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Staines to twin with tropical hotspot Mauritius

10:29am Friday 9th January 2009 in News By Lucy Buckland

A less than tropical hotspot in Staines A less than tropical hotspot in Staines

One has white sandy beaches, the other has just approved plans for a concrete seven storey block of flats just off the M25 -but Spelthorne Council is determined to twin Staines with the tropical island of Mauritius.

Councillors and residents expressed their shock at the move to twin the town with Grand Port Savanne after it was brought up as urgent business in an Executive meeting in December.

In council documents the twinning is stated as benefiting the community by “building on and developing our experience to benefit both communities”.

But councillors have slammed the twinning as a waste of money as the two towns, more than 6,000 miles away from each other, have little in common.

Grand Port’s tourism board describes the district as place which "will enchant you, will uplift your soul, making you feel that you belong to the chosen few".

Spelthorne Council insist any trips made to the tropical island would not be paid for by the tax payer but private sponsorships.

Coun Ian Beardsmore said: “It’s absurd. You can see the similarities when you stand next to the M25 looking out into the distance of cars and smog to Mauritus.

“They say they are going to get sponsorship but really, who is going to sponsor a load of old fogeys to go on a jolly across the globe in this economic climate?”

What do you think? Leave your comments below or email lbuckland@london.newsquest.co.uk.

Comments(1)

Hephaistos says...
3:36pm Sat 10 Jan 09

The spendthrift Spelthorne Council is at it again.
They do things they should not do.
They do not do things they should do.
Anything that they do they do badly.
Now the National as well as the Local Press is highlighting their behaviour.
There is no clear explanation, in any of the reports I have read, as to why this twinning exercise was rushed through its formal approval process with such indecent haste.
One report has a very carefully worded statement from a councillor saying "council employees' who wanted to visit Maritius would have to pay for themselves. I doubt that the councillors regard themselves as council employees.
The report presented to the council says :-
"FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The proposed link with Mauritius is not expected to require any significant increase in the current twinning budget, which is £2,000 pa. Sponsorship opportunities would be explored for key events, as appropriate. It should be noted, however, that there will clearly be the need for substantial staff time to be spent to progress this new twinning link."

It would seem that "staff time", including that used to prepare the report to the council, is not charged to the 'twinning' budget. A very unusual way of accounting for public expenditure ?.

I wonder if there is any other expenditure already incurred on this twinning exercise which has been covered by other budgets and therefore not revealed as such ?.

Wait until things quieten down and then see who goes on a (working ?) holiday in Mauritius at the expense of local tax payers.

As a leading conservative politician, in the early days of Mrs., Thatchers premiership, said, "large majorities are not a good thing".
Since then we have had two national governments who over more than two decades have proved that he was absolutely right.
It is exactly the same with local government irrespective of their political persuation.

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