Lisburn councillors are fooling no-one

I write in response to Alderman Allan Ewart’s letter in which he attempts to excuse Lisburn City Council’s shameful decision to raise rates in Lisburn by 3.99% at a time when so many people are struggling to pay the bills.
By The Newsroom
Published 4th Mar 2012, 14:43 BST

Alderman Ewart is right that Lisburn’s rates hike is not quite double that of Belfast (2.6%), but this is hardly a cause for celebration. Indeed what Alderman Ewart fails to mention is that Belfast’s increase will help to fund a £150m investment programme in the city, while Lisburn City Council tries to explain away the increase citing such unconvincing factors as greater fuel prices for Council vehicles!

I hadn’t realised fuel prices in Lisburn were so much higher than in Antrim, which only raised rates by 0.96%, or Craigavon at 1.99%

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Perhaps Alderman Ewart would like to explain to the ratepayers just how much fresh investment Lisburn can expect from this colossal increase?

The very fact that he thinks the extortionate rate settlement the Council have struck is the best option in the present economic climate shows just how out of touch he and his fellow councillors have become. Perhaps Alderman Ewart should take a walk around our city centre and talk to traders to find out just how much they appreciate his efforts!

Our local councillors take great joy in trumpeting the fabled rates table on which as we are so often told Lisburn is the third lowest. What they fail to mention is that last year’s spending was heavily subsidised by the sale of land to the value of £2.4 million.

It is about time Alderman Ewart and the rest of Lisburn City’s councillors realised the public are not interested in carefully massaged figures or any other spin!

Neil McNickle

Northern Ireland Conservative Party

Related topics:LisburnAntrimBelfastCouncilCraigavon