I have often heard the phrase that at town or parish level, councillors should be apolitical. In theory this is a wonderful thing, of course it would be ideal for all councillors to work together no matter what their political colours or allegiances. A Utopia where compromise and discussion was the order of the day and decisions were made in a fair and measured way.
Unfortunately in the real world, this is often not the case and I note wryly that I hear the fact we should be apolitical most from my opponents who hold the majority on our Town Council (funny that).
So invariably there are differences of opinion. There are conflicts. And there are times when, as a volunteer, I wonder if being a councillor is worth it at all.
Before Christmas we had a presentation by someone who wanted funding from the Council for their Community Interest Company (CIC). It was a very good presentation. However when I looked at the paperwork which usually accompanies a proposal for funding, there was none. Given that I thought this was for a grant from the Council, not having the relevant paperwork baffled me.
When myself and other councillors voted against, it unleashed a storm on social media. How could we be so callous! Why didn’t we support such a good cause?! Why deny the community the help this organisation was offering?! Naturally, I didn’t want to be drawn into trial by Facebook so I said if anyone wanted further information to email me and I would give my reasons for not supporting. I received two emails. To which I responded.
Despite the strong feelings regarding this issue, I felt I could not support the cause not because I didn’t feel it didn’t deserve it, but it wasn’t brought before the Council following procedure. Ah, procedure. That bureaucratic device so beloved of social media warriors and those who believe in a more ‘free’ flowing process.
I’m afraid as a councillor, I can’t avoid it. While the current Conservative government feel they can behave exactly as they want to with no fear of reprisals, conventions or down right decency, I’m one of those boring types who actually prefers structure and a recognised way of doing things.
Fast forward to last week when we had another potentially contentious item on the Council meeting agenda, whether to ring fence hundreds of thousands of pounds to improve the Town Centre. As well as prior lobbying emails and some discussions before the meeting, there was a pretty strong array of townsfolk present in the Council Chamber to speak for the proposal.
(Actually it was nice to see a full house as it were and it’s kind of a shame when people only show up for the ‘fireworks’ and not for the more mundane issues which we still have to discuss).
When the time came to discuss, I gave my support to the proposal. Why wouldn’t I? Funding would be allocated to making Wymondham more lovely than it already is and after all, there’s always room for improvement. I particularly liked one of the supporters saying we should ‘fly the flag for Wymondham’ and I am a supporter of bringing tourism to our Town to help our local economy.
So the proposal sailed through. I still have some qualms about District Council match funding our contribution to the scheme, but hey, that’s for another time.
So I thought to myself how interesting that I opposed one ask for funding yet supported another. There was lobbying for both proposals but ultimately we are elected to make decisions (at least those of us who show up are, sadly there are at least two Conservative councillors who rarely make an appearance at Council meetings and only appear if there is a crucial vote). I do sometimes consider abstaining from a vote but given the evidence presented to us, we should be able to make a decision one way or another.
Anyway, there is now funding allocated for Wymondham Town centre and on this occasion, I could not go against the people power and strength of feeling towards supporting improvements and my gut feeling is that it was the right thing to do.
I have one final note to add: one of the Tory District councillors (who used to be a Town Councillor too until they flounced off in a huff and abandoned those who had voted for them) announced with pride that District Council would be freezing a modest Council Tax rise of £5 due this April. Amazing coincidence that it would be in an election year. Odd thing is though that this has not been decided or approved yet at District Council, it’s merely what their leader wants (because it’s election year). This Wymondham District councillor announced it as if it was a done deal (which probably is because…it’s election year). I asked if they could spell ‘electioneering’.
Thing is, when a council/government freezes a tax increase, as popular as it may appear, it actually means they are CUTTING services because the £250,000 extra such revenue would bring in, will not be there. Given the tight financial situation we all find ourselves in and ironically the fact that more people than ever need help, this seems particularly stupid. Do that for the next four years and you’ve lost a million quid which could have be used to help people out.
The District councillor did attempt to engage with me following the meeting but somehow, I dunno, I didn’t feel like I wanted to listen to their bullsh*t. It’s a new year after all and I was feeling bolshie.
Did I mention it’s an election year?
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