Jeremy Lefroy - Leaflet, short on everything

WEAK AND WOBBLY - Uturn on National Insurance, Uturn on calling an election Uturn on the Dementia Tax, Uturn on Fox Hunting and Ivory Ban. Failing on the NHS, Failing on Social Care, Failing on Housing, Failing on School Funding, Failing on Defence, Failing on Infrastructure, Failing Staffordshire, Failing Stafford and Failing the Haywoods. This time you may be thinking that your vote won't change anything, that's what the Conservatives want you to believe, yet it is those who normally do not vote that could transform this country. If you are unhappy on how the country is going VOTE it really does make a difference.

OK I accept I support Labour so I suppose you would expect me to bring out a blog against my political opponents.

However I must point out a few home truths to the Local Conservative Party, their local record of achievement is not the spin they say it is.

1. NHS - Jeremy Lefroy was one of the MP's in parliament that helped push through the now failed Health and Social Care bill which has left our local hospital downgraded and every hospital in the county on its knees. Today it has been announced that waiting times have trebled, imagine what the Tories would be saying now if this was the record of a Labour Candidate. When you read the rather bland non specific commitments for our local services NO extra cash is promised and NO extra support for our local NHS is on the cards, so in Staffordshire we will be voting clearly Lefroy who has overseen the downgrade of our services and has NO PLAN for them to be improved, or Labour who has promised investment for the Many not privatisation for the few.

2. Social Care - In the Tory manifesto they pledge that if you have a house and you can afford it you will have to sell your house to pay for your care, with or without a cap it means that everyone in the community who falls ill and needs social care will be forced after death to sell their house and give the largest chunk of the cash not to your loved ones but to the government. If you fall ill with Cancer the NHS will pay for all of your care.While they are saying this is essential they are giving big business a tax break of over £70 billion, We already have the lowest tax take for business in the G20 Business does not need another massive tax break so why is it a priority?. The NHS in Staffordshire is completely broken, the top down reorganisation has failed and is being reviewed AGAIN, conservative policies have failed we all see it every week on the news, and still they think that selling it off and giving billions in tax breaks will solve the problem. Dont get ill unemployed or weak and vulnerable under this government it has no sympathy. The disabled are constantly harassed over the "fit for work" programs, sanctions are putting millions into poverty, trapping the disabled in their homes. Foodbanks are now a norm for over 2 millions of the people, homelessness has doubled recently, as has child poverty forcing Save the Children and the RED CROSS to open up programs in the UK!, yet we are one of the Richest nations on the world, the FTSE is at an all time high at over 7500 points, somebody is doing well, the few, but not the many. Social Care is massively underfunded everyone says it is on its knees and is broken how is a massive tax cut for big business going to help fund everyone's social care.

3. Education - our local schools ANSON AND COLWICH will lose up to £400 per pupil under the new proposed so called "Fairer Funding" scheme, all to pay for more Grammar schools somewhere else, nice for those communities that get them I suppose, but hard luck for every school in the county. If you vote for Lefroy you are voting for this to happen this year. Class sizes are increasing, the teaching profession is demoralised, new academies are starting to fail, vital funds for every other school are being syphoned off to fund new academies and grammar schools which is nice for them, but leaves the rest of the sector screaming for cash. Older schools are not being repaired, temporary classrooms from the 1960's and 70's are still in use in some schools. Schools are being forced to send begging letters to parents asking them for donations for basics like books. There is a massive teacher shortage leading to schools having to rely on Recruitment Agencies which cost you and me millions of pounds. Jeremy Lefroy has overseen this degradation of our school service he has backed this further downgrade of teaching and education. Jeremy Lefroy backed the saddling of our youth with thousands of pounds of debt through the introduction of the ever rising University fees, Labour will free the youth of this country and scrap the fees all together and bring back the maintenance grants. All this is just the tip of the iceberg........

4. Housing - they continue to make the housing crisis worse by not building enough homes, rents are out of control, the bedroom tax continues to force people from their homes to allow property developers to sell them on to the growing wealthy in city centres. People who have been brought up in the Haywoods are now getting to the stage they can no longer live here or their children must move away because of the lack of affordable housing. Remember the 106 Cash? in 10 years after all the building we have seen in our community NONE of the money over £500,000 which should be spent HERE IN OUR COMMUNITY has EVER been spent in the community. If you vote for the Tories you are voting for this to all get worse, AND continue.
Here is the reality of the failure over the last 7 years to build since the Tories took power the amount of homes required to be built has plummeted, which helps the Landlords, helps the prices sky rocket, but leave an extra 3 million people forced into rented accommodation when they would prefer to buy. House rents are going through the roof and it is pushing working families into poverty.

