Saturday 23 July 2011

JPC's Outrage at Court Leet's initiative

Rebekah Smith - Stratford Herald - 21st July 2011.

ORGANISATIONS in Henley that wish to be involved in the Queen's diamond jubilee celebrations next year are being invited to come forward amid accusations this week that Henley Court Leet was "taking over" the planning of the event, writes Rebekah Smith.

It is hoped all the groups within the town that wish to play a part will come together to organise one large event for the community.

The event, which will be held in June next year, was discussed at a meeting of Beaudesert and Henley Joint Parish Council on Monday (18th July) night, where the Court Leet was accused of trying to take over the celebrations.

Cllr Les Goodman said the council had 18 months ago put a substantial sum of money aside for the celebrations. He said: "I find it absolutely astonishing that a civic organisation wants to take over the celebrations for the Queen's Jubilee. They don't have the right to do that. They should come to other organisations in the town."

Cllr Sheila Roy said: "I thought they'd have written to us in the first place asking us to join them. We need to get all of the organisations of the town together on this."

The council voted to write to the Court Leet, telling them it wasn't in their capacity to organise the whole event and that it should be done by a town committee.

However, the Court Leet's High Bailiff, John Rutherford, who was not present on Monday, was surprised to learn of the Council's discussions. He told the Herald: "I wrote to the council and said we had decided we would endeavour to get all the organisations who wish to be involved to come together, much as we did at the Millennium. The Court Leet were heading up a committee of joint organisations within the town for that so we thought we'd do the same. I wrote to the Parish Council and suggested they join us."

Mr Rutherford said that the court leet wanted every organisation in the town to have a chance to contribute: "It's obvious we want all the people in the town who wish to be involved to have a chance to be involved. We're trying to act as a focal point really.

"We've all got the same idea. Hopefully we will pull together."



A Resident Comments
imageThe reaction of the JPC to the letter from the Court Leet regarding the organisation of the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee is the latest in a series of petulant responses from the JPC to initiatives from other organisations within the town. The members of the JPC appear to believe that they have a unique right of organisation, and that all other bodies in the town should be subservient to their wishes. This cannot be right!
Parish Councils are a relatively new level of government, dating only from the Local Government Act of 1894. In accordance with the terms of that Act the members of the JPC are elected by the townspeople to carry out the duties required to run the civil administration in a legal and efficient manner, and to represent the interests of the town in other forums of civil administration.
To the credit of the JPC these tasks are attended to in a regular and dedicated manner. However the electors do not appear to have given a mandate to the JPC to seize the initiative in areas outside the civil administration.
On the other hand, the Court Leet has a long and distinguished history arising from the social fabric of the town and reflecting the position of the town within the wider community. Although many Courts were abolished in 1974, Henley together with 32 others was allowed to continue (being considered of historical importance). Today, many of the traditional responsibilities of the Court have been transferred to other statutory authorities, but the role of the Court in upholding the prestige of the town has never been lost. The Court is also a much more flexible and free thinking body than the JPC, being unhampered by the tight reins of bureaucracy which so bedevil and constrain much of the latter’s activities. It is worthy of note that the JPC recognises the importance of the Court Leet as “guardian of the history and traditions of the town” on the JPC website.
Many local organisations are anxious to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and any coordinated effort requires flair combined with a degree of “pomp and circumstance”, all of which the Court Leet has ably demonstrated in the past. A celebration of this kind is just the sort of thing that the Court does so well; it appears to be the most suitable organisation to coordinate an event of which the town can be justifiably proud. Let the High Bailiff lead the celebrations in the traditional manner, although if the Lord of the Manor could be present that would be ideal.
The JPC has an important job to undertake on a regular basis and has enough to do in carrying it out; rather than sulking they should be grateful that another organisation has offered to take on the demanding role of organising the celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee.
Henley Resident - Name and address supplied