Bath

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Electoral suicide, a naïve idiot from London who is known as "gaffe prone" He spent a whole 2 weeks in Bath campaigning- should of spent some of that time on understanding the city.
When people tell me that people must be forced to do something I tend stop listening to them.
Post 2015 election he will be moving on.

"Ben, who has already been out canvassing in the city, said he will also be campaigning to protect grammar schools, open more free schools and improve the standards and status of higher and further education"
Grammar schools!!

Nothing to worry about, are there any Tory voters left?

Never been a fan of "blow ins" and this guy is shaping up to harden my views on them. The big problem they face is that they get selected with zero local profile and then feel they have to start making comments to get themselves media time. However they've not been here long enough to understand what they are talking about. He could really do with a very good local "handler" to keep him on message. Appearing to attack Bath Rugby is probably not a statistically good career move where the balance of those supporting and those anti (as opposed to couldn't care less) is rather one sided!

Can anyone shed any light on why he says Bruce should shell out for facilities around Bath which are nothing to do with the rugby club, the Rec or himself?

Because he want votes.

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Stuart

Former ed.

But surely he must be trying to justify that argument in some way, he won't be saying that to the media will he!

He's probably been told that the Rec is a Charitable Trust, and thinks that, to compensate, Bath should be paying for facilities to make up for the space. What he obviously doesn't know, if so, is the details of the swap.

Politicans not noted for their intelligents, lowest of the low IMHO

What probably happened is that he went along to one of the display things, someone having a bit of a grump said Bath Rugby should do something about the awful Sports Centre, and before you can say 2+2=5 we've got Bath Rugby contributing to the leisure facilities despite not actually impacting on them which is the general premise of what used to be S106 payments now called Community Infrastructure Levies.

Like a number of consultants, not knowing much about the subject won't stop him trying to sound authoritative about it.

The danger is that with the Lib Dem's popularity bumping along the the floor, and Don 'where's my ermine?' Foster reportedly unlikely to stand again, the seat could be a shoe-in for the Tories. It was for quite a number of years, after all.

So this guy may be a plank and Osborne toadey, but we need him onside.

The Chron gives a little more background and basically he full of bovine extraction. Incidentally he was chair of the "Conservative Future" (aka young Tories), he won on the princely sum of 369 votes out of a membership of 18,000 (votes cast 629). He won the Bath selection with 124 votes on the first ballot. The LD majority is 11,883.
I will never complain about the unions voting systems again!

I find it hard to believe that people who are annoyed at the LibDems for going along too far with Tory plans are going to switch from Tory lite to Tory Gold although its possible. It does also depend on who the LibDems pick to replace Don although they keep saying that he has no plans to retire. My money is on him standing down and a similar career candidate being put up.

How to ingratiate yourself with the majroity of the people of Bath in one fell swoop.

I bet he was caught out canvassing Worthy, who then revealed his comments to the press.

WestonDave, the situation may be that a lot of people who voted LibDem tactically believing Foster to be a decent man will revert to their true allegiances, such is the disgust at his claiming one position then adopting another. That could significantly evaporate his majority. And once the Tories smell blood they'll be sure to up their game. After all, no-one thought Foster could usurp Patten in 92. But such was the dislike of the Tories that he managed it with, if I remember correctly, a three thousand majority.

It could easily happen again. But this time in reverse.

Ben Howlett has been misquoted.

As I understand it, the point he was making was that the Council had missed an opportunity by not having negotiations with the club to contribute to improved leisure facilities around the city earlier in the process.

He has not said that the Council should try to force the club to do anything and he has not specifically cited the leisure centre.

It's a direct quote in the article:

He said: “Bath’s leisure facilities are a vital community asset. Residents I met at the exhibition want to know why the Lib Dem council is not calling on Bath Rugby to invest money into facilities across the city. This could end up being yet another example of a missed opportunity. I will be fighting for the best deal for Bath residents and calling on the council to request additional investment.”

Read more: [www.bathchronicle.co.uk]

Why on earth should Bath Rugby pay for leisure facilities around the city? To link that to planning is extortion, pure and simple.

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Stuart

Former ed.

Stuart, take a deep breath and read that quote again.

“Bath’s leisure facilities are a vital community asset."

No argument there.

"Residents I met at the exhibition want to know why the Lib Dem council is not calling on Bath Rugby to invest money into facilities across the city."

Note, no mention of "forced" or "leisure centre", which were terms introduced outside the quote.

"This could end up being yet another example of a missed opportunity." Yes, it could be that if the Council had put this forward to Bath Rugby that they may have found there were fruitful discussions to be had. They didn't so there wasn't.

"I will be fighting for the best deal for Bath residents and calling on the council to request additional investment.”

What else would you expect him to say? Bath needs more investment in leisure facilities and the prospective MP sees this and would like discussions to take place about what might be done about it.

What is offending you about this quote?

The guy will say whatever he thinks will get him the most votes so he can get his nose in the MP's trough.

I guess he believes an attack on Bath rugby will do the trick.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 27/11/2013 09:55 by OutsideBath.

Outside Bath, he isn't attacking Bath Rugby, he is attacking the Council.

Quote:

malco
Outside Bath, he isn't attacking Bath Rugby, he is attacking the Council.

Really? He wants Bath rugby to pay for facilities across the city, hardly a friend of the club is he.

Probably shouldn't comment too much more about him as it'll just take the thread off topic.

That's not what he's saying. He is saying the Council failed to take a robust position in negotiations with the rugby club. Bruce Craig is funding the new arena, which is a major asset for the city and is being built on land he doesn't own and which Bath Rugby will only use on 20-something days a year. He is making a huge philanthropic gesture to the city. Bath needs better leisure facilities. Doesn't it make sense to put two and two together and see if you can make four?

Malco, could you answer Stu's question please? It's the question which comes to mind for most of us I imagine when reading the article:-

'Why on earth should Bath Rugby pay for leisure facilities around the city?'

They shouldn't, unless they want to. Nobody is saying they should be forced to - other than the Chronicle. What harm is there in exploring the possibility though?