A ‘total mess, ridiculous and fobbed-off’ are many of the phrases being expressed by residents about the Labour Council’s attempt to close out the aims and aspirations of the past Mayor Henna Chowdhury.
In April 2023, the then Mayor Henna Chowdhury sent out a request to all councillors to nominate Worthing’s unsung heroes, asking: ‘During my mayoral year, it has been a pleasure to attend many events and see first-hand the work of our local community, voluntary and charity organisations who do so much for the people of our community.
I want to recognise those unsung heroes before the end of my mayoral year. I need your support to identify who you think is deserving of this recognition.’
Many councillors responded and about 30 members of the public, local volunteers, were nominated and invited to the Mayoral parlour on the 18th May to meet the Mayor and be thanked in person and were to be presented with a certificate of appreciation.
On the morning of the 18th May, only 3 hours before the ceremony, urgent emails were sent out by the council stating that the Chief Executive Catherine Howe and Labour Council Leader Beccy Cooper had cancelled the presentation, later stating that this was due to ‘administrative errors’. They promised ‘something’ in the Autumn.
Unfortunately this message did not get to all those ‘heroes’ and many turned up at the town hall only to be sent away empty handed.
Since this time the council has been wringing its hands and prevaricating about what should be done. This was raised by Councillor Richard Nowak at the recent Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the 6th July when he raised the issue with the Chief Executive, Catherine Howe, and asked why it was taking so long to sort this out.
This week (5th September) the council has proposed to send a letter and a certificate ‘stuffed in the post’ to all those ‘Unsung Heroes’ ; hardly the outcome and event that was intended by the past Mayor.
Many councillors have pushed back at this and are questioning why this Labour council cannot get its act together and put on an event to properly recognise these heroes, surely the current Mayor can find it in his heart to continue the good work of his predecessor, who during her term of office was greatly respected by many for the way she embraced the role.
Leader of the Worthing Conservative group, Cllr Kevin Jenkins said: ‘This saga is rapidly going downhill. You cannot invite a group of local volunteers to the Mayoral parlour, stand them down at a few hours notice and then send them a certificate in the post. What does that really say about how they are valued by this Labour administration? I’m sorry these people deserve to be seen by the Mayor and he should continue with the good work of his predecessor. This is just another example of the Labour councillors dumbing down the Mayoral role and the values and traditions of this council. It’s disgraceful.’
