Manorbier.com
Community Council Meeting - 10th August 2004 and as Continued on 24th August
On Tuesday 10th August the third meeting of the newly appointed Manorbier Community Council convened for what should have been an uneventful meeting. Whereas things had not run smoothly at the July meeting the new Chairman had put his stamp on the proceedings and had demonstrated a refreshingly new approach to events since his selection as Chairman.
It appears attempts to make the Council more receptive to change, to overcome some of the vested interests and to maintain a people orientated administration were all thrown away with the bath water. Somewhat surprisingly the meeting started and the chairman delivered a spectacular and scathing message which included his resignation.
His speech being delivered at the open public meeting allows the exact contents of his departure statement to be reproduced here. The giving of this speech to a wider audience should allow the population the Council is said to represents to know just what this renown citizen had to say. It does no favours, highlights the problems and failings of this current and previous Councils.
May I particularly welcome the new Members to the Chamber. I sincerely wish you well and I shall be asking only this of you. Do your very best to serve the people. It's perhaps a good time to start now.
I welcome too, a good crowd in the gallery for this, the third successive meeting. ( But only three attended. Ed. ) I salute your enthusiasm and tonight you may get to see the showdown between the Christians and the Lions, resolved.
However, the fact that a battle is being fought, gives me no satisfaction at all. I came to this place because I thought I could make a difference. I had fought hard and long against the previous regime. It was - I thought - incompetent, had no overall programme, no procedural sense and it had linked itself to the Manorbier & District Community Association for some fourteen years. I appreciate that it may have worked then but things change. The Councillors were deemed Members and - indeed, Trustees. That in itself was bad enough but the Clerk, actually the last two Clerks, were expected to be the Administrative Officer on behalf of the Council - very dangerous game. But it didn't stop there. The Chairman of this Council became the Chairman of the Association. And a lot of money went that way too and still does.
As for the rest of the Parish, there seemed little interest. Some Councillors showed their contempt for the public gallery by not bothering to turn up and visiting dignitaries got the same treatment. Too many times, meetings were abandoned because they stayed away. It took three meetings before a quorum could be produced to hold the Precept Meeting - perhaps the most important meeting of the year. I and others had been fighting the Council's lack of respect and service to the electorate. There was little fairness or justice in their duties towards all parts of the Parish. Correspondence was not being answered I am still waiting for answers to 13 letters going back to 2002.
Yes, there were friends there and I am grateful for their efforts but the die had been cast too long.
With other friends, we determined that we should work for a better deal for the Tax Payer and give the Council a better image. We would stand for Council.
And that is how we came to be here. Unfortunately, nothing much changed. We cannot agree. We are deep in the rights and wrongs of Members' interests, of who said what and when. There exists the 'us and them' thing, even with just six of us. And of course, the whispering in dark corners. And the Minutes? Well, I agree, they don't always pass inspection, a suggestion left out here- or, we didn't say this or that: - the Minutes are biased, or the amendments aren't shown. Well perhaps when we get to the Minutes we shall see that the amendments were put in - and the rest was more nit-picking than sense. It should have been so much easier. After the fiasco of last month, I asked the Clerk to produce a set of Draft Minutes as quickly as she could for each member to report on anything not right. All this so that we should get it right for this meeting.
Joan and I went off for a break and a few Hospital appointments. Returning, the Clerk told me that no-one had been in touch. Was that good news, or was I kidding myself? I decided to ring round to find out. YES, I was kidding myself. I'm told how badly wrong the Draft was. Items missed out. They were inaccurate. Not a fair and correct record, and, This was done deliberately or due to incompetence. Members had had three weeks to do something but had kept silent. What might they be wanting to happen tonight if all this is so. Was this action deliberate?
However, I did see two of you and received some notes. But by then, the Draft minutes were going out as the Official Minutes.
WE have to sort it out, said one. Good! So how come it was me that spent most of the weekend trying to do just that while waiting on another of you for a promised last letter due on the Thursday and which dropped on my doormat when I got out of bed early Sunday morning? Night Post? Now there's a thought.
