Mum was right

THE honest in our throng will have noticed the ‘lies’ and ‘deceit’ made by politicians on all sides in recent elections and referendums.

Just who can we trust?

There are no simple answers to any of the questions we are being asked to judge by the entry of a single cross on a piece of paper, so where then do we go to find the real facts and figures?

Do we read what some anonymous posted on the internet and can we believe the validity?

Mark Twain once noted that those who do not read newspapers are uninformed and those that do are misinformed.

In the modern day, I have also felt the same way about the BBC and other television news media.

There was once a lady who always had an answer to our troubles. Our Mum. We miss her terribly because she always knew what was right and she always knew what was best for us.

Mum, Mrs P as so many knew her, never wanted a town council.

She said it would quickly cost a lot more than whatever they said it would and that there would be a lot of good souls running around feeling very important but never achieving any more than the Borough Council could do more professionally, efficiently and at less cost.

They would be no more than a powerless committee with nothing more to do than organise some lights at Christmas and decide who would get which allotment.

I have spoken with many sitting town councillors since its existence and whilst some have defended the basics, I have listened to other, long standing members whose beliefs in its usefulness were reticent at best.

Unfortunately those, particular, ‘unhappy’ people seemed to want to keep their opinions, ‘between us’, so well done to you Cllr Rowles for actually standing up and saying what you did in support of this town council being closed down. (Advertiser, ‘Mayor backs disband calls’, page 6).

Andover town council was formed in 2010 following several attempts, over a number of years from support groups who believed that the citizens of Andover would benefit from another layer of self-government.

A referendum was held to see if residents wanted to support this.

What happened then was a very small percentage of Andover’s electorate turned out to vote (I think it could be safe to say that the majority were not that interested either way). Of that small percentage, the number in support was slightly higher than those against and there we were — and here we still are, a town heading rapidly toward a population of 50,000 abiding by the decision of about 5 per cent of that nearly ten years ago.

According to figures in this ‘paper the council cost the local taxpayers (you and me) £1million in the first six years on a rising precept. That means the budget grew — my mum was right!

At the time the new council was only supposed to cost us a few pounds each week but mum said she’d rather keep the money and turn the heating up.

Allan Pothecary, Eardley Avenue, Andover