Call for 'No Confidence in parish council' referendum

A TOWN poll to register a vote of 'no confidence' in the parish council at Henley is being demanded by the council's most persistently dissident councillor. Yesterday (Wednesday) that councillor was branded as "a time-wasting mechanism" by another member of the council.

Welcome to the historic town of Henley, where accusation and counter-accusation   flow   freely   and regularly—at meetings, in the street and on the internet. To call it a can of worms would be an understatement when other more accurate expressions are available.

The   latest   flare-up occurred at the council's regular fortnightly meeting on Monday when Cllr Sheila Dalman, who's been a member for only 18 months, resigned in a fury. Her precise reasons for resigning are already a matter of dispute.

Since Mrs Dalman would not tell the Herald yesterday why she'd resigned, and asked us to wait until the minutes were published, all we have are the conflicting explanations of the opposing camps—and they go like this. ..

Cllr Bill Leech-the council dissident who also runs the website Henley News Online—said: "Cllr Sheila Dalman announced that she would be standing down from the joint parish council with immediate effect as a result of the constant bickering at council meetings."

In his statement on Henley News Online, Cllr Leech said that chairman Cllr Les Goodman had demanded an apology from himself (Cllr Leech) over an article that had never actually been published.

Then Cllr George Matheou raised the matter of Henley News Online's use of Twitter, the social networking website. "Further exchanges between the councillors took place with Cllr Matheou proposing that there should be a vote that Cllr Leech should be made to stand down," wrote Cllr Leech.   "The   chairman demanded that Cllr Matheou refrained from this line of attack. Cllr Leech suggested that all the councillors should consider resigning so that there could be a fresh election."

Yesterday Cllr Matheou told the Herald that Cllr Leech was asked to resign at the meeting because of the article that wasn't published and because of things he said on Twitter. Referring to Twitter, Cllr Matheou said: "I took exception to this because some of it was incorrect and other points I didn't understand.

"The main focus was that—for no sound reason— Cllr Leech was attacking the parish council of which he is a member. I said that these attacks against the parish council had been going on since 2005, but Cllr Leech said they had been going on since 2004!

"Having no confidence in Bill Leech being a parish councillor for the benefit of the town, we asked him to resign. All councillors apart from him put their hands up. He refused to resign. At that stage Cllr Dalman thought his position was untenable and that he was wasting the time of the council.

"She said that if Bill Leech wouldn't resign, then she would resign, which she did. That is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

Cllr Matheou added: "The whole thing is nonsense and incorrect, and this has been going on for years. I am a volunteer, an ex-IT manager and economist and I'm trying to help Henley increase its economic activity. I don't have time to deal with trivia—and we have a time wasting mechanism in Bill Leech."

Yesterday a Henley resident, who did not wish to be identified, perhaps summed it up best. The resident told the Herald: "The council shouldn't be discussing Twitter. It's pathetic. It is all very personal, vindictive and nasty."

Yesterday Stratford District Council confirmed that it had received a letter from 40 Henley residents saying they had lost confidence in the parish council and were asking for an early election.

A by-election to fill one parish council vacancy is already scheduled for 8^th April. Cllr Dalman's resignation is expected to trigger another one.

Meanwhile, Cllr Leech is seeking support for a town poll so that residents can register their lack of confidence in the parish council.

Report by Preston Witts - Stratford Herald - Thursday 18th March 2010    

By-election called for Henley council seat

NOMINATIONS for a vacant seat on Beaudesert and Henley Joint Parish Council were closing as the Herald went to press yesterday evening (Wednesday) and one resident has already put forward her name as a candidate.

The question is will anyone else put forward their name to challenge her? If the answer is yes, then it will be clear that residents are determined to have their say over who the next councillor will be.

The vacancy on the parish council, representing the Beaudesert ward, has arisen as the result of the disqualification of Cllr Kenneth Mitchll, who failed to turn up to parish council meetings for six months.

