We had written an open letter to Adrian Bailey and Tom Watson MP’s for West Bromwich West and East respectively. Both were emailed the letter back in early September using their published email contact addresses, but we did not receive any response from this, so the letter was sent again to both by recorded delivery to Terry Duffy house, where both have their regional Labour party office. We received a rather sparse response from Adrian Bailey not long after, but only last week did we get a reply from the other MP.
In his reply, we do at least get something approaching an opinion, but it sets up the line of Sandwell council regarding the reason why they claimed to have carried out the cull. The problem for them is they have not proven the concern they had with any credible evidence whatsoever, and through Freedom of Information requests it is continuing to unravel as no evidence at all.
Tom Watson states
” I would only support the culling of Canada geese if all other possible options had been exhausted and there were legitimate safety grounds.”
We have shown that this is not the case on this website, and the council have not shown that there are legitimate causes of illness being caused to people using the two parks in question, nor is the water in which the birds are swimming with a host of other species all defecating in the same pot leading to contamination. Indeed it is sometimes the case that human wastes also enter that same melting pot.
The geese are no more a threat to people than any other birds at these site, and the choice of site continues we will argue to be made by one officer with a biased personal interest without consultation with any other officers in Sandwell council as far as we are concerned. Indeed we wonder what qualifications Mr John Satchwell Senior actually holds at all?
In his final paragraph, Mr Watson states that the council did not inform him of the situation, something which appears to confirm the leitmotif of a need to know basis within Maria Crompton’s department. He also states on the reasons for the cull
“I assume it was because of the number of complaints from park users.”
Well of course we now know that in five years the number of complaints at both of these parks totalled a mighty 8- 2 per year between 2011-2014, with none in 2010. We do not know the total content of these letters of complaint, nor if they were all written by the same person with an obsessive personal view on the subject.
Needless to say we will be seeking further representation from Mr Watson on what his thoughts are concerning Sandwell council’s lack of rationale and evidence.
