You will have received the recent Parish Council Newsletter, I suggest you get it out and read it again, because it actually tells you so much more about this council that would appear on the surface.
Title article COPS 30 Miler - interesting but says nothing about what the council has been doing over the last 4 months.
Community Choir, Community Lunch - Again I love the fact that OTHER PEOPLE have set these things up and I would like to see both initiatives expanded, but again nothing really to do with the Parish Council.
Driving - Again a Council member and Community Volunteers have done this and well done for that, but again nothing new here and it is not the Council Administration who have done anything here at all.
Website - yet another relaunch of this much lauded non local website which we were told would allow the Parish Administration to post news and allow the council to become more open and accountable. Sadly not a bit of it, its just a new look, with just the same old stuff, often posted late and hardly ever in a timely way. Another expensive lost opportunity. In this newsletter however it is yet another re-launch as many people find it almost unnavigable, so nothing new there.
Chairman's Report - Footpaths, done by the county council, Lengthsmen advertised for months now, no new news, defibrillators, ditto been on the cards for nearly 4 years and provided not by the Parish Council. memorial Hall Car Park well done the Memorial Hall committee they did all the work, the council just signed a cheque. Burial Space, years pass and still no resolution despite one being on the table, one they refuse to consider. BKV information a great committee doing a fab job but nothing to do with the Parish Council. Iron Man, again nothing to do with the Parish Council.
So what has the Parish Council been doing for the last 4 months? full time staff in the office, part time staff in the office every day, yet the council itself has nothing to say about what it is achieving itself.
Worth remembering the £175,981 annual cost every year, so we have given £44K so far to the council this year in 2017 and all we seem to be getting is the Parish Council and its administration taking part credit for other peoples dynamism, creativity, and hard work.
I ask all of the members of the Parish Council simple this, What has the "Council Administration" and the "Council Management" achieved this year so far. Ask them to list it, better still publish it. I can't think of anything at all.
Still not open and accountable and transparent in their workings, still taking months and years to achieve the simplest of tasks. It is time for a change, time to listen closely to the reality of the pressures the administration is under, as the parish grows, it may be time for a new way of doing things. Details of this are being formulated for you all to see.
Its time for a change, its time to bring the Parish Council into the 21st Century, it really is not a difficult thing to do, it is simple, but productivity MUST be the watchword over the next few years. Our community is paying top dollar for this service we are very far short yet of receiving a top dollar service. Being a sleepy Parish Council in todays digital age, is not the way forward.
