Edwinstowe Parish Council Meeting held Thursday evening. This was a joke. There was little cohesive order, structure or coherence for much of the meeting causing a vast amount of paper shuffling from the Council tables. Open windows on a busy road allowed extreme noise pollution to interfere with communication. The Public are crammed like sardines on tightly packed rows of chairs which were taken out use by the Village Hall Committee due to complaints about extreme discomfort. Could Edwinstowe Parish Council be deliberately trying to put us off attending the meetings? Even some of the councillors struggled to understand some of the explanations given regarding some of the agenda topics. The proposals put forward were quite clearly foreign to them as they did not understand why there had been a change of direction according to their previous understandings. I recorded the meeting as per usual and was challenged by the Chair as to my knowledge about the ‘Regulations regarding recording’ not yet having gone through parliament. When I said I knew she then asked if anyone wanted me to stop recording. The Council seems to be totally unaware of why these regs. are going through Parliament in the first place …. It is because Mr Pickles asked Councils to open their doors in this way and some of them slammed them shut and he and his ministers are not happy with it. …… This Council is also trying to convince people that the only reason we can record is to let those unable to attend to hear the meeting. They flatly refuse, or have no idea, that Mr Pickles has actually declared that it is one of the tools he is giving us to monitor and scrutinise our councils and hold them to account. Before even reaching the point of public and councillor question time there were ‘Matters Arising’ This was supposed to be about clarification and evidence as to who was responsible for the water supply to the allotments, which the Co8uncil have been claiming to be an unlawfully installed supply, leading to allotment holders illegally taking water from the national supply. This is categorically not true and can be proven. Here is the point whereby the whole council apart from the Chairman seemed to be totally confused as to what was happening or why. In this section of ‘Matters Arising’ re- the water supply on the allotments, there ensued a full debate, with working party reports and recommendations about how the council will choose which allotment holders will join the Parish Council’s Allotments Committee, Sub-committee, Working Group. I use all three terms because this Parish Council uses these terms interchangeably and seem to be totally incapable of understanding the difference between them. It was evident in this discussion that Edwinstowe Parish Council has severe numeracy difficulties. During this discussion it was announced that as Edwinstowe Allotment Association only represented two thirds of the plot holders they would only have two thirds of the representatives on the ‘Edwinstowe Parish council Committee, Sub-Committee Working Group.’ As only three of the 48 plot holders are not members of the association how can this equate to one third not being members? This debate culminated in a call for a vote and a resolution was passed. I am however reliably informed that ‘Matters Arising’ has no place on the Agenda as any matters that arise from the previous meeting should be brought back to the council as an item of the agenda. I have also been similarly informed that the only place there can be a call for a resolution is from an itemised topic from the Agenda with all relevant documents made available for public and council to peruse and study before the meeting. I am told that this resolution of the council was ‘Out of Order’ and is therefore not ‘Valid’. Yes another example of Edwinstowe Parish Council not knowing its arse from its elbow. There were many points in this meeting which seemed incapable of comprehension, chaotic and extremely confusing as the Chair kept getting in a muddle as to where she was or what she meant, showing that she was totally unfamiliar with what was actually on the Agenda and why. Now, as I have been told in a letter from one of the councillors that if I don’t praise the council my complaints can be viewed as nonsense and not taken seriously I will try to find some good points. There was some semblance of discussions between councillors even if only to mainly clarify the confusion. The Chairman who is on the District Council Planning Committee actually declared an interest in the planning section of the meeting and left the room during this discussion. This is the first time this has happened since I started attending in January and she has previously taken part in many discussion about planning issues and been in the room during planning meetings, so perhaps my objections about non declared interests is beginning to have an effect at last. Unfortunately she only went into the next room and the door was left wide open so I am not sure how effective leaving the room actually was. During this period of absence there was a tangible lessening of tension in the room and improved atmosphere with much more animated discussion taking place about the matter in hand. The best point was that at this point the Clerk was able to actually show her own skills and knowledge about the planning under discussion as she answered in a clear and concise way any questions the Councillors had. Unfortunately this also led to some side conversations taking place amongst both the public and the council. Will someone please tell those who are supposed to control these meetings, be it the Chair or the Vice-Chair that the correct protocol is to call ‘Order’ and not yell abuse at members of the public or the Council?
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 09:16:46 +0000
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