Your writer wasn’t at the last Goole Town Council meeting myself, but I have been given a wee summary by somebody who was present.

I’m told there was a discussion about converting a house (this time iin Swinefleet) into an HMO. Someone said that parking is an issue,  that residents of Carter Street are very annoyed, complaining they have to park several (four was mentioned)  streets away - even before VPG gets anywhere near its Town Deal target of 65000 visitors a year.

It was said to me that Goole Councillor and East Riding Leader Anne Handley said "Tenants in HMOs near the town centre don't need a car - there are buses and trains available".  

People living in Carter Street can tell you first hand that residents in HMOs have cars, and also taxis given the number that regularly seem to park, including on double yellow lines, around the former Victoria Working Men’s Club, now we are told a church. This is putting a huge strain on parking with residents having to park in other streets, as seems to have been stated in the council meeting.

On the one hand, it’s fantastic to see a Goole person as a leader of East Riding Council. It’s also fantastic to see women punching through the “glass ceiling”. We can relate to how great a feeling it must be to have achieved the position. It’s disappointing though to see that same person so out of touch with what is going on in the town she is supposedly representing, and being so condescending and patronising about a particular group of residents. There is almost a sense of a modern day version of the Marie Antoinette legend: “Let them eat cake.”

Official statistics show that that the total number of migrants to the UK, and also net migration (total number of migrants minus the total of people who have emigrate) started going up significantly from the time David Cameron became Prime Minister. It seemed to dip before Boris Johnson’s 2019 election victory, and since December 2019 it has really rocketed. The Government seems to blame all the country’s problems on people who cross the Channel illegally on boats. They are a small fraction of the number the Government is allowing in legally while using the slogan “stop the boats” as a smoke screen.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06077/#:~:text=What%20are%20the%20UK's%20latest,net%20migration%20figure%20of%20672%2C000.

It is likely that the Government has allowed in so many people from outside Europe as part of its strategy to reduce inflation - bringing in workers from overseas brings down payroll costs. If that is the case, the Government should be honest about it, and allow the public to decide whether they want low migration and higher wages and price rises (but less pressure on services), or increased migration, so lower inflation but more pressure on housing and services (which will need investment).

Many of the people living in the older parts of town, including those living n HMOs are doing important work that keeps things going for everybody.

There is a worrying lack of transparency in what the national government is doing, and also at local level. There were apparently comments at the Council meeting that minutes are late coming out, and not informative.

I wasn’t at the Council meeting myself. I don’t think the person I talked to who did attend would make things up. A Goole Times member of staff was present. However, the Goole Times provided considerable publicity to Cllr. Handley as part of her campaign to reach her present position, and it also seems to be the mouthpiece of the two councils, the Town Deal Board and big corporates, so it has lost credibility as a reliable source of information.

Cllr Anne Handley was elected to be a Goole councillor on East Riding Council with 830 votes in May 2022. The turnout was around 20%. The lack of transparency, and the lack of concern for so many of Goole’s residents, the way people are sidelined and rubbished, publicly labelled “moaners” if they are not unquestioningly supportive, shows in how few people have been going out to vote. They have lost faith that voting changes anything.

But that may well be precisely how the Government and East Riding Councillors want things to be, because it gives them power and prestige. We seem to be replicating the early stages of Vladimir Putin’s rise to power to a worrying extent.

Thanks to everyone who has signed so far, and those who talk to me on local issues (that’s what these updates are based on). Keep talking, keep sharing, keep moaning, keep signing!