Letters: Doncaster Mayor and Conservative councillors address council row

Last month, Doncaster Council’s yearly budget was passed with Conservative councillors choosing to abstain on all votes.

Following, the Free Press published an article covering “smirks” from the opposition party as Mayor Ros Jones discussed government austerity in a speech.

She said that struggles in budgeting could be attributed to “13 years of government austerity”.

After the article’s publication, Councillor Jane Cox sent in a letter on behalf of the Conservatives.

She addressed a long history of disputes between the Labour council and the opposition.

It reads: “The venom that comes regularly from Labour councillors aimed at the Tory councillors is never reported. The other meeting we were openly insulted by the Mayor who when challenged refused to withdraw her comments. There are many more sadly. Name calling is not what one expects from elected office holders.

“The mayor continually tells us how terrible things are in one breath but then tells us the Council is winning awards and praise in the next breath. Her only line of defence for 13 years has been austerity despite many other councils achieving where we just get by at best.

“When Cllr Noon pointed out that no Council Housing had been built for over 10 years prior to ‘Austerity’ (a fact provided by DMBC themselves) under labour rule. They not only ridiculed him but do not believe the truth. The budget belongs to the Mayor and not the opposition who do not have access to the detailed financial information at her fingertips.

“Under this present Mayor, we have seen the town centre decline dramatically, libraries have been taken out of council control as have care homes as has the Doncaster market. All privatised with alarming consequences by a labour council.

“Time after time we raise this only to be sneered at and ridiculed. Yet none of this is ever reported. Why? This latest story is about a Labour Councillor claiming we were “smirking”. I found that to be an extremely spiteful phrase. I remain perturbed about how this has been reported. It’s trivia at best but in reality it’s a smokescreen to the shambles of a budget that this Labour Council have adopted.”

The Free Press privately contacted Coun. Cox to respond to comments about reporting.

Upon hearing about the letter, Mayor Ros Jones wrote a letter to respond to the claims.

It reads: “We constantly witness nasty comments online from local Conservatives alongside misleading and sometimes completely inaccurate information. I stand by my comments that it appears the Conservatives have sadly reverted back to being the nasty party, focussing on division and diversionary tactics to try and distract from the mess their party has brought upon Doncaster and this great country whilst in government over the past 13 years.

“The rich are getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. Levelling Up is promised, but virtually nothing delivered. Our NHS and public sector are in crisis. The only legacy these Conservatives will leave is that there are now more foodbanks across the country than branches of KFC & McDonalds which is an utter disgrace.

“As a council we have been successful in a number of government schemes, but surely the Conservatives cannot deny the sums of money that we are successful in being awarded goes no way to cover the £106million per year we are worse off following Conservative austerity measures.

“Doncaster has a large number of deprived communities, of which austerity has hit the hardest. We need to see true Levelling Up across Doncaster, for this we need long-term funding and investment, not just the piecemeal funding pots and one year funding settlements to public services.

“In terms of council house building Cllr Cox fails to acknowledge the complexities that are faced from the right-to-buy scheme and borrowing mechanisms within the Housing Revenue Account which have been explained to all councillors, plus I have only been Mayor since 2013, so to try and blame me or my cabinet for decisions made over 20 years ago is rather far-fetched.

“In relation to the budget Cllr Cox is being misleading, the Conservative group have the opportunity to put forward a motion to amend my budget proposals or present an alternative budget. They have access to all the necessary financial information for this, and Doncaster Council officers areavailable to support.

“When I bring my budget proposals to Cabinet and then to Full Council, the Conservatives have a chance to ask questions. For them to simply abstain from voting for any of my budget proposals shows that they do not object to them. They have the opportunity to vote against the decision or put forward budget amendments.

“Libraries across the country have been closed or are now operated by volunteers, this should be a simple example for the local Conservatives of how austerity has impacted Doncaster and the country. We have seen over 800 libraries close across the country since 2010.

“Our care homes were in need of significant investment in order to bring them up to standard and we had an oversupply of beds, we simply could not afford to renovate them, so had to make the difficult decision to sell them. This is the reality of the difficult decisions that have been made due to Austerity.

“Doncaster Markets were losing money to the value of over £580,000 per year, this simply was not affordable and I was not going to entertain the thought of closing our markets like many other areas around the country. We are actually investing heavily in our markets, because they are Doncaster markets.

“We must acknowledge that for the past decade we have seen the continuedrise of supermarkets and online shopping, this has decimated town and city centres across the country. This means we must think differently with our town and city centres, to encourage a more mixed offering of leisure, culture and hospitality alongside more town / city centre living, this will allsupport a reduced retail sector.

“I found it disgusting when the Conservative Councillors were smirking at the mention of Austerity, which they clearly have not denied. What they fail to realise is that Austerity has cost Doncaster greatly, and considerably more than affluent areas of the country.

“People have died as a result of Austerity, through reductions in vital public services from the Police, Fire Service and the NHS. The people of Doncaster are fully aware of the impacts of Austerity, and for the Conservative councillors to laugh and smirk at this shows complete contempt.