LETTER: Gib Hill is not under threat from development

FOR months, local Labour councillors and activists have been making claims that Gib Hill is at risk from development.

Some may call them “activists”, but I’d be more inclined to brand them “bandwagon hoggers”.

I have personally stated that I would not support development on Gib Hill, and as far as I’m aware no political party has said they would support any development on this land. Indeed there are no plans at all to develop the land.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

I wonder where Labour are getting the impression that Gib Hill is under threat of development? It’s a typical Labour tactic to claim something is under threat, and then claim they have saved it, when in reality there was never a problem in the first place. Maybe they’ll even follow Ed Miliband and his cronies and call for an inquiry.

Labour’s solution to save Gib Hill from the imaginary threat of development? A Community Land Trust. This puzzles me. You only have to look at the website for the national body for Community Land Trusts which states that they are “community-based organisations run by volunteers that develop housing, workspaces, community facilities or other assets”. It doesn’t look to me like a CLT is about protecting green spaces very much.

We must question what Labour’s hidden agenda is on this one, and whether they are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the people of Colne and Nelson. I’ve tried to speak on this issue, but the Labour chairman of the Nelson Committee has refused me permission on three separate occasions, and we are supposed to be a democracy. Not where the Labour Party in Nelson are concerned!

The fact is there is no threat to Gib Hill. There is no need to transfer the land to a trust, which no doubt would be headed by the likes of prominent Labour puppets like Azhar Ali. It’s time the pair of them put a bit more time into the real issues in Nelson rather than trying to scare the public who live here.

COUN. TOMMY COONEY

Marsden Ward