Letter: Young musicians were talented

I READ the article Eastwood’s New Deal dated August 5 featuring Emma Hoddinott with a wry smile, an apocryphal tale if ever there was one.

The first questions for Cllr Hoddinott to answer that came across my mind was how did Labour ever allow the situation to become as bad as it is and why did they contribute to its creation? You might deduce from the article that Cllr Hoddinott was a fundamental driving force behind the inception and creation of this plan . My response would be hogwash. The most that has come from Labour is let’s use the situation as a clean-up day and photo opportunity day .

This increase in activity has been driven by embarrassment, created from the constant demand for action from long suffering residents of Eastwood who through their sheer tenancy of action have phoned, have written and attended area assembles time after time and made literally hundreds of phone calls to various departments, phone lines and police so finally Labour have had to respond. And after all that we have no idea at what cost to the rest of us, how long it will take, how will success be measured and what will success look like, yet Cllr Hoddinott, when she has time to spend in Rotherham on her second public funded job, happily poses with a febrile smile for the cameras

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She then has the audacity to be yet further economical with the truth regarding the question asked by myself in the council about sending people who have not worked for six months back home. I pointed out to Cllr Hoddinott that the PM David Cameron had made this comment on Look North when he was in Leeds, had repeated it on the Andrew Marr Show and again on the Politics Show. In fact in her reply to me Cllr Hoddinott had admitted to having seen Mr Cameron make the statement on Look North, so having pointed out to the good councillor that on my many visits to Eastwood I have seen lots of men and youths hanging around who clearly do not have jobs, why have Labour not sent them home? After all she seems happy for Rotherham tax payers happy to pay the bill. And they are.

Having been told by Labour that these people are a benefit to the community, UKIP has asked a number of times for Cllr Hoddinott and her colleagues to list the five tangible benefits that these people provide The question remains unanswered.

However, now that they have been shamed into taking action it is time for Cllr Hoddinott and her colleagues to deliver on this plan. We will expect regular quarterly as a minimum, updates on cost and progress and we will demand meaningful and measurable progress.

So I trust Cllr Hoddinott has worked out how she will provide this information as this article is not the end to the Eastwood problem but it had better be the beginning of the solution… ………..

Kath Reeder, Valley Ward