HAVING seen a notice in the Examiner that Peter Davies, the English Democrat elected Mayor of Doncaster, was speaking in Rastrick I took the time out of work and went to listen. I must say I was very impressed and felt that what he had to say ought to be public knowledge – the case for a people’s elected mayor as opposed to a civic mayor.

Most mayors in the UK are civic mayors, appointed from within the council chamber by our elected councillors – there are only eleven mayors elected by the people in England.

The electorate have no say who that person may be.

The function of the mayor becomes a role of attending civic duties like opening events and representation of the council, but all without any real power.

The decision and responsibility for getting council issues sorted and problems dealt with still lies with a political ‘whip’ system.

This means that the outcome is a result of ‘trade-offs’ and deals done between the council members. This often ends with a poor result because of the self-interest involved.

Mr Davies also maintained that there was no such thing as an independent councillor as they will always vote with one of the big three political parties.

In his case, there are two other elected mayors in the UK.

They are voted into office by the people, the electorate and have power over the council, the party whip system and the town.

He maintained that ‘things got done’ and gave examples of his own time in office, also of French and American mayors where many of these positions are elected into office by the electorate and if they fail, they are voted out.

He said his caseload is now massive, stating how he works through it by delegating jobs and sorting out issues.

He maintained that ‘he leaves his party colours at the door and gets on with looking after the little people’.

There are lots of people in the town who are not represented and money has been used to finance many projects that the council should not be involved with.

He also explained that much council work could be put out to local business but the application forms are so politically correct that most local businesses cannot tender for the work.

As a result, companies from outside the area, and often outside the country, often get the work. How can that save money and how can it benefit the town?

I felt that I was listening to a very refreshing character and that more people would have benefited from his talk and understanding of the role of an elected mayor.

Robert Walker

Golcar

Strong words Sir Bernard

REGARDING Sam Casey’s article on the visit of Sir Bernard Ingham, to Huddersfield, November 6.

Sir Bernard did not have one good word to say about our lovely Huddersfield.

1) St George’s Square was a waste of money.

2) Our local Government are no value for money.

3) He is even a traitor to his own Tory Party. David Cameron is our only hope, but he was not a great fan of David Cameron.

4) Gordon Brown is useless – a political dunce.

The arrogance of the man is breathtaking.

The people of Huddersfield may moan from time to time and they have every right, but not a stranger.

I, for one, don’t care two hoots what Sir Bernard says.

St George’s Square is beautiful, Gordon Brown is no dunce. I am surprised the Women’s Luncheon Club did not stand up and heckle him and send him packing, preferably with his pants on fire.

The Thatcher Tories’ way of saving money was to stop free school milk for our children, which is necessary for the strong formation of teeth and bones.

That had a knock on effect, putting small farmers and dairies and delivery men out of business.

Sir Bernard Ingham should only be allowed back in Huddersfield again at his own expense and a big cheque from his own pocket for one of our local charities in reparation.

Pensioner

Dalton

Gutter talking politics

REGARDING the young woman from Dewsbury given a jail sentence for claiming money from the state that she wasn’t entitled to.

That is exactly the same offence that dozens of MPs have committed, yet not one of these MPs have faced criminal proceedings.

With a salary of over £1,000 a week they can’t claim to have been driven by poverty to behave as they did.

I do not dispute the jail sentence imposed, except for the fact that the case should not be applied more harshly to working class people than the well heeled, expensively educated self-serving middle classes.

This “get back in the gutter” where you belong attitude of the establishment is the main reason for the increase in the BNP vote.

J Beaumont

Shepley

Well done Kirklees

CREDIT where it’s due – Kirklees Council have taken a lot of stick recently over how they have spent our money.

Well, we the community of Kirkburton and Highburton can tell you some money has been very well spent on the recent renovation of our Memorial Garden.

The war memorial has been cleaned, a new footpath and flagged area leading up to the memorial has been laid and all the inscriptions on the memorial have been repainted.

We now have a memorial garden which gives the respect and dignity our war dead deserve.

A big thank you to our council and the contractors for an excellent job and we look forward to seeing our daffodil display reappearing in the spring.

Russell Parkinson

Kirkburton

Appeal for family help

CAN anyone please help me?

I am looking for someone who knows anything about a photo that was in the Examiner many years ago.

It is of a group of ladies at a farewell party of a Mrs Lockwood, as she was emigrating to Canada. She came from Brockholes and may have lived at Thurstonland for a time – she was my grandma, but I never knew her.

She had two sons. Albert lived at Smithy Place, Brockholes after getting married. The second son Thomas got killed in the First World War. She also had two daughters. Emma lived at Rock Terrace. I think she married someone called Holmes. Her second daughter, Annie, married someone called Crosland, who worked for Bamforth’s postcards, they then emigrated to Canada.

If anyone can shed any light on this I would be most grateful to you and would you please get in touch via the Examiner.

Nora Archer

Golcar

Am I missing something?

KIRKLEES Council’s Highways and Transportation Service has recently spent over £300,000 on the 17 speed cameras along Wakefield Road in the name of road safety.

Council officials are hoping to grit roads and clear snow for only five days this winter.

Officials had decided that £1.79m was all that was needed to be set aside for gritting, workers’ pay, materials and all costs of dealing with winter weather compared to £2.5 million last year.

Kirklees Council’s monthly meeting approved an updated seven-year investment plan covering roads, housing and children’s centres.

Capital spending will drop from £194m this year to £88m in 2015/16 as the council struggles with a financial squeeze from central government. Highways spending will drop from £27.6m to £15.4m during that period.

Road safety? Am I missing something?

I M Hunter

Why should I call again?

I LIVE in Denby Dale and while out walking last Saturday afternoon I saw two cars driving very fast – 50mph in the 30mph zone – by the Pie Hall.

I failed to get the registration number of the first but I did get the details of the second one which followed it a minute later.

I rang the police on 0845 6060606 and was put though to a section dealing with road traffic.

I gave the information about the car and the operator checked that the registration number did correspond to the actual make and colour of car I had seen and said it did.

He then said that he couldn’t take details of my complaint over the phone as I would need to attend in person at my local police station.

Denby Dale does not have a police station and the nearest, partially staffed one is, I think, at Kirkburton. On a Saturday evening I would probably have had to go into Huddersfield to make a statement in person.

Although I am perfectly willing to make a statement if it is deemed necessary I am somewhat surprised to find that the operator was not prepared to take note of my details of the what was clearly reckless and possibly dangerous driving.

I fully realise that my report was a single uncorroborated, objective, allegation with no witnesses and as such may not be much use as evidence. However I was simply offering it as one small piece of, hopefully, useful intelligence to the police.

What I find amazing and deeply disturbing was that they didn’t seem to want it.

Phil Ramsden

Denby Dale

Straight to the point

I DO feel that the singing Santa in the entrance to the Asda store lent a certain gravitas to Armistice Day.

Alan Starr

Golcar