A visit to the Whitwell[EDIT]
One of the phrases I hear most often in the STC chamber is: “you can’t compare Shirebrook with other towns”. I always ask why and almost always get no answer. No real explanation, to be exact. If I do get a response, it is a vague one, like because every town is different, because those towns are smaller, because we maintain a Leisure Centre and they do not (our Town Council spends a waaaay more even if you deduct all LC costs from expenses).
When someone tells me I can’t do something, I do it with even more pleasure. Hence, I decided to visit another Parish Council and see if Labour Party councillors are right. Can you really not compare Shirebrook with other towns in the region? If you don’t want to read this long article, I’ll give you the answer upfront: it is not only possible to compare our town with others- it’s CRUCIAL. After this visit, I believe that we NEED TO BE COMPARED WITH OTHERS. What for? Why? This is discussed further in this article.
VISIT TO THE WHITWELL
I looked around other Parish Council websites and found that one of the Parish Councils was having a budget meeting on my day off. So I took my notebook and pen and set off to Withwell. I am writing this article for the people of Shirebrook and the councillors in Withwell. There is a saying that you cannot be a prophet in your own country. It means that if you sit in one place for too long, you stop noticing things, which makes it harder to predict the sequence of events to come. Therefore, sometimes it is good to listen to someone who sees things differently. Sometimes you don’t know what is in front of you.
I hope that councillors in Withwell who choose to read this article will benefit from my text. Yes- you will find some honest criticism below. Still, I always try to give constructive criticism, so I hope that not only do I not offend you, but I give you ideas on how to improve things. You will also find some words of praise – because there are things that you do much better than STC.
FIRST EXPERIENCE – Darkness! I see darkness!
The car park of the venue was unlit and surrounded by high walls. On my arrival, it was plunged into COMPLETE and, quite frankly- scary darkness. On top of that, the car park is very cramped. It is unacceptable. That place begs for bumps, trips and problems. Two motion-sensing lights would have taken care of it. It’s a severe threat to public safety and should be dealt with immediately.
SECOND IMPRESSION- Let’s meet in a garage!
The Community Centre where Whitwell Parish Council (WPS) holds its meetings is a quite large building. There is no other way to say it: I got lost and had to ask people walking the corridors several times where the meeting would be. There were no posted signs with directions or any map indicating where members of the public, press reps or guests should go. I was not the only one who got lost – a confused BDC employee who came to present the project walked along the corridors with me.
In the end, I met the Town Clerk who showed me the…khm…khm… Chamber. I guess I’m spoiled by the quality of the STC meeting place because I got the impression that the Town Clerk was making fun of me. The WPC Chamber looks like a cluttered, dusty garage. The councillors are sitting in a circle like at a poorly attended AA meeting. Two chairs were provided for the audience, so I took notes on my knee, as did most councillors. Some councillors installed themselves at the sporadically spaced desks and spread out their laptops. This was the first positive change I noticed: 4 WPS councillors had all documents available to view on their laptops and tablets.
To this day, I still don’t understand why STC prints and delivers complete files of documentation to councillors’ homes for council meetings. These files are sometimes dozens of pages long. Multiplying this by the number of councillors, and you can imagine a falling forest of trees so that STC can give documentation for ONE meeting. I would suggest to STC to make a list of councillors who would prefer to receive documentation in the electronic form to save the work and expense involved. Please do not misunderstand me here- documentation from STC is always in order and complete. However, as a person aware of the need to protect the environment – it hurts me how much paper we waste at STC on something that could be handled electronically.
THIRD IMPRESSION- you cant push this Chair!
I have written about it many times – in my opinion, the Chair of STC, Chris Kane, is not suitable for this position. After watching Tom Munro manage the meeting… my God! The difference in quality in WPC’s favour is appalling, mind-blowing, overpowering. The Chair of WPC had complete control over the entire discussion and did not allow any arguments or conversations beyond the scope of the meeting. EVERY question was answered.
What’s more – even when the answer to the question fell, and the discussion died down, the Chair was asking again: “does anyone have anything else to add in this matter” and moved on only when everyone decided that the topic was exhausted. Suppose you read my last article and listened to the audio recording file from the last 15 seconds of the previous STC meeting. In that case, you know that in Shirebrook, it is entirely different. Worse, much worse.
EVERY vote was preceded by emphasising what the councillors would be voting on. “Let’s vote on THAT”-that’s how Chris Kane starts most votes. Sometimes a moment’s inattention at an STC meeting is enough for you not to know what you are voting on. Labour councillors have it easy- they look at their colleagues and mindlessly vote like the rest. I, for one, have to be on my guard all the time- lest I support some debilism.
As an audience member, I had no voice and could not participate in the discussion. But you know me – if you can poke a bear, I will find a stick to do it just to see how the bear reacts and if it has healthy teeth. Still, I had the sincere intention of not saying a word, but when the discussion came to the WPC community newsletter- I had to interject.