5. Defence - Tories have cut the RAF by 25%, they have cut 22000 from the Army, 5000 from the Navy and 12 ships, we still have a shortfall of 2000 sailors, 50 defence sites have been sold off to developers. Then on top of that we have 20,000 less police on the streets that's less than we had in 1974, 15% less firefighters on watch, leading to poorer response times. Overall it is the least amount spent on the defence of this country in over 20 years. That is not a great record on defence is it? WE CANNOT DEFEND THIS NATION ON THE CHEAP. Then there is the disastrous foreign policy that Cameron and Hague set about with the so called "Arab Spring" which has left all those nations in piles of grey rubble almost ungovernable......not a good record on defence at all. Aubrey Bailey from fleet sums it all up nicely for us all.

6.  Infrastructure - The Local Tories have done NOTHING to oppose HS2 and very little to help those effected by it, how do we know? simple nobody has been to meet with the community to help with the compensation process individuals have been left to struggle completely on their own, the Tories only stepping in on threat of publicity. Then there has been the upgrading of Stafford.....what a complete shambles getting in and out of Stafford has been a nightmare now for YEARS, this shambolic planning is just breath-taking, then there are the pot holes everywhere, every other shop in the town closed, the Guild Hall virtually empty, investment nil, weeds on every corner litter all over the streets. It no good putting a hard hat on to get your picture in the paper, smiling, its about getting things done, Stafford under the Tories is going backwards not forwards it really is time for a change.

7. Shopping - What is he going on about now? I hear you say, well I shop at ALDI, and I don't know about you but my weekly shop has gone up by about £15 a week, that's £60 less every month of disposable income, we are told that this is going to get a lot worse over the next couple of years, as inflation rises. Interest rates have gone up in the USA and the UK is looking to do the same the cost of our mortgages will rise the cost of living is going to go through the roof, will wages go up to help?, unlikely, HOLD ON don't we have a booming economy, a long term economic plan? so where is all the cash going?

8. Fox Hunting and the Ivory Ban - This is one that I thought I would never have to highlight, but Theresa May is now committed to repealing the ban on Fox Hunting, she believes it is Ok for a pack of hounds to rip apart a Fox for fun. Theresa May has also decided that Elephamts and Rhino's are Ok to be poached for Horn and Ivory, as the conservatives drop a pledge to BAN ALL sales of Ivory in the UK, and work globally to ban it is every country, only by doing this will the market be stopped as there is not a country in the world where Ivory and Horn can be sold, Dropping this pledge is an indication on how the conservatives value the rural countryside and conservation abroad.

9. Environment - Trump

Labour has a bold plan to transform Britain, all parts of Britain, especially those parts like Staffordshire who have been hit time and again by disintegrating industries with no plans to replace them. The pottery industry, the coal industry, Steel and many other manufacturing bases have been devastated with little investment to bring those high pay jobs back into the regions. London thrives while we always get left behind. The conservative under Jeremy Lefroy have delivered a Stafford and surrounding areas like here in the Haywoods that over a long time is completely being overlooked for investment and support. David Williams is pledged to reverse this, whereas Jeremy Lefroys leaflet just pledges generalities with no costings. Then there is Fracking, the Labour Party is committed to renewables being brought up to 60% of national use as soon as possible. Jeremy Lefroy and the Conservatives are committed to Fracking, which could pollute our rivers and water table.

Labour Policies and Tory Policies in a few simple graphics

128 Pages of Manifesto pledges is a lot to take in so I have added a few simple graphics to help you see and understand them. You may laugh at the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn being prime minister, why? because you have only heard what the media have told you, so why not. However what is so bad about having a western leader who would go to the war table saying lets look at peace first?. Would it be so bad to have a person who WILL support and look after the NHS, when all of the Tory reforms had failed?. Would it be so bad to have a PM who genuinely wants the old weak and vulnerable to get help and support, who will look after the disabled, ban fax hunting and so many good policies?.

