Worsley Watch - Labour PPC Tears into Lib Dem Marsh Plans

Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Donald Worsley has launched a sensational attack on Lib Dem plans for a tourism driven economy on the Marsh.

Comparing tourists to 'locusts', Mr Worsley forsees 'population decline, a low wage economy and our children emigrating in search of work'.

Never one to shy away from airing his views, Mr Worsley also criticises councillors in general for the 'appaling' public transport structure' on the Marsh.

Labour currently have no coucillors at local level, and it seems near impossible that Mr Worsley will be returned to parliament after the national election. Mr Worsley's forthright opinions and criticisms, sometimes levelled at his own party, have generated debate locally and on the web. Mr Worlsey's other posts are included in this blog and on the Romney Marsh Times.

Green behind the Ears

So Lynne Beaumont has decided to kick off her march on Westminster with the call for a conference of Town Hall and Parish Council delegations to attract eco-green tourists to Romney Marsh. How very vain. How intriguing.

One can only wonder in amazement what future attractions she has in store for us all. Glowing Geiger counter tours of the Dungeness Power Station once the eco warriors in her Party have closed it down for good. A 21st Century style Greenham Common encampment at Lydd Airport to stop future development and to ensure the only thing that flies across the Marsh is on the RSPB protected species list.

A new Model Railway along the Lib Dems "Nuclear Waste Line" from Appledore to Lydd on Sea to complement the appalling public transport structure Cllr Beaumont and her fellow Councillors have presided over these past decades.

And last but not least, never forgetting Shepway’s history Blue Plaques and Statutes to mark the spots where latter day Macbeths slaughtered their previous Lib Dem candidates and betrayed their party for the odious whiff of power.

Attracting tourists to the Marsh is a laudable ambition but seeking to preserve it in aspic without developing its industry, agriculture and infrastructure is not the way forward. We need look no further than the Scottish Highlands to see what can happen if an area is changed to rely exclusively on tourism for it’s prosperity. Population decline, a low wage economy and our children emigrating in search of work.

People on the Marsh from Brooklands to Dymchurch need jobs on their doorsteps not tourists passing through like a flock of locusts leaving nothing behind but a barren wilderness and more chaos on the A259.

But good luck to Cllr. Beaumont with her jolly on the Marsh. I hope it attracts thousands of Lib Dem delegates keen to clock up more expenses on the public purse. Perhaps however before the 1st of March someone had better warn them all it has long been their Party’s policy to shut down every public toilet in the area to discourage people coming here in the first place.

Donald Worsley
Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Folkestone & Hythe.