Labour Councillor for Leek South, Mike Gledhill reflects on his time on The Staffordshire Moorlands District Council since he was elected in 2015.
The Good:
Apart from helping residents with problems such as housing, benefits, anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood planning matters, its been great to support local organisations with my share of the community fund (£2k over 4 years). The money has helped our Foodbank, The @21Market St. Youth Centre, Homestart, West End Action, St Mary’s Scouts, St.Mary’s Brownies, Leek Swimming Club, Brough Park Running Club and (the now sadly defunct) Bank House Day Centre for The Elderly. At long last, the potholes in Salisbury Street have been filled in at least temporarily! It’s been a pleasure to work with Charlotte Atkins, Sue Coleman, Keith Hoptroff and Matt Swindlehurst in our Leek South Labour Team.
The Bad:
Its been really frustrating to see The Tory Government putting the squeeze on local councils in the false name of austerity. The truth is that The Tories just do not want local people to have real power in their own communities. By focusing on reducing taxes on big business, multinationals and the highest earners they have strangled the ability of councils to provide decent services whether in schools, social services and care, public and personal health, universal credit and benefits issues etc. and have made it an ever greater struggle for local independent businesses through the antiquated and inefficient business rate system. Austerity has produced more millionaires than ever and at the same time reduced more and more families to need to go to food banks. Survival of only the fittest seems to be the Tory guiding principle and the gap between rich and poor has become wider than ever.
The Ugly:
Many councillors of all persuasions do try to do the best they can for residents as do our council officers and staff. However I’ve seen 3 Tory councillors sacked from committees because they have failed to meet the standards required of us in public life, standards such as honesty and integrity. I’ve watched as promises of Mill Renovations, Bowling Alleys, Cinemas, multi storey car parks and major industrial and residential development have come to nothing under the Tory administration and that’s before I get to the mess of the shared space road and pedestrianisation scheme. Its sad and untrue to hear comments such as “you’re all the same, you’re all in it for yourselves etc” but it’s the inevitable consequence of Tory broken promises and broken standards. If re-elected in May, the promise I make is that with the help of good colleagues I will continue to work my hardest to serve the community well.
Remember finally you have a TORY government, a TORY county council and a TORY district council. Its time for change!!