Ferret is pleased to see that the Independent Cabal seems to decrease in number each meeting.
Councillors Gordon Eccles and Linda Pringle were missing once again, Ferret wonders if we will ever witness either of them in a Council meeting again?
Printing was an item on the agenda, it seems that certain Councillors have been stealing ink from the Community Centre – maybe the cost of living crisis is worse than we thought?
The Clerk – Alan Draper reported that the Health and Safety consultant said an asbestos survey needs to be carried out on all Council properties and he recommends to do it.
Ferret found this strange for two reasons:
- At least two of the Council assets were constructed less than fifteen years ago and a further one had a full asbestos survey carried out prior to renovations. Asbestos was banned from use in 1999, Ferret will let you do the math!
- Why would the Councillors blindly agree to this without any discussion about how much this was likely to cost?
Unless Ferret has this totally wrong and Alan Draper has another large hole to fill and needs something to put in it?
The Budget for 2023/2024 was discussed, with Alan Draper indicating he was recommending an increase of 3%, but firmly absolving himself from any blame, as it was the Councillors who need to make the final decision. A full post from Ferret will follow.
The public, as always tried to hold the Council to account with a number of pertinent questions, including the purchase of the bodycam, the continuing spending, the ‘60s pub and the lack or transparency regarding income at Council venues.
Further Ferret posts are to follow regarding a number of these.
Finally, Ferret was pleased to see Councillor Donna Moran taking control of the meeting, and Councillor Maxine Hird for detailing the true (dire) financial state of the accounts.
A number of items, we were informed are to be agended for the full Town Council meeting to be held on 2 February 2023.
Ferret looks forward to this and the beginning of a number of wrongs being made right…
Would be nice to see the H&S recommendations and what buildings they’re on about as ferret as rightly pointed out we have buildings constructed after asbestos was banned.
The answer here ferret is a simple one stop all spending,freeze spending till May.The financial mess and figures speak for themselves and if the Independants are allowed to continue their catastrophic,wastage of our communities money the pot will be completely drained and empty maybe that’s their devious plan.
Together the good councillors must and should pull together now more than ever and Vote to stop everything that councillor Kenyon and co want to spend between now and the elections,they have had nearly 4 years to build a community to be proud of,a community who could enjoy the once excellent facilities a beautiful waterpark ,fishing ,a nice place to sit and relax and enjoy the views instead what after 4 disastrous years of their control of the HTC have we left NOTHING.Nothing but run down loss making facilities,our Jewel in the crown destroyed and become a not so welcoming lakeside prison.Once beautiful lakes full of fish and wildlife all destroyed into heaps of dung,pathways torn to mud heaps everything left to rot ,sporting facilities not maintained but hey ho suddenly hundreds of thousands of pounds needed to put back and correct all the damage the Independants have caused and the communities money pot at rock bottom but the Independants will spout at election time what a great job and service they have given our community but the community are much wiser and intelligent than councillor Kenyon and co and will do our service for our community and VOTE for change.
Surprised JK WITH HIS BUILDING KNOWLEDGE hasnt informed AD buildings after a certain date don’t require checking. As would be asbestos free.
New build buildings or refurbished buildings should have a build and design plan on site for contractors to check for any asbestos prior to any works commencing.