On Thursday of this week, Crawley Borough Council has a whole Council election of all 36 seats following a boundary review. This creates a big opportunity for change and my colleagues and I are offering a positive alternative to the current Labour Administration at the town hall, which I believe is being taken over by the far-left and extremist Momentum organisation. Our manifesto leaflet that sets out our policies should have been delivered to every household and is easily available to view on our Crawley Conservatives website.
Our manifesto has four main headings which are Safer and Stronger Communities, Protecting Crawley’s Strong Economy, A Cleaner, Greener Crawley, and Investing in What Matters to Crawley. It’s all about putting Crawley first and delivering high quality and good value services. Please do take a look.
Unlike my Labour counterpart in Crawley who has publicly stated that he wants to “make Crawley a Tory-free zone”, I seek no political office higher than leading our local Council, so if I became Council Leader after this election, my energies would be focussed solely on improving the Council’s performance and delivering for Crawley - not on using the Council as a vehicle to promote both personal Parliamentary ambitions and Jeremy Corbyn. While there is of course nothing wrong in seeking higher political office, my concern with the current situation is where is the focus?
Over the last couple of years, Labour have presided over some huge financial losses at the town hall. To forfeit £1.4 million from the sale of Crawley Council Houses that was earmarked for new social housing is unforgivable, especially when we have local people in urgent need of accommodation. Their £200,000 overspend on their bungled IT project is your money that is lost forever.
Both of these financial disasters were buried as small paragraphs in huge reports and only unearthed by eagle-eyed Conservative Councillors. Now we know why Labour wants to “make Crawley a Tory-free zone” as One-Party States can hide all their mistakes from you when performing badly. Crawley deserves better and this week Crawley has an opportunity for positive change.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
1st May 2019