Running our own affairs, Is it time to abolish Newbury Town Council? Options

[Bofem]

A rather interesting opportunity has arisen..

As Newbury Town Councillors have refused to listen to the 1200 people who petitioned for a fenced off play area in Victoria Park, I was wondering if it was time to do away with them and run the things they run ourselves.

By happy coindidence, 1200 is the number required to trigger a referendum on this very question..alternatively, it's enough to trigger a review of the town council by WBC (I know....glass houses and all that, but it seems a sensible place to start).


Alternative structures could be.....

Nothing. Various community groups simply take on the services
Devolved community councils for the various parts (eg Turnpike Community Council)
Maybe the BID could manage things like Vicky Park/the market.

Most of you probably don't care, but when 10% of your customers ask you to do soomething and you refuse, voting em out isn't really an option...not enough seats are contested

Before you say "I don't care", there's a chance to save you £60 a year if you vote yes to abolition. But at what cost?

[Richard Garvie]

I'd still love to see this consultation that supposedly exists. I think it was David Allen who had a pop at me by saying that I should be congratulating the council not criticising, and that parents had been consulted. I've been clear all along, the council should be applauded for investing in services for young people (unlike their colleagues in WBC) but there still should have been a proper consultation with parents and if a fence was wanted for the toddler area, this is something that could have been considered.

How many people asked for a scooter park by the way? If the council had consulted scooter users in the design of the skatepark, there could have been a combined facility and rather than applying for funding for a seperate area for scooters, we could now be looking to fund a fence for the toddler area.

[dannyboy]

I'd still love to see this consultation that supposedly exists. I think it was David Allen who had a pop at me by saying that I should be congratulating the council not criticising, and that parents had been consulted. I've been clear all along, the council should be applauded for investing in services for young people (unlike their colleagues in WBC) but there still should have been a proper consultation with parents and if a fence was wanted for the toddler area, this is something that could have been considered.

How many people asked for a scooter park by the way? If the council had consulted scooter users in the design of the skatepark, there could have been a combined facility and rather than applying for funding for a seperate area for scooters, we could now be looking to fund a fence for the toddler area.

There would be no cash left after all the consultants had been paid.

btw - You can't please all the people all the time.

[Richard Garvie]

There would be no cash left after all the consultants had been paid.

How much does it cost to go into Victoria Park and ask park users what they think of the plans or even before that stage, ask them what they would like? I will give you a clue. Myself and my colleagues went to Victoria Park prior to the local elections various times, and we got a lot of data from the people who use the park. How much did that cost us? NOTHING.

btw - You can't please all the people all the time.

You are right, but where is the petition saying a fence isn't wanted? Wasn't the facebook group against a fence started as a joke? 1,200 people want a fence and have signed an official petition that was given to the council. There views have been disregarded and carry about as much weight as those who are against the idea of a fence. The only thing is, there is no concrete evidence to suggest there is a substantial number of people against a fence for the toddler area, and if there was, it would be waved in front of us.

The bottom line is, the skatepark was a **** up and should have been a combined facility but the only people consulted were bmx and skateboard users (this much has been admitted), and there appears to have been no council consultation yet the council told me in an official council meeting there had been. Doesn't fill you with confidence that the views of non elected members are worth anything, no wonder people have said they are fed up voting because nobody listens to them.

The town council do a much better job than WBC, and it's only now and then do they let themselves down. That being said, they need to LISTEN to the many and not the few. Remember the Michaelmas saga when a local councillor suggested that the council discuss a number of options including the relocation of the fair and the end of it completely. Although this was a WBC councillor, how many people had complained about the fair versus the amount of people who use it? We need to have proactive representatives, not reactive and unfortunately issues like the fence, the skatepark and the dodgy allotment issue were all handled poorly.

[Bofem]

The town council do a much better job than WBC, and it's only now and then do they let themselves down. That being said, they need to LISTEN to the many and not the few. Remember the Michaelmas saga when a local councillor suggested that the council discuss a number of options including the relocation of the fair and the end of it completely. Although this was a WBC councillor, how many people had complained about the fair versus the amount of people who use it? We need to have proactive representatives, not reactive and unfortunately issues like the fence, the skatepark and the dodgy allotment issue were all handled poorly.

Hmmm....you missed a few off.

Sending nasty letters to grieving parents telling them that what they can and can't leave at their child's grave.
Supporting the charter market cartel, where new stalls are only allowed to trade if it doesn't damage the business of existing stallholders
Hiding the results on whether the Parkway project has damaged our main park.

I am not sure if calling us "ill-informed internet posters" counts, or failing to publish agendas of council business on time.

But everyone makes mistakes, it's how we learn from them that matters.

Another reason for reviewing NTC is that it's party political. And with both parties struggling to get enough candidates to stand in each ward, we could end up in a similar situation to Hungerford, where the councillors vote their mates on to fill up empty seats.