PUBLIC DEBATE: DON'T UNDERMINE CAMPAIGN
January 29, 2010 10:18 AM
"I notice that the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for North Devon is playing catch-up over plans to reduce Search and Rescue cover from Chivenor to a part time basis (NDJ Letters, 14 January, 2010).
"It may well be that due to his recent illness he has not managed to keep up with current developments in this important issue, important not only for North Devon but the whole of the South West although it has received extensive coverage in the Journal and elsewhere on a week by week basis.
"All that does not excuse his slur on the present MP for North Devon in implying that the MP has somehow been complicit in ignoring, or worse still hiding, the threat to public safety that this proposal poses. Nick Harvey is widely regarded, quite rightly in my opinion, as a very conscientious constituency MP, and to suggest otherwise simply diminishes the accuser in the eyes of the local community.
"If this is the way in which the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate proposes to conduct his election campaign he will lose any personal credibility he currently has with the electorate.
"Mr Harvey has been aware of this issue from the moment that the Government proposed to privatise this life saving service, and has monitored the process all the way through to the contract stage, being in personal contact with Quentin Davies, the responsible Defence Minister on a number of occasions including on the floor of the House, questioning the assumptions behind this proposal.
"He is working closely with communities and individuals across North Devon in the campaigning against the reduction in hours, and has recently lobbied effectively for the cancellation of a planned reduction in service hours this winter.
"Nick Harvey has made constituents aware of the issue and his personal involvement in three separate publications delivered to the vast majority of homes in North Devon in recent months. His website hosts a very popular petition which has been signed by many hundreds of people, joining the wider community based campaign sponsored by Ilfracombe Round Table and others.
"Instead of railing from the sidelines perhaps the Conservative PPC for North Devon needs to recognise the honest work done already and not, as it my opinion, seek to undermine the community campaign fighting to retain this vital service."
Peter Bradshaw
The Croft
Chittlehamption
This letter was first published in the North Devon Journal on 28 January 2010
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