Pothole Update - Click on 'Play'

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Parish Council Over-prevaricating

Over Parish Council will not allow a Public Open Forum at the start of their monthly meetings for parishioners to tell Councillors about anything of concern, without prior notification.
I told them their own professional advisers, Cambridge & Peterborough Association of Local Councils (CPALC), say it is recommended best practice – information that is available on their website for all to see.

All other local Parish Councils do this for their residents.
For nine months, since I made my request, Over Parish Council has prevaricated, provided wrong information and even had a Councillor telephone me to say how difficult it is for Councillors to get to the start of the meeting on time!

The time has come for Over Parish Council to either :

1. say ‘Yes’ and show that they are open, transparent, approachable, prepared to provide the same opportunity offered by other Councils and recommended as ‘best practice’ by their own Association;

2. say ‘No’ and leave us wondering what they are hiding.

Click on the '1 comment' link below to read comment from 'Anonymous', who is known to me but whose identity I have decided not to reveal.
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Head of Guided Busway - Student or Teacher?

Bob Menzies, head of Cambridgeshire’s ill-fated, overdue, over-budget guided bus project, is to fly to Australia for a four-day Urban Transport World 2010 conference in Sydney.

One wonders – is this for him to belatedly learn how it SHOULD have been done, or to teach the rest of the delegates how it SHOULDN’T be done?

Pothole Report

To assist the Council Highway Department – who were unable to open the photographs attached to the pothole report – the pictures are reproduced here. I know this Department is working very hard to carry out repairs, and hope they find this information helpful. The locations are (1) junction King Street/West Road; (2) Unwins Lane; (3) junction New Road/Station Road.

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Public Open Forum - When Will The Penny Drop?

Over Parish Council will not allow a public open forum for residents to raise issues of concern to them, unlike every other Parish Council I have contacted/checked, and the advice from their own professional advisers. Why not? The Parish Clerk writes:

‘We have once again contacted CPALC regarding clarification of this procedure. CPALC confirm that Public Participation is a requirement for Parish Council meetings, but as set out in their previous communication, it relates only to items on the agenda of the meeting. Allowing the public to address the Council on matters not appearing on the agenda is not required and certainly not recommended’.

But according to the website of CPALC [Cambridge & Peterborough Association of Local Councils]:

A: Residents have the right to attend all Parish Council meetings. You do not have the right to speak during the formal Parish Council meeting but it is best practice for a period to be set aside for public question time (normally referred to as the Public or Open Forum) before the start of the meeting when the public should be allowed to ask questions or make statements on any issue affecting the community. Individual Councils may have rules that specify the business that you may raise and how long you may speak. The Chairman controls this session which will not be minuted but the Clerk should record notes of the issues raised.

Parish Councils should be open, transparent and approachable. So why will Over Parish Council not extend the courtesy of a public open forum, bringing them in line with other Parish Councils and as recommended by CPALC?

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A Big 'Thank You'

Just for a change, not a moan but a big ‘thank you’ - to the mobile post office.
Whilst there have been a couple of occasions when the van has not been able to come due to mechanical problems, Nunce (pictured with 'two' of her customers) was not going to let the snow keep her away. Despite the dreadful weather we have had over the past few days, she has managed to get through to Over every day to provide a much needed service. The fact that she was busier than normal shows how much the villagers appreciated her efforts and turned out to show their support. Nunce – thank you!