I am fed up of people ranting on here under the cloak of anonymity.
if you feel passionate about a subject, why not be bold enough to put your name to your entry.
I have spent several years on the Village Hall Committee and know how difficult it is to get local community support from the villagers. It concerns me that with the lack of community engagement, how on earth would we cope with and be able to manage our own Parish Council.
Although there is a lot of talk about breaking away from Wymondham Town Council, I am sure that there are many of us who would feel more protected staying as we are.
if you feel the same as me and would like your voice heard, please email me on Lynprout@aol.com.
Thank you for your posting. I am sorry that you are unhappy with the anonymous facility on this message board, but people are welcome to supply their name if they wish. This option has always been available. There seems to be a lot of issues with the village at the moment and if residents feel more comfortable with posting anonymously then I think that should be their choice, as long as they follow the guidelines in place, http://www.spoonerrow.f2s.com/message_board.htm
Would it be possible to explain what you feel Wymondham Town Council protects you fro? Also can you explain why you do not believe the 10 people from across Spooner Row, Suton and Wattlefield who have already volunteered to be local councillors would not be able to deliver more for our community than is currently being delivered? I ask this question as there was virtually no alternative view points put across last year when myself, Robert and Julian tried to increase community communications on this message board on and when we went door to door.
Members of the Village Hall Committee should perhaps consult with the huge number of people who signed the petition to become independent of Wymondham as they are fed up with the 'vision' for Spooner Row.
I have lived in the village for some years and have always been quite happy with WTC. I even temporarily worked there and helped out in the office at the request of the then Town Mayor when they were short staffed. WTC (and SNC) were extremely helpful when I was treasurer on the village hall committee for without their support it would have been unlikely that the village hall would have remained open due to the urgent refurbishments the hall needed (you need your local council's support when applying for outside funding/grants). I also know just how difficult it is to muster community engagement. BUT over the last year or so, I am appalled in the way the parish council is influenced by the district council and I do not feel we are getting grassroots representation from WTC as a whole and the strings are pulled from above at SNC. At one parish meeting, it was quite evident that the outcome was controlled by the district council from afar - my neighbours were disgusted, as was I.
Perhaps all the rantings on this message board are because local people do not feel they are being represented locally as WTC is preoccupied with other agendas. It the circumstances I feel it is important that the time has come for a change and to establish a new local parish that best suits our community interests.
With regard to the formation of a new community council, all three consultations have shown majority support for this proposal, some have said overwhelming given the 308 "for" compared to 8 "against" from the first response. The very fact that so many people responded to the consultations is in itself proof that Spooner Row, Suton and Wattlefield are very community orientated.
In addition to the 10 residents that had volunteered to be considered as councillors, I now have 6 more on the list.
Or am I misunderstanding your post, are you saying that the Village Hall is struggling to attract new committee members?
As one who always puts my name to posts i think I qualify here.
There is a key question that need asking
Why are the District Council and the Town Council ( heavily influenced by the District) so keen to ignore the democratic views of the VAST majority of residents in the three villages?
As we have recently seen at County this attitiude taken by the Tory majority over their 11% pay rises despite a report saying have no increase, is one of just sticking two fingers up at the electorate because they know tyhere is nothing we can do about.
One suspects that the real answer is something to do with money acquired from local building projects which can be spent now, at will by the Town Council on projects of their choosing. If a new council gets formed they spend the money on projects and campaigns within the Parish. e.g. say a footpath all the way to the A11 or revamp of the play area. I am not saying that that might not still happen and if tonights vote to ignore the democratic will of the Parish residents gets passed at South Norfolk I will be asking in very clear terms what exactly WTC and the District are going to do for the Parish. Up to now all we seem to have unwanted Planning permissions with minor improvements to the infrastructure in one case.
I am more than happy to have an open debate and discussion on this and other matters BUT what I am very strongly against in a tiny minority ignoring a massive democratic vote because they do not like it and working to pursue their own agenda. Sadly that is exactly what we have at the moment on every level of Government
I think that the reasons given for suggesting the break up of the parish is nothing more than scaremongering . I know some people feel that setting up a new council will give us control of planning, leisure, rubbish collection and highways. It does not as these function will remain a District /NCC function. At least Karen acknowledges the good support that WTC gave to the Village Hall and to the school. WTC currently maintains the playing fields and the play equipment. By splitting up and bearing in mind the small tax base most of the funds raised will be spent on the new Clerks pay, admin and insurance. There will not be much left to spend on services. I am also concerned that it will cause community division within the wider Parish and this would not be a good thing. Lets stay together as one Parish. United we stand divided we fall.
Well said Lynn. We should remain as one parish. I know from past funding requests to WTC they have always said yes to our requests for funding for a number of projects for the Village. By splitting up the Parish there will be less money available to spend in the Village. As a local SR resident I too think it is absolutely crazy idea to split up the Parish. We should stay together. As for planning all applications are judged on their merits and not as some people suggest on whether or not we get money. This fake news may be one of the reasons why some people voted to split up our fine parish.
What did WTC do to try and persuade Spooner Row to stay? From what I heard it wasn't very good. One of the reasons was that the village has been part of WTC for 120 years? This was a ludicrous excuse. Demographics have changed significantly since the Victorian times of 1890's. Local people are not stupid and know what is best for them in the 21st century.
Spooner Row will prosper just like its adjacent villages of Bunwell and Morley.
How can it be right that just because Spooner Row, which has more residents than Suton should dictate to us. The majority of Suton residents who I have spoken to want to stay part of Wymondham, we are severed by the A11 and close to Wymondham also 23 properties in Suton on the Wymondham side of winding country lanes are to stay in Wymondham parish, this is absolute madness, it has effectively split Suton in two but thats ok because some people in Spooner Row say so, no one even came to speak to us, apart from Wymondham town council,I should think that most people from Spooner Row who wanted to leave were not even aware of how this would affect Suton and probably didn't even look at the boundary map, the leave campaigners have done to Suton just what they say Wymondham has done to them NOT LISTENED or considered our views, I read from posts on here that you have picked your councillors and the clerk, so much for democracy, its just appalling.
How can it be right that the residents of London dictate to the country and how can it be right that the residents of Wymondham dictate to the three villages just becuase there are more of them.
I take issue with the not listening having personally canvassed Suton street at least three times , Sawyers lane, London road and Eleven mile lane. Of course not many were in and I did leave letters more especailly when some(one) in WTC decided that it would be a good idea for those west of the A11 to stay with the Wymondham and continue to 'enjoy' their level of precept and all the hundreds of benefits that that brings? Answers on a postcard please. Did they ask you?
However the serious point of this post is that communication is poor and could certainly be better. If you are a resident of Suton ( I doubt this )please stand up and be counted and join the new Parish Council so your voice can be heard and then represent the views of your electorate. Why be anon ?
I have already identified some issues in Suton that concern the residents there and I hope and expect the new Parish will want to address these.
There are no councillors already picked they have to be elected so where that rubbish has come from I have no idea. I can guess that this originated in South Norfolk when they attempted to say that there will not be enough councillors to fill the posts ( 7 as planned ) 10 people were identified who were happy to be considered in an election so this kicked the ground out from under their feet.
I accept that communication has not been good and as a serving councillor feel partly responsible for that as this board is not ideal as it does not reach everybody BUT before anyone starts having a go please remember I was one of 3 councillors in Cromwells ward and how much communcation have you had from the other 2 via any means. One resigned recently and has been replaced and matters will improve. We will be having surgeries soon in the Village Hall but of course if no one turns up .....
No one can say that I am not an active member of the this forum flawed as it is as an effective means of communication that hits all the bases.
