Ferret was not really surprised to hear that Ian Womersley had “crossed the floor” and joined the Labour party at Wakefield where he is still a District Councillor.
He was more surprised that the Labour party had accepted him.
Why? You may ask, for several important reasons:
Ian Womersley has recently resigned from Hemsworth Town Council leaving behind him many outstanding questions that still require answers.
He has left a council that has had allegations of a very serious nature made against it including but not limited to financial, data protection, discrimination and service procurement that will eventually be subjected to full and proper investigation.
He was also the person who proposed giving away the Waterpark into a trust and out of Council and community control.
He was part of the Council who has wasted tens of thousands of pounds on unnecessary legal cases.
He was part of the council who allowed out of control petty cash purchases and individual cash in hand purchases of up £8000.
He was part of a council that spent our money on other Councillors properties.
He was part of a Council that lied to residents about not knowing about the Woodlands development.
The most surprising from a Labour party viewpoint is he was part of a council that had commissioned a Forensic report to prove the lies that Mr. Kenyon had used as a part of the independent members group election campaign, nothing wrong with that you may say.
Why is this an issue? Well apart from being openly opposed to the party for many years he was complicit in keeping the result of the Frenkel report secret for two years and as we now all know why, it found nothing wrong.
So why would the Labour party actually want a person who knew the truth and that Mr Kenyon and others had been repeatedly lying about their members and said nothing?
Ferret understands the decision to accept him was made without local party agreement and the decision to accept his application for membership was a regional decision that has already led to resignations from the party at local level, with more to follow, so strong is the feeling against this man.
Further to this there is also a part of the Frenkel report that the Hemsworth Council has refused to release claiming it referred to Saul Construction. That should make interesting reading when it eventually sees daylight as it certainly will.
Ferret hopes that he issues an unreserved apology for his actions and inactions and does the honourable and right thing and RESIGNS from Wakefield council and stand for re-election.
It maybe the right move for you to cross the floor but what about us, and especially the people that voted for you as an Independent, of course that doesn’t come into it does it as,
It’s the right move for you, the truth at last from your own mouth Ian.
Just one more question Mr Womersley,
Explain why you now prefer the Labour party to that of Jim Kenyon’s Independents group as it goes against all you have said and done for the last 13 years?
totally unacceptable, Wakefield what planet are you on? His own local labour branch don’t want him, what the hell are you thinking of, are you so out of touch. Here’s a thought why not put him on the steering group discussing the £10 million pounds for the area? OMG you already have. Set a dipsticks. you make kenyon look intelligent.
Not a bit surprised it’s been doing the rumours mill for a while now. Do I blame him not in the slightest he’ll wear whichever political hat suits him up to now he’s had the ukip hat the independent hat and now the labour hat. My contempt is for the so called Labour party clearly lacking in any moral fibre or principles in readily accepting someone into their ranks who for years as poured nothing but scorn upon them and openly stood for and supported candidates and parties diametrically opposed to everything labour stand for. My sympathy is for the genuine true Labour party members locally who have stood by the party through thick and thin in all weathers not Fairweather and those same members were subjected to horrific abuse and sometimes threats of violence by some supporters of the so called independents in the last election. I’m no longer a Labour party member I left because of its right leaning surge which essentially just makes it Tory lite this decision confirms I made the right decision and I’d urge any self respecting member to join me
I find this totally unbelievable – this person endorsed certain HTC councillors and enabled the spending of vast amounts of money that could have been spent more wisely in the community.
No apology given – which says it all.
I would have more respect if he held his hands up and said he’d made mistakes.
he’d have to come out of hiding to hold his hands up and apologise so no chance of that. quicker he goes the better for everyone.
I attended the £10m Steering Group last night, as a resident who wanted to share some ideas.
No chance! At 19.00hrs sharp, Cllr Womersley started to speak, and didn’t stop.
He announced his move over to the Labour Party, because he had received a request to move.
More surprisingly though (to me and others attending), the £10m pot has suddenly reduced to £7.2m, but Ian didn’t provide an explanation where £2.8m had gone. He must know as he also said he receives a budget update every month from WMDC Administration.
He went on to inform the meeting of everything currently underway for our area, out of this pot:
a) All the current play areas will be getting upgraded. An Action Plan is already in place.
b) The Cemetery grass will be trimmed every two weeks.
c) He’s already spoken to Darren ? at the council regarding street cleaning and maintenance and thinks he’ll be able to secure WMDC workers on a weekend to cover our patch, on overtime.
d) He’s looking into turning a patch of land in Kinsley into another football pitch.
e) He agreed to obtain a quote from the WMDC Procurement Team for 10 benches.
f) He recognised the need for social policing, so will be organising this.
g) This “Levelling Up” funding pot is no longer ring-fenced for just Ward 7 (was it ever?) but will also be used to meet the needs of Horbury and Ossett as well (reducing our available funding still further).
h) WMDC will be managing all the Administration for the fund.
i) Ian didn’t mention who the decision making body were but was clear that everything would need to go through our representatives on the Steering Group first.
