Monday, 31st March, 2014
To the letter
The recent suspension of the county council’s deputy leader, Cllr. Rob Lewis, for improper use of the authority’s resources for political purposes might not be the end of the Parytygate scandal that some had envisaged.
If a police investigation into suspicions of breaches of the imprint requirements on election promotional material commences, there could be many more revelations yet to come, potentially implicating a number of other councillors.
On a completely unrelated note, a few weeks back a letter was published in the Tenby Observer letters column accompanied by a photograph, complaining about a county council bin wagon that had parked up on the double yellow lines outside the Kilgetty Co-Op.
Parking on the straight stretch at the front of the supermarket, which is no doubt convenient for customers on a quick in-and-out visit, blocks visibility for those exiting the store’s car park. It’s been so much of a problem that the council has ramped up its parking enforcement activity there.
The letter accompanying the photo highlighted the seeming double standards as “Pembrokeshire County Council fails to lead by example!”
The following week, the council’s cabinet member for highways and planning – that’s Cllr. Rob Lewis to you and me – wrote his own letter to the editor in reply, which I’ve reproduced alongside.
Amid some reassuring tones, Cllr. Lewis delivers the sort of public pontification we’ve come to expect from cabinet members keen to show they’ve got a handle on their portfolio, key to which is his definitive understanding of the Highway Code.
If only he’d spent as much time with his nose stuck in the Councillors’ Code of Conduct!
❏The week before last a rather unusual document arrived in a brown envelope at Chez W.
Delivered first class by Royal Mail, the anonymous two page tip-off made allegations of a potentially interesting development, which I’m aware has been doing the rounds on the County Hall gossip mill for a while.
Over the past few weeks and months I’ve received emails aplenty on the subject. Without going in to detail – you know who you all are – I am aware and thank you for your interest. If further information comes your way, definitive proof, photographs, etc, get back in touch.
For those of an automotive bent, the brown envelope was delivered by a postie driving a red Vauxhall Combi van, and not a Porsche.
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Hello all you lovers of democracy.
I believe I have a scoop that puts into eclipse anything that either Mike or Jacob has ever brought to the attention of the good people of Pembrokeshire.
The IPG, my mole tells me, will resign en masse having realised the error of their ways, by noon today.
Scoops on OldGrumpy.co.uk…
…a far-fetched April fools prank THAT would be!
Brown envelopes left in the porch of Chez JW, what next!
Maybe if we were in Carmarthenshire things would be a bit more open. Your contributors could do worse than to look at Y Cneifiwr’s website posting from 28 March to see that they are far more forthcoming with providing information regarding the cost to the council of the pension problem.
It seems that WAO will bill CCC, and presumably PCC as well, £70k for the preparation of the Public Interest Report.
As we already know that so far Mr Kerr has cost us at least £15k and the Scottish pension expert a further £12k we are staring at total costs of over £100,000 to support something unlawful.
Hi Dave, Chez W works better for me than Chez JW!
I suspect your faith in Carmarthenshire County Council’s openness and transparency must be tongue in cheek. From what I know about the antics that go on there I’d have to say many aspects of our neighbouring council are more rotten than here in Pembrokeshire – and that’s saying something!
As for the Public Interest Report, I would be surprised if PCC’s total bill from the WAO was close to CCC’s total bill. Don’t forget, CCC had an additional report into their unlawful libel indemnity, which I understand Gloucestershire Constabulary is currently investigating.
Re Kilgetty parking:
There is obviously a distinction between shoppers who park illegally outside the Co-Op because they are too lazy to walk from the car park and the refuse van which pauses there briefly once a week to carry out a public service.
Perhaps, given his record, it is not surprising that councillor Rob Lewis fails to detect this. But why? Is it stupidity? Is it perversity? Or is it something else.