Queensgate

Your local candidate: Marcus Johnstone

Marcus Johnstone has been representing local people at Burnley Town Hall and County Hall, Preston, for over 20 years.

An experienced, campaigning socialist councillor, Marcus has always worked closely with the communities he represents.

He was a member of the cabinet at Lancashire County Council for seven years and has also held senior positions at Burnley Town Hall.

Marcus is a former local journalist who has also worked in further education and is currently a civil servant with the Department for Work and Pensions.

I decided to fight this district council election in Queensgate because I am appalled at the way Burnley’s ruling Liberal Democrats have been squandering Council Tax payers’ hard-earned money.

At a time when we should be investing in Queensgate’s future and improving services, the Lib Dems have been busy wasting your money.

First there was the scandal over the £500,000 they spent on houses at Melrose Avenue which are worth only a fraction of what the Lib Dems paid.

Now thanks to the Lib Dems’ incompetence, you and everyone else in Burnley are stuck with what are probably the most over-priced houses in England.

If that wasn’t enough the Lib Dems then went and bought themselves a pub … with money allocated to improve crumbling terraced houses.

After splashing out £290,000 on the Derby Arms at Gannow Top, the Lib Dems then wrapped it before demolishing it!

Bungled property deals, wrapping up pubs – it would almost be funny if it wasn’t costing us all so much.

But it shouldn’t come as a surprise because the Lib Dems are led by a man whose business went into administration leaving a mountain of debt and an unpaid tax bill of £170,000.

Don’t you think it’s time this nonsense stopped? Don’t you think it’s time for a change? Don’t you think it’s time for Labour to get back to the job of building a better Burnley?

Your local candidate: Marion Smith

My name is Marion Smith and I have been asked by the local Labour Party to stand as a candidate in Queensgate.

Although originally from London, I have lived in Burnley for over 40 years. My children were educated here and three of them with their families still live here.

I am a ‘retired’ member of the GMB union and it was through them I became involved in local politics.

I served as a councillor for 6 years representing Brunshaw ward, and gained a lot of satisfaction by being able to help others with their problems with the council. I would like the opportunity to do it all again and help Queensgate in the process.

‘Hello’ to all residents of Queensgate ward, and ‘How can I help you’? Although I have been a councillor before, things have changed in your Town Hall, so I know I will have to find my way around again. But I know that that will not stop me from fighting on behalf of the ward or this town against others who think that because they have the title ‘Councillor’, they can do as they please instead of what is right for the whole of our town.

I believe this town has been neglected since the Liberal Democrats took over in 2006. There’s nothing democratic about their leader Gordon Birtwistle. He makes his own decisions about the council buying the Derby Pub, and then pulling it down. It wasn’t  a council decision, or even a Lib Dem executive decision, just a Gordon Birtwistle decision. He has been ‘campaigning’ about A&E and now about the Children’s ward. But he was on the county health consultative committee and never got round to attending the meetings and therefore never fought for Burnley. As of April 2009, he had had just one meeting with the health trust’s chief executive and had never made a direct complaint to the trust. 

I promise with all my heart that if I am elected for Queensgate, I will not hesitate to fight for everyone in this ward, and indeed for this town. I am 100% committed to working hard for you all.