TORIES TO OFFLOAD YOUTH CENTRE A sometimes fractious meeting of the Totton & El…

TORIES TO OFFLOAD YOUTH CENTRE

A sometimes fractious meeting of the Totton & Eling Town Council tonight in which the Conservatives pushed through a decision to offload the excellent Garage Youth Facility at Eling recreation ground, to be run by an outside organisation, rather staff employed directly by the Council.

The debate was of very poor quality. The minute I challenged what they were trying to do, suggesting that the problems they had got themselves into, "unknowingly" offering advice and support to young people without the legal powers to do so, I was attacked by a Tory Councillor for not accepting what I was being told without challenge.

In a back handed way, whenever this happens, I know I am doing my job properly. I am not "Matey" with Council officers. They are accountable public servants and if they have made a mistake or perform badly, or offer poor advice then you need to have the sort of relationship to deal with such issues.

For the record, I think that the staff at The Garage have done a tremendous job for decades. It's an award winning facility that has been something of a breeding ground, producing lots of qualified youth workers, many of whom have moved on into full time employment.

Unfortunately, we have the same old Tory dogma that wants to offload things, whether it be privatisation or assuming that outside organisations always deliver better. Disappointingly, there was no discussion about the quality of the service and why things would be better if outsourced… but there we go.

Being a Councillor can be very frustrating at times.