The Ventnor Town Council (VTC) meeting last night was short, but perhaps not so sweet, as far as members of the press and public were concerned.
After the initial confusion of whether a meeting would actually be held (the date on the VTC Website was incorrect), members of the public had to work out where it was being held, as those who made their way to the usual location, found the doors to the main hall were locked.
That aside around 12 members of the public managed to work out that the meeting had been moved to first floor of the Winter Gardens in the Balmoral Room.
Public questions
As usual the meeting started with questions from the public.
We were told that as the VTC would also be considering a planning application, that anyone wishing to make a statement regarding that application could also speak at the beginning of the meeting.
Communication blackout from Town Clerk
The first question to be asked of the VTC was from Evelyn Knowles, correspondent for the South Wight Beacon.
Ms Knowles (and from what she was saying, the South Wight Chronicle) have clearly been experiencing the same frustrations as VB in relation to the lack of contact from the Town Clerk with regard to meeting dates, agendas and even minutes of meetings.
Ms Knowles told those present she felt the VTC Website was “useless”, as information was not up-to-date and simply putting details of the meetings on the town notice board was not sufficient in letting the electorate know when and what is being discussed at Town Council.
Lack of action indicative of problems
This was echoed by another member of the public, Mr Bonney, questioning who was responsible for making the public aware of the meetings and commenting on the lack of signage in the Winter Gardens to let the public know that the meeting had been moved from its usual location.
The Town Clerk replied, stating that there had been problems over the last couple of months due to bad weather, illness and the fact that the meetings were “all over the place”. She continued that it has been a “period of great difficulty” but things would be “back on track” from now on.
Mr Bonney went on to say that he felt there was plenty of time for her to notify the media of the meeting changes and that this lack of action was indicative of things that had been going wrong at the council for some time.
He then had to ask for the Town Clerk’s attention, when she started talking to a councillor whilst Mr Bonney was addressing her.
Why lack of audio recordings?
We then asked why it was, that despite the VTC agreeing in June 2008 to audio record their meetings and the meetings subsequently being recorded from September 2009, that the last few meetings had not been recorded?
“Was it a change in policy we asked?” because he hadn’t seen it discussed on any agendas.
Unfortunately we didn’t really receive a reply to this question. We were simply told that there hadn’t been a change in policy but no indication was given as to why the meetings weren’t being recorded anymore.
We also asked when the recordings would be made public, as previously agreed by the Town Council, but again, didn’t receive an answer.
Please make Audit Report public
We then went on to request that the Audit Report be made available to the public and if it was not already agreed to do so, that this be put on the next agenda to vote on.
We were told by the Mayor, who was chairing the meeting, that the issue would subject to a resolution during the next part of the VTC meeting that the press and public were excluded from.
Plans Committee
Once public questions were complete, the VTC moved onto discussing a planning application for renovations to 4 Marine Parade, Ventnor which was passed with no objections.
It seems that due to the holidays and bad weather, two Ventnor planning applications will have gone past the cut off date for comments without any consideration by the VTC.
These include an application for Illuminated fascia signs, an illuminated free standing sign and window vinyls at the ex-Service Station on Victoria Street and retention of a car port in Undercliff Drive.
Press and public excluded
Once the planning application had been dealt with the public were excluded from the rest of the meeting.
The VTC went on to receive the Audit Report by officials from the Isle of Wight Council.
According the agenda, they were also scheduled to discuss staff vacancies and agree job descriptions and salaries for the Responsible Financial Officer, Admin Assistant, Facilities Manager (pending) and General Manager for the Winter Gardens.
They were to agree payment of £849 to the Blues Band who played the Winter Gardens last summer and discuss a hospitality budget for a forthcoming photographic exhibition.
We’ll let you know once we hear the outcome of anything discussed behind closed doors.
Image: Lazlozian
