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Bring officials to heel
IF and – hopefully – when the council abandons its hopelessly ill-conceived dog control plan, an inquiry should be held into how such a ludicrous suggestion ever found its way onto a committee paper.
Whoever drafted such a sweeping piece of nonsensical local legislation should be questioned by our elected members.
We know of course that councillors cannot get off scot-free because they would have asked officials to take up complaints raised in a recent public consultation. But, surely, the rigid set of proposals drawn up by the officials should have been waved away at the first opportunity as too silly and too destructive of traditional values.
In some homes dogs are kept as pets, and simply treated as such, however much they may be pampered.
But in other homes, especially where elderly or handicapped people live on their own, they are cherished and treated almost as a member of the family.
Meddle with this order of things – and you do so at your peril.
In their wisdom the Tory-Lib-Dem coalition decided to do exactly this – and now they are paying the price of attempting to enact one of the most detested proposals dreamed up at the Town Hall.
If they don’t change course, we predict they will lose votes heavily at the next election.
British Library land is still being wasted
WHY is commonsense so lacking among politicians at the Town Hall?
We suggested to the old Labour controlled council in the early 90s that the waste ground behind the British Library would make an ideal, albeit temporary, football pitch for youngsters starved of such a facility, especially in the adjacent heavily built up area of Somers Town.
Surely, we argued, this ground should be put to some use while a long-term decision on its future was thought through. Alas, our suggestion fell on deaf ears, and the area behind the British Library remained unused.
Whoever owned it in the past – apparently it was British Rail – sold it on, possibly 15 years ago, to, ironically, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. And what do they want to do with it? Sell it to the highest bidder (see page 6).
It is astonishing that civil servants at this department, which is responsible, among other things, for sport, should have had this land in their portfolio for so many years and, apparently, never once thought of using it, however temporarily, for the very public service in their charge – sport.
Soon, the proceeds from the sale will fill Gordon Brown’s coffers. And everyone will be happy – except the youngsters who could have played football on it for so many years. |
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