Fascinating to see those acres of coverage devoted to Gonzo in the national press this week after that little business about a park in West Hunsbury being named after his son (and no, it wasn’t an April Fool, as some thought).
The Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and The Sun all made sure traditional Tory voters had a chance to catch up with the Chron’s original story both online and in print. Well now it emerges, that ‘lights switch-off tsar’ Gonzo is facing more problems in his (Simpson) Manor with what has been dubbed locally as “Plantergate”. After criticism that the street lights remain very much switched on in his street, Wootton residents have now been written to by Independent parish councillor, Liam Costello, asking this pressing question: ““Why is Blanchard Close the only residential close the parish council has placed planters at the entrance to?” He continues: “The policy of the parish council was to install planters at key locations on the main distributor roads throughout the parish, and there are no plans to expand this scheme to include residential streets and cul-de-sacs, such as Blanchard Close. It is also county council policy that areas such as Blanchard Close have 50 per cent of their streetlights switched off to achieve the same efficiency targets as that of the rest of the county. It seems Councillor Gonzalez De Savage has unilaterally introduced specific policies to cover his own circumstances.
“So while you and I have to stumble around in the half dark, worried that we may trip over the increasing number of potholes... all is flowers and light (literally) where {he} lives. It seems that we are not all in this together.”
QUIET week in #PCC-land as Adam Simmonds briefly retreated to enjoy a break and, possibly, some Batman Easter eggs, away from the West Wing. So time then to consider the success or otherwise of online commentator “Gavin Harris” who is doggedly attempting to dethrone the #PCC with the help of an e-petition calling on a full investigation into the appointment of the assistant commissioners, including Kathryn Buckle, who now oversees governance. Until he gave up after a while on the election expenses story last week, Gavin was busy posting links to his petition among the long thread of comments that follow all #PCC stories. If he gets 100,000 to sign he could trigger a Commons debate so watch closely his progress in the decades to come. So far he 99,899 to go...
IS there an election around the corner? We only ask as Lib Dem veteran Sally Beardsworth stumbled across a true scandal the other day following the collapse of a magnificent 150-year-old Cedar of Lebanon tree in Thornton Park, Kingsthorpe (her ward). Apparently, The Mack’s lot were asked to trim the weighty branches of the tree a couple of months ago and they hadn’t got around to doing it. Hence the tree collapses. And Lib Dems love trees. Which makes it all doubly saddening.