Annual Town Assembly - Local Democracy

Index of Topics
This page is linked from the 'Democracy' page. It looks at the parish meetings which are held each year between the Town Council and the local community to discuss any issues which concern the public. They are also known as 'Annual Town Assemblies' by the council. To sections on this page:

• Introduction - What this page is about.
• What is an Annual Assembly - And some legal requirements.
• Killing it Off - Intentions laid bare. "PTC wants to end the Annual Assembly"
• The Agenda - The typical PTC Annual Town Assembly Agenda.
• Responsibilities of a Local Council - Topics which fall within their purview.
• Other Councils - Random samples from the internet for comparison.
• Penistone Assemblies - In reverse order of date.
  • 2025 - Wait and see time. The voters will be watching to see if the council intends to interact with them in a proper way.
  • 2024 - A disorganised shambles, cynically designed to fail. Only half of council attending. No statutory notice posted, no effort to advertise. About a dozen public attended.
  • 2023 - Unstructured but very full meeting. A very good Mayor's Report with a long list of Mayoral activities. Six members of public attending in spite of severe parking problems.
  • 2021 - Lockdown. No public attending as they could not access the Zoom meeting. A non-working email address had been displayed on the statutory notice.
  • 2020 - No meeting during the Covid 19 pandemic.
  • 2016 - One member of the Press and nine public attending.
  • 2015
  • 2014 - Members of the public attending but their number not recorded in Minutes.
  • 2013 - A busy meeting. One of the Press and nine public attending.
• Links - External to this website.

These meetings connect historically with the age-old village meetings where local disputes could be resolved around the camp fire without resorting to weapons or threats. The word 'Wapentake'  comes from Danes who invaded our country, It originally referred to the taking of weapons but could mean the laying down of weapons for peaceful discussions between otherwise warring factions or neighbouring communities. In this regard, Wapentake is connected with parish meetings. The word also came to mean administrative regions.

Intro
This page takes a look at Penistone's annual parish meeting (aka the 'Annual Town Assembly'). In the modern age it is a statutory meeting and local forum which every one of 10,000 parishes and towns in England are required by law to provide; an annual public meeting with elected local councillors, their administrators and the voting public.

With a very long history stretching back centuries or even millennia, annual meetings would be held with ordinary people around the camp fire, first with the village elders, later with landowners and distinguished people of influence. Ultimately the ordinary people would gather with elected (or otherwise) members of whichever body oversees the local affairs. In the Victorian era, that would have been Penistone Board and in later years the Rural and Urban District Councillors.

Now back to our local situation. Unlike ordinary Town Council meetings, this annual meeting is the one-and-only public-facing community event between the local council and local community. As such it could be a showcase for the council's activities and achievements over the year, a means of establishing the relevance of the council and a meeting to discuss any issues which concern the community, not limited to the work of the council. The Annual Assembly is particularly useful as it allows more time for local matters to be discussed and in greater depth than is possible in the time allocated at an ordinary meeting. Those who do attend these meetings say that they are worthwhile but the most commonly-heard remark afterwards is: "I would have attended had I known about it."

However, they are never advertised in a meaningful way. Then the council says that: "The public are just not interested." From observations, a poor turnout is the actual desired result. With a better mindset, a council could also advertise in newspapers or radio. They have the legal right to go beyond the statutory minimum notification if they want a meeting to succeed. This is a verbose page so you might like to jump straight to 2024 below for a particularly bad year.

The odd thing about all of it this negativity towards the community is that it is in fact a 'legacy' mindset. With a complete change of administrative staff in recent years and an almost complete change of councillors, one might expect 'new blood' to want better public interaction and exploit an opportunity to turn an ordinary Annual Assembly into a great community event. It could also provide useful feedback to the council. Done properly, they meetings include representations from community groups such as the church or scouts and be a showcase for council achievements along with the public discussion. They could also be thought of as a way to break down any barriers arising between public and elected representatives, as councillors are often thought to be 'in it for themselves.'

It should be borne in mind that, as with other parish and town councils, Penistone Town Council (PTC) has only an advisory role in most matters, whilst Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (BMBC) has much greater powers. Nonetheless, local PTC councillors have a wealth of experience and knowledge and can offer good guidance in resolving local issues. They will 'know the ropes' in dealing with matters that are more in the domain of Barnsley Council, the Police, public transport services or other organisations. We must always remember that town councillors are, in effect, unpaid volunteers who mostly wish to put something back into the community. We should support their efforts, just as they are expected to support the community.

Sometimes the council has tried to restrict public discussions to only what the council had been doing during the year but that was never the proper purpose of the annual parish meeting. The world of instant information is now at our fingertips and people do know what's what.

It might be unfair to tar all of our councillors with the same brush because their intentions are generally good but in recent times there appears to be an inner circle of activists who dominate council work; voting each other into prime positions and acting together to further their political agenda. That implies that they might be holding their own meetings external to the council so that they can act in agreement together. Is this fact or conjecture? Well their promotional material at election time appears to claim council achievements as party achievements.

