The Election Starter Gun is Fired!

This weeks local Paper has seen Opposition Independent, Ratepayer and Lib Dem candidates start their campaign for the May elections. A Lib Dem campaign guide which was printed for the last Local Council elections instructed Lib Dem candidates to 'lie shamelessly and stir endlessly' and I can see that Fylde's Lib Dems are still using their National Parties guidance! The Lib Dems, Ratepayers and Independent Groups on Fylde Council formed the previous administration of the Council for 12 years. At the end of their term the Council's finances were destroyed, building's dilapidated, Council Staff the worst paid in Lancashire, Government Inspectors brought in to manage the Housing Department and Residents disenfranchised and ignored across the Borough.
On the first Monday after the May 2003 elections the Council started it's Government Inspection, Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) At the end of the week long Inspection Officials gave a damning report on the Councils performance. The grade given was 'weak with uncertain prospects for the future' The only saving grace for the Council was the fact that a new Conservative Administration had been formed and Inspectors were willing to give us time to prove that we could turn the Council around.
It later transpired that the Council was just a whisker away from suffering the humiliation experienced by Rossendale Council in East Lancashire. Their fate was that all senior Council Officers were removed and Councillors sent home. Whitehall Officials were brought in to bring Rossendale back into the 20th Century. AT Fylde the Conservatives were given the task of delivering the turnaround. In 2006 our last CPA related inspection of Environmental Services classified our service as 'Good with promising prospects for the future' a 180 degree turnaround in just 3 years! This continued improvement is what makes the May elections so important, a recent 'Risk Assessment' within the Town Hall found that in the view of Councillors, Staff and Inspectors the biggest Risk to the Council's continued improvement was the re-election of a Independent, Ratepayer and Lib Dem Coalition. The Coalition has vowed to overturn many of the 4 years of policy changes made by the Conservatives, returning the Council to the outdated 1974 mindset and a structure which will see the Fylde yet again isolated within Lancashire and on the brink of Whitehall takeover.

over the next 12 weeks I will use the Blog to counter some of the misleading stories in the press and keep Heyhouses residents informed of the facts. I hope that you will sign up to our email alert service and hope that you will keep us up to date with any concerns or suggestions you may have.