Mid Devon residents let down by Conservative council chaos

Decision making within Mid Devon District Council has been thrown into chaos as four Conservative Councillors have left the Cabinet ahead of a Special Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 14th February.

Counter claims of 'sacking', or 'resignation', from Mid Devon Council Cabinet of four Conservatives over further funding for the speculative property development company, 3Rivers Development, leaves this key committee without enough members to make decisions.

Liberal Democrat Councillors have been questioning the viability of 3Rivers Development's business plans, and the loans from the Council that underpin them. The concern is that a default by the company could leave local council tax payers with a huge loss.

The Mid Devon Liberal Democrats are concerned that local residents are being forgotten in the fight between Council Leader Deed and the Conservatives over the future of 3Rivers Development Ltd.

In response to four Conservative Mid Devon Council members leaving the Cabinet, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Bradninch Ward, Luke Taylor, said:

"This infighting between local Conservative Councillors and Council Leader Deed is taking us further away from finding solutions to the real problems for the Council of the questionable 3Rivers Development experiment.

"Conservative Councillors seem hell bent on investing more taxpayers' money on this vanity project. The Liberal Democrats believe external expertise needs to be brought in to review the company and to find a solution that does not leave the local council taxpayers 'picking up the tab'.

"At the same time as the Conservatives are trying to sink more money into this property company, the Council is announcing absurd increases in parking charges, some over 100%, that will cripple our High Streets. It's simply not good enough.

"Drastic change is urgently needed within Mid Devon District Council. Local residents need to be the priority, they cannot be the ones to suffer from this shambolic situation."