Now that we have lost the 400m running track, your writer hadn’t planned another update. However, there have been some interesting discussions in the wake of losing the 400m track, and people seem to find the updates thought provoking and useful. So here is another.

There was a post on the All About Goole FB page about the last night the Goole athletics community were able to use the 400m track. Obviously, this turn of events is very sad for the athletics community. The current mayor responded, and not for the first time, his comments seemed to lack understanding, sympathy or respect for the athletics community. The thrust of the comments seemed to be football has a lot more supporters than athletics so football is all that matters and athletes should just stop complaining.

The mayor does do good work – raising money for a cancer charity and cleaning up part of a car park are two genuinely shining examples. But should a mayor be partisan, favouring one sector of the community over another? Should the mayor, or any councillor, be combative towards members of the public who do not agree with the council’s decisions?

Goole Town Council seems to have been turned into a business, rather than a civil parish council. There are worthwhile activities, but there are also significant dangers in the Town Council losing track of what it is. A civil parish council is part of this country’s democratic structure. There is a strong sense that the councillors now see themselves as board members of a company, with the residents as their subordinates in a line management structure.

There were some comments about most people not knowing two councillors had resigned until two new councillors had been appointed by the existing town councillors.

The mayor said that the vacancies had been announced in the Goole Times twice, and posted on the GTC and ERYC websites. Legally, GTC has done their duty, and they know legally they cannot be challenged. The only people who would have seen the announcements are those who look in the public announcements section of the Goole Times, and the GTC and ERYC websites. How many people do that regularly? The mayor said only two people applied so it was a simple process for the 17 existing councillors (yes, 17) to vote them in.

That’s all very plausible. But how many people might have applied if the vacancies had been announced on the All About Goole FB page, where the announcement that two new town councillors had been appointed was made. If you were a council committed to a thriving healthy local democracy, would you not want to maximise the number of applicants by giving the announcement as much public exposure as possible?

Somebody was told by the mayor if they want to know what is happening and participate in discussion, they should stand to be a councillor. Not everyone can be a councillor. Not everyone (your writer included) wants to be a councillor. That does not mean we have no right to our opinions and to express them. That does not mean it is right for councillors to slap people down if they don’t like what is being said. Does it?

The GTC full council minutes are now very minimalist as has been mentioned before. You now have to request fuller minutes. The public is told to go to GTC meetings if they want to know what is going on. Not many people attend. Could the combative way councillors treat any member of the public who disagrees with them be a lot of the reason?

We are told that powers are being devolved regionally and locally in order to improve democracy and accountability. If local officials stick to the spirit of the law while in practice obstructing and frustrating scrutiny and public discussion, then what is actually being devolved is the dismantling of our democracy and the removal of our democratic rights.

Is that the future that the people of this town, and this region want?