At the ballot box, all town councillors are equal but, if you observe a typical council meeting, you notice how each agenda item is first referred to one or other of the inner sanctum. The others sit there in silence as decisions are agreed between the select few, unable to perform their public role just like so many neutered cats. The majority might not speak at all during the entire meeting. None of that absolves the administrative staff from failing to abide by statutes but you can see why they don't wish to to rock the boat. The bullies have taken over the playground.

On a related matter, for many long years, the council has aspired to gain the prestigious 'Quality Council' award which requires them to excel in all that they do. A press release from 5th May 2022 said that the council '... goes above and beyond its legal obligations ...' and has a '... commitment to community engagement, transparency and improving the local area.' With the parish meeting, they don't.

What is an Annual Assembly?

HMG's requirements are easy to find but PTC's former declaration of the purpose of the meeting was as good as any, and used for many years. It also included the possibility of votes taking place which we might infer would put an obligation on the council to put what was being voted on on a future agenda. Not just a throw-away meeting after all:

'The purpose of calling this meeting is to enable the council to report on the year. Also electors are given a chance to have their say on anything which they consider is important to the people of the parish of Penistone. The meeting is open to the public, but such persons only as are registered as local government electors for the town will be entitled to vote at the meeting.'

The law requires each parish to hold a public meeting between 1st March and 1st June each year to discuss parish affairs. This can be found in the Local Government Act 1972 (Part III in particular). 'Parish' and 'Town' in this context are equivalent. The meeting cannot take place before 6pm. Further notes are found in the 'Representation of the People Act, 1983' and more understandable: Open and Accountable Local Government 2014 Plain English Guide, without changing the basic requirements.

15 (1) A parish meeting may be convened by:

• (a) The Chair of the parish council, or,
• (b) Any two parish councillors for the parish, or,
• (c) where there is no parish council, the chairman of the parish meeting or any person representing the parish on the district council, or,
• (d) Any six local government electors for the parish.

15 (2) Not less than seven clear days (etc. ...) before a parish meeting, public notice of the meeting shall be given, specifying the time and place of the intended meeting and the business to be transacted at the meeting, and signed by the person or persons convening the meeting. The seven clear days do not include Sundays, the date of posting nor the date of the meeting.

From the Local Government Act 1972:

9, 1. 'For every parish there shall be a parish meeting for the purpose of discussing parish affairs and exercising any functions conferred on such meetings by any enactment and, subject to the provisions of this Act or any instrument made thereunder, for every parish or group of parishes having a parish council before 1st April 1974 there shall continue to be a parish council.'
Part III,
14, 1. 'The parish meeting of a parish shall assemble annually on some day between 1st March and 1st June, both inclusive, in every year.'
14, 4. 'The proceedings at a parish meeting shall not commence earlier than 6 o’clock in the evening.'
15, 4. 'Public notice of a parish meeting shall be given—
    (a) by posting a notice of the meeting in some conspicuous place or places in the parish, and
    (b) in such other manner, if any, as appears to the person or persons convening the meeting to be desirable for giving publicity to the meeting.'
15, 7. 'A poll may be demanded before the conclusion of a parish meeting on any question arising at the meeting, etc.'

Interesting that the person convening the meeting can require more publicity than is provided by the statutory notice.

The NALC 'Legal Topic Note,' LTN6, 2009, Introduction, Para 3, makes a valid point. Although councillors cannot be compelled to attend, if an electorate is interested enough to attend a meeting, it puts the council in a poor light if they don't make an equal effort, thus:

'Meetings of a parish meeting are an effective forum for parish and town councils to engage with the local electorate. Even if the parish or town council disagrees with the issues raised, or related arguments, the council members’ attendance and involvement in the parish meeting would demonstrate that the council is prepared to take account of local residents’ views, which they must hold strongly if they have gone to the trouble to convene and attend a meeting of a parish meeting in the first place.'

HM Government's Open and Accountable Local Government, 2014 (pdf), Plain English Guide adds clarity in Part 4 (p. 23), 'Access to meetings and documents of parish and town councils.':

'Where a parish meeting is called, at least seven clear days' notice must be given.
' Notice of the meeting specifying the business to be discussed must be placed in a central conspicuous place within the parish ...' (etc.)
and,
'These councils are also encouraged to place copies of the agenda, meeting papers and notice of meetings at offices and on their website, if they have these facilities.'

The 'clear days' notice period do include the date of posting, any Sunday (etc.) or the actual date of a meeting. PTC's Standing Orders are based upon NALC guidance:

' ... does not include the day on which notice was issued, the day of the meeting, a Sunday, a day of the Christmas break, a day of the Easter break or of a Bank Holiday or a day appointed for public thanksgiving or mourning, etc.'

NALC 'Legal Topic Note 6' repeats the above but makes the requirements more obvious in the context of the Annual Assembly:

Public notice of the meeting must be given at least seven clear days beforehand. The notice must:

• Specify the time and place of the intended meeting;
• Specify the business to be transacted at the meeting; and
• Be signed by the person or persons convening the meeting.

