West End Extra - Letters: Tories box clever after the bell

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West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 21 December 2007

Tories box clever after the bell

• OVER the last few weeks, something very strange has happened. The Conservatives have started to take an interest in Paddington.
Has this got any connection with the next general election? I think so.
The Conservatives have raised two issues recently which they hope will persuade residents that they are full of concern for local people.
First, the Conservative candidate jumped on the All Stars Boxing Club bandwagon by arguing that Labour councillors should support the club by allocating some or all of the forthcoming £100,000 ward budget to paying off the club’s debts.
This is, of course, not possible and the Conservative candidate must have known very well that this was the case, but it did not stop her falsely raising the All Stars’ hopes.
The All Stars does great work and has five national champions at the club – three women and two men – and Labour councillors have repeatedly urged the council to support the club to help them grow.
At present, the council gives the All Stars precisely no financial help whatsoever and has refused all its recent grant applications.
Second, the Conservatives then championed the Butterfly Reading project which does good work with youngsters in the Queen’s Park area.
The Conservative candidate even dragged a front-bench spokesman up the Harrow Road so that he could get his photo in the local papers. Then the pair of them lambasted the Labour government for not giving the Butterfly project extra money.
Once again, if the hapless Conservative candidate had done even a basic bit of homework she would have found out that her own Conservative council had refused grant application after grant application from the Butterfly project over the past few years.
But, sadly, the Conservatives appear to be more interested in creating a bogus impression about caring for the community.
I only hope that by pointing out the errors of her ways, the apprentice Conservative candidate will take the experience of her recent howlers as part and parcel of learning how to be a proper parliamentary candidate.
CLLR PAUL DIMOLDENBERG
Leader of the Labour Group
Westminster City Council

• I WOULD like to thank everyone who has worked so hard to make sure that Sustrans’ Connect2 won the £50 million Big Lottery Fund Giveaway last week.
The funding means that Westminster Council will now be able to regenerate Westbourne Footbridge.
This would never have been achieved without the hard work of residents, businesses and, in particular, the Westbourne Neighbourhood Forum. Volunteers across Westminster have worked tirelessly.
It is thanks to their efforts that we will all be able to enjoy better transport links for walkers and cyclists across the City.
Thank you again to everyone.
CLLR DANNY CHALKEY
Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Transport

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number.
Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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