Friday 27 November 2009

Wannabe Tory MP should stop giving false information

Does the Conservative candidate for North East Somerset think we are all idiots in this part of the world?

In a letter to Newton St Loe residents he gives the false impression that the Conservatives are doing all they can to defend the greenbelt and how deeply they’re opposed to the proposal of 2,000 houses being built next to the village.

Mr Rees-Mogg needs to be reminded that it was HIS party that voted in favour of the Core Strategy Spatial Options Consultation document in October. In the document there are two main options. Both of them conclude that building 2,000 houses next to Newton St Loe is favourable to building them anywhere else. If his Conservative Councillors were so opposed to it why did they vote in favour of a consultation that gives no choice to Newton St Loe residents?

At that same meeting, the majority of Liberal Democrats did not take part in the vote because we did not (and still don’t) believe the document was ready to go out for consultation. Some Lib Dems actively voted against!

Mr Rees-Mogg also needs to note that the Lib Dems have run successful campaigns in defending areas such as the Haycombe and Englishcombe Vales from development.

I rarely write letters to the newspaper these days, but when politicians give out completely misleading information, I think it is important that they are corrected.

From what Newton St Loe residents have told me, their wannabe Tory MP has been less than helpful in supporting them and listening to their views.

I don’t intend to score political points, but it’s actually Prospective Lib Dem MP Gail Coleshill who has put the residents first. She’s the one who has met with residents, liaised with the press on their behalf, attending public meetings in the village, presented petitions in Bristol and written on their behalf to the Government Office of the South West.