SW Area Committee (Moving Democracy Further from the People)

The first South West Oblast Committee went according to the Politburo’s plan. It was the massive damp squib they planned it to be. Probably the first of many massive damp squibs. Council officials needn’t have worried about the small public gallery at Grafton House. There were only two local residents there and I was one of them . A third member of the public was Labour candidate for Stoke Park, Glen Chisholm who tried to sit on the councillors table when he entered the room. The meeting was a real paint dry watching experience.

Resident of Saint Johns Ward, Peter Gardiner was elected chair by the Politburo after Paul West had proposed Nadia Cenci. Obviously the Labour Councillors present believed that a resident of Saint Johns Ward the other side of town would be more suitable than someone who actually lives in South West Ipswich. There was no public consultation involved in the chair selection process.

There was talk of Traffic orders, Grass Cutting and road maintenance. The Grass Cutting bit got Politburo holder for biodiversity Dame Bryony Rudkin talking about how they are now going to cut the grass in Clapgate Lane in Holywells Ward. She obviously couldn’t think of anything in the whole of South West Ipswich. I wanted to ask if the grass verges in Gipping could be repaired with plastic mesh. I also wanted to ask if the concrete roads could be repaired properly instead of the problem being hidden and allowed to get worse while being unseen. But such issues were not what the meeting was actually about. It wasn’t even about south West Ipswich. It was about giving the appearance of democracy while taking power away from the people and wasting money doing it.

Area Committees shall achieve everything Captain Mainwaring wants them to achieve. I.e. Nothing.

Some of Ipswich Labour who were there may have been in a bit of a hurry to leave for the joint meeting with Suffolk Fabians at the library at 7:30pm.