Christmas Lights update….

I was in 2 minds whether to take to social media after being threatened with lawyers letters and told by the Cc we can’t post whilst the saga is ongoing… 

But it will be a cold day in hell when someone is successful in quieten my voice and censoring my opinion 🙌🤯 so here goes…

Last nights behaviour at the community council meeting was nothing short of abhorrent. 

Things we were told:

•We don’t represent the community 

•We are only 30 people (despite our hundreds of petition signatures)

•I was told to shut up

•When someone was standing up to speak the chair said “oh here she goes”

•Granny babs was completely disrespected by the chair when she was trying to make her point. 

•The most bizarre lawyers letter was read out as if to silence us but in short, advised the chair to stop responding on Facebook. 

•A member of the committees husband insisted he didn’t know about the issue but would pay the lights £500 to set up themselves. Totally inappropriate and groups cannot be bought into silence when standing up to the Cc

•The chair often referred to “bullying & harassment” which is a tactic to try and silence us. This side of the debate has remained factual and nothing I have said can be categorised as bullying or harassment (I’ve had a lawyer check 🤭)

•They brought in 2 members of PKC (? Community empowerment team I think) who, unfortunately weren’t presented with a balanced background or even knew who owned the lights. I’m looking into the legal aspects with PKC today to get a straight answer about the bank, as they have stated the bank isn’t insured or safe under the Cc umbrella (worrying to say the least). You’ve got to wonder how Perth get away with it since PKC have full control over the Christmas displays in the city. Is this equitable for rural communities or just another barrier we are expected to deal with

•I have written a formal complaint regarding the breach of code of conduct by the chair and would like to point out in this forum that there is no governance by PKC over complaints against a community council. The Cc will mark their own homework. This process cannot stand and I have taken this up with the PKC elected members 

This whole ordeal is completely rotten and not what my community represents. 

Thankfully, the rest of the committee voted to keep the Christmas lights but under the guise of it being transferred to a stand alone committee down the line. 

We have requested special meeting to debate this single topic and under the scheme of establishment they have to organise this within 14 days. The chair tried to insist this would be private but thankfully the PKC rep rightly stepped in to say that this will be a public meeting. Comrie needs to stand up to this. 

Once I receive the date of the special meeting, I will circulate on social media. 

Thank you to the courageously brave people who spoke up at last nights meeting. It’s incredibly challenging to try and have your voice heard in a toxic environment like that. I found it really difficult at times and was in a state of shock with the behaviour demonstrated.

The saga continues