Dear Sir,
I was quite saddened to read John Clare’s letter in last week’s edition. Although I very often disagree with his views and political stance, I must say Councillor Clare, and also Councillor Bob Fleming, have been the most prominent and influential local politicians for many years, and I hold them both in high regard. These are tremendously diligent and knowledgeable councillors with vast experience, and I thought it was sad that neither were elected to the County council on this occasion.
Councillor Clare was absolutely right in saying that being a County Councillor is a very onerous and stressful job if you do it properly. I see it as massively more onerous than serving as a town councillor. The briefest review of the papers for Council meetings on the durham.gov.uk website is enough to appreciate just how much documentation a diligent County Councillor needs to read, understand and make decisions on.
I suspect John Clare is one of the few who did this, not just on the Council, but on major committees. He wrote informative reports for us in the local press. He always responded promptly and honestly whenever I contacted him (and I am not even in his ward). His work ethic is phenomenal, he is articulate, erudite, caring and principled (though his principles often aren’t the same as my own!).
As I see it, if you build vast numbers of executive houses in the wealthiest ward in town, eventually it has to become a Conservative ward, especially when coupled with a disjointed Labour Party obsessed with political correctness and devoid of common sense. Even a distinguished individual like John Clare was bound to struggle for votes.
Although I unhesitatingly voted for Councillor Fleming, I suspect too many considered him too old to be a County Councillor, and perhaps the electorate has taken the view that the public has asked and taken enough pounds of flesh from him over the years and he doesn’t deserve the stress which would be placed upon him in the role. Bob Fleming stood head and shoulders above all the other candidates in my ward, despite his age. I knew he was a smart guy and that he had encyclopaedic knowledge of local politics, having seen this first hand as a public rep on the neighbourhood plan, but I did not realise he had had such a distinguished military career before becoming a head teacher. Bob has achieved success in three separate fields. Very few people could do this.
Time will tell whether the new batch of Councillors prove as worthy of the trust placed in them.
John Snowball