Town Hall Demolition

Fylde Council leader John Coombes,  attempts to justify  his systematic attack on our heritage by saying that Fylde has been "inward-looking" and "antiquated", but a local council ought to look inward to the needs of its residents, and one purporting to conserve should warmly embrace tradition.

Councils that become deluded of their own importance prize policy, procedure, and what they call 'capacity-building' over actually providing the services we elect them to run. 

The result is often excessive spending on non-productive costs and overheads, leaving insufficient for basic maintenance and service provision. 

When inadequate resources are allocated to service delivery, change - any change - produces the illusion of progress. 

No doubt our leader hopes we will bear this in mind and have the "Things can only get better" theme ringing in our ears as, once again, he apes Mr. Blair's predilection to "move on" - this time with the Town Hall in his demolition sights.

He describes this act of gross municipal vandalism as a "defining moment" for the Council. 

For once he may be right. This arrogant disregard for the wishes of the community that trusted him, together with his party's apparent unwillingness to rein-in his attack on the culture and character of the town - the very reason that people are attracted here in the first place - may well define the moment that he and his party lose the next local election. 

Dated:  25 September 2005