News Mayor slammed by newcomers
Newcomers to Snaith have blasted mayor Frank Townshend for claiming they have no affinity with rural areas and don't integrate.
The so-called 'out-of-towners' hit back at the mayor after becoming enraged by his comments about their lack of understanding of the rural way of life.
In last week's Goole Times, Cllr Frank Townshend said the 'Chelsea tractor brigade' were spoiling rural towns and villages.
He also claimed the newcomers - many of whom have moved from urban areas to get away from the hustle and bustle of big cities and are now commuting to work - didn't get involved with community life or shop locally.
He said many of them had settled in what he referred to, disparagingly, as these "wonderful new developments" such as the Ben Bailey housing estate, nicknamed locally as 'Beverly Hills'.
But newcomers and shop owners in Snaith have hit back, labelling Cllr Townshend's remarks "outrageous".
Julie Shaw, Snaith's community midwife who moved to the town from Bradford, said: "I've never been so angry in my life. I think what angers me most is that I had one sole reason fro coming here and that was for a better school for my children.
"I came from Bradford. I'm not rural; I don't like rural. But he's making out we came here with an idealised view of rural living."
She added: "I'm a local community midwife and I can't afford to drive a 'Chelsea tractor'. How dare he (Cllr Townshend) say these things? He's the representative for where we live - how dare he show so much prejudice against his own people? I think he should question why he does his job.
"I for one will be asking him to step down because I don't think he has the people's interests at heart any more. It's absolutely disgusting."
Mrs Shaw, who is based at Goole District Hospital, says she and other newcomers have taken an active part in community life.
She added that, contrary to what Cllr Townshend had said, so-called 'out-of-towners' were getting involved in the community and shopping locally.
"We all use the local milkman, for example, and we do get involved in the community. My husband is on the local school's PTA (Parents' and Teachers' Association) and I was chair of the PTA at Snaith Primary, raising £8,000 over two years. Not one person on that PTA was local.
"The next big thing for me was to do something for the teenagers, but that (Cllr Townshend's remarks) has put me off because he wouldn't appreciate it, and because of how he feels about us as outsiders.
"Now I'm thinking I've got three teenagers and they've got nothing to do. I've no incentive with him in charge. Do I really want to approach him for money? Do I hell."
Mrs Shaw - who, like so many newcomers to Snaith, lives on the Ben Bailey estate - said she also took exception to Cllr Townshend's comments about "these wonderful new developments".
SNOBS AND INTRUDERS
She added that people living on the new housing estates were unfairly regarded as 'snobs' and 'intruders'.
"I would move out of there tomorrow if I could because of the prejudice," she said. "People think it's an intrusion, that you are snobby. They call it Beverly Hills. This is my patch, for heaven's sake - I'm the community midwife for Snaith."
Mother-of-two Charlotte Hargreaves, who runs the Toners and Ink shop on Selby Road, moved from Wakefield to Snaith five years ago.
She lives with her family on Don Close, where she says virtually every resident is from outside the area.
"We do a lot for the community," she said. "I'm not saying everybody integrates, but that's their choice.
"I for one have brought a decent business to the community as well. We all use the butcher, the florists and all the other local shops."
Mrs Hargreaves added: "Everybody on my street moved over here from Leeds or Wakefield for the schools and the rural living, but they all brought a lot to the community as well. A lot of them are in voluntary groups or have taken up roles as parent governors. He (Cllr Townshend) has really upset people."
Andrea Wood, who runs the Cottage Flower Shop in Snaith, said: "The mayor should strive to unite the community and not divide it by his negative and prejudiced comments."
She added: "No community can stand still - Snaith has to move forward. It no longer has any working farms within the town; these were lost in times past to developments such as The Parkway, South Parkway, Priory Way, Saffron Drive and Villa Fields.
"Did the mayor or his equivalent of the day object to these developments and the people who moved into the houses?
"Snaith can no longer rely on income generated from agriculture; we need a new source of revenue and if that has to come from new developments, then so be it."
Cheryl Thornes, a Don Close resident who works as Mrs Hargreaves' assistant at Toners and Ink, said: "We all use the local facilities; the hairdressers, the takeaways, the pubs, everything. Just look at the local petrol garage - you never see the forecourt empty."
She added: "The local schools wouldn't have had so much funding if it wasn't for the expansion of the area. Because of that, they've been able to extend the high school and the primary school has got more funding."
Mother-of-two Gillian Cohen said: "He (Cllr Townshend) thinks that we are all high-earners who don't benefit Snaith, but that high-earning pays for your council tax and helps the shops. That council tax funds things like the Citizens' Advice Bureau that is of use to the community."
She added: "After he made those comments my phone became a hotline - people were so angry.
"He's our mayor, for goodness sake, and he's in a position of responsibility."
Last week Cllr Townshend said that newcomers were turning Snaith into a dormitory town, where people commuted to work in places such as Leeds, Wakefield and Doncaster, but rarely had the time or inclination to get involved in the community or get to know local people.
His jibe about 'Chelsea tractors' referred to the nickname given to 4x4s, vehicles associated with the countryside but which have become increasingly popular with urban-dwellers.
In a barbed reference to such vehicles, Cllr Townshend said that "When there's mud on the road it spoils their Chelsea tractors."
He also said that many newcomers, who had moved into the area from big cities, suddenly found their idealised version of a country life quickly dissappeared once they heard the "cocks crowing in the morning or cattle mooing, or tractors ploughing in the fields".
MAYOR APOLOGISES
* Cllr Townshend this week issued an apology to newly-arrived residents, particularly those on the Ben Bailey and Harron Homes estates.
He said: "I apologise without reservation to the people on the Ben Bailey and Harron Homes estates for any distress and upset caused by reported statements."
He added that the comments were made after the town council was discussing the East Riding Council's Local Development Plan, a consultation exercise to determine which local areas were 'sustainable' in terms of new developments.
"We found that, amongst other things, we weren't in favour of of it at this stage because we did not feel that the current developments had been fully assimilated into the society," said Cllr Townshend.
"I was not in any way denigrating any of the people in these developments. I myself am an outsider to Snaith; I'm not local at all. Snaith has been good to me and my family; it's a nice little town to live in and I'm very sorry for this present upset."
Published on 19th June 2008 in News.
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