I thought the good people of Yarmouth would like to know that their prospective Conservative Parliamentary candidate Mr Lewis has resigned as leader of the Conservative group in Brentwood. He has said, in so many words, that this is so he can devote more time to the matter of getting elected as MP for Yarmouth. One wonders then what percentage of his time will be devoted to the people of Brentwood in the meantime, some of whom had elected him in their ward as one of their councillors until the next round of local elections. He has made no move to resign as a councillor per se. As it may be some time until the next local election or general election one wonders how he will split his time. I wonder where his priorities will lie.
It must be said that he has caused a certain amount of controversy here in Brentwood by the manner in which he has sought to champion a scheme to develop a vacant site in the town centre as 90% shops with 10% earmarked as a cinema. The scheme has been sold to people on the basis that it is a cinema development but in reality it is much more than that. People in nearby houses have been condemned to look forward to a huge 72 foot high carpark which will be literally adjacent to and to the south of their back gardens. I have lived in Brentwood for over 35 years and I have never known such controversy. The objections were extensive and reasonable. Peopel merely asked if a cinema complex could be developed on a more human level whilst maintaining that it could still be commercially viable.The thrust of the objection was that the scheme is totally out of character with the surrroundings and would be incongruous and out of scale with the rest of the town. Only one tender was submitted and with a few very minor alterations was approved by a huge majority of Conservative councillors. The 7 Lib Dem members, 2 Labour and 1 independent councillors voted against. Only one Tory had the courage to vote against it.
In effect Brandon Lewis has achieved his objectives against the wishes of a sizeable proportion of the town's residents. Our local paper the Brentwood Gazette and its website public comments area has been full of criticism and pleas for a rethink but Brandon has steadfastly not even responded to their misgivings. People here would like a cinema but not at any price. What has been demonstrated here is an inability to listen to views opposing his own and an inability to truly represent the people who elected him. I would urge him if he is to be elected to Parliament to listen more carefully to those who may elect him and to accurately represent their views.
People need to be judged on their abiltites, Brandon must have shown great leadership skills to win control of the council in Brentwood and raise its standing and influence.
Democracy meant that he was the leader and surrounded by many colleagues in the council/town hall, he is now embarking on a new challenge in Great Yarmouth, where he will do his best to represent the people up here and work hard for us and not make us feel as though we are forgotten.
If he can raise our hopes and opportunties up here, then he is more than welcome.
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