Yes, this is us ...
We thought we would comment on the Conservatives’ latest leaflet in Rayleigh North.
It starts with the dramatic headline “LIB DEM SPIN MACHINE KICKS INTO TOP GEAR”. Ahem - we don’t have a ’spin machine’ , just a few volunteers ...
But then it gets into more serious stuff - regarding the Park School site. They are claiming that it’s a ‘Lib Dem Housing Legacy’. Oddly enough, they don’t mention that back in 2001 they were 19 Conservatives on the District Council, 9 Lib Dems, 8 Labour and 3 others. Did the Lib Dems have some kind of supernatural powers to impose their will on the majority? No wonder they seem afraid of us!
Here’s the minutes of the meeting that originally allocated the land for development back in 2001.
To be quite clear about this the proposals were supported by the leaderships of the Conservatives, Labour and the Lib Dems. In our opinion, they were wrong - there’s been too much building here. Chris Black was the only district councillor at the time to oppose.
Lib Dem Councillor Sylvia Lemon was seriously ill in hospital.
Ron Oatham, Chris Lumley , June Lumley and Jackie Dillnutt weren’t district councillors then.
Stephen Castle was a County Councillor - and could have had some influence. But when Chris Black asked him on the phone before the meeting whether he could quote him as being against the proposals, he said “No”.
But those decisions are history now. What about the future? The Conservative leaflet says about future housing “We have even discussed joint tactics to stop it”. Trouble is, that isn’t really true. We hardly ever see Cllr Castle. We’d have loved to sit down with him and discuss future tactics. If he has been against more housing along Rawreth Lane that’s good - but he’s kept that awfully quiet. This year Chris Black has been in something like 18 hours of meetings and discussions with Conservative District Councillors on this housing - and not once did the Conservatives even mention Cllr Castle’s views.
And what about the Olympics? Their leaflet says he is doing a ‘fantastic job’. Well, we know Cllr Castle is very interested in sport, and that’s great. But maybe he should just stay involved in Sport England, and let someone from Rayleigh do the less glamorous role of being a County Councillor.
Which brings us to the final point. Their leaflets have still not given Stephen Castle’s correct home address on Canvey - they misleadingly keep using the Tory office address in Bellingham Lane.
And what’s more their latest leaflet describes him as “Stephen Castle - the local choice”. But calling him “local” is a lie - and the Rayleigh Conservative Association should be ashamed of themselves.