I’m a St. George’s parish girl at heart. I was born in St David’s, have spent most of my life living in St George’s town and have family and countless friends from this area. And, I mean, who doesn’t love the many (okay, two) shades of blue? So versatile with the colour yellow as well, if you find yourself at Lord’s. It’s a richly historical and fervently close-knit town.
It is also somewhat the town that PLP government forgot…
I firmly believe that all politics is local first and I count all of us on both sides of the aisle as the proudest cheerleaders for our parish. Unfortunately, in the past couple of years, that local support has not been backed up by the central government. It was one of their platform promises to “enhance the community of St. George’s”, but promises made and not kept are no better than ones never spoken.
They promised the construction of a marina in St. George’s. Whilst this has been announced, the construction and finished dates have continuously been pushed back and recent announcements noted a 48% increase in the cost from what was previously noted. This is a promise long in the making and I’ve yet to see anything come from it. Words alone cannot and should not be counted as progress.
They promised us a waste treatment facility. Again, there have been announcements made and promises made yet no discernable movement and/or no updates provided. This has supposedly been on the schedule for several years as well and it all seems more of a politically expedient throwaway comment as opposed to the priority it should be.
They promised to ensure that St George’s continues to have a voice by ensuring our right to “sole legislation”. This may be one of the more waffly of their promises but given the Government’s plan to reform the Corporation, it also becomes one of the most two-faced. The current hybrid nature of the Corporation of St. George’s means that those closest to the town’s issues are also the ones making most of the decisions. It translates to confirmed buy-in and equates to a more thoughtful and balanced direction. Changing that to a more quango template loses the localness of the politics.
There have been so many examples in recent years showing that St. George’s has been put on the backburner. We deserve better. They promised many things and delivered on few. That doesn’t surprise me, but it does sadden me. The PLP platform rightly made mention of St. George’s as a world heritage site, but this seems to be nothing more than a talking point for those at the echelon of the currently reigning PLP government. The skeleton of the support from this government for the revitalisation for our town might well exist but, unfortunately, we cannot support ourselves with bones and no meat.
Any content which is considered unsuitable, unlawful, or offensive, includes personal details, advertises or promotes products, services or websites, or repeats previous comments will be removed.
User comments posted on this website are solely the views and opinions of the comment writer and are not a representation of or reflection of the opinions of TNN or its staff.
TNN reserves the right to remove, edit or censor any comments.
TNN accepts no liability and will not be held accountable for the comments made by users.
