‘Die-in’ vigil by demonstrators protesting at fatalities on our roads

• NICE to see that party political point-scoring doesn’t stop just because we are in the advent to Christmas.

Was it really necessary for Labour councillor Claudia Webbe, executive member for environment and transport, on full council night, to remove the link between safe roads and public health, just because the relevant motion – based on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s stated views – was put forward by Councillor Caroline Russell, who is in the Green Party?

Part of Cllr Russell’s motion, which proposed that safe roads for pedestrians and cyclists are a matter of social justice (since the lower down the social scale, the greater the negative impact of roads on people) read: “This means linking public health outcomes to transport spending and aiming for zero people killed on our roads.”

That was removed by Cllr Webbe from the motion. The 47 loyal flock of Labour councillors – or rather the rump who bothered to turn up at the town hall on full council night – enthusiastically voted for the truncated version, of course.

Cllr Russell was later accused on Twitter of opportunism by Cllr Webbe , because Cllr Russell voted for the amended version of the motion herself.

A question springs to mind: since the episode cannot be a pro-Corbyn move given that he is the one who came up with the connection between roads and social justice in the first place, is it the case perhaps that Cllr Webbe can hold her own party colleagues to ransom for her own personal point-scoring, regardless of the seriousness of the matter at hand, because a woman is needed on the council executive for the sake of gender balance and Cllr Webbe knows she cannot currently be replaced?

ANITA FRIZZARIN
Wedmore Gardens, N19