One of the things that I promised I would do when I was selected to stand in Mitcham and Morden at the next General Election was to stand up for what I thought was right and wrong. I am afraid that some recent decisions by the Labour Party in Merton have left me shocked.

Firstly, there is their awful decision to close the Merton Adult Education Centre. The centre provides a vital service to many adults in the borough and I have heard many of the stories where people rely on the services they get. Labour are not taking this into account and have insisted on riding roughshod over people’s views on the subject. Delve deep into the figures and we can see that the centre is making great progress in increasing its revenue. The actual council net subsidy in this centre stand at just £39,000- this suggest this will not be even needed if commercial courses work!

Instead of a cut and run approach in closing the whole site, why won’t Labour work to help the centre become financially independent?  This is something it has a real chance of doing.

Second is the disastrous decision by Labour to outsource maintenance of our parks through a Waste Partnership company. This includes our parks, open spaces and cemeteries.  Merton has some of the best kept parks in London, this plan will endanger that. It is a basic duty of our council to ensure that all of us can use our great open spaces.

What is worse about these decisions is the way in which they have been handled - without any reference or care for what their electors think! The parks decision was voted through by the Labour Cabinet without any consultation whatsoever. Is this democracy? I think not.

Of course, Labour will follow up this letter with claims that Government cuts have forced them into these decisions. While we are seeing necessary controlled spending. Labour have built up huge reserves which they are unwilling to spend. Enough certainly to stop these disastrous decisions.

I will continue to fight these plans. As yet we have heard nothing from Siobhain McDonagh MP over these plans. Will she stand up for her constituents and condemn her colleagues for conducting itself in such an undemocratic way? She must fight with us to stop these bad decisions.

Residents deserve better.

Paul Holmes

Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Mitcham and Morden

 


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