I won’t let bullies force me from town

I AM writing in response to Mary Slade’s rather strange, factually inaccurate, rambling letter that appeared in your June 22 edition.

Frankly I feel sorry for the woman because, apart from being fixated with Janet Gardner, she clearly does not know what the role of an elected councillor should be.

Whatever Ms Slade in her role as president of the Janet Gardner Fan Club may think, it is not the function of an elected councillor to try (and fail miserably) to play anyone ‘like a fiddle’. At this point I would like to point out to Ms Slade the wisdom (or lack of some) in mentioning anyone who receives almost £11,000 per annum for expenses/allowances, has a not very good attendance record and the word ‘fiddle’ in the same sentence.

This is not something that I would do regardless of how ‘many chips I may, or may not have on my shoulders’.

Ms Slade is entitled to her opinion, as I am entitled to mine. I am not annoyed as the ‘played like a fiddle’ remark seems to suggest, but I am concerned that an elected councillor could appear to gloat over what she thought a person’s accommodation problems were, then go on to lie unnecessarily about people who have played no part in our exchange whatsoever. These issues are of concern to me if not to the sycophantic Ms Slade.

Ms Gardner’s supporters can use any euphemism they wish to defend their beliefs, but for the love of all that is sacred and truth keep their comments focused on the issues, as Ms McDonagh did in her letter of June 22.

Given Ms Slade’s apparent heroine worship of Ms Gardner, she may wish to represent her at the standards board hearing that the injured Ms Gandy referred to also in your June 22 edition.

Without wishing to prejudice these READER Sarah Betteridge from Hayes spotted this young robin in her Hayes garden.

Send us your pictures to ros. collins@ trinitymirror. com proceedings, I suspect that Cllr Gardner is going to need all the help she can get at this hearing.

I have always fitted in very well wherever I have lived over the years.

I have lived in Hayes for more than 20 years and I have (and continue to) represent my local community without reward for 11 years. I do not ‘have a chip on my shoulders’, just a keen sense of the actual and a good grasp of reality.

I have no intention of being bullied out of Hayes by bullies or their hanger-ons. So with this in mind, I suggest that rather than wasting time and public money insulting those who point out failings, those who are entrusted with the task of solving problems within Hayes do just that and leave the lies and insults out of the equation. the road to Uxbridge or anywhere else for that matter.

I have lived in this area, first in Hayes and then Uxbridge for nearly 60 years, and have watched it graduate from being just a dump to becoming a cesspit – strong language I admit but I think a fair reflection of the facts.

Perhaps if Cllr Gardner were to attend more of the council meetings for which she is so well paid to attend, then she might be able to effect an improvement, but the fact is that she has only been present at 28 out of the 35 meetings she was expected to attend, a performance of only 80% hardly a dedication to civic duty.

I wonder if she was present at the meeting when our councillors awarded themselves a 20% pay increase for the year 2015/6 over the year 2014/5.

If any of your readers want to learn how well our councillors perform then log on to the Streetlife website (Streetlife.com) and study the posting on councillor performance, a statistical analysis of their attendance and allowances record.

They, your readers, may be surprised at what they learn, but I doubt it will be pleasant.