Snapshot of Suffolk’s County Council 2009-13:
Threatened closure of 29 libraries.. the vanishing of the Road Crossing patrols.. loss of the rural evening and Sunday bus services.. closure of Youth Clubs.. divestment of Highway Services.. divestment of Country Parks.. vast sums spent on gagging clauses, consultants and senior management salaries and perks.. abolition of the Explore youth travel card.. sale and potential closure of Care Homes.. the plummeting of Suffolk schools down the educational league tables to their current places as 148th out of 151 at Primary school level, 141 out of 151 at secondary level… (there’s plenty more, but that’s enough to be going on with)
It’s quite a spectacular grime sheet, isn’t it?
As the 2013 elections approach it may be worth remembering that the Suffolk Conservatives made no mention of Suffolk’s New Strategic Direction when they went to the polls in 2009. Yet it didn’t stop them doing their darnedest to implement it without any mandate once they had their majority. (And when they were stopped, many of the NSD proposals continued under a different guise..)
It might be well to ponder this before voting. The Suffolk County Conservatives’ 5-pledge election manifesto is as thin as a lo-calorie water biscuit – and about as nutritious. They promise to replace a youth travel card they cut two years back, the high-speed broadband they funded in this electoral cycle, plus an (unavoidable) expenditure on care , a Country-wide ‘No ColdCalling Zone’ (go figure) and that old Tory staple of no council-tax increase – which is always wheeled out as an alibi for their more spectacular episodes of financial mismanagement. And .. er.. that’s it.
So – as I say – milquetoast from start to finish.
But who knows what may be on the secret agenda for the next four years?