Crunch Fairtrade vote at WDC
On Thursday, 26th February 2009 there will be a crucial vote at the full meeting of Wycombe District Council at 6.30pm. Supporters of Fairtrade are urged to attend.
At a previous meeting members had voted to support the passage of a Fairtrade Motion by Wycombe District Council. However, at the last meeting of the Town Committee, Councillor Lesley Clarke proposed a resolution quashing the Fairtrade Motion. This will be debated and voted upon on Thursday by the Full Council.
If the Fairtrade Motion is killed off on Thursday, it may not be proposed again for another two years - so it is really vital that we persuade members to do the right thing on Thursday.
You can write to your local councillor at http://www.writetothem.com. Please don’t leave it to someone else!
March 6th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
It is an absolute scandal that the controlling Conservative group on Wycombe District Council voted to oppose Fairtrade status!
The argument that it would “cost too much” was neatly countered by LibDem councilllor Brian Pollock, who had done some research to discover that some fairtrade items could be sourced cheaper than the non-fairtrade items from the Council’s existing supplier! He then followed this up by offering that any residual additional cost to the Council would be paid for BY the LibDem councillors!! There woud therefore be NO cost implications to the Council.
Having demolished that (in any case extraordinarily weak) argument against Fairtrade, the council then had a vote on it and, guess what, the Tories voted en bloc AGAINST FairTrade anyway - thus revealing unmasked their true contempt fro the Fairtrade movement and concept.
Their actions shamed the town, and should be roundly condemned!
April 27th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Congratulations Steve on your election to the Council, I do hope that this will enable you to progress the Fairtrade Town campaign at the Council.