So, our Independent District Councillor Ian Womersley arranged a meeting to discuss monies which have been allocated to our parish (and South Hiendley) by Wakefield Council.
The leader of Wakefield Council, Councillor Denise Jeffries had accepted an invitation and attended the meeting alongside Glyn Humphries (Corporate Director Communities, Environment and Climate Change) and Pauline Kitchen (District Councillor – Labour).
According to a Facebook post by Independent District Councillor Ian Womersley, the meeting was to solely discuss these monies and as you can see he sent an open invitation to residents of Hemsworth, Kinsley, Fitzwilliam and South Hiendley.
Independent Councillor Mr Kenyon, who is the Chair of the Independent Hemsworth Town Council then sent a letter out on Hemsworth Town Council headed paper to the residents of the Woodlands Estate in Hemsworth, inviting them to attend the same meeting to discuss a proposal for a new housing development. This could potentially be built on the field between them and Vale Head Park. This proposal had nothing whatsoever to do with the original one item agenda meeting.
Councillor Womersley, subsequently posted a further open invitation tagging onto the bottom that the proposals would also be discussed, stating that both himself and Hemsworth Town Council would be objecting to the proposals.
So the meeting took place last night, Mr Kenyon opened the meeting, and alongside his supporters and concerned residents (most of whom had been duped in to attending and had no idea of the meetings original agenda) spent the first hour berating the invited guests about the planning proposal.
After around an hour, the invited guests had had enough of the ambush and decided to leave – Ferret is sure you can all understand why.
What Ferret can’t understand is why Independent District Councillor Ian Womersley sat back and allowed the meeting he had arranged to develop into what can only be described as chaos.
Neither can Ferret understand why both Independent District Councillor Ian Womersley and Independent Hemsworth Town Council seem to have already decided to object to the proposals without any form of public consultation…very “open” and “transparent”
Edit: Ferret has been contacted today by a parishioner regarding the field in question. Apparently, Mr Kenyon – Chair of the Independent Hemsworth Town Council has designated this field as an area for parking for the 7000 guests he is is expecting at The Venga Boys concert he is arranging – I wonder how the residents of the Woodlands estate feel about this?
