LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Work together to stamp out drugs farms

One in three of the councillors in her constituency are opposition councillors and though you won’t get us to agree politically on many things, what the six of us have in common is that we all, unlike many of the “local” Labour councillors, live in the wards we represent and have extensive local knowledge and experience that Labour’s non-co stance is excluding from what should be an all and non party effort.

A prime  example of this is my ward where my Labour counterpart from their home enjoys fantastic views of the Wentworth countryside and visits the ward every so often, while my house in the ward has had the view of a cannabis farm across the street being raided. The Advertiser even carried a picture of the raid from our bedroom window, but it’s not just a view thing as those of us living in the ward have to deal with the residual crime that accompanies the trade.

The main example of Ms Champion’s non co-stance is her tax payer funded political walkabouts, where using the parliamentary post she writes to constituents to inform them of a walkabout to which, despite the public funding, she only invites the Labour councillors in the ward.

I know as well as in Dalton this has happened in Kimberworth Park and Munsbrough and while you won’t get me agreeing with Cllr Elliott in Greasbrough Ward on anything big politics wise he knows his ward and has a reputation as a strong community based councillor.

Now maybe the issue of cannabis farms are another example of Ms Champion just remembering where she represents for a bit and maybe she is being genuine, but if it is the latter then Ms Champion needs to utilise all of us who are on the ground working to get residents to report issues, who are engaging with the police and often have far more local knowledge than the members of her own tribe.

Cllr Michael Bennett-Sylvester