Sue Osborne, who has been a resident of Beaudesert for over 30 years, has already told the district council of her intention to stand as a candidate on the parish

council.            ,

Ms Osborne was educated in Henley and established the successful Pinks Farm Fruit Syrups business from her farm.

The district council, which administers the election, is unable to reveal if anyone else has chosen to stand until the nominations have closed.

Challenged

The vacancy on the council has arisen at an opportune time. Only recently, members of the parish council challenged residents to give up their own time and become councillors themselves if they thought they could do a better job following the debacle over the 'purple shop' in High Street.

Many councillors have been vehement in their opposition to the "garish" colour of Bespoke Curtains and Blinds of Henley. As a result, a number of residents have voiced concerns that the council's opposition is less about the conservation of the town and more about racism against the shop's proprietor.

Following the recent unrest caused by the council's handling of-the whole saga, which resulted in over 30 residents at a time packing out the fortnightly council meetings for answers and an apology which never came, it looks like residents want to exercise their democratic right to have a say over the next person to take a seat around the council's table.

The district council has confirmed that over ten people have petitioned the returning officer for an election instead of the usual co-option by the existing parish council members, which literally involves them choosing the next councillor themselves.

And it appears that residents are not even concerned about the cost this would incur on their own pockets.

For an uncontested election the cost is just £100. However, if the election is contested the actual cost will be recharged to the parish. This could amount to £1,500 but the parish council has the opportunity to slice £500 off this cost if it chooses not to send polling cards to electors.

The election date has been set for 8th April.  

Report by Philippa Mingins - Stratford Herald - Thursday 11th March 2010    

'Quality’ council gags members from talking to the media.

BEAUDESERT and Henley Joint Parish Council is once again a Quality Status council, it was announced at a meeting on Monday night—the same meeting that the council made it clear that from now on it would be shutting itself down to the media, writes Philippa Prankard.

Chairman of the parish council, Cllr Les Goodman declared receiving the Quality mark was official proof of the council's strong leadership and high levels of communication.

He then addressed all those who had disparaged the hard work of the council by saying the council was working well and its commitment to Henley was paramount to all that it did.

A council achieves Quality Status if it can demonstrate it has reached the certain minimum standard required in a range of areas including code of conduct, promoting local democracy and citizenship and communication and community engagement.

The parish council was originally awarded Quality Status in June 2005. However, the council was not successful in keeping hold of this status when it was up for renewal in 2009.

The council was approved to resubmit for Quality Status in October last year but could only go through with the resubmission process once parish clerk Jenny Walsh was fully qualified and had passed all .her exams. Ms Walsh achieved this goal in December and all councillors were in favour of pursuing Quality Status apart from Cllr Bill Leech, who thought the council did not deserve it as it failed in its communication. Cllr Leech's criticism was dismissed as "inappropriate" by the National Association of Local Councils which operates the Quality Status scheme.

Cllr Goodman and Ms Walsh then had to endure a 50-minute interview with a panel of NALC representatives who were unanimous in awarding the parish council Quality Status.

At the same meeting councillors adopted a set of revised standing orders for the council. Every council must have a set of standing orders, or rules, for the conduct of its meetings and those of its committees.

And within Henley Parish Council's revised standing orders is a rule that all councillors are prohibited from having any contact with the press either verbally or in written form. This means councillors will no longer be able to contact the press about any matters of interest in the town such as public events or acts of vandalism while members of the press will no longer have the freedom to call up councillors for quotes on Henley matters.

Fittingly, Cllr Chris Milsom voiced his upset at how the flood meeting at the guildhall last Saturday had been publicised. He said articles in the Herald and on the website Henley News OnLine had suggested the event had been organised by the Environment Agency and not, as he said was the case, by the general purposes committee of the parish council.

Cllr Leech, who is also the editor of Henley News Online, spoke for his publication and the Herald when he said both had received a press release from the Environment Agency alerting them to the fact the meeting was taking place and the information contained in it had been published in good faith. The release had mentioned the county, district and parish councils' part in the meeting. 
   

Report by Philippa Mingins - Stratford Herald - Thursday 4th March 2010