A Labour councillor who spoke out over controversial plans to build a £6.9 million cinema in Bargoed is to face a group disciplinary for his comments.
Blackwood councillor Nigel Dix will face his group leaders on November 19 after speaking to Caerphilly Observer over council proposals to fund the multiplex cinema.
According to Cllr Dix, Caerphilly County Borough Council is planning to take out a £4m loan, repayable over a 20 year period, to fund the cost of the building, which it will then own.
National cinema chain Odeon has been lined up by the local authority to lease the building, but Cllr Dix has claimed the revenue generated by the lease will not cover the loan repayments – meaning taxpayers will foot the bill.
He has also raised questions over the ten year period the Odeon could lease the cinema for and claimed the council could end up with a “white elephant”.
Cllr Dix said: “The public has a right to know how the council operates – they need to be questioned.
“I cannot support the cinema plan and the group has taken the whip off me.
“The executive met and its decided to put it to the group.”
If the Caerphilly Labour group decides to expel Cllr Dix, it would mean he could end up sitting as an independent Labour councillor.
He added: “My concerns haven’t changed at all. I’m not going to be bullied. The public has a right to know exactly what their money is being spent on.”
Fellow Labour Blackwood councillor Allan Rees has also spoken out against the Bargoed cinema plan and in support of Cllr Dix.
Cllr Rees said: “Nigel speaks out and those who perpetuate power for themselves get upset, sharpen their knives and get their cloaks out.
“They have this rule that prevents councillors talking to the press without screening from the leader, but you see backbenchers in higher government speak out all the time.”
Meanwhile, another councillor who expressed concerns over the cinema development has said he is disappointed that group leaders had not got back to him on the issue.
Cllr Roy Saralis, who represents Penmaen, sent an email to the Labour group in August this year in which he said: “If this development takes place we will be seen as an authority that gives financial support to a multinational company with one hand and handing out redundancy notices with the other.”
Cllr Saralis told Caerphilly Observer he had yet to receive a response.
He said: “I had a number of supporting letters. There are members within the group that feel this issue should be reconsidered.
“I’ve made my views clear. I didn’t intend these views to be made public, but now they have been published I would be a hypocrite if I did not continue my opposition to this venture.”
It is also understood that Cllr Jan Jones, of Ynysddu, is another Labour councillor opposed to the cinema plan.
Regarding Cllr Dix’s disciplinary, a spokesman for the Caerphilly Labour group said it did not comment on internal matters.
Spokesman Cllr Gez Kirby also said the matter of the Bargoed cinema development had been “settled” and that the policy had been agreed by the group.
He said councillors opposed to the cinema plan had not raised the issue at group meeting.
He added: “If a member has concerns about council policy, they should raise them with the group.”
So far as I can determine Cllr. Dix has acted in an honourable manner regarding the Bargoed cinema. It is not just his right but a duty to scrutinise and sometimes question decisions made by the council of which he is a part. It seems that his doubts about the cinema were made public and he is again right to stick to his guns and question whether this is the correct use of public money.
Cllr. Allan Rees is also to be applauded for his support of Cllr. Dix, not an easy thing to do for a recently elected councillor, as he is also showing an independence of mind which is becoming rare in modern politics.
If Labour do expel Cllr. Dix, a very foolish attitude in my mind, I am sure that he will become a very effective independent member and will also win his seat at the next election. His expulsion would be Labour’s loss as the party once again shoots itself in the foot.
In the past I have had numerous exchanges with cllr Dix but on this occasion I will say well done and thank you for standing up for the taxpayer. Odeon should never have been promised anything at all. If they were interested in Bargoed they would have built their own cinema up there with no help from any council.
Let picturedrome buy the old hanbury to have a cinema for Bargoed. The locals would prefer paying picturedrome prices to Odeon prices.
Keith reynolds can then spend that Odeon money on keeping leisure centres open.
This relates to Bargoed cinema:
http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/letters/11338611.Sold_a_turkey/
It is becoming increasingly the case that some Councillors in Caerphilly Labour Party feel they have the right not be opposed on issues with which other Councillors have a view, the opposing view is normally expressed for one of two reasons, First, that the public money, and the business plan for spending it, does not hold up in times of economic restraint, ( regardless of the number of votes such decisions attract), Secondly, that opposition to a `plan`, by a Councillor, is made whilst acting in the best interests of his or her constituents, in this case a Councillor who represents stakholders in another ward of the borough to the one which the decision effects, EVERY Councillor has the same rights as any other, no elected Councillor has any more democratic rights to scrutinise and vote than any other.
Very dangerously and perversely, it appears to be the case in Caerphilly, and there is much anecdotal evidence to support such a view, that a small group of people appear to be making decisions to spend and commit millions of pounds of Caerphilly ratepayers money, which no other Councillors dare oppose for fear of expulsion from the party they belong to. THAT IS NOT WHY PEOPLE UP AND DOWN THE VALLEY, voted for someone as a Councillor, (TO REPRESENT THEM AND THIER COMMUNITIES) only to see that process curcumvented by a small group of people who, in the main, feel they have the right to decide what is best for area miles away from thier wards,