I’m out of here says East Cambs councillor ‘frustrated and fed up’ with the ruling group he claims dismisses all suggestions
Cllr Ian Allen - Credit: Archant
A long-serving councillor has become so disillusioned with the political process that he has decided not to stand for re-election in May.
Councillor Ian Allen says he grown “frustrated and fed-up” with the ruling Conservative group at East Cambridgeshire District Council, who he says dismiss out of hand all suggestion and debate from opposition members.
Cllr Allen was first elected to the Haddenham ward in 1999 but says he will not be seeking to continue that run at the General Election.
Cllr Allen was a former leader of the Liberal Democrat group but left the party and became an un-aligned member in 2012 after disagreeing with some of the decisions taken by the national party as part of the Coalition Government.
He said: “I’m not standing again in May because it is a waste of my time. It doesn’t matter what anyone says, if you are not in the leading group then you are dismissed and I’m fed up with it.
“There are a group of four of five councillors who lead the Conservative group who are arrogant.
“I didn’t see eye-to-eye with Peter Moakes (former Conservative group leader) but he was very fair and reasonable and he would never sit and openly laugh in a meeting when someone put forward a proposal.
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“Who would want to be a councillor now? All we seem to do is cut budgets and sack people. I enjoyed being a councillor, its something I loved doing, but I’m so fed up with it that I don’t want to stand again.
“Maybe in four years time things will be different and I will stand again.”
At a meeting of full council, held last Thursday, Cllr Allen put forward a proposal calling on the council to review its finances looking ahead at the next five years and to gauge whether its spending plans were affordable.
Despite gaining support from Liberal Democrat and independent councillors, the motion was defeated by the Conservative group.
Cllr Allen added: “They basically voted against something which encouraged us as a council to be prudent and careful.”
