Labour block communities money

Wigan Councillors get a little over £6000 per year to use on environmental or community projects in their wards or for the people of their wards. This money is called Brighter Borough. However, labour and Wigan Council have now made it to blackmail voters by saying, if you vote for someone we don't like then we will stop that community from getting their own money back.

How are they doing this? In my opinion an illegal and political act! The process is, if a Cllr gets a complaint made against them by an officer of the Council then automatically as soon as that complaint comes in the Cllr's Brighter Borough money is stopped. Regardless of whether the complaint will go to investigation or if it even is a proper complaint. However, if a member of the public complains about a Cllr that does not make that Cllrs Brighter Borough money stop. So the first point where is the consistency? Why do Wigan Council Executive think they are above members of the public? Surely if it was fair then no matter who complains then the money is stopped. In my opinion Labour know that their Cllrs get more complaints made by the Public, and found guilty, by the public and they do not want to effect their Cllrs.

Wigan Council says that they have to do this because a few Cllrs behaviour is disgusting and they need punishing. However, to date, since I was elected last year, no Cllr has been found guilty of misbehaving. So therefore when you read the reason why in the Wigan Evening Post by the Chief Executive she is merely giving an opinion rather than reporting fact.

But if a Cllr is found guilty in the future how does this punishment punish the Cllr because it is not the Cllr who is being punished but the Community that elected them? That then brings this to an illegal and political act!

As a Cllr I have asked for the legal dept to go and get independent legal opinion on whether this is legal or not for the two reasons that I have given, plus a couple more, but they refuse, merely saying that it is the Labour ruling Cabinet decision and that's it. That then demonstrates that this is a political act, which the Council should not allow, as they are meant to be impartial.