CLENT INDEPENDENT

WHAT'S YOUR GRIPE?-WE SHOW COUNCILLOR RITA DENT'S EFFORTS TO SUPPORT HER PARTY AND DECISION MAKING!!

Flush council will not need a tax increase
We are now in a recession, Coun Rita Dent told us this. She also said the only people with money are the councils. if that’s so, she won’t be wanting an Increase in council tax this year will she, in fact why doesn’t she give the council an extended holiday for the next six months and see if anyone notices. Let’s look at what difference we would see...
The roads are never repaired, drains always blocked, part of our refuse we have to take to the tip, we might as well take the rest whilst we are at it, buses are a joke. Police, fire and ambulance, gas and electric, water people all work on their own, so what difference would we see then?
If we didn’t have to pay them, we would get a rebate and be able to pay our gas and electric bills out of it.
Stan Francis
Romsley village

Who will pay for Parkside?
I must take issue with some points inRita Dent’s rather patronising letter inThe Standard about the old Parkside School building.
Firstly, she is again raising the asbestos bogey. This problem has to be addressed whatever happens to the building. I think the problem is being exaggerated and the only asbestos is likely to be confi ned to pipe lagging. Surely the building will be surveyed to establish the extent of the problemand the cost of removal. Secondly, she claims the police and fi re services insisted on having that site not the council. This is a point that should have made public from the begining. With all due respect to this lady, I should point out that all sites in the Midlands are land-locked and even Bromsgrove District Council can’t bring the sea any closer! In the same paragraph she speaks of ‘when Sainsburys pay for a better junction’ not ‘if they pay’. If this is already a done deal, why bother to waste time and money on public opinion surveys? Thirdly you ask ‘who is going to pay for it?’ I would ask ‘who is going to pay for anything during the recession which is going to be with us for a long time?’.So don’t blame thousands of supporters of Parkside School if fi nance is hard to fi nd for the rejuvenation of Bromsgrove. 

B Holdsworth
Marlbrook

Lost windfall

10:15am Wednesday 21st January 2009

I READ with interest a letter from Rita Dent mourning the loss of a possible Bromsgrove windfall because of the Parkside School project.
My gripe is the loss of windfall due to unpaid council tax. When questioned as to why this tax hadn’t been collected, the answer was ‘because these people had left the area’.
No one works harder than this council, I was told, to trace where these people are. As a result £279,000, has had to be written off.

As a pensioner paying full whack, it does my season of goodwill spirit no good at all. This performance isn’t good enough. Council tax should be paid in the first month and this situation would never have arisen.
And now I read a report that we are faced with another tax rise in the spring. To make up for the shortfall?

Disgruntled, Bromsgrove 

Thank you & ALSO FOR VOTING AGAINST free SWIMMING PASSES FOR KIDS!

11:35am Tuesday 4th November 2008

I would like to thank Rita Dent for reminding everyone that I was proud to stand as a Labour party county candidate.

Should I have won the position, I can assure her that I would not be costing the hard pressed residents of Bromsgrove the excessive amount of expenses that the present elected Conservative council representatives are.

It is a bit ironic that Tory councillors voted against free swimming passes for kids, when the Tories in this county certainly are not shy of claiming such high personal expences.

Lord isn’t it a funny old world?

Mary Simones Jones Via email

A desperate act from our Rita as she supports the Tory PARTY YET AGAIN?

 9:58am Tuesday 9th September 2008
HOW despicable that Labour are so desperate that they are now trying to play party politics with the health of our children (letters August 19, Mary Simones-Jones on Julie Kirkbride and MMR – didn’t mention the fact that she previously stood as a Labour council candidate). First of all her facts are wrong. Julie Kirkbride MP never has said that she had proof that MMR caused autism. Why would she – there isn’t any. What Julie wanted was the choice for parents to have either the triple jab or single jabs available on the NHS as they were under the last Conservative government, but stopped under Labour. Moreover, if Labour activists really want someone to blame for any measles epidemic they might look no further than their own ex-prime minister Tony Blair, who refused to answer whether his own baby son had been given the MMR even though it was government policy for little Leo, like all children, to have it.

