Dear Sir,
I am replying to Mrs Maud Gray because she explicitly required a response from me and I have three things to say.
FIRSTLY, someone who is elected unopposed is not ‘selected’ – they are as democratically elected as a candidate who has won at the ballot box.  Mrs Maud Gray has forgotten that ALL THREE of her husband’s Independent colleagues on the Town Council were elected unopposed – I wonder what they thought about her letter.
SECONDLY, if she has an idea for a scheme to honour residents, her husband can submit it as a proposal to any meeting of the Town Council.  Recently he submitted a motion which, ironically, asked us to select, rather than elect, our Mayor.
FINALLY, why are we discussing this when we are barely a fortnight away from a General Election which, if the Tories win, could destroy the North-East?
Why are we not debating issues such as:
• Abolishing the Bedroom Tax
• Ending the sell-off of the NHS
• Stopping tax avoidance
• Making gas and electricity more affordable
• Raising the minimum wage
• Devolution for the North-East
• Ending zero-hours contracts
• Planned coalition cuts to welfare and public services
But then, maybe that is the strategy, to get us obsessing about minutiae of the Parish Council, rather than the make-or-break choice which we will face on 7th May.
John D Clare
Press Officer, Great Aycliffe Town Council Labour Group