SHORT SHELF LIFE OF TORY PLEDGE

Shrewsbury Chronicle readers should still be able to recall Conservative Borough Council leader Peter Nutting’s letter of 16 August 2007. The Borough Council he claimed, apart from the old Tesco site, Barker Street and Copthorne Road nursery, “Has no plans to sell any other assets whatsoever at the present time.”

The Borough Council Cabinet Agenda for Monday 3^rd September tells a different story. At item 15 part of the proceeds of the sale of SABC land at Sundorne, known as the Matrix Medical site and the Shropshire Martial Arts Centre, are allocated to meet various costs. Officers are also requested to “Market the Shropshire Martial Arts Centre site as soon as possible.”

So the Borough Council are actively selling off further assets, directly contradicting what the Tory leader claims. Peter Nutting’s ‘No-sale’ pledge thus lasted less than 3 weeks. Is this a record for the shortest shelf life of a local Conservative promise?

Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski, who has repeatedly stated how excellent he feels the Tory leaders of the Borough Council are, is currently strangely silent on this important local issue.

As he has spoken in Parliament several times praising their performance, I look to him to explain exactly what is going on with our publicly owned assets.