Spooner Row Message Board

if this is not publicised the the committee MUST refuse, to do anything else is corrupt

School Expansion Project History To assist with the history of the School Expansion proposal I have pulled together the dates of all the Community Council meetings where the project has been discussed in a public forum. These agendas have all been published in advance on noticeboards, the Spooner Row message board and on www.spoonerrow.cc. Please read the minutes from these meetings which are available on the website: 27th July 2019 - Item 15: Councillor Liaison with Spooner Row School 26 September 2019 - Item 7a: Liaison with the School 28th November 2019 - Item 9: Presentation to Councillors by Enrich Learning Trust proposal for reviewing Lease options and enhancements to Spooner Row Primary School. 21 February 2020 - Item 23: Lease options and enhancements to Spooner Row Primary School. Item 24: Update from the Trust by Peter Jordan, Enrich Trust CEO 27th August 2020 - Item 14a: School Project 24th September 2020 - Item 13: School Expansion – Sub-Committee Report 31st October 2020 - Item 13: School expansion proposal 16th January 2021 - Item 12: School Expansion update 25th February 2021 - Item 9: School Expansion update and lease At this stage no decisions have been made and the Council has only stated an intent to work with the School to progress the project in both the interests of the School and the Community, noting that our children's education is a community interest; please note though that the current proposal only takes up less than 15% of the playing field area and this may be open to community use outside of the School's core hours.

Anonymous wrote:

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I am sure that anyone who is a governor of the school will not be able to vote on this matter

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 Silly thing to say. I thought all councillors declared their interests at meetings and didnt vote on those declared matters. Dont they leave the meeting as well?

I though it might be worth sharing some facts on what a Councillor has to declare and why.  The following text is taken directly from a government website and the link to the complete document is: Pecunary Interest

Do I have any disclosable pecuniary interests? You have a disclosable pecuniary interest if you, or your spouse or civil partner, have a pecuniary interest listed in the national rules (see annex). Interests or your spouse or civil partner, following the approach of the rules under the 1972 and 1989 Acts, are included to ensure that the public can have confidence that councillors are putting the public interest first and not benefiting the financial affairs of themselves or their spouse or civil partner from which the councillor would stand to gain. For this purpose your spouse or civil partner includes any person with whom you are living as husband or wife, or as if they were your civil partner.

Martyn Lemon has always declared his interest as a Spooner Row School Governor at every Council meeting where a discussion on the Spooner Row School has taken place.  He does this even though it is not required by the letter of the law as he, his wife and none of his family stand to gain from his voluntary role as a School Governor.  He can therefore take place fully in any debate as an elected member of your community and vote on matters specific to the School. The Council also voted unanimously on 27th July 2019 for Martyn to be the lead Council of liaising with the School, although in this role he has not led on the School Expansion Project.

I hope this helps people understand the rules that your Community Council has to abide by.

Stephen Ward wrote:

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For anyone wishing to access the minutes directly they are at this link: https://www.spoonerrow.cc/?page_id=655

I will chase up with the person responsible why the the January Minutes have not been uploaded. There was no meeting in December 2020 and the February 2021 minutes cannot be uploaded until agreed in Council at tomorrow’s meeting.

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The minutes of the meeting were not agreed for February 2021 yet your previous comment suggests we read them. How can we read something that is still unavailable?

Is it good practice for the Head of school governors to be voting at council meetings on school Items when he is wearing two hats?

Are the councillors going to be voting on this tonight without any public consultation? The clue is in the title 'Community' Council. It looks like our council is behaving like Wymondham. What was the point of us going independent if this can get forced through without the community providing consent? 

The playing field is a much valued village asset in this community. I would like to see our Community Council have a clear and robust policy on protecting its future use for all. Any future changes must be disclosed fully to residents. The Council must ensure that residents are properly made aware with open engagement, and the community's views as a whole supported. The type of changes would include, loss of use of all or part of the playing field. This would include long-term leases to the school or to any other party, or if all or part of the field was to be sold off, such as for housing. Many Councillors will come and go over the years and it is the Council's responsibility to safeguard this precious open-space resource for all the community to enjoy.

Like many, I don't know the details of what is currently happening with the playing field, but if it includes a long-term loss of this village asset without allowing the community to be aware, then that is appalling. There are too many councils selling off public recreation fields in other areas. I would be suspicious if our Council resisted making a long-term safeguarding policy to protect it for the future.

Dear Anon

suggest you read the above from Stephen Ward where numerous references to this, when discussed and plans.

There is no automatic right to consultation , and if there were we would never get anywhere and achieve nothing, which may come as a shock to you is why we were voted in, as your representatives.

When the playing field at Wymondham was leased to the District council there was no consultation and for this reason.

The council have to make a simple choice here

Allow the school some fenced off area of the playing field , which the community by arrangement can use and certainly NOT the whole field, as some posts would suggest , and then allow the school to survive, which may not happen without it and if the school closes anyway we can re absorb, and as a LEASE it stays with the council. OR

We can refuse this and lose the asset which is the school and watch the village die. A bit over dramatic perhaps but there would be plenty of field left for community use, although reading some of these ANON posts you would not think so.

If we consult it will only be those who do not want this to happen who will comment and may indeed have their own agenda for the field and its future use, and it will of course bring further delay, so they get what they want, which is project death.

A secure and robust policy to protect the field?  So no additional play equipment without community approval for every bit of equipment we replace, or  would you prefer we remove all the play equipment? And I take it any proposals for play equipment enhancement such as temp demountable goals and outdoor table tennis tables would also require YOUR approval . Council has already agreed to this by the way 2 months ago. 

