Manorbier.com
of 7th June 2007
ICT Marketing and the ongoing Repercussions of the Ill-fated Village Appraisal
Former Councillors Patricia Griffiths and Elizabeth Pellowe (nee Thompson) attended the council meeting on 7th June 2007 as the repercussions of the appraisal and court case rumble on. Both Mrs Griffiths and Mrs Pellowe were not very happy with the conduct of the Chairman Councillor Anthony Wales. Mrs Griffiths had e-mailed the Council Chairman with a copy of the e-mail sent to all councillors with a list of questions the answers to which she required.
Mrs Griffiths was forthright in her condemnation of the council and particularly its chairman Cllr Wales for allowing her reputation as a councillor to be maligned in the way it had been done. Cllr Wales took little notice of Mrs Griffith's obvious distress at what she felt were the wrong doings of the council and its solicitors Lowless and Lowless. Cllr Wales told Mrs Griffiths forcefully that if she had not lied in relation to the court case but had told the truth the case would have had a different outcome and then with the assistance of Cllr Neads reinforced this point several times. Cllr Kidney, who has seemingly not grasped the full situation concerning possible repercussions of the case, seemed to ignore Mrs Griffiths' strongly expressed views. He stated that in his opinion the council had spent enough time on the case and should allow no more time on the issue and there should be a separate meeting to discuss her letter. Both Cllr Davies and Cllr Calver disagreed with the proposal and were concerned that Mrs Griffiths felt that Manorbier Community Council (MCC) had unjustly maligned in her any way. Cllr Calver informed the new councillors that Cllr Wales, Neads and Coleman had not kept fellow councillors fully informed about the ongoing court case. Before a resolution could be put Cllrs Wales and Neads advised Cllr Kidney to just propose that the meeting move on, which he dutifully did. Cllr Wales who obviously did not want Mrs Griffiths' concerns to be aired stating that he "had spent enough of his life on the case" and he would not attend any meeting of the council to discuss Mrs Griffith's complaints. The proposal to move on was carried with only Cllr Davies and Calver voting against.
Mrs Griffiths read out a letter from the police regarding the MCC complaint to the police that had been proposed by Cllr Wales about the perjury allegation against Mrs Griffiths in relation to her evidence under oath at the ICT Marketing court case. The decision of the police was to not pursue the complaint against Mrs Griffiths, which surprised councillors, as surely the police would have informed the Council of the decision. Cllr Wales stated that the police had not informed him or the temporary clerk, Cllr Neads, or Council of their decision.
Cllr Wales informed the Council he would be reporting four Councillors to the Ombudsman over declarations of interest not having been made. Former Cllr Grifiths assumed one of the four would be her and declared that she did have any interest to declare on this matter. Cllr Wales did not inform the meeting which councillors he would be reporting.
Witness statements regarding forged and photocopied appraisal documents.
Cllr Wales revealed that he was in prossession of witness statements supplied to the police by Cllr Calver and Davies over their complaint and the subsequent police investigation into the fraudulent photocopying of appraisal questionnaires has resulted in a totally worthless document and as yet an unfinished project paid for out of taxes.
Website Comments.
Cllr Wales' disclosure that he has copies of witness statements given to the police by Cllrs Calver and Davies begs the question how such information, which at this stage is covered by the Data Protection Act came to be in his possession. Cllr Wales also stated that Cllrs Calver and Davies could not go to the police fast enough regarding their concerns about this issue. Cllr Wales is obviously ignorant of the fact that the police had rightfully seized the documents concerned and it makes one wonder what alternative Cllr Wales is suggesting.
A FULL REPORT CONCERNING THE APPRAISAL FRAUD AND INVOLVEMENT OF THE WDA THAT IS NOW PART OF THE WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT IS BEING PREPARED AND WILL BE PLACED ON THIS WEBSITE.
Staffing Committee
A member of the public asked Cllr Wales if he could tell him how many times the staffing committee has met since May 2006.
Cllr Wales answered No.
Cllr Wales would not answer any questions posed by the member of the public. This concerned Cllr Calver particularly as the council is the process of being taken to an Employment Tribunal by the clerk. Cllr Calver stated that he had asked for details of the case but had been refused by the council on many occasions. He wondered how the other councillors could condone this action that may have financial repercussions on the council and stated that they seemed to be abdicating their responsibilities.
Website Comments
As the council is being taken to an Employment Tribunal by the former clerk over her dismissal council members seem to be taking a particularly cavalier attitude to their responsibilities.
Residents Association and demarcation line outlined by Councillor Howard Lloyd.
Several members of the public from the Skrinkle area were concerned that their views were not being considered by the Council. Cllr Calver pointed out that there were now three council members from Skrinkle area on the council, the acting clerk, Cllr Neads, and two new councillors Howard Lloyd and Bob Booth. Howard Lloyd took exception to this as he was adamant that he did not reside in Skrinkle. A lady in the audience pointed out to Cllr Lloyd, that in fact his house was in the Skrinkle area according to the Development Plan. The only difference between Mr Lloyd's house and that of the bulk of the estate is that when it was an army camp Mr Lloyd's residence was the officers' quarters and the rest was for other ranks. A close neighbour of Mr Lloyd, Ms Lee Marsden, complained about the footpath from where they both reside in Skrinkle to the village of Manorbier and that she found it difficult to manoeuvre her motorised disability scooter along the footpath. Cllr Calver stated that he would refer the matter to the relevant department at County Hall.
Provision of new houses at Skrinkle
Several residents who would be directly affected by the proposed sale of land by Pembrokeshire County Council to the Pembrokeshire Housing Association were present to voice their opposition to any new development. Cllr Calver pointed out that because he had informed the County Council that he supported the small scale development his contribution to this discussion would be limited. Cllr Wales informed the meeting that he was concerned that he had seen it stated that he had organised the petition regarding the campaign to stop any houses being built on the estate. One resident was concerned that her children who played on the grassed area would be deprived of this amenity. Cllr Calver pointed out that the fenced play area was poorly sited on a corner and surely the idea was for parents to supervise their small children when they allowed them to play in the playground. He advised them that there was no truth in the rumours that the fenced play area would be removed. He also pointed out that villagers who have raised their children locally are constantly contacting him over the lack of housing. Cllr Wales suggested to the audience that there was nobody present in favour of the development and suggested to Cllr Calver he should advise those who support it to come to the meetings. A member of the public present at the meeting suggested that some councillors who resided close by the development or who had stated they objected to any development to consider their position and declare an interest, as they were obviously against any development that might assist those seeking to acquire a house.
Website Comments
Cllr Wales, who is also the chairman of the Local Labour Party, seems to object to any new development within the parish of Manorbier. It is difficult to see how he reconciles this view with the need to build more houses in Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government's request of County Councils to look at surplus land and release it to housing associations to develop.
After Dark Missile Firing at ADR Manorbier
Resulting from the scheduled reduction of after dark missile firings the MOD have proposed to reduce their investment in providing fixed noise monitoring facilities at the selected sites around the area. They also wish to have an additional monitoring point at the bungalow just inside the range boundary. The use of portable noise monitoring with data collected by their own "engineers" is a radical departure from the earlier approved planning conditions. The Community Council were made aware that After Dark Firing would again have to be considered by them at the next meeting as the Chairman revealed he had received some papers from the PCNP planning authority.
Were the received papers just for the chairman or for the whole Council?