Rita Dent Agent to Julie Kirkbride MP

BUT THE OTHERSIDE OF THE ARGUEMENT LOOKS THE OPPOSITE AS PEOPLE ACT ON WHAT OTHER PEOPLE SAY??-"tenuous and circumstantial evidence" from Ms Kirkbride MP...THIS IS WHAT MAINLY STOPPED PARENTS FROM HAVING THEIR CHILDREN IMMUNISED??

MP presses MMR jab choice
Apr 23 2002
By Jonathan Walker, Birmingham Post
  The Government's "bull headed" refusal to give parents a choice over the controversial MMR vaccine has put children at risk, Midland MP Julie Kirkbride claimed yesterday.
Ms Kirkbride (Con Bromsgrove) launched a bid to change the law so that all parents are offered separate jabs for their children for measles, mumps and rubella.
Presenting a Bill in the House of Commons, she said the Government's insistence on offering only the triple vaccination had led to a fall in the number of children being immunised.
However, Ms Kirkbride was herself accused of putting children at risk by a Labour MP.
Backbencher Stephen Lady-man (South Thanet) said she had persistently bought "tenuous and circumstantial evidence" casting doubt on the safety of MMR to the public's attention.

Questionable...RITA SAYS THE ELDERLY GET ENOUGH CASH! 12:54pm Wednesday 9th April 2008

I FEEL the recent front page story on the car parking charges for pensioners, disabled and voluntary drives was distorted.

For the first part of the meeting, as a microphone was unavailable, nothing could be heard and could be why Kevin Dicks, the council's chief executive, answered each and every question with a question.

As for councillors Margaret Sherry and Rita Dent saying that us old folk have more than our share of rate payers' money, could they be a bit more specific and let us know- because I for one am surely missing out!

I shall try with difficulty' not to to on too much about the 2.5 per cent rise and free parking which our council representatives enjoy? Then I shall get on my bicycle, miss - hopefully - the 101 potholes and pocket the £300 saved by leaving the car in the garage or try to look for a bus to use the pass".

A Sidemoor resident, Bromsgrove

Flooding action 4:20pm Monday 6th August 2007

BROMSGROVE councillors are calling for action to ensure flooding, which hit the West Midlands in July, does not affect the town.

Blocked drains, and the Spadesbourne Brook being used for fly tipping, have caused fears that if the amount of rain in Droitwich and Pershore had hit the town, water would not have been able to drain away.

The Spadesbourne Brook has continued to suffer from anti-social behaviour, with the council continually clearing out bikes and other items from the brook. Last week a fence running alongside the brook near to St John's School, which had fallen down causing a risk to the public, had to be replaced.

Councillor Bill Newnes (Con-Whitford) said the matter of the drains was discussed at the last Whitford PACT meeting, where he seeked assurances from the Highway Agency that drains would be cleared. The fence had been replaced after ensuring it was made a priority.

Cllr Rita Dent (Con-St Johns) said: "The part of the brook which runs through my ward I regularly request to be cleared out, and check to make sure is clear." Neil Holmes, from Rock Hill, who recently wrote to the Advertiser/Messenger voicing his concerns, welcomed the actions of councillors feeling the authority was moving in the right direction, but believes more could be done as the council is ultimately resposible if Bromsgrove homes are hit by floods.

A new man at the helm 10:26am Wednesday 19th March 2008..ALAN DENT.

Husband of Rita Dent...THERE is a new man at the helm of the Bromsgrove Conservative Association.

Alan and his district councillor wife Rita, who represents the St John's ward and who is also MP Julie Kirkbride's Bromsgrove secretary, has lived in the town since 1985. He worked at Rover at Longbridge for 28 years and is currently with Severn Waste at Droitwich. The couple have two grown up children and four grandchildren.

He will be responsible for organising the selection of COUNTY ELECTION CANDIDATES and the important task of recruiting volunteers and workers, the backbone of any party.

Spring's county council elections are set to be Alan's first major challenge - one which he is anticipating with relish.

Presently the Tories hold six of the nine seats in the Bromsgrove area.

"Our plan is to take those other three," he said. "I am delighted to have been elected as chairman. My main objective will be to take the party forward and increase membership and continue our excellent relationship with our MP."