Darwin Desperation

I’ve been told that the local Tories have a photo of me drinking champagne at the Darwin birthday party back in February. They intend to use it “Against me” apparently. Hopefully this is idle speculation, because if not it represents a pretty desperate view of the world.

As an elected Borough and County Councillor, it was not unreasonable for me to attend such an event. For the record all I had was a plastic cup of either champagne or sparkling wine along with around 100 other people. It was hardly the free event of the century. At the time I had no idea of the  huge eventual total cost of the Darwin celebrations – if I had any idea of the eventual cost I would have choked on my drink.

Instead of pointless stunts, what the residents want (see  Shrewsbury Chronicle 14th January 2010 page 9) are answers to my questions about how the councils managed to spend £750,000 on these celebrations with very little apparent accountability.

The Shropshire Star published two very good reports on the final cost of what many residents feel was almost a fiasco. Yet we are still waiting for some credible figures to show exactly how much real inward investment and business was brought into Shrewsbury in return for this huge expense. The ruling Tory Group on Shropshire Council ought to be turning their attention to this question in my view.

Darwin Celebrations – The Reckoning

I was very disturbed to see the cancellation of the 200th anniversary bonfire event at the West Mids Showground, especially as this event was going to be the planned finale of the Darwin Bi-centenary Celebrations 2009.  It is a great shame, but entirely typical, that the year has finished on such a damp squib of a note.

Such promises were made at the start of the year, and very large sums of money were committed by the Tory led former Borough Council. Yet the feeling amongst ordinary hard working people who struggle to pay their council tax is that we seem to have got precious little for our money.

That is the reason why I am asking questions about how the money was spent and what were the results of this expenditure. There has been much press coverage of the problems and huge cost increase in building the Quantum Leap sculpture. However, local residents may well be surprised to hear that the following sums were approved by SABC to be spent as well:

Community Fund -£70,000

Signage & Interpretation-£5,000

Marketing -£50,000

Midlands Co-ordinator-£5,000

Darwin Play-£50,000

Darwin Festival-£15,000

Student’s Darwin Debate-£5,000

Welcome Host Training-£20,000

Real Time Festival-£30,000

Books and Merchandise-£50,000

I will keep digging on behalf of residents until I get some answers.

Darwin Fiasco – The Big Dedication

On Thursday last week the local council held a big dedication ceremony for the Charles Darwin Quantum Leap artwork in the town centre which has been dubbed locally as “The Shropshire Slinky.”

Gathered were the planners, council members, former council members and a host of dignitaries including the honourable Mayor and Mayoress of Shrewsbury. They were joined by the band from Shrewsbury School who performed a classical piece written by one of their students and a direct descendant of Charles Darwin who gave a speech dedicating the art installation to his proud ancestor.

Not everything was as well as it seems though, many local residents in the town passed negative comment on the art installation as well as the expenditure and health and safety problems that the sculpture poses.

I am not fan of the project, I am on public record saying as such. After I received phone calls from a group of local people who thought that the ceremony showed yet more spending on the ever spiralling costs of this project, I decided to go along with a small group of interested people and my “Origin of What?” banner to see what reaction the public had to the event. I kept the group small because of the obvious health and safety problems posed by the projects location next to a busy road through the town.

I found that the general feeling from the public to the project was a negative one and not just on the case of they did not like the art. The majority of people objected to the location and the amount of money being spend on the piece which matches my personal view on the project.

I am the first to point out that art is art and that by definition not everyone will like it or appreciate it but I am glad to see that the matter of taste is not the issue that the people of Shrewsbury have with the Quantum Leap but the cost.

I was shocked to hear a few of the invited dignitaries discussing the installation and asking the question what the council is going to do to stop children and toddlers trying to climb it.

Quantum Leap -For or Against?

An open letter sent to Daniel Kawczynski

Daniel Kawczynski MP
Constituency Office
Unit 1, Benbow Business Park
Harlescott Lane
Shrewsbury
SY1 3FA

Dear Daniel

QUANTUM LEAP-FOR OR AGAINST?

Now that the Quantum Leap sculpture is finished, I was wondering what your views about it are.
Having regard to the fact it is now going to cost a total of £450,000, which is £100,000 than the original agreed contract sum, do you think the way the project has been handled has been acceptable?

It now appears that the Council Tax payers of Shrewsbury will have to foot the bill for the extra foundation works and alignment problems, which seems to the project has not been competently handled to say the least. The responsibility for this mess must lie with the Tory leaders of the former Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council.

However I recall during the Unitary debate you were very full in your praise of these people. For example on 21 March 2007 during the Westminster Hall debate on Local Government in Shropshire you said “I invite the Minister to come and look at the way in which Shrewsbury and Atcham borough council operates. It has an excellent chief executive and a formidable council leader, Peter Nutting. It is a truly excellent council, and it would be a great disservice to the people of Shrewsbury if it were dismantled, destroyed and thrown out in favour of an untried and untested unitary authority”.

Can you confirm if you stand by those comments now in the light of the Quantum Leap fiasco?

Yours sincerely

Jon Tandy
3 Snowdrop Close
Shrewsbury
SY3 7TU

Darwin Fiasco

Back in June 2009 I wrote about a new art installation in the town centre to commemorate the life and work of one of Shrewsbury’s most famous residents Charles Darwin, author of “The Origin of the Species” and one of the most prolific figures of the past 200 years.

Today I asked the local council not to spend any more money on the Charles Darwin Quantum Leap art project. The response that I received from them was that they had no choice but to give the extra £100,000 to finish the art installation because they had to honour the liabilities left to them by the now defunct Tory controlled SABC.

I feel that the arts should be funded in the community but I believe that this installation has been a fiasco from start to well, its not even finished yet and that there are better ways to commemorate the life and work of Charles Darwin other than an abstract art installation that is sinking into the river.

I am now asking for people to assemble in front of this art installation tomorrow afternoon at 3pm (weather permitting of course) to voice their opinions on the excessive funding black hole of a project. A banner saying “THE ORIGIN OF WHAT” will also be displayed.

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