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Exclusive: Scrap nanny state posts and public loos, anti-PC lobby tells mayor
SCHOOLS in Doncaster should be adorned with pictures of the Queen, children in care should be sent to boarding schools and pubs should be paid to provide public toilets, according to policies drawn up for the town's elected mayor.
A policy briefing prepared for Mayor Peter Davies also suggests scrapping Doncaster's local education authority, ending the employment of youth workers and scrapping arts subsidies.
It has been drawn up by the Campaign Against Political Correctness (CAPC) at the request of Mayor Davies, from the English Democrats Party, who last night insisted no action had been taken on any of the suggestions.
The policies were derided as "tap room popularism" by one of his political opponents. Independent Alliance councillor Tony Brown, vice chairman of the council's scrutiny committee, said: "His policies are those of a tap room, the bloke in the corner spouting what he'd do if he got elected."
The briefing suggests cutting a host of spending deemed as "politically correct".
Black History Month should be replaced by British History Month though in the copy of briefing obtained by the Yorkshire Post "British" has been crossed out and replaced, in handwriting, by "English".
Mayor Davies declined to discuss the briefing when contacted yesterday. The council press office later said none of the briefing had been acted upon and insisted the issues were not currently under consideration.
Briefing also includes scrapping education authority and sending pupils tyo boarding schools
THE political life of Doncaster has been a colourful affair down the years and the policy briefing prepared for the elected mayor certainly fits with the town's reputation.
The wish list drawn up for Mayor Peter Davies by his supporters at the Campaign Against Political Correctness (CAPC) includes a raft of money-saving suggestions with scrapping public toilets in favour of paying pubs for access to their loos chief among them.
The suggestion says: "The old- fashioned public lavatories represent pretty poor value for money... A better arrangement is to pay pubs a small fee for agreeing to allow non drinkers to use their loos."
Council officers should also no longer benefit from a Town Hall canteen that should "probably be closed" with the notion that "better fare would be found along the high street at Spudulike." The fast food chain may well provide high-quality jacket potatoes but officers might have to spend an extended lunch-break locating them as no outlet exists in the town.
Schools should benefit from having a picture of the Queen and the flag displayed – though it is not clear whether this would be the St George cross, which might suit Mayor Davies' English Democrats Party, or the Union flag.
Elsewhere, there's a call to scrap all "nanny state" posts, including "Five a Day" officers and "Real Nappy Officers". The council's Press office was a little nonplussed about the job titles when contacted yesterday but did confirm that neither are employed in Doncaster.
John Midgley, co-founder of CAPC, explained that "Five a Day" refers to health promotion staff who encourage daily intake of fruit and vegetables and "Real Nappy Officers" encourage mothers to use traditional nappies instead of disposable.
He said that not all the policies would apply to Doncaster but they had been drawn up as a template to tackle "political correctness" and cut costs.
Mr Midgley added that the proposals were meant to provide "food for thought" for the mayor and didn't necessarily all apply to Doncaster. "At the end of the day it's for the mayor to make decisions."
The campaign's briefing is full of money-saving suggestions and the common sense approach of some of them would find favour with many.
Speeding up the planning process, stopping expenditure on management consultants, cutting down on printing costs, and keeping a tighter rein on absenteeism are among many which would strike a chord with council taxpayers.
But elsewhere, policies seem to be less thought through. A desire to place more children in care for adoption tips over into "where possible send the remainder to boarding schools." How this would be achieved or funded isn't explained.
Another suggestion says: "Scrap the local education authority (LEA) clerking service for school governor meetings. One of the governors can take the minutes or the headmaster's secretary. Or just scrap the LEA.." The radical leap to abolishing the entire education body isn't further explained.
Further on, the briefing says: "Set a maximum number of words on the length of reports submitted by officers. Long reports that nobody reads are a waste of officer time."
There is no suggestion of what the number of words might be and it is difficult to see issues involving large numbers of representations, could be easily condensed into short reports.
A populist approach helped Mayor Davies into power and the policy briefing includes measures which would prove popular with a disillusioned public. Whether it becomes reality is now in the hands of the mayor, who declined to discuss the document last night.
WISH LIST FOR DEMOCRATS
Key briefing points:
Picture of the Queen and flags in schools;
Scrap public toilets and pay pubs to allow access to their loos;
More children in care to be adopted - where possible send the remainder to boarding schools;
Scrap arts subsidies;
Cease youth worker employment;
Close the Town Hall canteen - officers to go to spud-u-like instead;
No police cover for 'PC events' unless paid for privately by organisers.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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