Comment: Where are our voices?

For at least a decade, and according to one former Parish Councillor, longer than that, two agenda items have graced the bottom of every Council meeting agenda: “Correspondence” and “Questions from the Public”.

At next Monday’s meeting, that tradition ends.

Of course the agenda for the meeting is full. Business from the abandoned “Extraordinary Meeting” has had to be carried forward. But there are also seven items which amount to a shopping list from the Locum Clerk, Tom Brindley.

Nor is this the only forum, for villagers’ questions, to fall: the last Community Development Committee meeting was cancelled, awaiting the long-drawn-out issue of its terms of reference to be resolved.

Those CDC meetings have, in the past, been a valuable place for residents to ask questions about the work being done. Equally, they were able to feed their views into how that work should be progressed.

Incredibly, the Locum Clerk has now recommended that all future CDC public meetings should be cancelled. This under the pretext that CPC should meet with TVBC first, to discuss James Painters’ announcement of outline planning permission for the 25-home development.

Is it that the Parish Council no longer feels the need to listen to residents now that the proposed development is firmly “landowner led”? That the change from being “community led” absolves them from any engagement with their constituents?

We need to keep a sharp eye for procedural ruses which would muffle villagers’ voices. These include:

  • Requiring questions to be lodged with the Locum Clerk before meetings
  • Scheduling residents’ questions early in the meeting before it discusses substantive issues
  • Allowing Parish Councillors merely to note a question without attempting to respond
  • Limiting the total time for public questions to a few minutes

“Correspondence” and “Questions from the Public” are not luxuries. They should not be set aside for the sake of expediency or procedural nicety. They are the cornerstone of “meaningful engagement” and they represent accountability of Councillors to the village.

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of this accountability. More so when, as they have in the last ten months, feelings are running high.

Addressing the concerns of their constituents, whether in writing or face-to-face has always been a fundamental responsibility of our Parish Councillors. Now is not the time to walk away from that.