Here is why: the councillors were discussing the expense of the Community Newsletter, but with the documents in front of them, no one noticed that the audience didn’t know what sums they were talking about. I interjected because I wanted to determine how much they were spending on it. I wasn’t allowed to ask a question, but the sum was quoted later in the discussion. It turns out that sending out a newsletter to all residents of WPC three times a year is CHEAPER than buying individual, single adverts in a newspaper run by an STC councillor. Suspiciously cheaper. Strange or… stinky?
How did the Chair react to my interjection? With calm. He explained to me that I could not participate in the discussion as a member of the public. No shouting, no aggression – ahh, what a nice change from what I encounter at STC meetings (even though as a councillor, I have not only the right but the OBLIGATION to ask questions).
FOURTH IMPRESSION All hands on deck!
Every councillor present at the meeting spoke. This is another positive in favour of WPC. In the STC, it is usually the case that a small group of councillors take an active part and the rest are asleep. At WPC, all participants demonstrated expertise on the topic under discussion at some point during the meeting. Some contributed less, others more – but everyone contributed.
Not once were national issues raised- another positive in WPC’s favour. Literally, all councillors were only focused on what is within the scope of their duty- the welfare of the people living in Withwell Parish Council. STC? At almost every meeting, I waste long minutes listening to Labour Party councillors complain about issues over which we have absolutely no influence (this is no joke- one Labour Party councillor at the last STC meeting tried to convince me that coal is a green energy source and we should keep digging it up).
OTHER NOTES
Allotments- one of the items on the agenda was to change the fee for allotments and the general state of them. STC had similar problems some time ago: many people pay the price but do nothing with the allotment. Despite the waiting queue- some of the allotments are abandoned yet- still paid for regularly.
STC solved it like this: firstly, they divided all allotments in half. Why? It turned out that they were simply too big to keep in order for many people. Maybe this is the same problem people in Withwell have? It seems to me that you would have to start by talking to the tenants. After listening to the discussion for a while, I thought that maybe the solution would be to increase the price for the first year and at the end of the first year’s contract have a visit to decide whether the allotment is used or not. If the person visiting found it well maintained- the rental price could be reduced. If the allotment is in disrepair- the price should be kept high. To be honest, I don’t know what condition allotments in Shirebrook are in. But, as a member of the STC Operations Committee- I should know. Maybe it’s time to go on a self-appointed inspection tour?
In STC: when the area of each allotment decreased- the number of people who managed to keep their piece of land in good condition increased. Moreover, dividing allotments in half increased the income of the STC and reduced the waiting list for an allotment. I rarely praise the STC, but I think we have done better than the WPC.
PLAYSCHEME
Here I would have to do deeper research, but from what I understand: WPC has 11 people on the books who run daily activities for children. Cost £6 for WPC residents and £9 for outsiders. How does WPC manage to keep this going with such low overheads? I have no idea. If I were a parent in Shirebrook, I would probably want something like this. I could run errands or go shopping without having to worry about my child roaming the streets unattended.
COVID GRANT? NEVER HEARD!
Another interesting point was discussing the funds leftover from the Covid grant. STC had no such discussion. Did we have any money left over from that grant? What were they spent on? If we didn’t have that grant-why not? If we did get it- why were councillors not given ANY information on what it was spent on and if there was anything left? STC STYLE- if you are not in the “trusted Labour” circle, then you know nothing. I have been a councillor for almost a year- and I don’t have a clue. Here’s the difference between STC and WPC: there everyone knew everything.
FLOWERBEDS
Another exciting thing was the sponsored flowerbeds. I don’t know if we have anything like this in Shirebrook. Still, it is an interesting way of increasing the town’s income and beautifying the town simultaneously. Any company, any resident can sponsor a flowerbed. A plaque with their name or company name is attached to the lamp or flowerbed so that everyone knows who is helping to beautify the town. Interesting idea. Do we have something like that in Shirebrook? I have no idea…
There was discussion about flowerbeds at STC, but sadly we all agreed that there is so much of a destructive element in Shirebrook that every time town employees try to make something nice- someone comes and destroy it. Some people are just trash…
IT’S ALMOST OVER…
Whitwell is smaller than Shirebrook (3900 vs 9700). Shirebrook spends about a million a year on Parish Council needs (salaries plus operating costs). You might think that a council three times smaller would spend roughly three times less money. Nothing could be further from the truth- Withwell spends almost five times less money.
180,000. This is the bare amount STC spends on staff salaries in just one department: Leisure Centre. The WPC spends 228,000 ON EVERYTHING TOGETHER. They maintain the entire council for almost as much as we pay to employees just at the Leisure Centre. If you add the cost of utilities alone: our Leisure Centre costs more than the whole Parish Council working for 4000 people…
Tell me that’s right- I dare you…
Now I know why Labour doesn’t want us to be compared with other Parish Councils. It’s simple: the STC compares very poorly…
THIS IS NOT THE END
I will continue my tour of the Parish Councils in the Bolsover District. Who would have thought that local government could be such a fascinating topic? Where will I appear next time, and what differences will I see between them and us? We’ll see…
EDIT: meeting room at the moment is used as a vaccination centre- hence weird set-up and loads of stuff that I described as “clutter”. The building itself is not owned by WPC so they have little to no influence on it.
Sylwester Zwierzynski
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