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Peter Dolman · Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:21 pm Post subject: Area Boards

well you will all be pleased to know that there is likely to be more elections coming our way next year.

The plan is to have area boards (based on the District Councils area committees) although this may change. There will be elections to decide who will sit on these boards.

these area boards will have real powers and will be responsible for allocating hundreds of thousands of pounds.

what sort of person do you want to see elected?

Local lass · St. Mary's Old Girl Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 2245

i would want some one who is trust worthy ,willing to see a job through,to do what is right for calne,even if they them selves disagree.

GTB · Bentlian Oldboy Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 614

But if a candidate disagrees with with what he/she is doing then surely they cannot say, hand on heart, that they are 100% enthusiastic about doing the job they were elected to do. If someone is passionate enough to carry out this work then they would have to be the most logical choice.
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Local lass · St. Mary's Old Girl Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 2245

Its some one who will do the right thing by calne than rather for there selves is what i would go for every time.

say a shop keeper was in control of calne .
a big department store wants to build a big store here.
now the shop keeper knows that with this department store there is no way he could keep up the competition and he would be out of buissness in 6 months.
so as his self he would disagree with it .

but he also knows that should this department store come in to town it would open oppertunitys for employment,and be really good for the town and hopfully enticing new people in .

i would vote for the one who let it go ahead for the sake of the town.not for the one who looks out for him self.

Peter Dolman · Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 3:20 pm Post subject: Area Boards

Local Lass I understand where you are coming from but there are fail safes in place which should protect the councillors and the public.

A case in point is that of Tony Trotman, whenever the redevelopment of Phelps Parade is up for debate he declares an interest and does not vote or even leaves the meeting.
This should happen in all cases where there is a conflict of interest.

It is a common misconception that corruption is rife in politics when in reality it is very rare occurance

Local lass · St. Mary's Old Girl Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 2245

peter please dont get me wrong that comments was about no individual .it was the only example i could think of. Laughing

Bear · Bentlian Oldboy Joined: 13 Jun 2007 Posts: 703

As I understand it it is up to the individual councillor to register an interest whenever something like this comes up. Is this the case Peter or have I got it wrong

Peter Dolman · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:41 am Post subject: Area Boards

Exactly correct, councillors when taking offices sign up to a code of practise, which is being ammended on a regular basis. If they fall short of the code they can be reported to the standards board. The board has the legal right to suspend them from the council and in extreme cases sack them.

The code covers members interests, this is where a member may have a personal and or a financial interest. Members must declare the interest at the start of the meeting and advise if they will take part in the debate, if they will vote or leave the meeting during the debate.
It can be diffilcult as sometimes a debate will move into an area where a member may have an interest. If that happens then they must make a declaration immediately.

The code even covers how they must treat each other in council meetings. Which is why meetings may sometimes seem a bit boring.

Anyone can report a councillor, it does not have to be another councillor. In fact councillors are required to report other councillors if the believe they have broken the code, not to do is in itself a violation.

Bear I hope that clarifys the situation?