At this month’s Ventnor Town Council (VTC) meeting, when councillors were being asked to approve dates of meetings in 2013, Jim Morgan (pictured), town councillor for St Lawrence, requested that VTC meetings no longer be held on the second Monday of the month.

His reasoning for the change was so that he and other councillors could attend Cafe Scientifique meetings which are always held on the same date as VTC meetings.

Move meetings to second Tuesday
Cllr Morgan asked whether the meetings could be moved to the second Tuesday of the month instead.

He explained that the Cafe Scientifique meetings saw world class experts being brought to the Isle of Wight to discuss fascinating subjects and that all councillors could benefit from attending.

Cllr Robinson supported the change in dates, adding that she would like to be able to attend the Cafe Scientifique meetings too.

After some discussion, it was suggested that future meetings could be held on the third Monday of the month.

Cllr George opposed to change
There was significant opposition to changing the dates from deputy mayor, Cllr David George, who was chairing the meeting.

He said he couldn’t see why something that had been in place for years should be changed just so another councillor could attend monthly lectures.

A majority of the councillors voted for the change and Cllr George reluctantly accepted the vote, closing the agenda item by saying, “I’m sure we’ll be visiting this again very soon.”

Cafe Scientifique – Isle of Wight Website

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