24 August 2009

In harms way

After the events of the last couple of weeks, I've been giving some serious thought to the future. It has occurred to me to ask myself if I really want to carry on putting myself in what now is, quite clearly, 'harms way'. The answer has to be 'No' but I have to admit some surprise that my observations, lampooning and criticism of Somerton Town Council, its Councillors and its staff should have elicited such a violent response.

On consideration, there is clearly a lot at stake and, from the documents that I have seen, Cllr Canvin has a very big investment in the maintenance of the status quo.

By comparison, my own investment is oblique to say the least. I'd like to see Somerton with a Town Council which reflects the will of the community. I'd like to see Somerton with a Town Council that actively seeks the participation of the whole community. I'd like to see Somerton with a Town Council of which the community can be proud. There are, quite certainly, good people in the community and they need to step up and do for the community what the current Town Council has so manifestly failed to do - serve the community. It is easy to threaten and intimidate one person but rather harder to threaten and intimidate a whole community.

I'd like to think that I have made a contribution and only time will tell. I most sincerely hope I have. But the threat of violence, the intimidation and the willingness on the part of some to indulge in thuggery causes me to put the safety of my family first.

I've enjoyed writing this blog and maybe there is someone, maybe a group of people, from Somerton who would like to carry it on.

Till the next time, may your God watch over you, protect you and keep you from harm.

Niall

19 August 2009

Transparency and accountability

I can hear the collective yawn as Somertonians read that this blog is about 'transparency and accountability' but give it a chance, I'll keep it brief.

Over the last few months I've come to wonder how Somerton Town Council is regulated, by whom and against what standards. Initially I didn't think that there was any precisely defined answer because Town Councils are of greatly varying sizes and they seek to do different things, depending upon the ideas and ambitions of their members and the communities that they represent. But there is legislation and you can find some very good and informative guidance on the Society of Local Council Clerks website.

In the 'Public Documents' section of the site there is a fine publication titled 'Governance and Accountability - Practitioners Guide' and I would recommend this to all Somertonians, including our Town Councillors and our Town Clerk. The inside front page of this document sets the tone with the following:

Governance [guhv-er-nuhns] noun 14th Century
How local councils ensure that they are doing the right things, in the right way,
for the right people in a timely, inclusive, open, honest and accountable manner.

Accountability [uh-koun-tuh-bil-i-tee] noun 1794
Occurs when local councils that are entrusted with managing public funds to
provide public services explain to their communities how they have discharged
that trust.


And right there you immediately see where Somerton's Town Council deviates from the accepted norms. Do you associate Somerton Town Council with 'inclusivity' or 'openness' or 'honesty'. No, I didn't think so.

The saddest part of this tale is that most of Somerton's Town Council are, essentially, decent men and women. I'm sure that they try, in their own ways, to do their best but they are simply out of touch with their responsibilities. They are quite clueless when it comes to dealing with the network of 'conflicted interests' that is represented by Cllr A H Canvin's participation. And when they do try to set an inclusive, open, honest and accountable course, they face the wrath of Bully&Sidekick.

But there is one other player who deserves a mention here. The Town Council employs a Town Clerk and, in the language of the appointment, the Town Clerk is the 'Responsible Officer'. Its the Town Clerk's responsibility to, amongst other things, know the legislation and advise the Town Council on the appropriateness of its activities. In this regard, alerting the Town Council to 'conflicts of interest' between councillors and the Council, would be one of the Town Clerks duties. And I'll bet you a penny to a pound that Somerton Town Council's Town Clerk has never once advised Somerton Town Council that there might be a conflict of interest between Cllr A H Canvin's business interests and his activities as a councillor.

Till next time, may your God keep you safe.

Niall

17 August 2009

Who the hell is Paul Dadson?

During my research into the sorry history of the Etsome Terrace site I stumbled on a bunch of drawings which referred to the Etsome Terrace site. These drawings, available for all to see on the SSDC Planning website, showed various possible development options for the site and I was curious to know more about them.

It turns out that the ideas were drawn up by Paul Dadson who was, at the time, working for Somerset County Council. He became involved with the site when County made the ill-fated residential application for the site in 2001. That application proposed the use of the whole site as residential and ran into a huge storm of local protest, attracting letters of opposition from every quarter, including one signed by 'E Edgar'. The signature looks quite similar to that of one of the current directors of Edgar Builders, Elaine Edgar. Surely a coincidence?

