Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Sad news about Brentford Festival cancellation | |
Posted by: | Phil Andrews | |
Date/Time: | 22/02/12 00:24:00 |
The contract was let to Laing by the previous Conservative/ICG administration, as everybody is well aware. I assume that is the response you are looking for. Vanessa, this was the kind of thing I was referring to on the other part of the thread when I was speaking about political point scoring and refusing to face up to realities when they relate to the tribe some of us have chosen to support. There is absolutely no way that you can make this into a Laing-only problem, Laing is contracted to the local authority and the local authority should be calling the shots. The local authority cannot just wash its hands of this and blame a past administration that is no longer in office. That just doesn't wash. A mere £6k sees the event go ahead in Brentford, and all the prestige for our borough as an administration committed to its communities that that would entail. The local authority has the jurisdiction to decide whether it will commit those resources to a major and much loved community initiative. At the moment it has decided that it won't. This isn't a point scoring opportunity, it is if anything a yardstick by which we are able to gauge the commitment of our local authority at this particular point in time to supporting its own communities. It is an opportunity for that local authority, whoever happens to be running it, to make a statement. At the moment, as somebody committed to strengthening our communities and to encouraging the champions of those communities such as Linda Massey and her band of volunteers, I am not liking the message I am hearing. |