In response to Mr Peter Nutting’s letter in the Shropshire Star on 23/5/09.
Margaret Hamer
4 Woodside
Bicton
Shrewsbury
SY3 8ET
Tel: 01743 850551
Peter Nutting's letter purports to clarify the three elections which are being held on June 4th. However it deteriorates into nonsense and a cheap jibe.
Anyone who is resident or employed in Shropshire is entitled to stand as a candidate in the Unitary election. Similarly residents of Shrewsbury are entitled to stand in the Shrewsbury Town Council regardless of where they live in the Town. The Liberal Democrats standing for the Unitary council all know their divisions very well, in several cases having lived there for many years.
Mr Nutting's description of the powers of the Town Council is inaccurate. The precise delineation of each authority's responsibilities is complicated and can be found on the www.shropshire.gov.uk website. Generally speaking the major services are now in the hands of the Unitary Council, which also controls in Shrewsbury, The Square and Theatre Severn.
Surely the elections should focus on policies and the failings of the previous Tory controlled Shropshire County Council (on which Mr Nutting represents not Shrewsbury but Burnell). Liberal Democrats want to scrap our unfair council tax system, safeguard our schools and stop their closure, improve our recycling facilities and reduce the imposed landfill tax, maintain our roads and in other ways improve our daily lives.
Let the elections concentrate on policies and what candidates can do for the people who vote for them.
Margaret Hamer
Bicton, Shrewsbury