To be VERY clear, ABSOLUTELY no suggestion of selling off for housing for the future, which to be frank is extremely unhelpful scaremongering.  

read my first sentence please

No plans on this website and no plans that I could see on your councils website.  I did notice however that this website seems to be your preferred soap box, so how about you just publish the plans (...edited...).

You say as our voted-in representatives there is no automatic right to consultation, therefore it is a choice. Yet the Council chose to do a public poll consultation for an extra dog bin but chose not to do so for a controversial loss of playing field under a school expansion. This isnt consistent. Residents need to know what the Council intends to do with their playing field and why were we given no say? I didnt know anything about this.

We must trust our council to act on our behalf and in the good of the communities as a whole and i agree with Julian to own your comments and stand up for the courage of your convictions.

The playing field has lain dormant for years and no one has bothered to try and engage in organised activities. Now the possibility of it being used is raised and everyone is going crazy.

If the school is going to expand then can we address the ludicrous parking first. 

Please note, for the 6 May 2021 elections, please contact the candidates directly with your points.

These elections will be held for Norfolk County Council and for the Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC)

Thank you,

Webstation)

-- Edited by webstation on Wednesday 21st of April 2021 01:15:29 PM

Thank you webstation ......yes please do contact me and I will do what I can.

Community council is NOT in anyway political and I hope never will be

For District council I can assist, if it is within my remit to do so and our area of responsibility

County council area is Forehoe, a stupid geographical mismatch of areas dreamt up by some idiot in London .

All the candidates appear elsewhere on this forum and if you want to ask them questions please do. I am not standing in Forehoe. 

Yes, please publish the plans here or tell us where they can be found Mr Halls.  This thread is now over a month old and you have been asked repeatedly to provide more information.  The original poster commented that they were being kept in the dark and it is now starting to look as if you have something to hide.  Please publish the plans.

Nothing to hide

please see very clear post from Councillor Ward March 24th where all the plans were discussed and are freely available to view

Please publish the plans Mr Halls.  I also have searched for them and they could not be found, so I am left wondering why the secrecy? 

You are continuing to actively post on this site Mr Halls whilst ignoring those of us on this thread who have repeatedly asked for further information and publication of the school expansion plans.  As to your comment that we should refer to Councillor Ward's post of 24th March, the Acrobat documents referred to do not contain the plans.  So why the secrecy and the continued failure to publish the plans?

I would like to see the plans. The School clearly has full use of the playing field as I have seen the children playing on it. You say the school needs 15% fenced off for their exclusive use and if they don't have it the school and village will die. What an absolutely preposterous and stupid statement.  15% now, then what? 25%, 50%, 100%. This is purely aimed at enlarging the school and encouraging more development in the village. Keep the whole of the playing field available for everyone in the village to use.

I am disappointed that some members of the Community Council want to fence off part of the playing field without sharing the plans or consulting with the community. It is evident that residents do not want the recreation area to be diminished. It is a pleasure to have an open area green space for ALL to use.

I see no personal attacks on this thread, only a councillor being repeatedly asked to explain what is going on with the playing field.  If the council has openly discussed the plans then why the secrecy shown towards releasing the plans?  They are now a matter of public record, are they not?  As to the twisted comment about the table tennis and soccer goals I was pleased to see both of these in active use yesterday.  Congratulations to those on the council that are bringing these new activities onto the playing field.  Reading through the recent agendas on the councils website it is clear which members are getting things done and who are not.    

It is also very clear that there are some on here who have their own agenda and are determined to attack those who apparently do not conform to that agenda.

Well done the council  for the new facilities on the field and well done to those councillors who put them up or arranged for others to put them up although I am concerned that there will be an ongoing maintenence issue (cost) re marking out and goalmouth wear

One is deeply suspicious that there is an element of self congratulation in play seeking to gain praise, otherwise why would they be ANON or is this a blatant attempt to claim such  actions as their own personal achievement , when it was the whole council who made this decision 

I also see that ANON has not answered the questions about the nonsense of the field being used for development and like a stuck record keeps going on about the school as though they are some evil force determined to take over the village .

I think Mr Halls' comment on april 13th was very clear and I believe the council and the school are still in discussion as to what , if anything will happen for the future

me replying anon to myself is a bit devious and yet another accusation and attack on me personally,  which brings to the fore the phrase 'pot kettle black' if it were true !! I note that anon , whoever he or she is has not made any mention of the request for a comment upon  the suggestion that this is a school take over ( scaremongering )  and that the field will be used for development (more scaremongering) etc, or the fact that things have happened on the field that he/she demands we consult on in respect to the school, but is apparently okay not to do in respect to other matters such as football goals , a very sensible suggestion from a resident is school lane when we did the survey, by the way, and the table tennis table.

I say for the last time we have not made a decision on this yet but I am sure when we do you will be told, along with the parents of the children , about  200 adults I guess plus the school staff. In the meantime nothing changes, so does it matter if there is some sensible and lengthy consideration taking place or is someone stirring you up to further their own agenda.

Last time I looked it is the responsibility of the council to reflect the wishes of the electorate, as well protect the assets of the community  which can be hard to do when you have a very vociferous minority shouting you face at every turn and deliberately  saying things which are blatantly untrue to stir it up and support their viewpoint.

I let the majority of readers here decide what is the sensible and pragmatic course of action to take and ask you to question why anon remains anon and I do not, and ask yourself what  his/her agenda is and what is really in play here. 

That's a silly thing to say, you elect the council to do the best things they can on your behalf, you can't expect to have a vote of every decision they make, what's the point otherwise. Did the government ask the public if they wanted HS2 ? something with a lot greater importance than a playing field. I'm confident they will do the best thing in the interests of Spooner Row.