I WAS away last week with my family for the halfterm break. What a surprise it was to get back to be told of yet another no-news, non-story of the on-going rubbish collections saga. I am deeply concerned for the electorate who are represented by Councill

I WAS away last week with my family for the halfterm break. What a surprise it was to get back to be told of yet another no-news, non-story of the on-going rubbish collections saga. I am deeply concerned for the electorate who are represented by Councillor Deborah Yamanaka because she clearly is unable to understand what is being said by her fellow councillors. She only appears to hear what she wants to hear as opposed to what is being said.During a full environmental services policy and scrutiny panel meeting Cllr Yamanaka publicly accused Conservatives of being one of the 'senior councillors' referred to in the Mercury, as who must have gone to the press about spurious fortnightly rubbish collections. I then read out the article verbatim in the chamber which clearly showed the statement quoted in the paper must have come from a different political group.Cllr Yamanaka after the meeting then told me that the leaflet put out by the Conservatives saying "No to fortnightly rubbish collections" was dishonest and should not have stated 'never' to fortnightly collections and that in politics we should never say 'never' to any policy. I told her that nowhere on the leaflet did it say the word 'never' and that her claim of us being dishonest was downright offensive. It is for this reason I am concerned for those people Cllr Yamanaka represents. She has chosen to misrepresent what I said for some silly personal political gain. As chairman of environmental services, she has a duty of care to present information accurately for the good of all the people of North Somerset. We are doing our best to ensure we deal with the whole issue of waste in the best possible way. In order to achieve this we need to ensure we inform everybody about how we go about this with regard to effective recycling and household waste.Cllr Yamanaka is actively misleading the public by going to the press with stories about fortnightly rubbish collections. I did not say we will have fortnightly rubbish collections. A chairman of such an important policy and scrutiny panel should not be so irresponsible with her comments when they are simply for political gain. Lib-Dems are a minority group in North Somerset Council now. Get over it Deborah. At no time have I said we will have fortnightly rubbish collections either. North Somerset Council is not in favour of fortnightly collections.On a separate note, I was saddened not to see more people supporting the 'Pink' night at Barcode. I opened the show with a couple of songs, followed by some seriously talented young singer/songwriters. The performers at Barcode were superb. I was absolutely knocked out at how good our teenage performers were. We need to give more opportunity for them to be given a platform for us all to enjoy their talents. Simon Cowell eat your heart out!COUNCILLOR DAWN PARRY - Weston Town Hall