Ian Gilhespy And Burnley And Pendle Transport

EDM number 115 in 1995-96, proposed by Gordon Prentice on 27/11/1995.

That this House notes that the Liberal-controlled Pendle Council jointly owns with Burnley Borough Council a municipal transport undertaking known as Burnley and Pendle Transport, and that the Liberals wish to sell the entire company or, in the absence of an agreement with Burnley, Pendle's 50 per cent. stake to a private bus operator; congratulates Burnley Council on its steadfast refusal to sell; believes that the planned sale by the Liberals is misconceived and short sighted in that the bus company regularly turns in a healthy profi t for both councils; notes that the proposition was never put before the electorate at the local elections in May 1995 and that the Liberals have no mandate for the sale; expresses concern that a Liberal Councillor, Ian Gilhespy, is an employee of and shareholder in Stagecoach which is bidding to buy the company; believes that Councillor Gilhespy should not vote on the sale when it comes up before the council on the grounds that he has a direct interest; utterly deplores the actions of Mr Gilhespy of the Liberal Mayor of Pendle, Gillian Gilhespy, in threatening through their solicitors to issue a write for libel damages in respect of a leaflet circulated by the Pendle Labour Party which draws attention to these facts and which asks rhetorically whether these councillors should vote on the sell off; and believes the Liberal Council should not sell a profitable publicly-owned asset to a private bus operator whose guarantees on jobs, terms and conditions of employees and service levels are likely to be worthless should the sale go through.

This motion has been signed by a total of 28 MPs.