Local Conservative Councillor Interviewed on BBC Radio

Cllr Michael Greatorex

Following publicity in the local press last Thursday about Tamworth Borough Council’s annual “Rent First” Campaign, Conservative Party Cllr Michael Greatorex, Housing Portfolio Holder, was asked by the BBC to participate in two discussions on BBC radio on the same day.

The first was on Radio WM’s early morning programme on 23rd November followed by Radio Five Live’s late night national programme.  Both programmes concentrated on the Christmas Card sent  to the Council’s tenants already in arrears with their rent in November and sought listeners’ views as to whether this was “a good idea or not.”

This year’s card was designed by a Tamworth schoolboy and it urged tenants to make payment of rent over the Christmas period a priority to avoid possible eviction for non-payment of rent.  The card’s design and message that by paying rent it preserved the “best present ever Christmas present – your home” will also be appearing on the inside and outside of Tamworth’s buses in the run-up to Christmas.

However, it was the targeting of the Christmas card to those in arrears of rent, which provoked an exchange of opposing views over the radio and provided some welcome publicity for the Campaign.