I very rarely need to respond directly to another’s column, but Duncan Crow’s recent projection of his own faults on to others – to be accused by one of the most prominent West Sussex Tories of not listening to consultation is – at best – deeply ironic.
You don’t want it? The West Sussex Conservatives will ignore it! And always have. But just to mention a few past examples, millions of pounds of Homelessness support cuts, Children and Family Centre closures, or the most recent pièce de résistance – ignoring the overwhelming number of people locally who responded they didn’t want a single county unitary but two more local, smaller focused councils – at 62% in favour of two, with 23% against.
Despite all the untruths, distortions and false comparisons flung at initial proposals for a Town Council in Crawley by him and his Conservative colleagues – this is even more tone deaf, with responses from Crawley even more overwhelmingly in support of a Town Council.
Regardless of the sound and fury on social media from the usual keyboard warriors, as the responses came in, they were extremely consistent. Support over the consultation period never fell below 70% and support for a single Town Council remained extraordinarily high throughout, around 98%.
Doubtless there will be more unfounded accusations about the process or attempts to discredit the response. But the simple truth is people locally recognised there are real advantages to having closer community engagement, and ensuring public assets bought and paid for by Crawley residents since the beginning of the New Town remain in their ownership.
For what it’s worth, this Labour administration has consistently listened to consultation responses, the clearest and most recent example I can think of are the changes to car parking charging proposals which saw K2 and the Hawth removed from any plans, despite accusations this was a foregone conclusion.
And that’s because we are more responsive at Crawley Borough Council than those politically motivated commentators give us credit for. Unlike our opponents, Labour councillors are actually out there in our communities, speaking and listening and engaging with residents and groups all of the time. And, what’s more, people recognise it!
I would invite Cllr Crow and his allies to put politics aside on this issue, accept that the unitary is not designed to run everything, and work with us now to deliver a Town Council which matches the ambitions of local residents, rather than trying to derail it.
Cllr Michael Jones
Leader, Crawley Borough Council