My own thoughts on last night..... Let me start by posting the words to Jasons invitation to the event: On Wed 21st Jan at 6pm theres a special meeting of Fareham Borough Council in order to adopt revisions to the Welborne Plan in order to make it sound As you will know, the Independent Inspector failed to declare the Welborne Plan sound after the enquiry, and raised a number of points that the council should address in order that he can then make it sound. So the council have called this special session in order to discuss (yeah right) proposed changes to the Plan to make it sound, then to vote on them (we already know the outcome of that), and send the changes back to the Inspector... So whats the point you might say?! - I propose that as many of us as possible attend this meeting, theres precious little we can do to influence the so-called debate on the night - which will be stage-managed to an inch of its life to an already pre-defined outcome, and I feel theres no point making a fuss at the meeting, and I am not personally planning any kind of demo or protest, and myself have no plans to disrupt the meeting - Im simply inviting as many people to attend in person in order to witness this carve-up of democracy in Fareham - this anti-democratic stitch-up against the wishes of the people! If youve never been to a council meeting before, you dont need an invite - just pitch up with us - I want you to also be astounded by the lack of debate, the childish attitude and utter contempt of the ruling party towards anyone who doesn’t agree with them! We wont win this debate as it won’t be a debate - just a sham, we just get to listen to them, but its important I think to witness it, as Welborne will be a disaster on so many levels and these bozos are responsible! So please join me in silent witness this night. I think last night ticked every box, didnt it? I have film of Shauns speech and the man of many hats speech, as well as audio of Paul#s opening speech as the 39 minutes of arguing the toss about who can say what where and when. Thats thirty nine pointless minutes that I will never get back courtesy of the chief executive officer in a nice red robe and on a six figure salary. Yep, thanks for that. Shaun didnt pull his punches. I saw him beforehand and he was worried in case his speech overran and he got cut off. It was actually spot on and even though the mayors hand was hovering over his mic button, Shaun got his last words out just in time. At the end of the table, the man turned his chair around and settled himself in. I couldnt tell if he had his eyes shut or if he was trying to usettle Shaun. Shaun covered all of the main points: gaps, transport, affordable housing, as well as pointing out the total lack of transparency and democracy and got a rousing round of applause. Then the man stood up, buttoned his jacket and spoke in that drone of many things. He called us facebook warriors. In light of the fact that many of us have attended meetings and demonstrations and have worked tirelessly over reams of council papers and proclamations, I find this quite denigratory. If were facebook warriors, is he a facebook sniper, taking cheap shots from the safety of the shadows on the ninth floor with his mask on? Once again he lied about the not a brick quote even though the original is in print and even that was contradicted later in the meeting when it was evident that that wasnt to be the case. For the benefit of the reporters and for those filming, he tried to make it known that it was a lie that Tory councillors werent allowed to speak their mind and pointed to the Bryants. Did anyone believe this? I didnt. The rest of his speech was concerned with bringing up many examples of councils having their plans examined. What was the relevance of this? What do other councils plans have to do with Fareham? He also made mention of North Whiteley, which FBC always has something to say about and the fact that its not been heavily examined. Perhaps thats because the plans far more robust? Paul Whittle gave a powerful speech. Its funny but I did find people like Paul, Katrina Trott, Chris Wood, Nick Gregory, Pam Bryant and even God forbid! Peter Davies make you sit up and listen, because they actually speak for themselves rather than go through the motions. The man squirmed as Paul spoke up about Swanwick and about the councils last minute were going to build 500 Welborne houses before the infrastructures in place - why was the inspectors paper the first place the council had seen this? No answer was forthcoming. There followed a protracted period of arguing the toss regarding questioning and voting and debating the modifications, who wrote what and getting confused over what was being voted on. There were several glazed eyes downstairs. Chris Wood suggested an amendment regarding infrastructure changing the word linked to bound, which made perfect sense although the man on the table was more concerned with making fun of Chriss gaffe of saying binded. A cheap shot, youd agree. Katrina also got raised eyes at wrongly pointing out an extra s that was actually struck through. Whats wrong with simply pointing things out? It wasnt that clear, after all. Pam Bryant suggested an amendment to the gaps from 75m to 150m. There was quite a discussion on this, especially around the fact that where the gap started was ambiguous. Keith Evans had to consult on this, firstly saying it was building to building, which drew audible gasps from the gallery, to then conferring again and changing it to plot boundaries. Im not convinced by this, especially since a proposal to delete the wording which suggested building to building was outvoted. As was the proposal to change the distance of course. Chris Wood later suggested a change to 200m, asking councillors how theyd feel if they had this at the bottom of their garden? Well, they dont, so what do they care, of course so they wouldnt have voted on it anyway but at this point the solicitor got involved and said that since the 150m suggestion had been outvoted, Chris couldnt suggest an amendment to 200m. Chris argued a point of order that he was suggesting a complete change of words whereupon the mayor told him to move on. Chris politely told him that the mayor couldnt tell him what points of order he could bring to attention and this is where the brown stuff hit the twirly thing. The mayor SHOUTED at Chris, saying I CAN SAY WHAT I LIKE! prompting some people in the gallery to bay and jeer at this lack of decorum. The mayor ordered the gallery cleared (twice) and the usher got up from his seat to do so before the CEO suggested a warning instead, no doubt mindful of the press present and possible filming going on. After three hours, we had a break. When we went in, it was evident that every sensible amendment tabled was going to be voted against and people behind me started playing hands up bingo. Nine times out of ten, they got the numbers right. I got the impression that most of the councillors present were simply there to get a free tea and to collect their allowance. Every single opposition councillor had something to say and often. In comparison, only the Bryants and Peter Davies spoke more than once apart from Brian Bayford who was asked to speak as member for housing. The others simply stuck their hands up when asked, prompting permanently smirking Connie Hockley to crane her neck round every single time to make sure that everyone was doing as they were told. There was much debate on two more subjects: affordable housing and health provision but important amendments were outvoted, with the man at the table boasting that he still goes to a GP surgery at Sarisbury Green, so why should there be a problem with people going from Welborne to Wickham or Highlands? He neglected to mention that the reason he doesnt visit the Whiteley Surgery is because there is enormous animosity between him and the lead GP there. After five and a half hours (!) of pointlessness, the big man parroted out about councillors having been allowed to speak their minds, though a great many of them were probably asleep by then, whereas Paul agreed to the modifications going through, knowing full well that they public consultation would simply rip them to pieces again. All in all, the meeting went as Jason predicted, albeit with a hilarious and unexpected outburst from a mayor obviously unsuited to chairing a meeting. Last years was better. I left with the knowledge that we have some conscientious councillors serving on the council and we have some silent sheep simply there to graze on the food and drink proffered before them. We reap what we sow.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 11:34:37 +0000
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