The past week has seen further output from the East Riding Council / Goole Town Council / Goole Town Deal Board PR machine in its campaign, using public funds, to entirely control the narrative about Goole and marginalise anyone who disagrees with East Riding Council leadership’s worldview.
The Goole Times, whose current business model seems to be to turn a profit by being a tool of East Riding Council and big business (the company behind the newspaper is of course perfectly entitled to set its own business policies) included a long article about a meeting of Junction 36 business interests and council officials. The article trumpeted that Goole is now a go to example of how business is the answer to all society’s problems – with Goole’s “Freeport” status being billed as the new lynchpin of Goole’s success.
Freeport status offers tax incentives to companies to locate within the Freeport area. The genuine advantages include attracting investment and employment into an area that needs a boost to the economy, employment prospects and the community.
Tax is a very emotive issue. People tend to value what taxes can fund – defence of the nation, infrastructure, high quality healthcare free at the point of delivery, services like education, libraries, help for those in need – and indeed support for businesses. People, and businesses, tend to be a lot less enthusiastic about paying the taxes that fund all these desirable supports to society. It can often seem that the wealthier people, and business, are, the more they resent paying taxes. They often argue that their hard work is supporting the feckless. The other side of that argument is that the most fortunate in society owe their fortune to all that society has to offer – on their own, they would be having a tough time of it.
Chance conversations in Goole this week have again revealed a stark contrast between the issues people bring up in conversation (not issues I have brought up) and the outpourings from East Riding’s slick PR machine. They are concerned with the difficulties of getting attention and care within the NHS, social care, education, the continuing poor state of the infrastructure in the more established parts of Goole, lack of play areas, lack of things for young people to do in the context of tight budgets. While I have heard people say there are small signs things might be starting to get better, I’ve not heard anybody saying these are great times for Goole or Goole is the go to example of how to develop a successful and harmonious community by making business and wealthy people the only core priorities, and letting them off taxes. That said, I know small and medium sized businesses in Goole that are concerned about tax and other burdens on them.
In the latest East Riding Council magazine, it’s great to see Anne Handley extolling the virtues of encouraging children to read books and spotlighting what public libraries do. Goole library has an excellent team of staff and it is well used. However, it has in the past year or so seen Council Customer Services and Opportunity Goole crammed into its already significantly reduced space compared to the past. It is not a place to conduct quiet research these days – and remember pupils excluded from local schools are taught there among people loudly diverging personal matters to council reception and Opportunity Goole, plus choirs and children’s activities. That has been done as part of the low tax small government ideology.
Free at point of delivery high quality healthcare, free high quality education, affordable housing – these are investments in a civilised society, not the cost of the feckless.
A healthy and harmonious society is a better asset to business than a divided, unstable and unhealthy society. It’s a good investment. That’s why taxes are important.
The conversations out on the streets suggest people see things that way, rather than as the East Riding PR portrays things.
This petition has been amended to be sent to the Deputy Prime Minister, responsible for housing, communities and local government (though Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport should also be consulted) in the new Government. We are not saying the Town Deal is all bad, but we are saying the library should stay where it is and have more space, and in the context of the 2024 Olympics, the Town Deal should not be destroying the 400m running track and changing the purpose of Victoria Pleasure Grounds to the detriment of its neighbours’ quality of life.