Oswaldtwistle Shops - Page 5

Madhatter · 24-01-2006, 20:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by park381

Think you just lost me there, you have town council and borough council, is that not the same as HBC or Hyndburn Borough Council, with all its Area Councils.

Sort of by the sounds of it, but I don't know your exact set up. BUT gayle says the area councils are all made up of borough councillors or people co opted on to the area council by existing councillors, which will mostly be borough. Therefore you have , in my opinion a dissadvantage, in that your town council is also your borough council. We have two totally sepperate councils, only a few are on both town and borough. They are all still useless though, and have their own agendas. If something that would be usefull to the towns people becomes available and it doesn't fit with their agenda you've got no chance.
Gayle may as well give up with the ossy shops thing, you'll never convince the councillors to commit money to any regen scheme unless you convince them that it's their idea.

Madhatter · 24-01-2006, 20:40

Although it may be possible, cos it was gayles idea and if she gets ellected .The worlds her lobster.

Ber999T · 27-01-2006, 05:53

May I just state and correct someone (Park381 I think) but Oswaldtwislte has never been a Parish Council it was and still is (boundry changes etc) the largest URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL in the UK

Unless someone knows different that is :engsmil:

Neil · 27-01-2006, 07:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gayle

In Hyndburn we don't have Town Councils in that way, we have Area Councils but they have very few powers.

That is an issue that needs correcting I think. I would like to see Area Council or whatever we want to call them with more powers to decide what to do in our local Areas. I think they need more revenue budget to help them address local issues. In the current financial year they appeared to have capital but little revenue budget. I see them as a way for local Councillors to address issues in the ward they were elected to serve. I know that Oswaldtwistle Are Council is probably one of the best Area Councils in Hyndburn. The others need a good shake up then to bring them up to the same level.
Am I right in thinking Labour is against Area Councils Gayle? I think you posted somewhere that you are sort of for them but maybe not in their present form.

Gayle · 27-01-2006, 08:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

That is an issue that needs correcting I think. I would like to see Area Council or whatever we want to call them with more powers to decide what to do in our local Areas. I think they need more revenue budget to help them address local issues. In the current financial year they appeared to have capital but little revenue budget. I see them as a way for local Councillors to address issues in the ward they were elected to serve. I know that Oswaldtwistle Are Council is probably one of the best Area Councils in Hyndburn. The others need a good shake up then to bring them up to the same level.
Am I right in thinking Labour is against Area Councils Gayle? I think you posted somewhere that you are sort of for them but maybe not in their present form.

The Labour party is against Area Councils in the format that they are for precisely the reasons that you said above - the have no real power and they're really little more than a Google Page Ranking exercise with the Councillors informing the people about what they plan to do.

I think, like you do (omg are we agreeing here) that the Town/Area Council (whatever name) should have far more powers with the budget of the town.

We say that Oswaldtwistle Area Council is one of the better ones but is it really? Yes, there are a lot of people attending but does it actually achieve any more than any of the other Area Councils that have less people attending? I'm afraid the answer to that has to be NO, again for the reasons we've said here and the lack of power.

Did you know that each and every Area Council meeting costs in the region of £5,000 simply to hold? If you add in the time of the two employees who work for the Council solely on Area Council business, the expenses that the Councillors claim, additional officer time, the paperwork and postage, the hire of the rooms, etc. If we get 50 people in the room in Oswaldtwistle that works out at £100 per head - think of the value for money that other Area Councils are getting with the same overheads but even less of a turn out.

So, sorry to waffle but to answer your question - yes, I am in favour of an Area/Town council in theory but the way that they are currently run in Hyndburn then I would have to say NO. Having said that, I wouldn't want to abolish them I would want to correct them so that they work for the people of the town.

Madhatter · 27-01-2006, 19:34

I agree with that neil.
There is clearly a big difference between our town council and your area council. Do you not have proper meetings for this area council? . As I've said, our town council deals with a lot really, and is increasing it's power and budget every year. We wouldn't have cctv, christmas lights or flowers in town if it wasn't for town council. Town council is made of of ellected on local volounteers that put themselves up for election. They don't get paid and get very little costs. It's only town mayor who really gets costs. Borough have their own mayor too.
I've put myself up in the past, but didn't really have my heart in it, At the time I wanted the contract to put the christmas lights up and regretted getting so involved with the raising of money for them, because that effectively cut me out. I could have used that money to put the lights up in my area of town, instead of me paying it all. For that reason mainly I didn't have my heart in it, didn't vanvas and was glad at the time not to have got in. I'm still in two minds as to if it's the right thing to do, even our town council is still politically led, that is things are pushed and blocked to score political brownie points.
In my opinion there's no room for political crap at that level, the things town council do are very close to the public, as listed above but even more sensitive is the cemetary, which is totally run by town here. Don't know if you've ever heard of topple testing gayle but if not I'm sure you will. Political point scoring, based on destroying peoples graves. Think not.

Gayle · 27-01-2006, 21:12

Fortunately there aren't any cemeteries in Oswaldtwistle - well not any that are being used for burials now.

Madhatter · 27-01-2006, 21:51

Makes no difference gayle, if they are council responsibility and they have stones they'll need topple testing. To any council about to do a topple test I'd say public consultation before so they know why and how is vital.

Anyway, whats this woman week all about and where does that happen. It should be on here advertised not confined to pm's.
Every event in the area should be on here.

Do you have a classic car show like rawtenstall has the bike show?

Gayle · 27-01-2006, 21:59

Don't worry, I'll be letting everyone know about the events closer to the time. I just didn't want to bore anyone with it too early.

Basically whole range of events going under the banner 'Something for Everyone'.

Gayle · 27-01-2006, 22:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Madhatter

Makes no difference gayle, if they are council responsibility and they have stones they'll need topple testing.

I'm not sure I understand what topple testing is! At first I thought you were talking about political infighting in the run up to the election and the tricks people try but I realise now it's nothing like that. Explain please.

garinda · 27-01-2006, 23:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gayle

Fortunately there aren't any cemeteries in Oswaldtwistle - well not any that are being used for burials now.

There is. Immanuel up New Lane. I went to a funeral there recently. There are still a very few plots for sale.

Gayle · 27-01-2006, 23:30

I didn't realise. Fortunately it's not my 'patch' so I can be forgiven for not knowing that. But, beauty of this site is that we share information and it's a mistake I won't make again.