The picture on the right is the new photograph of the Conservative Administration in Barnet who are too cowardly to accept an invitation from the Jewish Community Housing Association to meet some of the residents who will be affected by the council’s proposals to scrap warden services.
Local campaigner Vicki Morris has been fighting hard to retain the warden service for residents living in sheltered accommodation, and details of the Tory snub can be found on her own blog.
If you hold public office, you are accountable for your actions. If you take a decision which is unpopular, you must be prepared to explain and defend your position.
But to refuse to meet the people whose lives your decision affects is utterly reprehensible.
In response to the invitation from Jewish Community Housing Association, Cllr Lynne Hillan, who as Cabinet Member for Community Services was responsible for the proposed cuts, told the Barnet Times: “As the association is a contractor to the council, I believe it is highly inappropriate that they should be so overtly political.”
The Conservatives do not have a mandate to slash the warden service. It was not part of their last manifesto. Jewish Community Housing Association are simply doing their job, which is far more than can be said of the people responsible for dreaming up this atrocious policy.
UPDATE: Cllr Duncan Macdonald has posted an update to the warden situation on his blog. He says: “It’s not good news.” Not The Barnet Times agrees.
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