27 April 2011

Letters


11 April 2011

What's my plan?

Although I wasn't really looking forward to going on the campaign trail, what it did offer was the opportunity to get ideas sorted out. Its very easy to say something like 'putting Somerton first', and that needs to be the foundation of my thinking, but what does it mean in practice? What are the issues that worry me? What are the challenges that face Somerton? Importantly, do these worries and challenges bother the wider community in Somerton or does the wider community have different concerns? An election campaign would have been the ideal place to find out but, sadly, that opportunity has been denied to everyone, community and candidates alike. So what will I do to inform myself?

The best thing to do will be a bit of doorstepping - random questioning of Somertonians about their expectations of the Council - and it will be interesting to find out what the community actually expects. What does a town council, any town council, mean to its community? From what I've seen, the life of a community carries on irrespective of the activities of its council. Local people regularly organise themselves to achieve objectives which individuals deem important. They don't need the sanction of a council to act but a council can support such action and add weight to, for example, requests for formal recognition or funding. A council also has the opportunity to support local action with finance from the Precept, if such funding is available. And that brings me to one of my concerns - Somerton's Precept.

Somerton's Precept, that part of our Council Tax bill that is set by Somerton Town Council, and which Somerton Town Council spends on behalf of the community, Somerton's Precept is approaching £250,000 per annum. I'd like to know how much of that funding is soaked up in 'fixed overheads' such as salaries, rents, maintenance, interest, insurance etc etc.

Underlying this enquiry will be the need to establish precisely what the community of Somerton is receiving for its money and is it possible to reduce 'fixed overheads' and direct more of the Precept towards the community, not to fill in the gaps left by cuts in funding from County but to enable more local community driven action.

Somerton Town Council is Somerton's Town Council, the funds come from the community of Somerton and I'd like to see that community take a far greater interest in those funds and how they are deployed.

Suggestions on a postcard?

Till next time, I'm still Niall Connolly

10 April 2011

8 April 2011

Stepping up........


Yesterday marked the end of what could be called 'the phoney war'. The deadline for nominations to Somerton Town Council passed at midday on Monday April 4th. Yesterday, Thursday April 7th saw publication of the final list of candidates and Somerton now knows that, sadly, it won't be having an election.

Anyone who has checked here will already know that I decided to stand as a candidate and when the list of nominations was published on Monday there were a total of 16 candidates for 15 seats on the Council. That meant that, on Monday, there was going to be an election.

However, the process offers a window of opportunity where candidates can reconsider and, if they wish, withdraw their candidacy. When the final list was published on Thursday, three candidates had decided to withdraw leaving only 13 candidates for 15 seats hence no election.

But Somerton isn't alone because the figures published by SSDC show that 77% of SSDC's town and parish councils are in the same situation without enough candidates to cause an election. What does that statistic say about the ground floor of our democracy? I'd suggest that it indicates widespread disinterest or disaffection which, if true, is one of my own central concerns about our limited democratic process.

If our society is so disengaged at this most basic of levels in our democratic process, what can we expect of national government? The political parties know how things work and they know that disinterest is widespread so what do they do about it? Nothing. For people with no interest in the wider population, and in that group I lump most politicians and parties, it does not serve their specific interest to encourage engagement. They are quite happy to be left alone to pursue their own specific agendas.

In a place like Somerton, a town council can do a lot to set a standard for the conduct of public affairs and the January Council ushered in an era of transparency in its activities, a transparency that Somerton hadn't seen for a decade, maybe more. I'd like to be part of an effort to deliver more transparency in the Council's affairs and also to promote more community involvement in the work of the Council.

Somerton Town Council is, in my view, Somerton's Town Council. Somerton's community needs to rediscover a sense of ownership of the council and I would like to be party to that process.

Till next time, I'm still Niall Connolly