I was away from the Village for a few days and after getting back I was appalled to see personal coded attacks made against one of our local councillors Cllr Jack Hornby. Although he is semi autistic he has done a lot for Spooner Row such as helping to get funds for the Village Hall etc. I am surprised that the administrator of this site allows coded personal attacks to be made against this man.
As a person who sometimes is in receipt of 'geniuine personal attacks' I have to say that there is a world of difference between constructive and factual critiscism , based on broken election promises and long periods of silence in response to comments and critiscism, on what sometimes appears to be complicity, to an alleged 'higher' authority, when , as has been pointed out what we need is local representation.
Jack's autism is well documented and is some instances his attention to detail is a great advantage in his role as a councillor.
I think Admin have every right to allow valid and justifiable commentary but I would be very much against personal attacks of the kind you are alluding to, and whilst there is a complaint procedure, as another correspondent has suggested ............chocolate fireguard comes to mind, although shall we say sometimes the willingness to address or more normally not address seriously the complaints appears to be politically weighted as pointed out by another anon contributor
I accept fully Jack's support and that of his fellow district councillors financial support for issues and projects in the village at least twice now. I am sure the village is very grateful.
Unfortunately as a Town Councillor I do not have available to me a sum of money to be allocated on a yearly basis to local projects of my choosing. In fact as a Town Councillor I get no monetary allowance or payment of any kind.
As my good lady reminds me , this is not true of District or County Councillors.
Jack Hornby is our elected representative. Autism, or any other disability, is an irrelevant issue. He was democratically elected to support our community. There are a lot of changes going on in the village that locals object strongly to and Jack is not engaging with those of us who have concerns about over developments in our village that the majority of us clearly do not want. Supporting the village hall is something to be expected, and is trivial compared to the proposed changes in the future of our village. I have been reading this site for years and the administrator of this site clearly does their very best to maintain standards and acts quite responsibly. Jack Hornby needs to address our concerns, rather than help force through the agenda of some of his fellow councillors.
Don't you think that claiming a district/ward councillor is under a "personal attack", a bit over-dramatic. If you read what has actually been said, Cllr Hornby is being criticised for not following through on his election promise and not supporting residents with genuine planning concerns. I cannot see any reference to him being attacked for a disability, as that would be wrong.
We do have freedom of speech and a right to criticise an elected member of the council when he/she does not follow through on their duties. Residents have a right to speak out about council decisions that impact on their lives and this should not in response, be misinterpreted and presented as a "personal attack" on a councillor, it deflects from the real problems people are facing.
I am surprised you have made these claims without providing the evidence. Having read the posts I can find no evidence of personal attacks, coded or otherwise. What I can see is reasonable and warranted grumbles from concerned residents about why our elected councillor is not backing up his election promise to the village. His silence about the issues is made even more curious given his recent public support for the refusal of the proposed waste plant in Morley.
Also, you can't be 'semi-autistic'. Autism is a clinical diagnosis, you have it or you don't. As Jack Hornby to the best of my knowledge did not publicise his disability in his election campaign I see no reason for you to use it in defence of his (in)actions. He was elected to be our councillor on the back of a manifesto, and if he steers away from this he should justify his change of direction.
