Or not, since there are none.
Pat Glass MP has summoned the managing director of Go North East, and the Director of Transport for the County Council, to newly bus-starved Lanchester.
Tomorrow, Friday 28th of this month. 6:30pm. Saint Bede's.
Be there.
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I know the local Labour party want you back, especially with Fleming now gone to everybody's great relief. But you should make it clear that if the full bus services have not been restored to all of Lanchester, Burnhope and St. Bede's, you will contest the next unitary county election on those three issues. On those three issues, you would win.
ReplyDelete"But you should make it clear that if the full bus services have not been restored to all of Lanchester, Burnhope and St. Bede's, you will contest the next unitary county election on those three issues. On those three issues, you would win."
ReplyDeleteMy thesis is that this sorry state of affairs is a symptom of our lack of proper, traditional local government based on the Burkean idea of "organic community", for which David has long been a fierce advocate.
Indeed, although I am not naive enough to favour the "big bang localism", which received its most notorious statement from the lamentable Simon Jenkins, I would however go so far as to say that non-District Councils should seriously consider re-adopting the traditional Committee Structure when the legislation from whence permissible governance arrangements are derived from allows for this, which it soon will.
Coming back to buses, another drawback of this frankly deplorable state of affairs is that it has significantly reduced the opportunities for laughing at the absurdly dressed chap that used to stand at the Lanchester bus stop wearing a top hat and coat tails.
I must have missed him. I can occasionally be seen there in black tie, but that is fairly normal for this leafy enclave.
ReplyDeleteApparently, most people who see me just "assume that [I am] off to [my] Lodge meeting", which is not all that wide of the mark. But full fig? Lucky him, whoever he was.
I strongly agree with you about the rest, of course. Although Jenkins is not that bad, and his 'Thatcher and Sons' is invaluable, while his very real commitment to local government and to the countryside distinguish him strikingly from Fleet Street in general.
I could not agree more about returning to the proper committee system. Pickles should have gone further than merely permitting that. He should have required it.
Along with requiring that all municipal service provision be brought back in house, along with abolishing New Labour's provision for officers instead of councillors to make planning decisions, and along with much else besides.