Sirs,
How many readers have received their VIP invitation from Wiltshire Council leader, Jane Scott, to attend the VIP opening of the council’s new refurbished offices on Monday June 23?
Preparations for this grand event are well under way judging by the number of times over the past few weeks that the grass area in front of County Hall has been lovingly cut and manicured.
During that same time local councillors, including myself, have been deluged with complaints from the public regarding the lack of grass cutting throughout our wards. At the time of writing some areas have not received one cut this year, or where they have been cut, the quality of the work is abysmal. I regularly receive four or five complaints a day.
One woman said that when the Balfour Beatty team did finally turn up to do the work, they packed up half way through. She asked them why they were leaving. “We have to get back to Exeter,” was their reply.
Local councillors are thoroughly fed up taking the flak for the failings of County Hall. You would have thought that Jane Scott and the responsible Cabinet member, John Thomson, would have publicly apologised for all the failings with the grass cutting contract.
After all, they awarded the contract to Balfour Beatty. No, it has been left to the ordinary backbench councillors to try and sort it out. Frankly, it is not good enough and demonstrates a lack of leadership.
Just for the record, a fair number of ordinary councillors will not be attending Jane Scott’s VIP event. We simply want the grass in our wards to be cut to the same standard as it is outside County Hall.
Yours,
Jeff Osborn,
Independent Wiltshire Councillor
