Letter - One North East and the Vision

One North East and the Vision

I suspect that Trevor Honeyman and I have very different political perspectives, but I completely agree with him in his description of The Vision and One North East. I also agree with him about the importance of open debate about things that affect our community, so here is my contribution.
It is not conviction politics – but the lack of it – that shapes The Vision landscape. ‘Regeneration’ quangos have been set up by successive governments, both Tory and Labour and what characterises them is their unaccountability and their distance from real people and their concerns. They are about retaining power and influence with a few unelected people and have nothing to do with proper democracy and community involvement. Readers might like to take a look at the personnel who sit on these Boards (and the related jobs and consultancies) and see the inter-connections – and also see how the money goes round….and round! And then there are the self-congratulatory ‘awards’ and back slapping ‘accolades’.
Our current batch of politicians on all sides don’t seem to be able to understand the meaning of integrity and, yes, as Trevor says, these quangos are used by them to tell the public what amazing things are being achieved. This just adds the word ‘patronising’ to the many others that come to mind in describing the current set up of self-interest.
Somehow, however, I still manage to believe that the future of Barnard Castle will lie in the hands of the people who live and work in our community. But we need to find a way of making sure our views and concerns are taken seriously – and wrestle back the power to change things and have a proper say in how our money (and it is ours) is spent. Whatever the result of the election – it will still be up to us.