Cash needs are more in some areas
9:25am Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Comment
CLLR John Walsh, in his letter of February 1, talks of the unfair allocation of funding to wards in the borough.
All political parties direct funds to their own supporters. This has always been the case and our government is busy directing monies to the wealthiest constituencies, at the expense of the poorest.
The important issues Cllr Walsh is not addressing are investment needs—what the monies are going to be spent on and whether the taxpayer will get value for money.
I live in Farnworth, so clearly have a vested interest in monies being spent to improve my town, anyone walking through my town can see that it does need investment monies being spent upon it.
Can the same be said of Smithills? I have walked through Smithills on numerous occasions and it looks very nice, so what exactly would the monies be spent on?
I agree that funding allocations should not be about party politics, but I don’t agree that funding should be based strictly upon resident numbers. Some areas are clearly urgently in need of investment, with the monies being spent on important improvements which can make a real difference to the quality of life in the area.
All this begs the questions — how is money allocated across the borough? Who makes these decisions and what are the decisions based upon?
Ultimately we all pay our Council Tax and deserve an answer to these questions but, of course, given the party political nature of local government, I’m not expecting any kind of straight, impartial, or true answer to those questions any time soon.
Dave Carter Campbell Street Farnworth
