Cllr Matheou on the 'Human Rights Act'

The letters to the editor in this week's Stratford Herald demonstrate that the ruling group of the Joint Parish Council continues to attack those residents who seek improvements and cost reductions in the way the parish council is managed.

In his letter to The Stratford Herald, reproduced below, Cllr George Matheou talks about a secret agenda. There is no secret agenda. Residents are calling for economy and cost efficiency for their parish council and an end to the "we know best attitude" by the vast majority of parish councillors. Cllr Matheou has repeatedly told Councillors he wants to see Cllr Bill Leech in prison!

Henley NEWS has been conducting a survey of 112 parish councils in the Stratford area and the preliminary results show that the Beaudesert and Henley-in-Arden Joint Parish Council has the highest precept (parish council tax) of all the medium sized parishes of 1,000 to 3,999 population. At £82,650, the JPC's precept shows the massive excess over the average for all medium sized parishes of £26,363.

Those with a secret agenda frustrate council’s work

Sir: I should like to take this opportunity to explain some of the facts relating to the article  in your newspaper last reporting that Mr John Tristram of Prince Harry Road, had accused me of disregarding the Human Rights Act.

First, may I say that I do not know Mr Tristram, yet, he wrote two articles about me posted on a local website which contained inaccuracies, were biased and offensive to me. Since I have done nothing to infringe the Human Rights Act, in which I am a firm believer. I should also like to add that to the best of my knowledge in Henley we don’t torture, we do not have forced labour but we do believe in liberty and a fair trial. To bring the Human Rights Act simply as an argument to attack the parish council is propaganda of the lowest form and an insult to the intelligence of the people of Henley and to the reputation of our town.

In contrast, the parish council will continue working actively with other local organisations, with our community and partners to promote and improve every facet of our town. We do this because it is our job and duty as volunteer councillors. A few people with an unknown motive and a secret agenda who wish to frustrate our work by wasting our time, diverting our attention and providing negative publicity will not succeed in stopping the progress of our town.

Cllr George Matheou

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John Tristram Responds

Dear George, 

I was intrigued and flattered to read your letter published in the Stratford Herald on 23rd September 2010. All this talk of ‘Secret Agenda’ makes me seem like a character from a John Le Carré or Ian Fleming novel and borders on paranoia. Let me assure you that I do not have a Secret Agenda. Mine is quite open and straight forward. I would like to see a democratically elected Parish Council which properly represents the wishes of the electorate. I am not alone in believing that the current composition of the JPC does not achieve this.

To quote an extract from Oliver Cromwell’s speech at the Dissolution of the Long Parliament on 20 April 1653: "Depart I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!" Cromwell may have gone a little ‘over the top’, but he had a valid point, born of frustration. 

Regarding the Human Rights Act 1998, may I refer you to the Minutes of the Joint Parish Council meeting held on 6th September 2010, Minutes which you voted to adopt. Under Item 11 AOB it says: “Cllr Matheou went through the Human Rights Act paper article by article. He concluded that none of the articles applied to Henley in Arden”. 

I have received various interpretations of what you meant by your dismissal of the Act, but the approved minute accurately records what you said. Whilst I accept that there may not been any recent cases of torture in Henley, unless you include sitting through a JPC meeting, there are other Articles within the Act which do apply to the JPC and to which it must pay due regard. 

Finally, you say that you do not know me, this despite your spending some time talking to me about the problems of passing traffic not stopping to shop in Henley. You attributed this problem to a lack of adequate parking for passing trade, a worthy argument but the problem which has now been exacerbated by the extension of restrictions through the inclusion of more ‘Disabled’ spaces. I assume this is legal requirement but it does little to alleviate the problem you highlighted.  

George, as a native of Athens and an aspiring local government politician in England, you may be interested to read Cromwell's address which is a landmark event in English political history.  

