Secretive over closure (From Penarth Times)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting PEN to 80360, or email
us
Secretive over closure
11:39am Thursday 21st March 2013 in Letters
THE Vale Council is being very secretive and non-transparent regarding the closure of the wonderful dementia facility Bryneithin.
When the council announced that Bryneithin was to close in November 2008 there was a ‘sham’ consultation. They knew it was so as they stopped even councillors asking questions in the consultation process. It was supposed to close with NO plans!
Now the opposition councillors went through this mockery and were very aggrieved. You could imagine how delighted we were when they were elected into power. Now sadly they are doing the same thing.
Does this happen when you get into politics – you learn to have no conscience? You do what you want and sod everyone who voted for you? You break your election promises?
How can social services make a decision to close a council run specialist elderly mentally infirm care home without the decision being scrutinised by the health and social scrutiny committee? They didn’t even know according to Councillor Richard Bertin who is the chair of this committee.
He stated in the Penarth Times (March 14, front page) that “members of the committee were upset and angered that despite the promise of openness and transparency by the Labour led coalition, we have yet to be told”.
What an error? My understanding of scrutiny committees is that regardless of politics they should look at the decision before it is made! If the Vale Council makes such big decisions without the decisions being scrutinised what is the point of any scrutiny committee?
I want to know what the options are for the site of Bryneithin and whether there will be a REAL public consultation this time round. It is not good enough that the council says nothing. They have had FOUR AND A HALF YEARS to develop a plan – an idea for this site/home – and this is how long we have been fighting the closure.
Why has the council been after this site/home with, as they keep saying, NO plans for it?
Margo Farbrace Friends of Bryneithin
