Former leader of Harlow Council: Conservatives owe residents an apology (or a Council tax rebate)
News / Sat 9th Oct 2021 at 11:18am
Dear Editor.
IN the run up to the May Council elections earlier this year, Harlow’s Conservatives spent a lot of money on election literature promising an immediate reveiw of Council tax, leading to a cut in bills and money back to bill payers.
Five months later all is quiet on the Council tax rebate front. Not one penny has been cut from bills, not one penny has been returned to Council tax bill payers.
Whatever the reason for their failure to deliver on this promise so far, Harlow’s Conservatives should either apologise for misleading residents or come clean about when and how much money tax payers will be getting back.
Yours sincerely
Mark Ingall
Former Labour leader of Harlow Council
Pauline S
2021-10-09 16:35:48
So the Conservatives thought we had all forgotten what one of their members said months ago. Thanks for the reminder!
Roy
2021-10-09 16:59:32
Didn’t realise that Ingall has so hard up living in his large estate in Tye Green Village. I would expect any tax cuts to be announced for the coming financial year. Surprised that Ingall, who lead the council for years does not understand that the financial year and budget start each April, when he and his mob were in power. The Tories only took control towards the end of May! Ingall is clutching at straws because his administration built ZERO council houses and saw the town centre around market square reduced to a third world dump.
David Hughes
2021-10-09 20:09:48
Come on now, we all know what a ball shitter he was. It's good to see the back of him. The only problem is who's the next waste of space. Pay them all back with interest. DON'T VOTE FOR ANY OF THEM !!
Debbie
2021-10-09 20:51:59
He was the leader of a useless council that always increased taxes while the town went down the pan. He must be missing all the perks he lost when he was kicked out by the voters in May. He is a joke.
Yaz
2021-10-09 22:30:34
Well said Mark Ingall. The Tories are all liars and thiefs they make promises that they cannot keep 😡
Doreen green
2021-10-09 23:48:32
You want to blame anyone Ingall you know who calls the shots in the council and sadly it is not any of the councillors!! As you rightly know!! Labour gave up trying and you let the council staff run the show (if run is even the correct terminology given the state of the town) without challenging anything and now I imagine conservatives are fighting daily battles to have a voice in any decision making! The whole top tier of management at the council needs sacking off!!!!! Then let’s make a fair decision on who’s best for council politically, and on record I would never vote you personally back in just for your rude arrogant derogatory personality traits!
Carol
2021-10-10 06:43:50
Wouldn’t trust Ingall to run a bath. Horrible lazy man.
Andrew
2021-10-10 09:12:19
Not sure why so many people are being so critical here. The issue was a clear promise that any reasonable person would interpret as ‘immediate means immediate’. If they say they’re going to hold an immediate review and change something then they should have known they could have done it early in the year. The leading Tories have been in Council long enough to know how it works. Mr Ingall is asking a reasonable question and let’s hope we get a reasonable answer rather than petty insults.
Nicholas Taylor
2021-10-10 09:38:26
I am afraid that both main Parties are as bad as each other. If we look at the Conservative election pledges made last May, the fact is, that to reduce Council Tax part way through the year would cost tens of thousands of pounds in administration costs, probably outweighing any reduction that could be made, they pledged to stop development of Green Belt land around Harlow, but what they have done since will make no difference, the new hospital is delayed by at least a year and is not fully funded and a more recent pledge to create the best cycle track system in the world must surely result in failure (why is there no cycle link to the Gilden Way development for instance?). I am afraid that unless residents take the opportunity to vote for an alternative or the 70% of people who don't take the trouble to vote come out and do so, then things will never change.
Tony Durcan
2021-10-10 11:25:00
The truth is the truth and Mark is only quoting the truth. Misdirection and spin won’t enable the Tories to hide the truth. They made a promise and broke it straight away. You know Mark is right as the Tories can only attack the author of a very reasonable fair and honest question. Why not answer the question instead. Spin the lie but it will never destroy the truth.
Chris Vince
2021-10-10 20:06:41
'if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.'
Molly
2021-10-10 20:54:14
Durcan and the truth do not go in the same breath. He constantly berates the new Conservative administration that has only been in office since May in the middle of a global pandemic and expects them to deliver everything immediately after 10 years of Labour mismanagement and incompetence. Get real Durcan!
Tony Durcan
2021-10-10 23:00:21
Molly the truth is very simple They told Harlow vote for us and we will reduce your local taxes. People voted for them and guess what … They simply lied. All Mark is asking is an answer as to why they won’t honour a clear commitment. My guess they will blame the former Tory leader who suddenly decided to resign!!!.
Keeley
2021-10-16 08:21:26
not sure why you are all having a go at.Mr Ingall, politics is politics no matter what he may or not of done they made a promise to reduce council tax to get voters to back them now they need to deliver on that promise !!!!!
14 Comments for Former leader of Harlow Council: Conservatives owe residents an apology (or a Council tax rebate):