Spooner Row Message Board

copy of my e mail to South Norfolk who are apparently working with us !!

Dear Julia

Whilst I was very well aware of the rules, the reason why we did go down the Petition route previously was that all this would do is force South Norfolk to hold a Governance review which you clearly said was going to happen anyway after the May elections. (2013 !!)

We had a long and productive phone call along these lines

I attach an e mail sent by you on the 17^th Sept 2012

I have attached the list of roads in Cromwells South DT1.

We are planning to undertake our next Community Governance Review in 2013

Regards

Julia Tovee-Galey

Electoral Services Team Leader

South Norfolk Council.

This eMail contains data supplied by South Norfolk District Council

Given your Directorate’s clear proposal (in the South Norfolk Business plans) with a completion date for the Governance  review of March 2014, this is further evidence to support your original declaration

Because you had clearly given this commitment it was decided that to go for a petition would be a waste of time, effort and money as all it would do is force the Principal authority to hold a governance review which was planned to take place anyway

Are you now saying that this is NOT the case?

If this is the case, I would advise you this might form the basis of a valid Ombudsman complaint as it is entirely contrary to the principal aims of the Act to increase engagement in local community governance and we were quite clearly mislead. One is also deeply suspicious that Political interference from the controlling party  has had a hand here, and that a deliberate Policy of stalling to prevent any possibility of change is now in force.

As it is, it is extremely difficult to get any form of engagement with the local community , as you know from the turnout at elections and to say that this change , if it is one, is disappointing is a gross understatement.

I look forward to your comments but be advised there is a very strong feeling about this and despite all the work involved we will, if necessary, force a review and this could be very embarrassing in several quarters and be rest assured , we will not be lying down dead over this. This is nothing personal as working with Political masters is a minefield and I know this very well, but we have nowhere else to go.

Julian Halls

From: Julia Tovee [mailto:JTovee@S-NORFOLK.GOV.UK] On Behalf Of Register
Sent: 29 May 2013 12:12
To: Julian Halls
Subject: RE: Community Governance Review

Dear Julian

Thank you for your email and I apologies for my delay in responding.

It has been confirmed that if a Parish Council or Electors who express an interest in changes to their parish, these will only be undertaken if a valid petition is submitted. This is ensures that any proposals will have both clear objectives and elector support for the proposed objective.

Any petition must define the area to which the review is to relate and be signed by the following number of local government electors:

<500 electors - 50% of the electors

500-2,499 electors - at least 250 of the electors

>2,500 - at least 10% of the electors

and specify one or more recommendations which the petitioners wish that CGR to consider making.

Please let me know if you require any additional information.

Regards

Julia

Julia Tovee-Galey AEA Cert
Electoral Services Team Leader
South Norfolk Council
Long Stratton
Norwich
NR15 2XE
01508 533692
www.south-norfolk.gov.uk

The following email was sent to me by Julian Halls.  (Webstation):

Dear All

Can I please remind you about Friday’s meeting 1930 Village Hall  for about an hour

Please see the attached agenda and please feel free to invite any other interested parties who can attend ( School mums please note)

Will be putting up notices tonight

Please  print off the agenda on your own computers and feel free to chip in

Julian

Click here for the Agenda  (Meeting Friday 12th July)

-- Edited by webstation on Thursday 11th of July 2013 10:25:11 AM

Dear All and residents of Spooner row, wattlefield and Suton

The questionnaires are now being distributed and the drop boxes are in position at the School , the Boars and just inside the lobby at the Village Hall. If you cannot get access to this please use the school drop box or obviously e mail me using the address given below in the Questionnaire which has been copied in a post following this one.

The results of this distrubution will determine whether there is enough support to go for a petition

I like being part of the parish of Wymondham but I have become increasingly disillusioned with the way things are being managed there. There was (and still is) the Kings Head Meadow fiasco with complaints about the lack of transparency.  Then there was the decision to omit Spooner Row from the Wymondham Area Action Plan.  Although this omission was not Wymondham Town Council's decision, WTC could still have engaged with residents of Spooner Row to provide us with a parish representation on the future development proposal for Spooner Row. Spooner Row residents pay the same high council tax precept as the rest of Wymondham, yet I feel that Spooner Row is regularly overlooked.

Maybe it is time to seriously consider having a parish council to speak up for the interests of Spooner Row's residents. The council tax would also be a lot cheaper as the Wymondham Town precept would not be included.

The current position in terms of replies for this proposal  is as follows

11 on line in favour and 1 very much against

18 posted returns

This represents a total return so far of 10% . Letters were distrubuted to 290 houses ( a very public thank you for all of you who helped ) and is of course no where near the 50% required. The target was a return in my view of about a third to justify door knocking to get a petition of 50% the electors , not households ! to sign, but at this level of return one has to throw in the towel.