By the way, the night-post letter was interesting. Beautifully laid out. But, my name was spelt incorrectly! My House name was, inaccurate! And I live in a place called, Jamestown, which, if I'm not mistaken, is one of two places on America's Eastern Seaboard - or it could be the one in South Australia! Oh dear!
Much of my Sunday was shared by the Clerk - and two families were put out. Thank you very much. Finally, how did I get to occupy this Chair? I suppose every Councillor would want to do that. But I think that I was meant to be the Whipping Boy. I was the one to stop the existing problems. I probably would have done so too with some kind of support. But it looks like we are not going down that road. And the Clerk? I've heard so many times over the last couple of years that the Clerk had to go. Well it was nothing to me - until I sat in this Chair. While she sits next to me, I have a duty to this Council to advise, to guide, to tell her what is expected of her or how the Council wants things done. She knows she is not the best clerk in the world. But I wonder how much of that was the fault of the last Administration? And I wonder how many Members of this Administration has sought to tell her about our Policy Strategy? Difficult I know, I'm not yet sure if we have one, not even our prime directive of Serving the People. Clearly, I do not operate on the same wavelength.
That's about it - except there are those who have been worrying so much that a member of the public has written to me and copied it to the Clerk. Having answered the letter. I'm told, its not mine, it belongs to the Council. They don't know what's its about but whatever it is they don't trust me with it. It would actually have been produced at the last meeting but you were hell-bent for each others' blood. I deliberately withheld it because the environment into which I would have delivered it was inappropriate. It is still inappropriate but you may have it now. The letter - my letter - held all the reasons why I joined this Council - all the things that you and I could do, to better serve the public and to get rid of the tag, 'that bl...y lot up there.' But now, I ask the Clerk to enter it into the Minutes as the last thing I can do with this Council. I shall revert my fight and my efforts again from the outside and perhaps get a life. To those who know I am a friend, thanks. To those who aren't, so be it.
Don Beddoes
10 August 2004
COMMENTS
Following his departure the Chair was taken by the Vice Chairman who gave a stunning performance by telling a Councillor that " if he did not like it - not to turn up" and shouting to others to "shut up", "shut up", "shut up". The meeting itself did manage to get through the Minutes in one and quarter hours. ( It does make one wonder why they are called minutes. ) All the animosities, interests, contradictions and characteristics of the Council became evident.
Planning matters were given consideration as the Councils views were of a "time critical" nature.
One observer noted that the Vice Chair adopted a highly unusual process on proposals and seconding. Firstly a pseudo speech was given, others then wanted clarity of the matter and then it was decided there was a proposal. A seconder was asked for and then it appeared the matter was just nodded through without a discernible vote. That done, it became time for asking just what the proposal was and how it should be worded. Strange though it might seem nobody queried this very unorthodox method of working. Now should it possibly reduced the friction when the minutes are being decided upon at the next meeting, maybe some good could come from it. However to have the vote and then the proposal is definitely putting the cart before the horse.
So overall, and at the end of the third meeting of the Council can the community say all is well?
Is this what the community expects from its Council?
Can anybody wonder why so few in the community visit their meetings.
As one observer made comment " that meeting was a xxxxxxx shambles. Not so, as there was no blood ......... this time. Using Don Beddoes reference to the Christians and the Lions, we have moved on and today the public do not want a fight, or blood even, but just good honest stewardship for the benefit of all in our community. We are not in a Roman amphitheatre but in Wales today. And from Wales we expect and must have better than the current Manorbier performances.
Now as to "The Letter" that Don Beddoes mentioned he had received from a member of the community, well, it asked pertinent questions which everybody in the community deserves an answer to. That letter could well be provided here soon. Essentially the main question was why is the portion of community charge for the Community Council so high and just what do they expect to be spending. Strange that nobody of the council considered an answer worthwhile.
Continuation of the Meeting 10th August
The Meeting of the 10th August having failed to cover a meagre part of the Agenda was eventually put into suspension and then continued on the 24th of August. This continuation session did not lack the cut and thrust associated with this Council and only some highlights are mentioned here.