(Q. did the Steering Group approve all the work currently underway – as detailed by Ian?)
j) WMDC will be constructing a Survey Monkey to capture ideas and suggestions from individuals in the community.
k) Somewhere called The Pond was mentioned, and fishing for the kids.
My initial impression of this monologue wasn’t great.
It didn’t assure me at all; just raised more questions.
Why had all this activity and decision making been undertaken without the knowledge or a steer from The Steering Group?
Why was the funding pot already seemingly reducing substantially, without the Steering Group’s knowledge?
When was the funding likely to run out ie how quickly would we need to submit proposals (to who?), what will the process be, who makes the decisions, is this funding pot only available to invest in this financial year, are we too late…….?
I had to leave after 20 minutes so have no idea what he went onto say.
Unfortunately, Ian wasn’t in listening mode, so my ideas weren’t shared. Never mind – I’m only a resident.
I hope this is useful insight into Ian’s progress, on our behalf.
There are definitely questions he could and should answer at least! His backing and complicity with Kenyon is a concern. Maybe he will do the right thing and blow the whole thing apart? People will eventually get the chance to pass their verdict at the ballot box sooner or later. It should be sooner.
Same old Womersley, when it all catches up with him move on, he’ll wear any hat that serves his purpose and fingers to the rest of us. I hope this makes the doubters about this man’s real character sit up, open their eyes, take notice and drop him like a ton of bricks. Like Kenyon he can talk, promise the world and deliver nothing. Of course he can manage to take the pay he gets as a District councillor.
Wakefield you have let this community and your local labour team, who have had to deal with this person for many years down. It is not too late to undo this situation, suspend him and launch a full enquiry into what is going on at Hemsworth and the part he has played in it. This should be the only way to move forward with someone who has so many important questions to answer. I have every confidence this will come back to bite you and and bite you badly.
As a committee member who was there for the full 2 hours and all the meetings so far it never was £10 million for Ward 7 as spun by Kenyon
It was for the area of South East.
Ian was feeding back to the committee what had happened at the Ward Councillors meeting with WC.
The one they attended earlier in the week:-
Hemsworth Members Steering Group, with Cllr Colleagues, Officers , Highways, Street scene, Strategic Housing, Regeneration, Anti-social Behaviour.
Sounds odd to me why anyone would listen to womersley anymore let alone believe him or that he will do anything that he says he will or even want to be in the same room as him
It was definitely womersley and kenyon who continually said it was ten million pounds and they personally had secured it. Never ever ever believe anything that comes from their mouths. Better still avoid them like the plague they are.
Whilever womersley is on any committee how do you expect to be taken seriousy. Have you forgotten already he was a key player on Hemsworth Town Council and all the wrongs that have taken place since 2019. The man’s a disgrace and will jump to any ship when he feels the need to. What has he achieved in all the time he’s been a district councillor?, he’s never even held a surgery let alone actually achieved anything worthwhie. He’s good at claiming kudos on the back of others hard work I’ll give him that oh and accepting his councillor allowance from wakefield.
the pond is the water park ponds they want cleaning and draining and restocking …i can say in a meeting they said they hadnt got the money to do it and asked ian to sort it threw fundings …i emailed wakefield monitring office and they said in there reply From your email it appears as though Hemsworth Town Council may be developing proposals to be considered. The Town Council is separate to the District Council. There is no guarantee that projects proposed by the Town Council will receive a share of this fund. However there are also other District Council funds such as the planning community infrastructure levy and ward based capital funds so they may be considering a proposal to those in addition.
I am aware of the proposed decision making on the £10m and am satisfied that it will ensure public money is spent wisely for the purposes for which it is intended. ……. i can say im against any of this money being spent in hemsworth water park ,,htc get grants and money to do things ..and i will fight to better the local areas should hused venga boy money to clean ponds instead of trying to buy a dream
Whilst IW is a Ward councillor of any stripe he gets to be on the steering committee
It’s not a question of why would you.
He got voted in. Unless he stands down he can stay until spring 2023.
Only consolation is Donna taking a seat and not Colpus the sidekick.
There is Pringle wifey, Wilson, Hirst, Folleti, Eccles 1& 2, Eric n Kenyon to go.
6 seats need contesting in Hemsworth minimum and 2 in Kinsley.
8 seats that are going to need good contenders to oppose them. At least.
Can’t guarantee that Ann, Geoff, Alan, Shaun, et. will defend their seats.
Feel bad for them. Must be like swimming up stream.
Plus if we the community do get better representation I feel that the Town Clerk and that security person that appear to be in cahoots with the chair need a forensic examination of their actions.