Thanet
Independent Group Councillor, Ian Driver, is organising an urgent enquiry into the spillage of raw sewage in the sea off Foreness Point over the Royal Jubliee Bank Holiday weekend
The spillage from
a Southern Water sewage facility, has led to the closure of all of Thanet ‘s
award winning blue flag beaches, causing financial losses for local business.
Driver, who
Chair’s the Council’s powerful Scrutiny
Panel (OSP) said “I have asked Council officers
to arrange an urgent meeting of the Scrutiny Panel to begin investigations into
what went wrong and why.”
“I will be
requesting the attendance of top
bosses from Southern Water and the
Environment Agency. I expect them
to provide a full explanation of how
this major pollution incident happened
and what arrangements are in place to compensate local businesses who lost money
because of the spillage.
“Thanet has some of the best beaches in the
country. They are critical to attracting tourists who make a huge and much needed
contribution to Thanet’s economy. We
can’t afford to have serious environmental pollution incidents like this. We
need to look at what happened, learn from any mistakes and develop new robust plans which make a repetition of this environmental disaster
impossible”.
THIS IS A BREACH OF PURDAH!
ReplyDeleteCouncillors during purdah are not allowed to use their position within the Council as a way of promoting what they, or their group, are doing.
As an experienced Councillor, and a former Council officer, I am sure you know this Ian. I would advise you to withdraw your press release immediately rather than clearly breaking purdah rules.
Anon 19.05 you must have been a bit of a jobsworth. Otherwise you would have known under section 41 of the local government act 1986 that Members holding key political or civic positions should be able to comment in an emergency or where there is a genuine need for a member level response to an important event outside the authority's control.
ReplyDeleteIf you are correct 19.46 - why didn't a Cabinet member make comment on the TV. Either it was purdah or it was they didn't know how to deal with this one.
Deletepurdah is a nonsense term except for the month prior to national elections. At a local level - and frequent elections - its a way of avoiding doing anything. Well done Ian get stuck in to TDC and the Environment Agency. Too many bureaucrats doing nothing or too incompetent to keep their jobs.
ReplyDeleteWe don't need a statement from Southern Water or an inquiry by the Environment Agency. We need a public inquiry. It is incorrect to state that these events could not have been prevented. They could have been prevented by designing a system which did not permit such discharge to take place. Such systems do exist. Those who are responsible for designing a flawed system and sanctioning it's use must now be held to account.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Can the jobsworth ex-officer explain why a period of purdah is in effect? As far as I am aware we have no election in the next few weeks. Councillors work on my behalf, and I expect them to be working throughout the year and not to be bound by some archaic, nonsensical rules. It is particularly offensive to suggest that Councillors should go home and sit with a cup of hot cocoa when hard-working people are losing their livelihoods because of this appalling c*ckup Whether I agree with him or not, Councillor Driver is active on a range of issues and he seems to get things done. If we had another 50 such Councillors Thanet would really be able to get moving.