Erewash Conservative Association
Tory PPC Gregor Macgregor’s Letters and Press Releases
Gregor Goes Down Under
Tory PPC, Gregor Macgregor & Bankstown Mayor Kevin Hill
Immediate Release
Wednesday, 7 March 2001
N Gregor Macgregor - Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Erewash
An Erewash's Tory was invited to see how they do things "Down Under". Bankstown City Council invited Tory PPC Gregor Macgregor to one of their council meetings. The city is one of Sydney's suburbs. It is about 15 miles South West of the City Centre.
Gregor attended a meeting, which mostly covered planning issues. Afterwards he said; "Bankstown is a bit bigger than Erewash, with around 160,000 residents. It is a suburban area, with many commuters travelling into Sydney each day.
"It has an industrial past, but is now a more 'urban' seat than Erewash. One thing that they have in common is an expanding Airport near by. Now that the main airport is becoming congested, Bankstown Airport is being considered as Sydney's second airport.
"There are a range of views being expressed on either side of the argument. One councillor actually waved a protest banner in the council chamber whilst I was there.
"It has an 'Executive Structure'. Twelve councillors control everything, taking all the decisions. The difference with Erewash is that these twelve councillors are elected. Three councillors are elected from each of four wards. So each councillor represents a quarter of the city. This is a large area, but achieves their democratic objective.
"So both Bankstown and Erewash have an 'Executive Structure'. The difference is that Bankstown runs their system democratically"