LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
South East Cornwall Constituency Party
Local News
GILBERT SLAMS AS 'BONKERS, BONKERS, BONKERS' COST OF
OLYMPIC TORCH PROCESSION
Stephen Gilbert, the Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Cornwall, has slammed
Cornwall Council's decision to spend upwards of £135,000 on
coordinating the one day event of the Olympic torch travelling through
Cornwall.
The Council has pledged to spend £17,000 to employ a coordinator
and will also be spending £75,000 from Alec Robertson's 'Leader's
Contingency Fund' and £50,000 from the Cornwall Development
Company to arrange and promote the events of the day.
Commenting Stephen Gilbert said:
"It's simply bonkers, bonkers, bonkers for Cornwall Council to
throw money around with such a carefree attitude for a one-day event
when they are, at the same time, hitting local projects and services
with funding cuts.
"We hear a lot about the legacy that will be left after the 2012
Olympics, but there will be no legacy to come from this money. Instead
of this the Council should be putting the cash into local projects
that benefit our communities and help local people. That's the legacy
that Cornwall needs."
ENDS
Hamish McCallum | Head of Office
Office of Stephen Gilbert MP
Tel: 020 7219 1276 | Mob: 07506 678427 | Fax: 020 7219 4180
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
As you may well have heard, the Boundary Commission for England is due to publish its draft proposals for parliamentary constituency boundaries in England in the week commencing 12 September. As these will have an impact on nearly every part of the country and will be of interest to many people, I wanted to make sure you knew in advance how the party are handling the process.
Once the initial plans are published, there will be an official consultation process before the Boundary Commission decides whether or not to change its plans. Unlike previous reviews, this process is being carried out on the basis of Euro-regions, which means that the party is handling its responses, submissions, appearances at hearings and so on at the regional level.
Each regional party is working closely with the English and Federal party to ensure that our submissions and presentations are as effective as possible and meet all the technical requirements of the rules. This preparation, which has been ongoing throughout the past year, and is being overseen by Mark Pack, Hilary Stephenson and Chris Rennard, is very important as the Boundary Commissioners are legally required to follow the rules to the very last dot and comma, so any slip up by us in making suggestions that do not meet the rules means they would not have a chance of being listened to. This time the rules also require coordinated responses from the party across the region in a way they did not before.
We are also working on the reorganisation of local parties which will have to take place as a result of the boundary changes - and we will be keeping members and local party officers up-dated as matters progress.
There will, I am sure, be plenty of media speculation about the likely impact of the boundary changes when the proposals are published. However, much of the media coverage about the process so far has been very poor, making basic mistakes about how the process will work. It may be better in September, but it is worth remembering to take any stories published then with a good few pinches of salt and compare them with the news from the party!
Finally, if you have not been involved so far but have views about the boundaries in your area, please contact Tom Smithard at Lib Dem HQ (t.smithard@libdems.org.uk).
Yours