Conservatives condemn legacy commission's use of council cash!

Bristol's Conservative Councillors have condemned the decision to recruit a bureaucrat at a cost of £50,000 (including sundry administration expenses) - to run the Legacy Commission set up to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade.

Members of the Commission hurriedly passed through the measure at their inaugural meeting held on Monday, as part of a package of recommendations designed to support their oversight role.

At the Council's Annual Budget-fixing meeting in February, Conservative Councillors had submitted an amendment which would have used the £250,000 earmarked for this project instead on nine cash-strapped community causes.

However, this proposal was defeated by a combination of Labour and Lib Dem councillors voting against this alternative use of the money.

As a result, two further instalments of £250,000 will be set aside from future budgets to fund the Legacy Commission's three year work programme.

Now, Councillor Jay Jethwa, the Conservative representative on the Legacy Commission has attacked the move to create a senior officer post as a waste of resources.

Cllr Jethwa (Con, Stockwood) said: “I have many misgivings over how much of this year's allocated £250,000 is to be spent.

“This frittering away of a large chunk of taxpayers' cash on the creation of a senior officer post has done nothing to allay my fears. Sadly, mine, was the only dissenting voice on the Commission when the matter came to be discussed.

“Indeed, it strikes me as a typical example of Labour's obsession for recruiting a “job's worth” bureaucrat to run their politically correct pet projects.

“It also seems incredibly insensitive to embark on such a recruitment at a time of great job insecurity for existing Council staff, with the threat of closure hanging over many of our Council-run Care homes, the potential loss of teachers as a result of the Primary School Review and the planned axing of residential caretakers.

“Such extravagant expenditure (a fifth of this year's total budget) on the part of the Legacy Commission does not augur well for the year ahead.”

CONTACT:
JAY JETHWA tel: 07825315701 (mobile)
RICHARD EDDY tel: 07795-445919 (mobile)

Back to Local News Index 03 July 2008