AS this is the last Full Council of this quadrennium, I would like to take this opportunity to make a statement regarding misinformation that appeared in the Chard and Ilminster News on April 1st.

The author of the letter accused this Council of holding ‘secret meetings’.

This Council does not hold secret meetings. It does from time to time form working groups whose remit is to consider a particular issue or question and to report back to Full Council.

No substantive decisions are made at these groups – these are made solely by Full Council. Records in the form of notes are kept of such meetings.

We have had a number of working groups operating over this last year, such as the Open Spaces Review Group, the Leases and Licence Group, and more recently the Accommodation Working Group. A range of councillors sit on these groups, be it relatively new councillors like councillor Neave or councillors of long standing such as councillor Shepherd.

I would add, that this is not the first time this Council has used working groups. In 2005 groups were set up to consider the issues that needed to be addressed when we were preparing for the public consultation event that went on to inform the Town Council’s vision document.

If I remember correctly there were at least five groups operating at that time. Notes were taken at those meetings.

Most councils, at all levels, set up informal working parties or groups so this is not an unusual phenomenon.

The Scrutiny Committee at the District Council has working groups called Task and Finish Groups. These groups can and do consider a variety of issues and again records are kept of all the meetings – there are no accusations of district councillors holding secret meetings.

At the end of the letter I was named and accused of withholding information regarding a vital document that I am supposed to have been given relating to the Local Plan.

The words in the paper were and I quote: “In the most recent request I asked a very important question about the Local Plan concerning who had presented Cllr Goodall a vital document but I have been officially told she is ‘unable to confirm to who the person was’.”

The actual freedom of interest request asked if ‘any councillor has any recorded information pertaining to a conversation that took place on 1 March 2011 in the context of a possible south east link road; the conversation would have taken place between district councillor Carol Goodall and a town councillor.

Apparently in an email between myself and a SSDC Officer I stated that “when I spoke to one of the town councillors last night, he reminded me that a document relating to a possible south east link road had already been created…”.

The email just mentioned was sent on 2 March 2011. The Freedom of Information Request was made in February of this year. It may come as a surprise to some people, but I do not record every conversation I have with councillors be they, District or Town councillors. Neither do I have a laptop that allows me to store unlimited numbers of emails for an indefinite period of time. I would add that I do not have a document about a possible south east link road – such a document would have gone to the Town Council Office.

Although the author of the letter to the Chard and Ilminster states that ”everything I have asked of the this council has been in the public interest, nothing vexatious”, it is interesting that such an attack on me and this Council comes during the run up to an election – an election in which the said author is standing for Town Council.

 

  • Cllr Carol Goodall