Thoughts about the Town Council, and the hustings meeting of March 4th

Dear Editor,

It was with great interest that I attended the "meet the candidates" meeting at the Memorial Hall on Wednesday evening (4th March). I, like many others, was pleasantly surprised at the level of turnout there.

Whilst all the candidates gave a good account of themselves, I left the meeting with the overall impression that our Town Council, unfortunately, has

• No power
• Little influence
• Very little money

…which gave me and, I'm sure, several others cause to ask "what's the point?"

Well, after much thought, I've decided that there is a point.

As we were told, the Council can only operate as a pressure group, but pressure groups can be extremely effective – provided they have sufficient, demonstrable support from their members.

In this case, the members are you and I.

As I said earlier, I was pleasantly surprised at the turnout for this meeting. However, there were only (approximately) 50 public members there – that's about 2% of the voting population. Now, as a business person, if I only achieved a return on investment (and these people are making an investment – of time and energy) of 2%, I'd close up shop tomorrow.

The effectiveness of our Council is dependant upon our participation and without it they will remain the toothless body they are perceived to be.

But this is a two way street. The effectiveness of this meeting came from it's free-form style; questions were asked – and answered, without having to be put forward on an agenda for the next meeting, or being told to refer them to the Town Clerk.

In this day and age of instant gratification, we want answers now, not next month. Therefore, is it not time the Council had open forum meetings, say, once a quarter where the public can raise matters and have them debated and where possible taken on board for Council consideration? I'm sure they'd get the participation they so desperately need!

The other issue that seems to require addressing is funding.

It appears that many people think that the Town Council have a nice little pot of money that can be dipped into at will for such things as cleaner streets, better policing, more facilities for the youngsters, etc.,

In truth, all these things would be a real plus for the town – but would come at a price.
From what I can gather, of the £1463 that you pay in council tax (for a band D property with more than 2 people in residence), a whole £82 goes to Wincanton Town Council. Frankly, I'm amazed I get anything for less than £1 per week, let alone Christmas lights, hanging baskets, grounds-keeping, help to maintain our sports facilities, public toilets and who knows what else.

Again, it's down to us, the residents of Wincanton, to let our Council know what we want and, if necessary, stump up the funds for it. I don't know how this works, but I'm sure it must be possible and, if that's what we want then it's the Council's job to figure it out and deliver.

At the end of the day, the ball is in our court and it's up to us to what happens next.

One of our prospective councillors so eloquently commented, "it's time to get off my arse & do something!". Well, it's time for us to do the same….and it starts by voting on March 11th. [EDITOR: Apologies to Steve for publishing this letter so late.]

Steve Stapleton
Wincanton Wholefoods
43, High Street.

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