From the Essex Chronicle website:
THE POLITICIAN responsible for plunging the streets of Chelmsford and Braintree into darkness each night has admitted binning the comments of any resident opposed to the scheme.
Cllr Rodney Bass, the Essex County Council cabinet member who used his powers to approve part-night lighting across both towns, defended his controversial move at a scrutiny committee meeting on Thursday, and insisted the matter was not up for review.
Nearly 5,000 have signed an online petition against the switch-off and the Essex Chronicle website and Facebook page has been flooded with posts, but Cllr Bass insists people need to “grow up” and learn to live with the change.
Answering members’ concerns at the meeting, he said: “I do respond to reasonable arguments but I’m not responsive to people who have written to me ? some in quite unsavoury terms ? and say we are opposed to the principle of switching any lights off. I mean they just get binned.
I would expect that the great majority of people reading about what County Councillor Bass has done and had to say will be appalled and will in turn “bin” Councillor Bass and the political party he represents.
Nobody has shown me the financial benefits that this will achieve (cost versus/years/break even point with a sustainability analysis) and more importantly the carbon account and the £ value of that.
Councillor Bass will also be making the decision to stop bus subsidies and on this showing it is not hard to guess what the decision will be.
Thank you for posting this. An eye opener even for someone who first became an elected Councillor for the first time 33 years ago !!
Is this man for real? Isn’t there some sort of disciplinary action to be taken for just binning comments you don’t like? The sheer arrogance of some Councillors is becoming intolerable. I don’t know which area he represents, but I really hope they remember this when he is next up for election. I would also like to know how come the rest of the Council are letting him get away with this.
I was walking back to my friends flat in Chelmsford (with my friend) after midnight on Friday and it was quite unnerving with it being so dark. it wasn’t nice at all. Sales of head torches will go up!