There is speculation that Henry St is to be the site of an in street open air swimming pool as a replacement for the Leisure Centre swimming pool which closed 10 months ago. It is suggested that many other streets in Goole are also becoming open air swimming pools as further alternatives to the closed Leisure Centre pool. The Leisure Centre and Streets are East Riding responsibilities of course. See the picture for evidence of Henry St developments so far…
Meanwhile, after the news that the Town Councillors selected the two people the councillors want to join their ranks (rather than asking the citizens of the town) a mystery seems to be hidden in plain sight. Why was there a vacancy for two councillors? It would seem that two councillors resigned – councillors V and B McLaughlin.
Why did they resign? There is nothing in any of the Town Council minutes available on the website (https://goole-tc.gov.uk/town-council/minutes/ – the last minutes at the time of writing being 27 June, it now being October…also the minutes are fine examples of minimalism – there is hardly any information in them about what was discussed and decided, and why it was decided.
The Town Council seems to have been built into quite an empire too. Just looking at meeting attendance in minutes, there is a Town Clerk, a Deputy Town Clerk, Head of Operations, Head of Arts and Culture, a DSA (your writer does not know what that is). Since they are marked in the minutes as officers, they are presumably all on the payroll. There are others too not present at meetings so not marked in minutes. When you look at the job titles, it seems more like a city or county council, rather than what is in effect these days a parish council. Here’s a quiz question for you – how many staff does Goole Town Council have? What is the salary bill?
Do residents feel they are kept sufficiently well informed about what Goole Town Council is doing? Should the public be given fuller minutes, rather than expecting residents to sit through all the council meetings to find out what is going on? How many citizens can actually fit into the room where council meetings are held – and what would happen if suddenly a lot of residents decided to attend because they can’t tell from the minutes what is going on?
The Information Commissioner’s Office recommends that councils “publish the unedited agenda and minutes where possible” (the guidance and Model Publication Scheme can be found here: https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1156/minutesandagendas.pdf Goole Town Council seems to have chosen not to follow the Information Commissioner’s guidance and Model Publication Scheme on council minutes. It would be interesting to know who took that decision, why, and on whose guidance?
Do residents feel that they have been informed why two councillors resigned from the Town Council in the summer? Do residents feel they are given sufficient information about council discussions and decisions?
Residents lead very busy lives. It is important though that every resident takes a share of the work of scrutinising what councils do, and if necessary challenging decisions, in order to make sure local councils are delivering what the public wants. Every little helps…