An offer of help from Bath Conservatives to the LibDem leadership of BathNES Council has been ignored, despite the major challenges facing the City following the Corvid-19 crisis.
The Bath Conservative Association wrote in early May to the Leader of the Council, Cllr Dine Romero, offering to set aside party political differences to help in the crisis. The Association offered to put at the disposal of the Council the knowledge, experience and contacts of its members, as the City faces economic and social challenges as a result of the lockdown.
Sadly, they have yet to receive even an acknowledgement.
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Bath Conservatives wrote as follows:
"Dear Cllr Romero,
The LibDem BathNES leadership has recently been very clear about the serious financial situation the Council is in, as a result of Corvid-19.
There is, right now, a £60 million hole in the Council’s budget. At the same time, it is clear that our City faces serious, long-term economic challenges, through the expected global downturn in tourism and the hospitality sector, on which so much of the local economy is based.
This very serious situation leaves BathNES with very unattractive options for action:
- reduce staff numbers and cut essential services
- raise Council Tax above the 5% national cap on increases
- sell off assets, namely the Council’s large commercial property portfolio, which generates £16m in income every year.
As concerned residents, we feel strongly that it is time to set aside party political differences, and come to the aid of our City. Our 2019 Parliamentary candidate, Annabel Tall, and our Bath Conservative membership represent a sizable pool of opinion, talent, experience and expertise, and we are making these offers of help:
- we offer to use our influence with the Conservative Government to support any applications you make for extra financial support
- let us engage with you, constructively, in plans on how to get the City back on its feet once Covid-19 is behind us
- we offer our skills and experience in supporting your emergency planning activity
- we offer to help with brokering deals with the business community and private sector generally, to help our City get moving again.
We appreciate there are others who can help too, but we want to do what we can. This is a serious offer of help: do get in touch.
Kind regards
Bath Conservative Association"
