What council does for you

Published on 12th April 2007 in Letters

Sir - I read with interest some of the comments in last week's Readers' Page, in particular the contributions of E. Lefley: 'Is there a future for Goole Town Council?' and the contribution from J. E. Hardy: 'What has the Council done for Goole?'.

It seems strange to me that two inhabitants of our town cannot identify with what services their local council provides. To find out would hardly be a difficult project. They could ask at the Goole Town Council Offices, where I am sure the staff would be only too pleased to assist them in such an inquiry, or they could ask any current councillor, including an independent one, all of whom I am sure would also be pleased to help them with such an inquiry. Finally, they need not even leave the comfort of their own home. They could log on to Goole Town Council's website and see for themselves.

As for thoughts of not having a town council, well, who would the two correspondents then think would run the services presently provided by the Town Council? Would they be brave enough to entrust these to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council? Some of the services used to be provided by them, but Goole Town Council won those services by competing for them and winning them as the best-value provider, actually saving rate-payers' money.

One cannot help but observe negative comments who put in hours of hard work for their community, yet at election time none of these critics put them selves up for election. I wonder why?

Finally, here are just some of the services Goole Town Council provides: Maintains our parks and open spaces. This includes: West Park; South Park; Riverside Gdns; Coronation Gdns; Centenary Rd Gdns; Memorial Gdns; and the local nature reserve of Broompark/Mayfield.

Running: the town allotments; the much-valued and supported Gate; Arts for the over 50s; Bonfire Night Project; Electric Youth Theatre; Half-Term activities for children aged 8+; Schools Art Partnership; Silent Movie Project; Vocalise Singing Group; Youth Inclusion Project; the Victorian Market Hall; The CCTV system (in partnership with Howden; Snaith; and Cowick town councils and Kingsway School) - just to name a few.

All of these bring enjoyment to many local people including the youth of the town, so that's quite a list and it's not exhaustive.

I sincerely hope that this kills any myths about what the town council does or does not provide, and there is no doubt that without the services the town council provides then many vulnerable members of our community would be worse off.

There's a saying: "You don't miss it until you have lost it." Then it is too late.

K. Moore

Goole