I'd rather be a lone voice in the wilderness than just another sheep in the flock!

Carl Simmons; Independent Candidate for Denton South 2014

In the Tameside Reporter this week, Labour inferred that maybe I was "a lone voice in the wilderness". 

I do feel extremely honoured  by this comment. A

 "lone voice in the wilderness" personally standing up for what I believe is certainly preferable to just being another sheep in the flock!

Despite numerous letters published in the local press by myself and many other people throughout Tameside concerned about the lack of local democracy, the number of councillors, unlimited terms of office, the growing number of couples on the council etc; there has been nothing but silence from our local politicians. 

In 2011/2012, Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council held what they like to refer to as a "BIG CONVERSATION" regarding the future of the libraries across the borough. The possible loss of the Haughton Green Library led me to organise a petition that was eventually signed by over 1,500 residents. 

Despite this, councillors voted to close the Haughton Green Library - along with several others - one month after the 2012 Local Elections and in the knowledge that there would not be another election for two years. Indeed, 1/3 of those councillors are not due for re-election until 2015 and the remaining 1/3 in 2016. 

The protests organised by the newly formed Friends of Haughton Green Library (FOHGL) were brushed aside. The combined "strong voices" of the local councillors remained mostly silent or said that there was nothing they could do or simply put the blame upon the Tory/Lib Dem Government. There was certainly no strong defence of the Library!

Now (two years later) the councillors will, no doubt, be reckoning that the outrage caused at the time of these closures would be largely forgotten, along with the revelation in the Manchester Evening News last year that the Council actually under-spent by £7.5 million - meaning that no library in Tameside had to close anyway. 

This farce is soon to be repeated, as another recent Big Conversation has been held into the future of the Children's Centres in Tameside, but there is to be no announcement about which centres are to close until June - one month after the 2014 Local Elections. I believe that this is wrong, dishonest and manipulative politics for which all these councillors should be held to account by the people

 on Thursday 22nd May. 

Carl Simmons

Independent Candidaite for Denton South

Saturday 17th May 2014