But I digress. After the County scheme was pulled, County paid for Paul Dadson to come up with a variety of schemes whereby the site would be developed for a limited amount of residential which would pay for the building of a community hall for Somerton. The most favoured scheme was 'option 3' which is reproduced below.Now its equally strange that, when Somerton Town Council bought the site, all mention of a community hall was dropped in favour of a health centre. The Town Council faffed about for more than 4 years until everyone had long forgotten that Etsome was meant to be the site for the community hall and the health centre idea was quietly abandonned. Then, in 15 days flat, Somerton Town Council had three offers to buy parts of Etsome for residential development. And, of course, we know who the winners were, Edgar Builders, the very same Edgar Builders who bought the site at Unit 8 Cary Court from none other than A H Canvin in 2004.

The sad thing is that the Dadson scheme would have delivered everything that Somerton wanted and at minimal cost to the town. The only downside would have been that it would have been a partnership deal with County and that would have meant transparency and accountability. As we well know, Somerton Town Council doesn't do either so the scheme had to be binned.

Till next time, may your God watch over you.

Niall

15 August 2009

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who has sent their good wishes (and flowers). Its comforting to know that there are those within the community who don't support the thuggery and intimidation that now seems to be associated with Somerton Town Council.

Whether the wider community agrees or disagrees with the views expressed in this blog, the information provided to the External Auditor is all based upon fact, backed with documentary evidence. In the light of that evidence, I believe that the community of Somerton has been very badly let down by its Town Council and its Town Clerk.

Few quotations seem more appropriate to Somerton and to Somerton's Town Council than that attributed to Edmund Burke: "For evil to triumph all that is required is for good men and women to do nothing".

For some years, the Council has been dominated by Cllrs Keenan and Canvin, supported by Cllrs Webber, Beale, Deering, Smith (D), Morgan, Medley and Smith (M). Against that coven, there is little chance of the community's voice being heard.

As I have always said, the community of Somerton needs to decide on its priorities. Somerton Town Council has been spending the Community's money and doing so with scant reference to the Community. Its up to the Community to decide whether or not it wants this situation to continue. Do not expect Somerton Town Council to change direction on its own. Cllrs Keenan and Canvin are not, overnight, going to discover humility.

May your God look over you.

Niall

10 August 2009

It makes you think..........

Getting on for three months back, on May 16th to be precise, someone decided to torch a parked car in Mount Hey. At the time I did wonder about it. If you look closely, under all of that foam are the remains of a Peugeot estate car. Guess what I drive?



Makes you think doesn't it? A car spontaneously combusts, with a little help from Mr Texaco. Then my windows get smashed in with a little help from Mr Rock. What will be next?

Till next time, may your God give you a next time.

Niall

What's in a name (Pt2)?

During my work collating information for the External Auditor I came across some interesting paperwork and some of it relates to the naming (and shaming) of the Tin Dunny.

The proposal to name the Dunny after Chris Edgar, someone relatively unknown to most people in Somerton other than Tony Canvin, the proposal was floated at the Town Council meeting on 14th April 2009. As ever, the item wasn't noted on the Agenda and was sprung on the meeting by the Chair. The list of possible names was never published, probably because there was only one name on the list, and the decision to name the hall after Chris Edgar was railroaded through by Bully&Sidekick.

But the Town Council's records tell a rather different story about the genesis of the name 'Edgar Hall'. Whilst going through the few records that Somerton Town Council have actually made available, a number of invoices turned up, all dating back to November and December of 2008. Now, remember, this was 5 months before the name 'Edgar Hall' was imposed upon the Town Council and the community by Bully&Sidekick.

One invoice from L&W Ceilings, dated 2nd November 2008 refers to work at "Edgar Hall (New Council Offices)" and another, from Encore Electrical dated 11th November 2008, is addressed to "Somerton Town Council, Edgar Hall..........". Finally, on 12th December 2008, invoices from A H Canvin refer to works "at Edgar Hall".

So there you have it, the contractors being paid by Somerton Town Council were referring to the Tin Dunny as 'Edgar Hall' five months before Messers Bully&Sidekick imposed the name on the community.

Democracy in action, Somerton Town Council style.

Till next time, may your emergency glaziers go with you.

Niall

9 August 2009

After the thugs had gone...........


Its taken a day or more to clear up the mess left by Saturday morning's goons. Broken glass, like sand, gets everywhere and, no sooner have you cleared up one room than more glass falls down from behind a shelf. Its down the back of chairs, under the carpets, even in the kettle. But doing the clearing up gave me time to think about what has happened and the message that it is meant to convey.

