Thursday, June 21, 2007

Parish Assembly

what happened at the parish assembly? nothing seems to have been published anywhere.

Posted by Anonymous to swanage view at 9:18 AM
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not published anywhere!? You don't mean by that, surely, that you expecxted something to be in the local freesheet? You should know by now that the paper passively more or less only prints what it is given.

21/6/07 5:08 pm
Anonymous said...

And I believe the manager of the Advertiser was there as well.

21/6/07 7:58 pm
Anonymous said...

Do you mean the office manager? He's there for the advertising not for the news.

26/6/07 6:12 pm
The Postman said...

The Parish Assembly (the annual open meeting for the town) was held on 21st May, just after the elections. Here are some of the things that were discussed. If you have anything to add, please do, because the minutes won't be issued until next year's meeting!

1. Bayview Caravan Park
Barnaby Quaddy raised concerns he felt were shared by many people in the town, owing to rumours circulating since the previous manager had resigned in hurried circumstances, with the police in attendance. He proposed the following motion :

"It seems that much time is being used by Council staff at Swanage Bayview, which is detracting from the time available for normal Town Council duties. We propose that the Town Council shall write a full report on Swanage Bayview so the townspeople understand how it will affect both the finances of the town and its administration"

He asked the report to state what decisions were made and why they were made. The initial response was that everything was under control and there were just some personnel issues to resolve. Then an amendment was put and passed that the report should be published in Swanage Matters. When the town clerk was questioned about the major time commitment needed by him and his staff to run the Park, he admitted that there was no exit strategy as yet. It was up to the new Caravan Committee. The amended motion was passed unanimously, which commits the Council to publish a detailed report in the next edition of Swanage Matters.

2/ Town Finances
Peter Clark expressed concern that the town council appeared to be in financial difficulty, and that from the published accounts it is very difficult to get a clear picture of the real state of the town's finances. He proposed the following motion :

"The management accounts should be produced on a monthly basis to make the town finances accessible to councillors and the public, in keeping with best practice elsewhere."

The Mayor assured the meeting that everything was fine, that there were no financial problems, that the long-standing debt had been significantly reduced. It was then reported that the Council were seeking to appoint a CIFPA trained accountant to present the accounts in a way that could be more easily understood. It was also admitted that far too much was being expected from the Town Clerk and other staff, who were extremely over-worked. John Wootton pointed out that, by their plans to appoint a trained accountant, the Conservatives were also committed to the motion, and it was passed unanimously.

3/ Seacourt
Beth Paxton Brunning reported that on the Seacourt site, every trree has been removed, as has the retaining wall. She wrote to the planning department at Purbeck D.C. (Building Control and Enforcement Officer) but received no acknowledgement. Colin Bright said that he was now Chairman of the Planning Committee at P.D.C. He said that there was an agreement to keep the retaining wall.

4/ Swimming safety in the bay
Anita Chennell said that she felt there is grave danger to swimmers when motor craft come ashore between the banjo pier and the Mowlem. Mrs Marsh said that since there was no launching allowed, then there could be no landing. However, others said that vessels had a legal right to come ashore, always provided that they observed th 5 knot speed limit. During a wide ranging discussion, it was pointed out that John Taylor (appointed by P.D.C.) is the only enforcement officer on the water. The beach wardens supervise the beach from the Mowlem to Ocean Bay only. Anita was assured that her concerns would be noted and acted upon.

3/ Land adjacent North Beach car park
Mr G.Fooks drew attention to the fact that cars were sometimes parked on the right of the drive which leads to the Cricket Club in Days Park - that is between the drive and the trees. He felt that this harms the aesthetic effects of those using of the park.

If you have details of other topics raised, please post them here.

26/6/07 8:30 pm

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