I will leave it another week but it is not looking good. I will do a final number post probably by tuesday of next week and I know for some of you this will be very disappointing news , but it is democracy

Julian

Personally, I think you should have gone for the door knocking anyway! I doubt most people in the village really understand how important a Parish Council is to the local community and it is much easier to explain it face to face ....I am sure you would get a very positive response ...if not ..then the village deserves all "it does not get" and no one can moan in the future about being left out ...

The results of the survey are as follows:-

17 on line and 26 paper returns from all three drop boxes in agreement ( +1 against )

A total of 43 from 290 letters so return of 14.8%

May I immediately thank those who went to the bother to register their commitment to this Petition, but I have to say this is no where near enough to justify the many hours of foot slogging and door interviews that would necessary in order to get the signatures.

The results were per household not electors as required and it is a sad fact that many of the younger voters do not want to engage with local issues as they have bigger fish to fry. It is not true in all cases of course, but as outlined above you must have 50% of the electorate sign the petition in order to force the Principal Authority to hold a Governance review.

A true cynic would also say that the Principal Authority whilst required to hold a Governance review by the guidance document might not do so anyway, as they know no one is enforcing this 'rule' and certainly not the Office of Eric Pickles. Given the parlance state of Local Gvt finances and diminishing staff, as a direct result of Central Govt cutbacks, they are hardly likely to enforce this as it does not take Sherlock Holmes to work out who is ultimately responsible. This lack of resources was a major factor when it came to postponing the planned review promised in May of last year. 

Of course this is academic now as there is sadly not going to be a petition and Apathy has won the day.

On a slightly positive note to end , a review should take place according to the guidance once every 10 to 15 years, but as you can infer this is hardly definitive, and so until this happens, when once again I will try to stir this up, sleeping dogs will be left to lie and I will  (not happily) carry on paying Town rates and getting very little in return.

Thank you for reading this and many thanks to those who helped in the distribution of the leaflets and for all your support

Julian Halls

Dear All

before the rumour mill gets into full swing can I please advise you all that my intention to carry on pushing as best I can, for an independent Community council for the parishes of Suton, Wattlefiled and Spooner row

The purpose of this comment is to announce that I intend to stand as a Lib Dem councillor for the vacancy at Wymondham TC for the Cromwells ward , which Diana Hockaday used to hold , but as you know has had to resign on account of poor health.

I have nailed my colours to the mast as far as a seperate Council is concerned and still firmly believe that to establish a seperate Council to be in the best interests of the respective parishes , and if we ever get a Governance review, which as you know has to come from South Norfolk DC , I shall be saying exactly the same when it ( and if it ever ) happens.

If the electorate want this to happen and vote for it, then Cromwells ward will be broken up so in effect, I will be a turkey voting for Christmas! as my role on the Town Council will likely disappear.

I still genuinely believe that we would be better as a seperate unit and if you want evidence, just look at Morley and how much they pay for their precept, which is about half of what we all pay to Wymondham Town.

Regards to all and thank you,  once again to all of those who voted or returned the letters and more especially to those who helped distribute them.

Julian

The moderator of the webstation is absolutely correct

I apologise unreservedly if my comment ( information)  was deemed in any way Political. It was not intended.

It is obvious however, that Anon's comment is really about a thinly veiled attack on the existence of the Message board itself, whose role it is to bring matters to everyone's attention, in an open and comprehensible manner, matters which they, and some others, would prefer to remain hidden, or buried so far in red tape as to be effectively incomprehensible.

I will let the reader decide what is actually going on here.

There have recently been several local issues reported on this Message Board where residents have to sort out problems for themselves. These issues include chicken guts in the road, unexplained pile of soil on the playing field, a need for a parish notice board, a better location for the railway timetable notice board, future of the signal box, NCC missing off some roadside gullies and drains, speedwatch, very slow broadband, service village housing, exclusion from the WAAP and more housing for the village than has been allocated. These are the things that a Parish Council should be sorting out for the residents, not the residents doing it for themselves.  We really do need a more local Parish Council that takes an interest in issues here, or failing that, WTC needs to realign its administration. Spooner Row residents pay the same rate of Wymondham Council Tax Precept as the rest of Wymondham, 

Hear we go again. Although just elected he is already practising the oldest trick in the book by trying to shift the blame to SNC for the lack of a review. The fact is that the people do not want a review. If they did the response rate would have been higher to the flawed survey that was sent out by JH.