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Lewes District Council leader rejects ‘secrecy accusations’
jamespage
The Leader of Lewes District Council, Cllr James Page, has hit back angrily at accusations his Conservative group are “secretive”.
They were made last week by Cllr James MacCleary, Leader of
the Lib Dem group, who questioned the “rosy picture” Cllr Page had painted in an article for Guardian Professional.
Cllr Page said this week: “James MacCleary enjoys the old-style adversarial party politics that simply turn most people off. He clearly never lets the truth get in the way of a political sound bite – or he simply doesn’t know what his own party colleagues are working on, perhaps because he is not around much.”
He continued: “To deal with his two accusations of secrecy: the ‘sell off’ of the recreation ground in Newhaven was the subject of a cross-party scrutiny panel. All minuted, agreed and chaired by a Lib Dem.
“I did take the initial decision on this, to secure an opportunity for the people of Newhaven to consider the proposal for the world’s biggest water park... The developers have this week press released their commitment to retain and improve the recreation ground for public use indefinitely.
“Something I asked for from the outset. Feels like a ‘win win’ to me.
“The ‘secret’ Nexus board has had ideas pitched to it from Lib Dem councillors and these too are being explored. Cllr MacCleary has been invited but has not found the time to come or indeed comment on any of the minutes that he has been provided.
“He also forgets that he has refused to allow his Lib Dem councillors to take up positions on my cabinet.”
Cllr Page added: “Perhaps it’s time that either James stepped down and let one of his more creative, collaborative and productive members of his team take the helm, or if he’s prepared to come up to speed on collaboration and leave behind party politics spend more time getting on with the job.
“Imagine how much more work we could do if we all worked together for our communities rather than worrying about point scoring to get votes. I haven’t got time to look back, only forward.”
A progress report on the first 12 months of Nexus, the council’s transformation programme, will be given by Chief Executive Jenny Rowlands at a meeting on Wednesday.
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Weather for Lewes
Sunday 19 May 2013
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 10 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North
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Light rain
Temperature: 12 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North
