Welcome to the website for an Independent Thanet District Council at the May 2007 elections.
I'm Tim Garbutt and if you're interested in joinging me then please contact me on timgarbutt@yahoo.com
TDC comprises Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Margate and surrounding villages on the Kent coast near Canterbury.
TDC is dreadful: it's rated in the bottom 10% of all 400 UK Councils by the Audit Commission - the GOverrnment's own auditors.
Control of the Council is evenly split between Tories and Labour with a few Independents and Lib Dems. Power changes hands every 4 years on a "Tweedledum Tweedledee" basis and nothing really changes.
Despite the public concewrns over poor services, lack of investment and - like many UK councils - a general approach to secrecy to cover up mistakes.
Concern over the scandals at Manston airport, Disabled Grants, selling off playing fields, closing public toilets, overbuilding at Westwood Cross means business as usual at TDC.
Nothing changes.
Unless.
We split the Vote.
Let's have as many Independents on the TDC Council as possible then the 2 main Party machines can't continue to put local issues second to special interest groups like Construction, Retail and Transport at the National level.
And so much that Kent County Council does is excellent (it's a 4 star Council not a 1 star like TDC) but where is the investment in the poorer areas of Kent.
To have TDC as one of the worst performing Councils in Britain in KCC's own backyard is a disgrace.
If the main parties carry on - as the Rowntree Report confirms - public interest and belief in politics is being eroded. National politics is too similar and simply has little relevance at a local level.
Who cares about Labour policy on Wales when the local bandstand in Ramsgate isn't painted.
Change under the present system simply means greater taxation and centralisation with the local bureaucrats and quangos fudging the paperwork to give the appreance of improvement. But on the ground services and infrastructure continue to decline.
Rosy reports to KCC and Westminster are just that: semi-fictional documents that have no relevance outside the filing cabinet they're placed in.
Time to change TDC: Britain's worst Council.
Check out the manifesto.
Cheers
Tim