Read these policies and then think.......have I been moaning about that?

if you HAVE, then just for once you CAN actually do something about it, there is a clear alternative, more of the same or a complete change, hope over fear, don't let the tories scare you into voting for them, they have nothing for you, they only have more cash to stuff into the pockets of big business, Jeremy will take some of it back out, for you and for me......just for a change.



Now many will say that these are very popular policies and all the polls are saying they are.

So how are they going to be paid for?

This is a fully costed plan, and if you earn under £80,000 you will not be asked to pay anything more, just for once the big corporations will be asked to stump up. Lets face it they have had it easy for decades, the Labour Party will stand up for the ordinary people in ways that will never happen under the Tories.
The Tories on the other hand are promising this:





They have doubled the National debt in only 7 years





Wages continue to fall for all of the ordinary people but profits keep raising for the big corporations.





The NHS is being forced to spend billions on Agencies, who are all Tory Doners all wasted cash



I agree with John Sergeant and Many Many others I want the voice of the ordinary person heard, not just big business.





This massive rally in Leamington Spa, (Tory held seat) went un reported, they came to hear Jeremy Corbyn. The Labour Party now has over 600,000 members more than all of the other parties put together. Can you remember when Theresa May spoke to crowd this big?

Signed a few cheques? is that all

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.  

LAUGH OUT LOUD - Humphrey Applebys Back

what are they trying to hide now

I dropped a quick email to the Parish Council the other day, simply asking what progress had been made on the matter of the burial ground. A simple question, nothing complicated, it was over 12 months ago that the matter had been last discussed.

Now a simple yes we have done something or no we haven't as yet but intend to would have sufficed.

I completely understand that some aspects are commercially sensitive, but this was just laughable

Unbelievably this was the response to a simple enquiry. Humphrey Appelby eat your hear out this is too comical to be believed, this must be a joke it must be.

1.                  I have considered your first request and claim the exemption detailed in regulation 12(5)(e) of the EIR. There are four test which need to be addressed when considering this exemption:

 Is the information commercial or industrial in nature?

The activity of the Council is the initial investigation of possible land within the parish boundary to create a municipal burial ground. Should any such land be identified then the Council would need to seek a valuation for this land ahead of opening negotiations with the current landowner for its sale and purchase. This is clearly a commercial activity.

Is the information subject to confidentiality provided by law?

Any landowners with whom the Council may have opened discussions would expect their commercial and economic interests to remain confidential so as not to alert others that they are considering selling their land. They have no urgent desire or need to sell their land but are prepared to talk to the Council, once a valuation has been received, as a good will gesture to the residents of Colwich. They have asked that this matter not be made public in exchange for allowing the Council to obtain a valuation. I am satisfied that both the Council’s and the landowners’ commercial interests would prejudiced by the requested disclosure. In such regard I am satisfied that the information is subject to confidentiality provided by law.

Is the confidentiality required to protect a legitimate economic interest?

The council is unaware of any land within the parish boundary, and close to the urbanised area, which is currently on the market. Consequently, it is in the Council’s interests not to disclose the names of landowners with whom it is in early discussions as to do so would alert housing developers to the possibility that the land is for sale. Their interest would increase the value of the land and put it beyond the reach of the Parish Council. Consequently, I am satisfied that the Council should claim the exemption on the grounds of protecting its, and by extension the local residents who fund the Council via a charge on the Council Tax, legitimate economic interest.

Would the confidentiality be adversely affected by disclosure?

I am satisfied that, as the first three tests have been established, that disclosure into the public domain of the information you have requested would adversely affect the confidential nature of that information by making it publicly available and would consequently harm the legitimate economic interests of the Council and the landowners.

2.                  Regulation 12(4)(d) of the EIR states that a public authority may refuse to disclose information to the extent that the request relates to material which is still in the course of completion, to unfinished documents or to incomplete data. I am satisfied that this test is met in that the Parish Council has contacted the District Valuation Office and the Planning Department at Stafford Borough Council and awaits their reports.

3.                  See 2 above.

4.                  See 2 above.

With regard to your opening sentence, the Burial Committee, with the agreement of Colwich Union of Remembrance and Burial (CURB), was subsumed into the Environment and Leisure Committee and is a standing item on its agenda. The Environment and Leisure Committee last met on 10^th November 2016 and is due to meet next on 9^th March 2017 at which time it will receive a report from CURB following its meeting on 31^st January 2017.

