LETTER: Challenging year ahead

Those who object to the completely unfair apportioning of committee roles that happened on May 27 and those who chose to make it this way.

I will not name names, but bit by bit I am building a picture of who is who, and those Labour councillors not on the fair and reasonable list can expect another well-deserved ‘challenging’ year. We are the robust opposition that, at the vote count, Cllr Bob Lanzer said we would continue to be. We have a duty to the 22,000+ Crawley Conservative voters who elected us.

Labour will be held to account.

I am proud to represent all of Tilgate’s residents. Twelve months ago, 1362 Tilgate voters voted for me, people who at present are being utterly disregarded by the controlling Labour group. I offered Labour an olive branch but last night the majority of them slapped my hand away. I will say, I appreciated the kind words from those Labour councillors who quietly admitted we are heading in the wrong direction at the Town Hall. There are some good people in the Crawley Labour party, people who understand why we are elected. Last night at the Annual Council Meeting, they were sadly outnumbered, so my response to this is as follows; I will continue to work very hard for you, Tilgate’s residents, solving your problems, visiting you at your homes at your convenience to discuss things, ordering council officers to make changes when I feel that you are being negatively impacted by council decisions, delivering positive outcomes for you, speaking out against anything I feel is bad for either Tilgate or Crawley, and standing up for our town in general, the town that in 1975 at Crawley Hospital, I was born in. A town that I call home not just because I live here but because I’m from here. Crawley. A great place to have grown up in and a great place to live now.

So all is not lost. Two years is all there is until the next shake up. Crawley will continue to be in a state of ‘pre-election’ which is great for Crawley. Keeps people on their toes, the split is so very close and we only need two of the Labour controlled seats to take control. Not much, is it? Don’t get too comfortable Labour, is all I’m saying.

Cllr FRANCIS GUIDERA

(Con) Crawley borough councillor for Tilgate, Town Hall, The Boulevard, Crawley

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