Last night at full Council another opportunity to stop Princes Parade presented itself. Cllr Tim Prater’s amendment (see video below) attempted to re-allocate the £29 million (see page 3) pound budget to Martello Lakes.
However, the opposition’s plan failed as earlier in the day, Cllr Ray Field (Lab) (pictured), who has taken Monk’s shilling by becoming a Cabinet member, voted with the Tories all night long. His vote with the Tories means Princes Parade will get its budget and continue apace due to Cllr Ray Field.
Councillor Field has accepted a place on the Cabinet, taking over former Cllr Ian Meyers position as Cabinet Member for Digital Transformation. This means Cllr Field is responsible for Information technology, information access, Freedom Of Information, security, RIPA and Customer service. For becoming a Cabinet member, Cllr Field will receive Monk’s shilling and extra £10,866 on top of his basic allowance of £5,433.
The amendment made by Cllr Tim Prater (Lib Dem) – as evidenced in the video above – and supported by Cllr Lesley Whybrow (Green) to the General Fund Medium Term Capital Programme failed to stop the development of Princes Parade by ONE vote.
The amendment fell by 14 votes to 15, would have removed the required £29m funding for Princes Parade Development from the Council’s Capital programme. The vote was lost after two members that voted to stop Princes Parade development in June – Labour’s Ray Field and UKIP’s Terry Mullard switched sides and backed the Conservative administration in opposing the scheme. The only Conservative Councillor to back the amendment was Peter Gane.
Moving on, two weeks prior to the local elections on May 2nd 2019 the Folkestone & Hythe Labour Party stated the following with regards to Princes Parade & Otterpool.
The people who voted Labour on this promise to stop Princes Parade have been betrayed and in particular by Cllr Ray Field.
As we understand the Labour Party never sanctioned their Labour member, Cllr Ray Field, becoming a member of the Cabinet. Also prior to the full council meeting a rather loud dispute ensued amongst Labour Cllrs outside the Council chamber. We have long suspected Cllr Ray Field being a closet Tory, now the evidence is the public domain and open for all to see.
Also at Full Council and Cabinet, it was agreed to bring the Council’s housing stock back in house. So the end of East Kent Housing has begun.