The funds raised by villagers, to which you refer, are a matter for CURB and the Parish Council, quite rightly, has no control or jurisdiction over the Charity’s funds. The Parish Council has decided that it wishes to earmark £10,000 from the 2017/18 precept to compliment the funds held by CURB. These monies will not be received by the Council until the new financial year. I am sure you would agree that it is prudent financial management on the part of the Council to earmark funds in the expectation that the matter proceeds. To do otherwise would either result in having to move funds from another priority mid-year or delay the programme until the 2018/19 financial year when funds can then be earmark from that year’s precept.

Now you know............oh you dont know

All this means NO we haven't done anything about it yet.

One odd thing, the Parish Clerk says he is not aware of any land within the Parish that is for sale yet he mentions possible owners he may or may not have had contact with, and the land at crossheads EVERYONE knows is available, it doesn't have to be in a shop window now does it. Well this just has to be a lie, I know and you know what land was being proposed for the site. The Reverend Simon Davis said when he visited the site, that it was the best potential site he had seen in over 10 years.

all this flummery just to cover the fact that they have done nothing for over 12 months, well the site is still for sale.......the same site that was available 12 months ago........lets wait another 12 months and see what happens...........(starts holding breath)................. ..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. lol

I suppose this is what you can expect from a UKIP led council, great at getting their hands on public funds not very good at letting it go.

nighty night

hope the bed bugs dont bite😀

BUSY BUSY BUSY - Really?

Parish Council consider plans for new offices and take advice from London Office

I would like to see if the Citizen of the year award is truly a peoples award or is it just a pat on the back for the great and the good in the community, by the great and good in the community for the great and good in the community.

SO PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO THE PARISH CLERK NOMINATING ME FOR THE AWARD

lets see if I win....lol I will not hold my breath....ho ho ho

Ah the winter newsletter arrives on the doorstep, and just for once it does not have a veiled or direct attack on democracy in the form of slagging off anyone who does not agree with them, so sherries all round, mince pies and a happy xmas to all....but to drown their collective sorrows they decided to vote to give themselves a slap up meal at the Swan at Stafford as a consolation prize. I would have thought a donation to "House of Bread" this Christmas would have been more appropriate but that why they put up the precept by 125%.......so what next

Ah Yes



The new website.............. Sorry but I can't see what the difference is? apart from it looking different, it is still not up to date, its still not accountable or transparent or accessible.

Oh it does cost double the amount of the last one, or so I am led to believe

Oh yes and if I am right it is being done by a firm in Exeter Devon, whereas businesses in Staffordshire would have done it at half the cost and probably done it better. This new website was supposed to be an opportunity to improve communications with the public. They even set up a new committee to oversee communications. This site has all the imagination of a "dead donkey" apart I may say for the inclusion of the excellent photos from Dawn Lockett.

The Home Page just a bit of text with links to other parts of the website, the photos are bog standard stock photos and say nothing about the actual council, this page has LESS information on it than the previous site.

Council Information - Nothing new

Meetings and Minutes - Nothing new

Community Information - Nothing New

Members Area !!!!! great something NEW.......sadly only the great and the good have access...

The rest is just a hash of EXACTLY THE SAME INFORMATION that was on the old website. Not much of a launch for the community to see a step up in communication to match the 125% increase in precept this year. Yes they have spend a large wad of cash but for what purpose, NOTHING IS DIFFERENT its a joke, please tell me this is a Joke!

Oh well I am sure they enjoyed their slap up meal

Now we are told that the parish council will be employing directly two part time "lengths men" to do the odd jobs in the villages rather than using local businesses. This to me looks like empire building, instead of tax payers cash going on facilitating improvements in the community it will all be sucked up by wages. Remember earlier this year a 1% increase in wages led to a massive increase in wages cost? this is the last thing we need more increases in the cost of running the council in pensions and benefits and with the way they run things in general the cost of tribunals when things go horribly wrong.

Then we are told that despite a 125% increase last year in the precept they will be increasing the precept this year ANOTHER 1.9%. Now I really dont understand this at all. Next year the council will have access to hundreds of new homes in the villages who all will pay extra money in the pot for the precept at the NEW HIGHER RATE. Other councils in this situation have actually cut their local tax by around 11% to take into account the growth in the villages. Remember 2% on top of the increased 125% is massively more of a cash rise than it would have been without the tax rises this year. That's why they have put it in % terms as it will now be a large lump of cash to increase next year, I will ask them to give out the cash amount for you to see in the new year. Remember this is YOUR cash coming out of YOUR purse and wallet, you have been given no say, no consultation, and no justification has been given.

