legacy if the Maritime Museum is sold off ? Is Beachcomber on to this one.

20/02/2009 10:41:38 AM

Matt B wrote:

I doubt that 60% of Thanet are hiding from debt collectors. While I accept that all sorts of people have all sorts of reasons to do or not to do I am also sufficiently trained in statistical analysis (as a good systems analyst should be) to see that a significant preventer is at work within the population sample - or in other words there is a definite cause or set thereof stopping people.

All that aside it is a disgrace to have an elected authority consult and then ignore the people on such a large scale. Stalin used to do that with Russia. Mugabe has done it. It's a common action of autocrats pretending legitimacy to the world.

This tells me that the Council in Thanet is already aware that it is illegitimate. Lacking a true mandate from the people.

20/02/2009 02:42:06 PM

Add Comment

Please note that while email addresses may be given via this form they are not shown to anyone but the editor. This change is retrospective and has hidden all email addresses so that people wishing anonymity may have it.

This item is closed, it's not possible to add new comments to it or to vote on it

If you have a blog or other website of your own leaving the URL in this form will create a "do follow" link for Joined Up Blogging at the top of your comment.