IS tourism in Cleethorpes being undermined by North East Lincolnshire Council failings? Yes, according to the authority's Conservative oppposition group leader, Cllr Philip Jackson, who believes the time has come to get a grip. Below is the text of an open letter he has written the NELC's Labour leader, Cllr Ray Oxby.
Dear Cllr Oxby
I
am writing this open letter to you because of three current threats to
the vital tourism trade in Cleethorpes which your administration is
failing to address. Clearly, we are now in the peak of the visitor
season and these need to be resolved.
The
first, and most recent threat, is last week’s closure of the paddling
pool for, we are told, health and safety reasons. My colleague Cllr
David Hasthorpe and I have been trying to find out what exactly is the
problem. We have been told that it’s unsafe storage of chemicals, a
shortage of appropriately qualified or experienced staff or broken down
plant and equipment. Which is it and, if it is one of the first two
reason, why were these not identified earlier? With regard to the
re-opening of the paddling pool, we’re told, on one hand, that the
necessary money is not available and, on the other, that remedial action
is now underway. Again, which is it?
The
second threat relates to public toilets, clearly a major issue in a
very busy seaside resort with many day visitors. My colleagues Cllr John
Fenty and Cllr Keith Brookes have been involved here, the latter
recently calling-in the question of charging within the resort and, at
the recent Full Council, asking questions about the physical provision
of public toilets. It also emerged, last week, that there may be cuts in
cleaning and maintenance against a background of existing public
complaints about the standard of our public toilets.
The
third threat is the ongoing saga of the saltmarsh. We have been
reassured numerous times over the last few years, both at scrutiny
meetings and at Full Council, that spread of the Salt Marsh is being
controlled and that it remains behind the line agreed with Natural
England. Following a further expression concern about the situation at
Full Council two weeks ago from my colleague Cllr John Fenty, I met him
on site last Wednesday when the tide was out. It was plain to see that
growth has now extended well beyond the agreed line. Also, I would
suggest, there is now evidence that, because the extended growth is
encouraging further mud deposition, it is threatening to change the
character of the beach adjacent to the Leisure Centre. Because of these
concerns, I have placed an item of urgent business relating the Salt
Marsh on tonight’s Regeneration, Environment & Housing Scrutiny Panel meeting agenda.
Your
Administration needs to stop dithering, get a grip of these fundamental
issues and sort them out! Tourism is vital to area and there’s a real
danger of us losing business to competing east coast resorts.
With
regard to cash to deal with urgent problems like these, in the
short-term that’s why we have balances and contingencies. This Labour
administration has dragged its feet with transformational projects like
the Operational Services Review and Making Waste Pay and failed to
introduce a much-needed Car Parking Strategy, despite considerable
cross-party work in scrutiny panels and working groups. The result is
failure to take out millions of pounds of costs and potentially raise
extra revenue through charging which would have more than covered the
cost of resolving the threats I’ve set out above.
Yours sincerely
Cllr Philip Jackson
26.07.16