John Tristram - Prince Harry Road

Resident's outrage at the Letter from 'Ruling Group'

By Susie Latham - Riverside Gardens

Stratford Herald - 23rd September 2010

Dear Sir,

I read the letter in last week's Stratford Herald from a number of Henley & Beaudesert Parish Councillors and take objection to their comments that members of the Reform Group, who are working hard to bring back Democracy to local government in our town, are actually people who just cause trouble but don’t actually do anything.

Yes there are one or two voices that are relatively new to the town but the vast majority are residents who have worked tirelessly over many years (and are still doing so) in many areas of the town’s life that are not so much in the limelight and don’t hold so much power as the JPC but are nevertheless doing work that is an important part of what makes Henley Special. The fact that the JPC don’t know what they do is because, with one or two exceptions, all that most of them do is turn up for JPC meetings and nod through the spending of our council taxes.

My husband, who I am proud to say is a member of the Reform Group because he has a genuine concern for the way the JPC behaves and manages matters, has been involved with running the town's facilities and raising funds in Henley for nearly 40 years; he would not wish me to list them here, or the many, many thousands of pounds he has helped to raise, but I would ask if any member of the JPC could compare with the commitment of another Reformer, Peter Crathorne. He is too modest to mention that he is a former chairman of High School governors (that raised £500,000 for the new Performing Arts facilities), Chairman of the War Memorial Trust which runs the Memorial Hall and the Playing Fields (who are putting together a £400,000 package for a new sports pavilion), is chair of the Hub Youth Centre and also of the elderly group called the Henman.

Don’t the JPC know this? If not, why not? It makes a nonsense of their letter and does them no credit to rubbish people who are in so many practical ways doing far more for the grass roots of the community than they are themselves. Perhaps it’s time “they stepped up to the plate”.

Councillor accused of disregard for Human Rights Act

Rebekah Smith - Stratford Herald - 16th September 2010

A member of Beaudesert and Henley Joint Parish Council came under fire from residents at a meeting of the full council on Monday night for his alleged disregard of the Human Rights Act, writes Rebekah Smith.

John Tristram, of Prince Harry Road said Cllr George Matheou had referred in the Human Rights Act at a meeting 6th September. Mr Tristram said: “He'' [Cllr Matheou] closed by saying the Human Rights Act did not apply to the parish council. Cllr Carsina Goodman said it should be shredded." Mr Tristram said it was totally unacceptable tor councillors, who were public servants, to talk about an Act enshrined in human law in such a way. Mr Tristram said he would like a full inquiry into the councillors' conduct and asked why neither chairman Cllr Les Goodman nor clerk Jenny Walsh had acted immediately. He then presented a written complaint to the council.

Cllr Matheou argued he had only said the Act was not relevant to Henley as he did not know of any cases in the town where it applied.

Resident Margaret Twigg, who made a plea for councillors to stop bickering at last week’s meeting, said: "I was appealed at the way Cllr Matheou ridiculed the Human Rights Act. He has his opinion but the way it was delivered just adds fuel to the fire." Brian Twigg added: "Whatever Mr Matheou says the Human Rights Act applies to all public authorities and applies to the JPC."

Later, clerk Jenny Walsh defended her failure to correct Cllr Matheou: "What he was trying to say was that the legislation wasn’t appropriate to the questions that were being asked. That's why I didn't correct him."

Referring to the length of time the public are allowed to speak at meetings she said: "I can assure you legislation is not being infringed by only asking people to speak for up to three minutes."

Later in the meeting the council was asked to approve its manifesto for 2011.

Cllr Bill Leech suggested items about cost savings in line with government policy and David Cameron’s Big Society concept be included. He said: "I would have expected to see an endorsement of the Prime Minister’s Big Society concept that we would be working with other organisations in the town and it doesn't really make any reference that. Also we're aware of cost savings now in the public sector and there's nothing about seeking cost savings in this authority."

Cllr Matheou said no specific details about the Big Society had been revealed yet so it would be difficult to include anything in the manifesto.

Cllr Goodman said he thought the council should discuss the manifesto at another meeting towards the end of October when councillors had more understanding of the Big Society concept. He said: “When there’s something specific I recommend the parish council put it on the agenda and discuss it in full when we have something to discuss.”