LIBERAL Democrats should be taking the initiative in telling people in Warrington about their achievements.
This was the New Year message from the Lib Dem leader on Warrington Borough Council.
Cllr Ian Marks (pictured) said: “It is too easy to get depressed about the state of the economy and the state of our society. The majority of people understand that we couldn’t go on spending money we didn’t have. 
“Changes just have to be made and dealing with the economic problems we inherited from Labour remains the number one priority for the Coalition Government.
“I know last year was tough for many but economic recovery was slowed down by the problems in Europe and 2012 will be a challenge too. No one likes change but doing things differently is the right thing to do.
“I am proud of the influence Lib Dems have had in Government. Last year many people in Warrington were lifted out of income tax altogether and thousands of working people had their taxes cut. Lots of our children benefited from the Pupil Premium to help stop them falling behind at school and from free early years’ education for toddlers. We restored the earnings link to guarantee our pensioners a decent pension increase.
“We have persuaded the Conservatives to stand up to the bankers and invest more in our infrastructure, which we need for the long-term success of the country. The focus needs to move away from the City of London to areas like the North West and successful towns like our own. We want more apprentices than we have ever had before and we have pushed for the youth contract to get our out-of-work young people learning or earning.
“Our moderating influence on the right-wing element in government has been good for the country and good for Warrington.
“National issues were the main reason we lost control of the Town Hall last May, but we are very proud of our achievements during the five years we were in control. We left the town in a much healthier position than when we took over. In 2012 our task locally and nationally is to work for a fairer, greener and more liberal society.”
Lib Dems proud of achievements
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About Author
Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
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Formation of an administration without democratic mandate – check
Planning scandals – check
Maladministration – check
Childrens services scandal – check
Huge pay rises for senior executives while cutting front line services – check
Booing of speakers in council – check
Labour are no better, None of them deserve any credit until they face up to the structural problems in the way Warrington is run. There is no sign of that.
It would be a help in Warrington if elected Councillors from all parties worked to help the people who elected them, and forget about National Politics
Well said Grey Man! Does Coun Marks live in the real world that you and I live in? He had his chance and blew it for all the reasons you state. Until our “elected” local Councillors get a grip nothing is going to change. They seem to just bury their heads in the sand and ignore what residents want for their own idealogical reasons! What has happened to the promise to get rid of the Executive Board in Warrington and replace it with the Committee Structure that was tried and tested for years?
With regards to the Executive Board being replaced by a Committee Structure, proposals have been put forward, with a final report going to Full Council on 26 March. If accepted, the new structure will be implemented in May 2012. Any changes could only take place after the enactment of the Localism Bill. Any such structural changes are always best done at the commencement of a Civic year, so in this case May 2012 would be the earliest opportunity.
Stop dreaming Blue Moon. Common sense is not a requirement in the Town Hall. Typical of the Lib-Dems to be blowing their own trumpet. I wonder how many none Lib-Dems agree?
Cllr Marks’ New Year statement is surprising for the over emphasis of the national political scene set against the significant absence of any meaningful commentary or contrition on local issues of concern. Apart, that is, from the usual catch-all of “We left the town in a much healthier position than when we took over”, as an unpersuasive self-atonement for the Lib-Con group’s loss of power at the Town Hall last year.
I doubt many would share his simplistic view for the group’s rejection in May 2011 elections. As grey_man has outlined, most reasons were to be found much nearer home. In addition, Cllr Mark’s Lib-Con administration presided over, failed to deal with and obscured the unchecked, unsupervised actions of officers with delegated powers, resulting in “an extraordinary and inexcusable act of maladministration”. Whether or not the officers responsible for this mayhem were inept or incompetent we shall never know because it is plain our elected members do not appear to care; which is yet another reason for voter disenchantment.
Furthermore, Cllr Mark’s administration did itself no favours by consistently labelling and dismissing those who had raised their genuine concerns as “conspiracy theorists.” In so doing the Lib-Con administration overlooked its own skewed contribution to the Council’s already low ‘integrity’ rating.
Were Cllr Marks and our other elected representatives to read the article of 2nd January 2012 in the Times entitled “Tick the box marked personal responsibility”, they might begin to understand what we expect from our elected representatives.
I rather think that the Lib Dems lost power in Warrington because of what their party had been doing in Government, and it had very little to do with what they did or didn’t do whilst running Warrington Council. Most voters would have very little knowledge of the administrative matters that you raise in your post, and by and large if they do vote, tend to vote for or indeed against a specific national party, and occasionally where a candidate is well respected, for that candidate.
I think some councillors do care but feel for whatever reason they cannot do anything about it. That is a particular concern because it means whoever we elect the town is in practice run by unelected council employees who are prepared to ignore policy if they like (and without consequence), run down services while arrogantly awarding themselves huge pay rises and who are in some instances either incompetent or possibly corrupt. If any party stands on a platform of going head to head with these people, they’ll get my vote.
I’d also point out that it was Bob Barr who had particularly interesting things to say about the ‘conspiracy theorists’ in this town in a trade magazine interview I’m pretty certain he wouldn’t suspect one of Warrington’s residents would read. Bob of course was the councillor supposedly in charge of the planning department at the time the major recent planning fiasco unfolded so I’m surprised he was quite so forthright in his views to Planning magazine.
No absolutely they lost power as a direct result of thier administration in town. On a national level the statement marks says sums up the absurd twisted mindset of people who just look out for themselves and not doing the job they are supposed to. “last year many people in Warrington were lifted out of income tax bracket” how in any world that isn’t insanity can this be any possitive thing either they are too financially distressed to pay taxes or they are not and somehow are avoiding paying due tax to help support the country yet marks seems to think this is a good thing.