Fracking - at last its on the agenda just like the hedge at mill lane in 8 years time a formal policy might be in place but only after the whole village is surrounded by wells and the water under Essex bridge is poisoned will they do anything about it. I asked the County Council via our County Councillor Len "Useless" Bloomer, who said there are no "Fracking" sites in Staffordshire. He was right, however there are 3 "deep coalbed methane extraction" sites, one just up the road from us in Stafford at Bramwell.

HS2 - this is a laugh, the HS2 denier in chief Adam Billingsley the vice chair, has had a meeting with HS2....lol anyone can have a meeting with HS2 I have had a dozen or so. This was back in OCTOBER things have moved on!! this figleaf of representation is just that, just to say if anyone asks that they have done something. Nothing of substance was discussed, nothing of substance came from the meeting.


We are constantly told how busy the Parish Council are, lets see shall we, I have been looking through the mins of the meetings for the myriad of committees that sat this year.

1. The allotment committee last sat in January......
2. The Burial Ground Committee last sat in February.....
3. The Leisure and Environment Committee last sat in June.....
4. The Policy Committee last sat in March.....
5. The Young People Committee last sat in June.......
6. The Newsletter Committee last sat in June.......
7. The Planning Committee last sat in November but before that in June.....
8. The full council meets one a month for a couple of hours at the time of publishing this the December final mins have still not been posted 2 weeks after the meeting was held.

Now I may be missing something here, but why then is it that it costs so much to run? and why does it take so long to do stuff???

Many of these committees only sit once a year twice at most

Remember we have 2 clerks one full time and one part time, yet they cant publish a set of mins for a meeting until just days before the next one, what are they doing all day? your guess is as good as mine.

Now I am compiling a list of all the things the Parish Council "Resolved to do" in 2016 and so far have not completed.......I promise you its a long list. I want to keep it ongoing and current to keep and eye on exactly how long it takes to get some basic simple things done. Productivity is a big issue within the Parish Council, this is the fault of the Management of the council not individual councillors. 2017 needs to be the year this is sorted out.

Parish Council Discover HS2 - Unbelievable!!

LOL it seems the parish Council have discovered HS2? who would have thought!

Members of the council were aghast to discover that underneath all the reports on grit bins and pay rises they have found a report which concerns the Parish Council greatly.

It appears the government are planning a new High Speed rail route which will at some cost to local residents come close to the villages. The Parish Council have decided to form a sub committee to look into the matter and to help those who may be affected by the proposal.

I know that the project was announced some 5 years ago now, but it seems that the Parish Council have only just decided to help the local residents get "The best deal" from HS2.

This is completely laughable, and also completely outrageous too. Under the wise council of The "Save the Haywoods" group, during the years of the last Parish Council, they completely ignored the HS2 issue, being told regularly by Cllr Adam Billingsley and Cllr Andy Cooper and others that it would not come near the villages at all. How do I know this, well I sadly had to sit and listen to them tell me that I was a scare monger, that I didn't know what I was talking about. I was told in no uncertain terms to "go away" and to stop going on about it.

The Parish Council did nothing to prevent the Shires development in Great Haywood, opposite Roseacre Nursery, whose homes are likely to be severely blighted, and devalued, not only by the Railway itself but from the 5-8 years of heavy construction.

The Parish Council did nothing to help shape the compensation package

The Parish Council did nothing to help local residents sort out the mess of the emergency compensation scheme. I could go on and on, but it would serve no purpose

This is more than too little too late, its an insult to those residents effected by the route, it is an insult to those residents who had to help fight for support without the Parish Council being by the side of locals suffering just because of the announcement. EVERYTHING THEY ARE DOING NOW IS JUST TOO LATE!

Nothing on the Environmental impact of construction
Nothing on the Disruption to traffic in the area
Nothing on the impact of soil spoil dumps outside the village
Nothing on the local worker camps
Nothing on the construction impact whatever.

As ever we receive a one star service while paying for a 5 star facility.

Not to worry, the Council have paid for a "Facilitator" to run a "Management Think day" to help the council decide what they want to do with all the time they have, and the wads of cash they now have in their coffers. Well that's Ok then.