Obviously I wonder if Somerton Town Council had any involvement and I guess that you wouldn't blame me. After all, the Town Council acted in some sort of unison on 23rd June in their attempt to intimidate me during the Council meeting (excepting Cllrs Raybould and Harrison who took something of a more neutral stance). The Chair of the Council, H E Keenan, orchestrated the abuse and a number of the Town Councillors joined in, including Cllr Martyn Smith with his memorable "bugger off" comment.

So what exactly am I meant to take from this latest appalling act of deliberate intimidation? Well, quite obviously it seems that having an independent viewpoint in Somerton is tempting fate. Disagreeing with Somerton Town Council and its leadership looks to be controvertial. But then I wonder what exactly am I doing that seems to have got so far up peoples noses?



What I've been doing is looking at the records of the Town Council to find out what they've been spending and who's been spending it. In any well regulated organisation, in any honestly run organisation, such enquiries would give said organisation the opportunity to show, quite openly, that everything was hunky dee. So what's the problem with Somerton Town Council? Why is it that when you start digging, they clam up. When you start looking a bit more deeply into the financial affairs of Somerton Town Council, all of a sudden you are persona non grata. When you start to look a bit more deeply, even the Council's minutes become unavailable to you.

And then, when it becomes obvious that you've contacted the external auditor with a formal complaint, obviously completely co-incidentally, the goons show up and throw rocks through your windows at 2am, timed, I suppose, to cause maximum alarm and distress.

So what am I meant to take from this experience? Its already quite obvious that Somerton Town Council doesn't like anyone asking questions about its activities. Its already quite obvious that Somerton Town Council doesn't like anyone who tries to make Somerton Town Council accountable. And now my windows are smashed in. Maybe 2 plus 2 does equal 4.



Last year, Somerton Town Council sent the lawyers round to put the frighteners on me and now, completely co-incidentally, the thugs have turned up. I hope that it stops here but, given Cllr Martyn Smith's rather distasteful encouragement to the racists in the community, I fear that the final bill will be higher than the £1,000 that repairing our windows is going to cost. I'll remember this when Town Councillors start waffling on about how they deplore vandalism.

Till next time, may your God watch over you.

Niall

8 August 2009

01:45am Saturday, August 8th

Here's what we think about accountability.........



......and here's what we think about transparency.........




........and here's what we think about your rights........



"I've lived in this town for 19 years nearly so I'm an outsider and I've been fairly well accepted but what really gripes me and we have several of them and I'm not going to name them but you probably all know who I'm talking about we have outsiders coming into this beautiful hilltop Saxon Town and the first thing they want to do is to slag it off well if they want to slag it off why don't they bugger off and leave us alone thank you." (A direct quote from Cllr Martyn Smith, June 23rd 2009)

1 August 2009

Is Somerton Town Council a racist organisation?

The events of 23rd June continue to reverberate, amplified to a great degree by (Cllr) Martyn Smith's statement in the August edition of 'The Viaduct', a publication published by Somerton Town Council. (Cllr) Martyn Smith's statement in that publication, printed under the heading 'Good Citizens', reads more like a Nazi call to arms or an invitation to ethnic cleansing. (Cllr) Martyn Smith seeks to set the bar with regard to acceptability in what he seems to think is his community. (Cllr) Martyn Smith seems to be trying to establish a qualification for participation in what is his view of the community that is Somerton. This proposal is crude and ugly segregation. (Cllr) Martyn Smith is saying that there are those who, judged by his standards, don't have the right to an opinion or a vote in Somerton.

Going back to the Council Meeting on 23rd June when the Chair of the meeting, Cllr H E Keenan, orchestrated the abuse of a member of the public, Cllr Martyn Smith made the original version of his 'why don't they bugger off' rant. The end of his statement drew enthusiastic applause from other members of the Town Council (but not from the audience) and it is now fair to ask how far does agreement with Cllr Martyn Smith's poisonous views reach within Somerton Town Council?

Does Somerton Town Council embrace racist and discriminatory views as a matter of policy? The Chair of Somerton Town Council, Cllr H E Keenan, has already gone on record as supporting a policy of discrimination. How many other members of Somerton's Town Council agree with these ugly and corrupting views. Does the community of Somerton want to be represented by a racist organisation? Equally, shouldn't Somerton's Town Councillors state clearly if they are, or are not, in favour of racism, ethnic cleansing, discrimination and segregation.

Till next time, may your multi-coloured God go with you.

Niall