When I saw that Joy Allen had been re-elected as PCC again I could not believe it, after the let down she had been in her previous term. I started to wonder how on earth she has been re-elected and started to look at the results. Firstly, the turnout was down by 10% and only a turnout of 25%, Joy Labour 66,752, Lib Dems 14,678, Conservative 37,773, this giving Joy 14% of the total electorate which, in theory, means 86% have no faith in her. I wonder why the 86% did not vote? Maybe they thought that as she had let them down why bother, but did not realise that by not voting for someone that they were letting her walk in. If Joy wants to prove now that she can do the job, as it seems, by her wording in the paper, she realises she has not, she must cut down the staff she has and prove she is capable of doing the job herself and not having to rely on others, the previous staff, prior to her first go, was five. These extra bodies would be better used as police on the streets and if the £50,000 van can be sold the money would create more bodies, the farce with the – white elephant – hub still standing empty needs to be sorted out. There must be no more lame excuses and broken promises regarding a new police station in Newton Aycliffe as the question asked, at last July’s meeting in Aycliffe, ‘will we end up being policed from the new hub’ come to life. Please remember that not being able to contact the police by phone, with long delays, or is this common now, not bothering at all? This has seen ASB and crime rise not go down, you can’t blame the few police officers we have as she is letting them down, the same as us.
We can only watch to see if things get better and if they do not you can, if Joy is available, email her with your concerns and see if you get an answer from her and not just one of her helpers.
John Armstrong, Newton Aycliffe.