Actually its isn't, I remember having a similar meeting where the councillors listed all the different things they consider should be on the agenda of a "to do list". lost of time was taken placing all the items on a nice spreadsheet, and then like everything else it just got lost in the quagmire of administration.

What is the answer to this? MORE STORAGE, lets pay for better heaters and more storage, nothing about scanning documents and digitalising the parish into the 21st century, no lets buy more paper storage facilities. I tell you, you could not make it up.

Oh well as long as their priorities are right, sod the community lets have better heaters for us!! 

Oh just to let you know we had out "Annual" visit from County Councillor Len "Useless" Bloomer, that's nice, heres to another £9000 in his pocket for next year!!

Oh yes it took a whole month to write the minutes from the last Full Council meeting, not exactly a "Timely" response to the community, and none of the Agendas were posted on line at all.

Powdered wigs and quill pens all round!!!

What is actually Happening? God Knows!

Thursday 06th October is the date of the Latest Full Parish Council Meeting........

"So what" I hear you say

Whats on the agenda? god knows it could be anything, so why does the Parish Council who have recently raised the cost of running the council by over £6000 still insist on the barest minimum when it comes to communicating with the public, I will never understand.

Now under the Local Government act 1972, the barest minimum to remain legally correct is to post the agenda 3 days prior to the meeting on the Parish Noticeboard.

For those of us who have a diary, that is not exactly helpful to anyone trying to plan their week. A young mum who maybe want to attend may have to arrange child care. A small businessman would have diarise their time to make sure they leave work on time to get things done.

So this means you will have no idea whatever what the dates of future meetings are, unless that is you look at the parish notice boards to find out. However the meeting that you may want to go to may not be on the board. So you will have to go down to the notice board every day until the notice is placed.

Now we are told that a large lump sum of cash is going to be spent on the delivery of a new "Parish Website", well all I can say is that currently minutes of meetings and agendas are routinely not posted for months after a meeting has taken place ensuring that only the clerk and the councillors have any idea of what is going on.

A change in standing orders will be required to establish the following new rules which should become standard practice.

1. Draft Minutes of meetings will be posted within 2 days of the meeting closing
2. Draft agendas for all meetings should also be posted online 3 days prior to the meeting taking place.
3. All meeting notices should be routinely placed on the social media pages for the villages ensuring that over 3000 local people get direct access to the agendas and minutes directly in their email boxes.

I also propose that the limited nature of the Parish noticeboards mean that many of the notices have to be truncated to make room for them all. All the noticeboards should be replaced by much larger boards capable of homing a more detailed set of notices.

The only way the local people have assessing what is being achieved on any subject at the moment is being in the meeting and listening to the section called "Clerks Report". This section outlines what progress has been made on many subjects. However on the minutes of the meeting it merely says "The clerks report was noted" but ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING about what was in it.

It is currently deemed that the report is confidential.....absolute fiddlesticks!!

Many of the "Gold Standard" Parish Councils who pay much less for their services regularly every month publish what progress has been made by the council on various issues. It is just this council and the management who feel that it is not a good idea for local people to know what's going on.

If they really believe the "Save the Haywoods" ideology is dead then they would embrace open accountable transparent working, I'm not holding my breath.

So I am suggesting to the council this month that they consider a "White Paper" system of working. When a new piece of activity is proposed it is put in the form of a white paper, with a clear narrative explaining the reasons why the activity is required, with no jargon, what it will cost, how long the task will take etc. and importantly who is owning the project. This means that there will be a document produced which is titled and everyone will know what is required. As progress is made the document is added to, if the borough council or county council is contacted etc this is evidenced in full. The key thing here is that the documents are published for everyone to see. Then everyone can see progress, everyone can see the latest activity. The file then becomes a working document which is electronic, which does not require a paper file. Access to everyone and the councillors means they can keep abreast of progress as soon as it happens not having to wait for months for the next potential meeting.

This is what the Parish Council could deliver if they wanted to, we will have to wait and see if they do.  

Not on this months agenda

Burial Ground
Results of the Employment meeting for potential new staff
Explanation of how a 1% pay rise results in a 17% cash increase in costs
106 Cash none being spent in the Haywoods
The Legal Case - no update or how much more cash this is costing
5 years too late.....a position on HS2.......probably head up collective arse.

Watch this space