Email to a Parliamentary Candidate
A couple of days after an initial meeting with Hannah Foster, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Exeter, Jim sent the following email, dated 10th November 2007, to Hannah.
The value of posting this document on the website is that it includes a list of reasons
justifying Summerway Tennis as a crucial subject for in-
Dear Hannah,
Thank you for the time we spent together on site at the Summerway courts and discussing Summerway issues over a cup of tea afterwards. May I say what a joy it was to speak with a politician who wanted to listen, realised things have gone badly wrong, and wishes to get to the roots of the problem. I suggest that there is no simplistic solution, but there are a wealth of lessons to be learned for anyone willing to start digging.
While it is important to examine many situations in the City to gain an accurate
overview and maintain a proper balance, skimming the surface of each is unlikely
to reveal a clear way forward. In my opinion, it will be necessary to dig really
deeply into one or two with a fully open mind, and then to think fairly radically.
I confidently predict that tinkering with the existing will prove pretty pointless.
A number of things are moving in the wrong direction, and problems are only going
to escalate unless we change. Changing direction will bring problems of its own,
which will require careful planning if they are to be overcome, but we must do it,
even if it causes some pain in the transition. I would suggest that Summerway is
a perfect vehicle for in-
(i) Summerway issues are extremely well documented, allowing the various handles
to be grasped. We are not dealing with the airy-
(ii) Things have gone seriously amiss. While ECC is satisfied with the outcome it has bulldozed through, no one in their right mind is going to suggest that two courts open to the public have anything like the value to the community inherent in the children’s Club which the City Council has effectively destroyed by ‘constructive eviction’.
(iii) While ECC may regard me as persona non grata, I am representing a large body of opinion which values organisations such as Summerway and The Orchard, with their proven record.
(iv) ECC has shifted the goalposts willy-
(v) ECC made up its mind about the Club and the Park without reference to the Club, and presented the Club with a ‘take it or leave it’ package lacking sufficient room for manoeuvre. It then withdrew unilaterally, refusing to deal with me. This raises serious democratic issues.
(vi) ECC appears to be extremely confused as to what is private, what is open to the whole community, and what is public. Summerway is in no way exclusive, and its only problem has been one of capacity. It is completely wrong to refer to the Club as private, and whether or not the Council’s efforts to shift it from the second category to the third is appropriate is a matter for serious debate.
(vii) The City Council probably has no idea of the damage it has caused because of its isolation. It may be good at legalities, economics and grand schemes, but when it comes to people, it seems to have not the slightest inkling.
(viii) I have detected a fear of the Council amongst many of those with whom I have spoken. This suppresses their willingness to stand up and be counted, no matter how strongly they feel about the injustice visited upon the children and the Club. Not a healthy sign, and probably something else which ECC doesn’t recognise!
(ix) The Council’s handling of the Summerway situation reveals a huge lack of vision. Plans for the City’s structure are not enough, and are far less significant than vision to enhance genuine community. Coercion by a public authority, deluded into thinking that it knows best about everything, is hugely damaging, and must be questioned. It’s people’s lives that matter and need proper and sympathetic consideration.
(x) ECC seems to be bogged down. If legislation is compelling local government to withdraw from a simple partnership and attempt to replace it by a complex arrangement which doesn’t cut the mustard, the legislation is either too inflexible, or is misconceived.
(xi) We have been given many strong indications that ECC policy is determined by the Officers rather than the Councillors, making a mockery of the democratic concept. This impression has been greatly strengthened by the lack of response and acknowledgement that a number of us have experienced when trying to engage with Councillors.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but it is surely substantive.
Just to make my own involvement with Summerway absolutely clear, I offer the following
explanation. I have spent the whole of my life in the service of children, their
families, and those around me. When my daughter joined Summerway in 1981 and received
such enormous benefit from the Club, I was extremely happy to continue supporting
it after Lucy left in 1990 on account of her age. Were there a choice, I would prefer
to be down at the Club organising tennis rather than sitting at my computer pursuing
a campaign. However, ECC has deprived me of the base for my service to the community,
clearly regarding my efforts as redundant, and leaving me at a loose end. More importantly,
it has deprived the community of the free services of John, our extremely talented
tennis coach, who is no longer exercising his gifts, along with other excellent role
models at the Club. Knowing the large number of local youngsters dispossessed of
their facilities and in desperate need of sound leadership and things to do, I have
been devoting a fair proportion of my time in attempting to call ECC to account.
So far, I have been brushed aside, but my full-
As far as I am concerned, I am opposing closed minds, hard hearts and arrogance. I bear no personal animosities, and seek ultimately that my past friendly, cooperative and constructive relationship with the City Council might be restored.
I owe my education to a scholarship granted by a Labour controlled London County Council. Labour used to care about the less privileged, and New Labour is proving such a contrast here in Exeter. I see a Council giving hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money in support of those able to purchase their leisure, and depriving the City of Summerway Tennis and The Orchard Adventure Playground. I find it almost unbelievable that a city with a Labour Council and a Labour Member of Parliament should be undermining the desirable social objectives of a Labour Government, but so it is. I hasten to add that I have no party political leanings, but I do understand that something has to change in our lovely City.
Our meeting on Thursday only set the scene, but we seemed to agree on almost everything we discussed. In particular, that politics are there to serve the people, rather than the other way round, and that coercion can be counterproductive, there being better ways. I will be happy to spend more time in discussion with you if you would find it helpful. As you will have gathered, I see most issues clearly, and am eager to delve deeper.
Yours sincerely,
Jim.