Last weekend saw the official opening of Worth Park in Pound Hill, having been restored with an ambitious project devised and implemented by the previous Conservative Administration at Crawley Borough Council. I found it a pleasure to have previously been the Council’s cabinet member that was overseeing this project, and I am delighted that all the hard work has paid off with a park that all of Crawley can be proud of.
It wasn’t always so good. I remember only too well back in January 2012 when Labour Councillors sought to sabotage this project by cynically using council procedures to cause a potentially fatal delay. This delay put at serious risk the £2.42 million funding that we had been successful in securing from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Thankfully, Labour’s tactic failed and we haven’t looked back since.
While I am grateful Labour didn’t scrap the Worth Park project when they took control of the Council last year, it is still startling that they are now taking credit for Conservative achievements like this. This fits a pattern of behaviour I have observed since Labour took power at Crawley Council last year.
I recommend checking online to see who really got these good projects moving for Crawley, which are now in full swing or have been completed. To add to Worth Park, other Conservative achievements include new and improved Tilgate Park attractions, Ifield West/Dobbins Pond improvements, Ifield Mill Pond restoration, Broadfield Barton revamp, £3 million regeneration of Queens Square, a new Crawley Museum, and new equipment for Children’s Play Areas across the town.
There are two key points here. Firstly, it took a Conservative Administration with vision and aspiration for Crawley to bring these projects forward, often in the face of Labour opposition with no aspiration for Crawley. Secondly, all of these projects could only be afforded thanks to the Conservatives’ sound financial management of the Council. We made the efficiency savings needed to sustain Council services. With Labour also opposing most of our efficiencies, the reality is that most of these great projects would have never happened if left to Labour.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
22 July 2015