I am astounded to learn, thanks to a grant of £346,000, wi-fi will be available free to first-class passengers on National Express East Anglia trains and at a cost of £2.95 per day to everyone else.
This grant came from the defunct East of England Development Agency. Public money paying for this facility should be free of charge to all passengers.
The agency is dead in the water yet it is throwing public money around like confetti while everyone else faces cuts. What’s more, it is attempting to sell land to local authoritities, land it has purchased with public money The Goverment must act to remove every penny from the agency, seize every asset it has acquired and redirect it to councils to ease the burden of cuts we must all implement.
A grant of £346,000 would go a long way to help Tendring taxpayers have their bins emptied, streets cleaned, sea defences maintained and so on. The list is endless yet a crowd of nonjobs feel it is best spent on a bit of kit for a private rail operator to enhance services to first class passengers.
Peter Halliday
councillor responsible for
finance
Tendring Council
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