Dawlish News
DAWLISH councillor Rosie Dawson is to be the next chairman of Teignbridge District Council. The Lib Dem member, who is also a Dawlish town councillor and former mayor of Dawlish, takes over from outgoing chairman Cllr Chris Clarance.
Read more...https://www.middevonadvertiser.co.uk/news/dawlish-councillor-voted-new-teignbridge-chairman-690349
She's just another Lib Dem Stooge, she'll do whatever Wrigley tells her to do.
Hearing her advocacy on health and wellness matters is also tiresome, if not hollow and it's hard to take her seriously.
Well I would like to thank her for her work helping to recruit more child minders in Dawlish.
As the new chairman perhaps she can tell us the status of the petition for the replacement bridge in the manor.
@1263 That'd be the petition she set up in order to petition the ruling Lib Dem party that she's part of in the District Council that she now chairs?
@1263 Ziggy reads these posts so you can be sure Dawson will be aware.
The petition wasn't really ever about getting a response from her own party and Council about the bridge. It was an opportunity to appear on the side of local people. The Lib Dems keep an eye open for where they might be able to gain public support and then climb aboard whatever campaign or issue is concerning local people in order to raise their profile/win an election/fuel their egos. They're opportunists. Whether it's sewage and SWW, childcare provision, Foden and the Stagecoach buses. Teignmouth Hospital, etc. They just need to be seen to be doing something, it's PR.
They don't actually get anything done, quite the opposite they're basically in coalition with the Tories wasting thousands on unpopular and unwanted projects like Queen St and obediently instigating Tory cuts to public services and council tax increases.
I'd lower your expectations of Dawson and the Lib Dems.
Would it too much of a guess that leadership has changed to allow wrigley more time to concentrate on his election agenda at the upcoming general election?
@1263 Wrigley is still the Leader of Teignbridge District Council and Teignbridge Lib Dems. That hasn't changed, they just elect a new chair and vice chair of the Council each year in May. Wrigley wouldn't cede any power he's too much of a control freak.
So far he's doing a great job of ensuring he won't win the General election. He's too stupid to realize that if you want to get elected in a Consituency named Newton abbot then it's best not to ignore and infuriate the main town in that Constituency, namely Newton Abbot over so many issues, not just Queen St. He's a divisive character in Dawlish and elsewhere.
Dawlish is part of the Newton Abbot Constituency so is Teignmouth, shaldon, Bishopsteignton, Kingskerswell, Kingsteignton.
In the yearly reshuffle the Lib Dems who are the majority party also ensured that all Committees in Teignbridge District Council have a Lib Dem Chair and Vice Chair, bar one Scrutiny Committee which they gave to Teignbride Tory party leader Phil Bullibant who always votes in favour of developers - his son is one so hardly surprising. He's the last person to be chairing a Scrutiny or Standards Comittee.
Wrigley chose to ignore the fact that the South Devon Alliance (SDA) is the opposition in Teignbridge having 1 Cllr more than the Tories and ensured with his Lib dem majority that the SDA have no chair or vice chair on any committew which is against all best practices as advocated by the Local Government Association. We simply don't have a functioning democracy in our District Council where elected opposition Cllrs are not allocated positions such as Chair a Vice chair on an appropriate proportion of Committes. There simply isn't the accountability under Wrigley's Lib dem run TDC - and he claims to run a 'Community Powered Council' - ha marginalizes opposition voices from elected members, what hope do local people have concerning Queen St in Newton abbot or the Manor Gardens bridge.
The Lib dems talk up the need for Proportional Representation when they think it'll win them votes, but they don't apply the same proportionality when it comes to Cllrs who either aren't in the party. oppose them or threaten their grasp on power. the latter is what Wrigley really fears, that the SDA will expose him further and damage his bid to become our next MP.
Wrigley's basically an anti-democrat. Dawson oversaw all these anti-democtatic changes in her first meeting as chair, she's implicated in all the dealings of this corrupt party.
So the Lib Dems can do what they want, they have the majority in the Council, in all Committees and if anything is referred to the Scrutiny and Standards Committees they or their ally in Tory Bullivant can turn a blind eye or say 'no problem' there and allow them to continue as one of this country's most Rotten Boroughs.
Surely bullivant would have to register conflict of interests in any votes regarding development issues or not vote on them if his son is a developer?
@1263 The was the case in the past. however under the Lib Dem/Tory coalition of the previous administration in Teignbridge District Council (of which Wrigley was in the Executive) they passed a motion whereby it's now only a conflict of interest if it involves your spouse. Pretty dodgy hey?
You can request to see the constitutiion which it seems the Lib Dems change at will as it suits their needs. also why not contact the opposition, the South Devon Alliance who have been very vocal in highlighting what nis basically corruption in local government?
@TBR - re child care provision. I can categorically assure you that the Lib Dems (in the form of Cllr Dawson) did, and are doing, something re child care provision in Dawlish. And if they use that fact as PR then that will be fine by me.
And Cllr Wrigley has also raised the issue (very strongly in my opinion) with Devon County Council. (child care provision being a Devon County Council responsibility).
(just laid a bet with myself as to what kind of response this posting may elicit............)
