The city is being failed

I would like to thank Councillor Margaret Beck for her letter of December 10.

It is interesting that the councillor seeks to divert attention away from Sunderland Labour’s numerous city-wide failures.

She seems to portray herself as an independent guardian of the ward, standing up against the executive.

Bizarrely, it is this very executive that she props up through her membership of the Labour Party and, revealingly, through her role as Chief Whip of the Sunderland Labour Group.

Such a position implicates her directly in Labour’s unashamed negligence in running this great city. Whether it be the abject failure of Children’s Services or the disgraceful state of the city centre, Councillor Beck is accountable.

The councillor is quick to dismiss the issue of the new Civic Centre as being irrelevant to Fulwell residents. Yet it is the hard-earned cash of those very same residents that is being wasted by Councillor Beck and her colleagues on what can only be described as a vanity project. Does she care more about a new office than the people she supposedly represents?

To address her reference to the seafront development, Councillor Beck is absolutely correct in saying that Planning Committee members are not able to comment upon matters due before the committee.

Indeed, it is a rule that our learned and esteemed Councillor Francis is bound by also.

My complaint is that she has chosen to remove herself from the committee for the sole purpose of being able to shout about her opposition to the proposals in the run up to the election.

She should have done the honourable thing and remained on the committee; such a position would have allowed her to make a tangible difference by voting against the proposals.

Instead, Fulwell is deprived of a voice in this crucial matter. This blatant abdication of duty is surely unforgivable given the magnitude of what is at stake.

James Doyle, Fulwell Conservatives