Liberal Democrat candidate for East Cowes, Bob Packham, has come under fire for implying in his election leaflet that work began on the former Frank James Hospital only after he’d raised it at a town council meeting.
Those involved with the Friends of Frank James told us they were furious to read the leaflet distributed by the Isle of Wight council hopeful, because as extensively reported over the last five years, it’s they who have been protecting and campaigning for the former hospital.
The leaflet shows Bob Packham pointing to the grounds of Frank James and reads,
Frank James has been neglected for far too long, and it is only recently, after I raised this with the Town Council, that work has started on the building and grounds, with trees, bushes and green space being removed to make way for seventeen apartments and a car park.
Goodman: Bob had nothing to do with it
Steve Goodman, one of founders of the Friends of Frank James, said,
“As most ‘common sense’ residents will know, Bob had nothing to do with the ending of the ‘far too long’ neglect at FJ; credit for that was earned by the ‘common sense FJ Friends working hard for five years to deliver real change for our area’ as Bob might say.
“Those friends include present local councillors Luisa Hillard and Julia Baker-Smith (who replaced Conservative councillors).”
Denial of claim
The CP report that Mr Packham denied he was “claiming work had started because of is intervention and had just wanted to find out what was going on in his questions to the council”.
OnTheWight wrote to Mr Packham twice with questions about his election leaflet, but he failed to respond.
Image: Nomadic Lass under CC BY 2.0
