Reality check needed at Endeavour House

AS SUPPORT for the £220,000 salary for new chief executive Andrea Hill crumbles, it is time for Conservatives at Endeavour House to take a reality check.

At a time when the national and international economic outlook is at best uncertain and at worse bleak, it is not acceptable to spend an extra £70,000 on a new chief at the county council - and an increasing number of members know that.

Senior members of their own party have expressed serious concern that an administration which took power on a platform of being careful with public money is prepared to approve a 50 per cent pay rise to its chief executive.

One senior Tory councillor has already told party members he is prepared to defy the county council whips and vote against the £220,000 salary - if another six Tories switch their votes then the salary could be overturned.

Now is the time for these Tories to show what they are made of - to prove that they are not just lobby fodder prepared to be bullied into doing what their whips tell them.

Tory members across the county have been appalled by the actions of an administration which seems out of touch with the needs and concerns of real people.

This is the time for the elected councillors to take heed of the concerns of the people who voted them into power and the ordinary party workers who will be pounding the streets next year to try to secure their re-election.

And they should remember that the electorate have long memories. The 18pc council tax rise helped see off the last Labour/Liberal Democrat administration two years after it was introduced.

The £220,000 salary for the chief executive could have the same effect on the current administration in next June's elections.

JOHN LeVay was an inspirational leader of the Cancer Campaign for Suffolk and a superb doctor who treated many people who had been diagnosed with the world's most dreaded disease in this county.

So it is hugely ironic that he should have fallen victim to cancer himself - his death robs Suffolk of a superb doctor and a great campaigner and his family of a wonderful husband and father.

Everyone who knew Dr LeVay will feel a very real sense of sorrow today as his funeral takes place at Framlingham.

As former Town star Jason Cundy explained, Dr LeVay had a real talent for putting victims of this terrible disease at ease and making it much easier for them to understand their treatment.

It is only fitting that the Cancer Information Centre at Ipswich Hospital will now be named after him - his death will leave a huge gap at Heath Road.

HOCKEY legend Jo Ellis is today coming to terms with the worst possible news - that her goal of competing in the Beijing Olympics could be ruled out by injury.

She was left with a collapsed lung after a clash in a warm-up game in Australia last month - and still does not know how long it will take to regain full fitness.

Everyone in Ipswich will be wishing her well in her battle to return to the hockey pitch, and will be hoping that she is able to take her place in the team in the Chinese capital in September.