One of the biggest political websites in England is Conservativehome. (The Lib Dem equivalent is Liberal Democrat Voice). It exists to support the Conservative party, so it’s not surprising that they had an article recently praising the Conservatives who run Essex County Council. What is surprising is that the comments left below the article by Conservativehome readers weren’t supporting the County Council, they were full of criticism! For example:
I live in Essex. Essex CC is notoriously unresponsive and our local (Tory) County Councillor is virtually unobtainable.
Please explain what happened to the ?Bank of Essex? which was one touted as the jewel in the crown by Tory candidates four years ago. How much did it lend and how much money did the venture lose before it was wound up?
There is also the little matter of Lord Hanningfield??.
Ah Essex indeed where convicted fraudster,the pig farmer Paul White,who lives with his mum ruled the roost as Tory Leader Lord Hanningfield.
Despite repeated requests Essex will not release audit reports and internal control(weakness) letters from 2003 and 2005 which first highlighted weakness in expense payment procedures.They produced a report saying all is now well and nobody,officers or councillors were to blame.I am ashamed to say that the current Tory Leader is a chartered accountant.This was the council that set vanity project Banking on Essex to lend to sub prime businesses in cahoots with Santander.They spent ?250k to lend ?250k.
I have made a complaint to the Chelmsford City Council which has not been addressed after nearly five weeks; my last attempt at finding out what was going on left me with Shirley on the Highways switchboard putting me on hold for five minutes and Craig assuring me that “someone” would get back to me if I left a contact number. Craig, “I’m so glad I didn’t hold my breath.” If I did not pay my council tax to these crooks (and pig farmers) in suits, or, heaven forfend, park a vehicle outside my house without a permit, I would pay even more for nothing than I already do.