Ward councillor slams council to make event a ‘Labour Party conference’ in Rotherham

Cllr Ian Jones joined a couple of Rotherham council cabinet members, including the leader Cllr Chris Read and Cllr Dominic Beck, to welcome the completion of a 125m long wall at Ickles Lock which was part of a £7million scheme to protect town centre businesses and homes from flooding.

The local politicians were visited by Jim McMahon, the shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs yesterday.

Cllr Jones (Independent, Rotherham West) said the wall was “amazing” and he was pleased with the artwork but added the event was a “missed opportunity”.

He said: “My major concern was around the political aspect of it. It seemed like a Labour Party Conference… without the Labour councillors.”

Cllr Jones said Rotherham West and Boston Castle wards shared the canal – and all the five Labour councillors got the same invite he did a week ago but they did not turn up.

“I didn’t know that the shadow secretary was going to be there. I just went down there thinking it was going to be a small photo call,” he added.

He said he had not been able to speak to Mr McMahon as “that comes back to politics, obviously”.

Cllr Jones also claimed two councillors were in the area as he had “passed them on the way home”.

He said: “The partnership that needs to be created between possible future government ministers and the local groups needs to be in place. It just didn’t sit right with me that five of those councillors didn’t even bother to turn up.

“That (the shadow minister) is somebody that could help to bring millions of pounds of investment into this area.”

A 125-metre-long concrete wall – which is part of the council’s Rotherham Renaissance Flood Alleviation Scheme (RRFAS) – was erected between the railway and canal from Ickles Lock to Centenary Way to better protect businesses and the railway from severe flooding during heavy rain, like instances in 2007 and 2019.