Notice Board
Some kind person, known to all the council, has provided a splendid new notice board. Now on the outside of the Parish Room this beautiful unit houses the Church notices and those for the Community Council. One observer's comment was that it is a great and magnificent example of its craft but as more people visit the shop than the Parish Room is this the best place to provide information.
The Data Protection Act
Apparently already registered for DPA the discussion centred on if there was a need to renew the registration but at a cost of £35 a somewhat more amicable debate progressed....... but Oh! how this contrasted with another topic.
Disability Access
It would seem that possibly by October the Community Centre at Skrinkle should be made such that access for disabled people is in place. Now lets digress a little, if you or I were to consider planning application we have to provide detailed drawings to the appropriate authority. They would ask for the Community Councils views and the planning authority would inspect your plans and then eventually, and with luck, approval would follow. Before the plans were drawn up you would consult with experts, be they architects, surveyors or builders and form some assessment of the costs involved - maybe an estimate or better still a quotation. You might have unlimited money and cost would be no object - how few these people are!! And now a little further digression, for the building itself is owned by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and leased to the Youth Hostel Association. They sublease part to the Community for which a rental is paid by the Community Council.
So just what is required for the new access. Well it appears that a group has been looking into it and the Vice Chairman, a member of that group, reported for them that a ramp would be required, that door modifications are necessary and the cost would be £7,000. On being asked to supply more information by Cllr Calver, such as; Is the access ramp only used by the community? Where is the ramp to be placed? And how was the cost arrived at? a stonewall approach was adopted where no other information was supplied. The "white knight" to the rescue was in the form of another question. Who should pay for it as the building is rented and not owned. The legal obligation of the Community Council for these modifications are now to be investigated. It was also resolved that Cllr. Wales should provide the group report and full drawings together with costing for the next meeting. Maybe he should also provide a view of the container of the thin air from which the cost figure appears to have been plucked.
All this, and before October 2004. Well, can it be done and on time and possibly cost? Legal advice is never rapid, placing contracts also requires some time and getting the work done ....well that can take a little longer. So perhaps somebody needs to ask the question, what happens if the changes are not made on time. Will the building be isolated, quarantined or kept out of bounds. Are any meetings, groups or other activities to be stopped because of the non compliance?
Now thankfully somebody had asked the question about expenditure. For this topic could be the launching pad from which your charge payments are to be spent but there is one member of the council who will certainly need to be a bit more crisp on this.
Community Councillors
Now that our two brand new and shiny councillors have taken their seats, we have yet to see if they are Lions or Christians ( to use Mr Beddoes classification ). The main question now is have we the right sort of councillors?
The remark that we need the "right type" was amplified upon and given to include those who are community minded. Cllr. Neads managed to get his point across this time. Yes, that's what we do need. The next question is can all these appointed people become a cohesive and effective Community Council to represent the community. Don Beddoes took on this Sisyphean task, but has now gone. The vice chair appears to have struck a new and rich seam of antagonism which he is furiously mining. Could it be that he's getting a little boulder.
The audited accounts for this profligate body are to made available soon. We hope to bring you a detailed analysis to reveal just what your hard earned money has achieved.
COMMENT
The Disability Discrimination Act comes into force in October. From October service providers will be required to make "reasonable adjustments" to their premises or the way they provide their services so that they are not difficult for disabled people to use.
So what does the term "disability" mean. Official figures are quoted as there being more than 10 million disabled people in the UK. But this does not give focus as to the meaning. Emphasis appears to be being placed on people who use wheelchairs but they actually only account for 5% of those 10 million - the smallest group. So in a population of say 1500 in the Manorbier area the figure would be 75 .( 1500 x 5/100 ). The third largest group is those with sensory impairments such as hearing difficulties or sight problems. This group also need "reasonable adjustments" to be made for them. People with mental health problems fill the largest category followed by those with learning difficulties.
The question remains. What is reasonable when it comes to adjustments? Perhaps the best view can be had by visiting the website for the Disability Rights Commission at www.drc-gb.org They have Questions and Answers to illustrate points of the new requirements, and they give specific advice on the new regulations.