Labour councillors let down Gillingham South residents

Having suffered years of a Conservative-led Local Council Authority not listening to concerns of local residents ("Consultations are to advise residents of what we have already decided, not to discuss with them to reach a mutually acceptable arrangement"), Gillingham South residents now have a batch of newly elected Labour councillors who promised the earth during the Local Election campaign and then immediately let their residents down.

Given a golden opportunity to demonstrate a fulfilment of their promises, they let Gillingham South residents down by not resisting a major planning application on the proposed redevelopment of the Forrester's Hall in Sturdee Avenue, backing onto Valley Road, despite knowing exactly how local residents felt about it.

Cllr. Dan MacDonald attended a Neighbourhood Watch meeting and heard the vociferous objections of local residents first-hand yet failed to support the views of the very people he supposedly sought to represent. He had numerous opportunities at the Planning Committee meeting on which he sits, to put forward the genuine objections strongly held by the residents immediately surrounding the proposed development but failed miserably to do so.

Disappointment in their new Labour Councillors would be an understatement. "Come back Geoff Juby" I hear, for Geoff was genuinely there to represent and fight the corner of his local residents and not to advance his own political career.

But where do these residents of Gillingham South go from here? Sad to say, it looks as if there is no route to an appeal on the decision taken on the Forrester's Hall proposals and sadder still residents are, until 2019, stuck with a Conservative Council that does not listen and new local Labour Councillors who seemingly do not care.

Tony Jeacock

Chairman Medway Liberal Democrats