I know that was one of your priorities however one swallow does not make a summer with the latest relevations that the lid dem teignbridge council wanted to charge rent for the nhs to park the cancer screening truck on council land. Wrigley excuse for this was that it was the fault of an "officer" who had taken this decision on their own. As regards the ambiguity around " officer" does that mean it was a lib dem councillor? but lets call it officer instead as it sort of hides any blame, clarity possibly needed on thisbut doubt if any more will come from council. The other excuse was that they did not know about this ? Coming from a council who promote communication etc. Another nail in the lib-dem competence coffin...
I have no idea of the whys and wherefores of decisions made by and at TDC. However, I do know, having worked in local governemnt myself at one time, that decisions are indeed made by officers (ie employees of the council).
The first any members (councillors) may know about any decisions made by officers (employees) is if that officer decision proves contentious.
I'd say that at an optimum there are only 50 or so (if that!) readers of the postings on this website - which seems a poor publicity return for all the huffing and puffing that gets put on here.
@1263 Officers are Council staff employed in the various departments from waste and recycling, to housing, electoral services, etc, as opposed to elected members (Councillors). Officers do not make unilateral decions, they are accountable to senior staff and Cllrs on the Committe that relates to their specific department. Under Wrigley much decision making has been taken away from Officers, presumably because Wrigley thinks he and his Executive can do better than those in employed roles, which was naive and clearly coming back to haunt him. That's control freakery for you.
LGA guidance suggests on average Cllrs devote around 20 hours per week to the role. Some do less, others more. How does a Cllr on Town, District and County Council dedicate 60 hours to the 3 roles, run their own business and find the time for electioneering, family, socializing, sleep, exercise, etc, etc?
Being on 3 tiers of local governemnt shouldn't be permitted, other Cllrs are both Town and District Councillors. The Town Council cannot hold the District Council to account or vice versa. There's no scrutiny as it's the same people wrigley, foden, goodman-Bradbury, Dawson, M James on both and the Lib dems are instructed to follow the party line.
The buck stops with Wrigley, he's out of his depth and incomptent. Not to mention lacking in ethics.
Wrigley's default is to always avoid accountability, even as Leader of Teignbridge Council. In any case the Council is in disarray, just look at the reports of Council staff being bullied, intimidated and harassed by Councillors - Councillors are not allowed access to Council staff - What is Wrigley doing about that? Nothing. Look at the Local Government Ombudsman's report into the Lib Dem administration breaching an opposition Cllrs human rights, because he dared oppose the Lib Dem/Tory coalition which resulted in TDC appearing three times in the Private Eye Rotten Borough section. Look at the peer review into TDC by Gloucester Council a few months ago which again highlighted various issues in the Council and how nobody knows what wigley means by a 'Community Powered Council', not even Wrigley. This Council is dysfunctional, it reflects the dysfunctional people running it.
Why place any trust in a Cllr getting anything done with regard to public services and amentites when they are part of a party that wasted £30K of taxpayers money on a sham investigation/smear campaign against an opposition Councillor?
Why have any faith in a Cllr like Wrigley who is hellbent as TDC Leader and Devon County Council HATOC Chair ( a conflict of interst btw) on pushing through changes to Newton Abbots queen St that the majority of the public and traders vehemently oppose? Why trust anyone who claims to represent the public, but intends to waste £millions on a project which nobody really wants, will dertimentally effect livelihoods and could be better spent elsewhere.
Why trust a man who's Council will likely lose the legal challenge over Queen St and cost taxpayers £200K in leagal fees because of the actions of him and his cronies?
Why place any trust in a Leader and a party who gave their support to former Dawlish Cllr Gary Taylor after he assaulted an opposition Cllr? The Lib Dems should have condemn him and chucked him out of the party for violent misconduct. He should not still be a Cllr, yet he now represents Kenton and Starcross!
Given all of the above any rational thinking human being might apply some critical enquiry and reassess whether Wrigley and his Lib Dem co-Councillors should be trusted, whether anyone should place any faith in members of a dysfunctional, failing, corrupt Council getting anything done on any matter and whether it's just spin and PR, part of climbing the political ladder.
I think it comes down to what sort of voter a person is, whether a person can simply ignore all the failings, corruption and underehand dealings within Teignbridge District Council and by extension Dawlish town Council as its many of the same faces, as long as they or their family, perhaps small clique benefit in relation to a specific matter. Or whether a person votes not just in their own self interests but also with the wider collective in mind; society, the whole Constituency/District, nation and so forth. Thinking about how decsions by men like Wrigley will efffect other people in other parts of Teignbridge, such as the traders on Queen St and residents in Newton Abbot. Maybe some people don't have the capacity or compassion to think much beyond themselves, unfortunately they are afforded the vote on the back of those who fought for that very right.
And if they have no idea regarding the decisions made in government, local or national then their vote is wasted and the voice is an irrelevance. A functioning democracy depends on an informed citizenry. I suggest some people either stop burying their heads in the sand or simply shuttup.
If the odd Lib Dem aficionado is bothered enough to engage with these clearly anti-Wrigley posts and comments which reach a paultry 50 or so readers, and which are wholly justified btw, then just wait until the South Devon Alliance candidate in the General Election Liam Mullone starts his campaign and continues to expose charlatan Wrigley and his rotten Council to a much wider audience. Wrigley is scared stiff. I'm looking forward to it and we will be playing our part in dismantling this corrupt regime.