Rates 2024

As we enter the final few days of councils rate setting process rumours circulate about the scale of increases being planned by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. During my time there prior to 2019 I warned that failure to address structural issues would lead to a crisis, that crisis arrived late last year with the announcement of a circa £7 million black hole. 

Should it transpire that the corporate response is to introduce double digit rates increases then its clear that sufficient lessons have not been learned. 

For new councillors the blame is not theirs, those who have sat in the chamber the longest carry the biggest responsibility for failing to challenge the mindset.

But therein lies a lesson.

In the late 1980’s Star Trek The Next Generation introduced us to a new species of alien, the Borg. A species which sought not to eradicate other species but assimilate them into the collective, a single all encompassing hive mind from which no original thought could originate. Resistance is futile they said, but it wasn't.

New councillors will have been told they must assimilate and become part of the corporate mindset, they should not.

This is a corporate failure which will impact on the quality of life of the citizens of the Borough, it will hurt families and close businesses. Do not succumb to the mindset that this is acceptable. Resistance is not futile, the public need champions who take a stand on their behalf. You will be attacked from within, you will be respected from without.

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