I write in response to Cllr Shirley Steel’s letter in last week’s publication where she criticises Radstock resident Hannah Davis for attacking the new Bath City Centre manager initiative. 

Hannah is absolutely right! Spending £50,000 on a City Centre manager for Bath is nothing short of Bath-centric and in no way at all benefits North East Somerset. This is just another example of the Council spending in the wrong place and not getting its priorities right.

If the Conservatives really are committed to North East Somerset they should show it. In her letter Shirley say’s ‘frontline services have been protected by the Conservative Cabinet’. Where have you been lately Shirley? The youth centre in your ward, ‘Laterz’, is closing. How is that protecting front line services? 

Conservatives have told me they are re-modelling the youth service, moving away from the traditional youth club base to detached work on the streets. Have the Tories asked the young people of North East Somerset if that is what they want? Certainly not! At the Youth PACT meeting I chaired last week young people were horrified and voted a youth centre/base as one of their top priorities.

The answer to the problem is simple – don’t waste £50,000 per year on a City Centre Manager for Bath. Spend it on keeping Laterz open and investing in our young people instead. 

As for the Lib Dems being Bath-centric? Liberal Democrats in Peasedown always have been and always will be Peasedown-centric.

Yours faithfully

Nathan Hartley (Cllr)

Liberal Democrat, Peasedown St John