On Wednesday 20th February I was given other opportunity to attend the Colchester Borough Council meeting held at the town hall.
This began with a brief meeting at 3.30pm involving information such as; who does what, who sits where and how many people roughly from each party will be attending. This was interesting understand how the meeting would be conducted and the rules the councillors are governed by.
At 6.00pm the councillors had arrived along with the speaker, the meeting began with a prayer which some people took part in and others didn't. The speaker then went through the general rules of the meetings such as, taking photos, audio recording etc. An apology was then made for the absence of councillor Pearson.
On this particular night there were 12 speakers involved in 'Have your say!' discussing a variety of matters they felt needed to be addressed. Speakers were allowed 3 minutes in total to voice their views.
First to speak; Trevor Attern voiced his opinion regarding the 3 minute time limit. He referred to his own father when depicting an image or the councillors, "if they hadn't of sacrificed themselves where would we be now?". In short he was suggesting that the sacrifices made by those who fought for Britain are now undermined by the lack of freedom of speech given to individuals.
John Franklin stepped up to state how the future development of Colchester had a lack of vision and this could damage the town permanently. He suggested that we needed to build for the "future generations of 200+ years, not just 30/40 years". Franklin went on to suggests that 'modern transport' is the way forward. Getting people walking and moving away from using cars would be step in the right direction.
The next speaker was a local women voicing problems with an ongoing personal dispute with the local council . She had received a letter in 2012 regarding issues of fraud and malpractice (not much detail was given regarding the grounds of the issue) which was said to have been 'under investigation' along with four signatures from councillors present. "What is going on?" Feeling as though she was going 'round and round' without getting any answers she felt that 6 years of waiting for a personal conviction claim was too long. Angel wanted to know whether investigation was actually being undertaken, to which the council responded stating that they will no longer commit any more time and resources to this matter as they are happy to be taken to court.
Mr Parker was another local citizen wanting to voice his views on male domestic abuse and how he personally has been affected. He went on to suggest that "men don't count" and unfortunately due to domestic abuse a lot of males are left homeless as a result. He asked "what are Colchester Borough Council doing to support them?" As a result councillor Bourne suggested taking this up with other authorities. Mr Parker was reassured that all men, women, children count despite their sex, age, race and situation and that there are women refuges available in the area. Councillor Bourne continued his response by stating he could't agree with the 'inflammatory statements' made as there are funded spaces available in the Colchester area for homeless people. "Colchester is one of the better local authorities making sure men and women do count."
For someone who has never attended a 'Have Your Say' meeting before, this intrigued me greatly. It was interesting to see a variety of people stand up for their views on conflicting matters that are ongoing in the local area that have a large impact on a vast number of people.
EB