Hatchet Job on Joanna Biddolph in Private Eye
I've scanned below an article about Joanna Biddolph in the latest Private Eye. I know she is a marmite politician and some people have no time for her — while her personal vote shows she is popular with her constituents but I don't think any fair-minded person can believe this item is reasonable.
Having gone through the greatest hits consistently wheeled out by her detractors — cherrygate, lack of enthusiasm for market etc — the writer focuses on a planning issue in which Cllr Biddolph appears to have intervened. Set aside that that is her job and that the story relies on the say so of a disappointed developer, the bigger problem is that it suggests the borough planning officers will meekly do whatever she tells them. From what I can see over the years, the opposite is the case and she has had little success in influencing planning applications in her ward. She probably won't be too bothered by the article but the unnamed council officers have every right to be aggrieved.
Private Eye is great and I particularly enjoy Rotten Boroughs but this article seems really out of place given the terrible things happening in local government across the country. I'm guessing the regular writers are away and some intern has picked up the story in a quiet week for news.
Francis Rowe ● 3h1 Comments