There is no room for manoeuvre here; the rules are simple. Given that there are trillions of websites out there but only a few council noticeboards in each parish, it is unlikely that a council website could ever be regarded as the principal location for statutory notices, worse still if that important notice is not included in the meetings page but buried on another page as a 'news item!

More than One Assembly?
A matter of interest is that there can be more than one Assembly (subject to the same notice, etc.) in a year if, for example, a local issue was important enough:

The chair of the local council, any two councillors, or any six electors can call a Meeting of the Electors at any time during the year, but this annual meeting between 1st March and 1st June is a legal requirement.

Key phrases:

• 'Placed in a central, conspicuous place' - Must mean a physical location (ie. Town Centre noticeboard). Addition notices are also permitted on a council website, and presumably 'in a conspicuous place' on such as the Welcome page, rather than buried in a secondary location. A Facebook message is not sufficient, and especially one not shared to the community. Facebook messages are ephemerals, quickly lost under later messages and not all electors can be assumed to be members of a particular social medium, or even users of the Internet. The physical notice is a legal requirement.
• 'Specifying the business' - Can only mean that the notice should display the purpose of the meeting. It should also include a line about who is entitled to vote, which in itself suggests that the meeting has power to influence council proceedings. A line in the 1972 Act specifies penalties in the event of misuse of such a ballot, which can include jail. That makes it "a proper meeting" worthy of inclusion in the PTC list of meetings.

Killing it Off
Unfortunately, Penistone Town Council is trying hard to make the Annual Assembly disappear. That is fact, not conjecture. At one public assembly the Chair actually told the meeting that, "... although it is a statutory requirement, the Council would like to stop holding the Annual Assembly 'because of the lack of public interest'." Yes, they admitted it in front of witnesses! Myself and others remarked at the time that there could be much more support from residents if the event was advertised properly. In 2024, not even the Statutory Notice was displayed. Such actions ought to go to prosecution.

It highlights PTC's attitude to public engagement meetings but also begs these three questions:

• 'When was this policy decided and by whom?'
• 'Did they have the authority to decide this?
• 'In which meeting was this decided and where can we find the Minutes to understand the reasoning behind policy which works against the interests of both the community and the council?'

Given the passage of time and the turnover in staff and councillors, there can be few around who had any slightest connection with this policy to kill off the assembles. It could improve the council's reputation if it revisited its negative attitude and chose instead to actively promote a new approach to community engagement. Penrith Council (see below) is a good example of how to do the right thing and do it well.

Some have a guest speaker and representatives from community groups who are given a short time to say what they are doing. That would ensure that there would be some points of interest beyond what the council is doing, and encourage more people to attend.

The Agenda
With the Agenda being dropped for the 2024 meeting and subsequent complaints to the council (see below), at least two councillors offered to devise a PTC protocol for future annual parish meetings and this was on the agenda of an Assets and Events committee in February 2025. The NALC Good Councillor's Guide (Pdf) of May 2024 could be helpful here. Referring to page 63:

'Electors can contribute to the agenda as these meetings are community engagement events and, in practice, often celebrate local activities and debate current issues in the community.'

The custom and practice has been for the statutory notice to show the date, time and location of the meeting, state the business and include an Agenda. The actual attendence of councillors is not mandatory but meetings are pointless without them to hear the concerns of the electorate and deal with them properly as best they might. Neither does the Chair of the meeting have to be a Mayor or even anyone from the council. The Chair can be anyone. There is also a rule which allows to public to also call for a further public meeting, if requested by a specified number of the electorate. Unlikely but possible and the council would have to arrange that meeting in a proper way.

The Agenda would normally be expected to include minutes from the previous year and to report on any actions which had taken place to address the concerns raised. Voting is allowed at an Assembly but any vote taken would be only open to local electors. Although rare, a vote by the electorate has been known to occur in Penistone and it can direct the council to look into specific issues. They would be foolish to ignore any such voting.

The Standard Penistone Agenda
The usual Annual Town Assembly Agenda until recent times (when the rot set in) looked much like this:

• To Elect the Chair of the meeting.
• Apologies for absence.
• To approve Minutes of the previous Assembly.
• Matters arising.
• To receive a Financial summary of the year.
• To receive Report on the year and what was done to address issues raised at the previous Assembly.
• To receive the retiring Mayor's Report on the year's mayoral activities
• To receive the Financial Officer's Report.
• To receive public questions and suggestions from the people of Penistone (possible voting by electors only).
• End of Meeting.

The Financial Officer might put a summary of the year's finances on each seat as an alternative to addressing the meeting. It would seem sensible to allow people to submit topics in advance for an annual parish meeting, thereby giving time for them be researched and suitable replies formulated. But that would require a public notice inviting agenda items and in itself would help advertise the meeting. Odd that it doean't happen, then. ;-)

Responsibilities of a Local Council
The list below is from the NALC document 'All about local councils,' which applies to community, village, neighbourhood, parish and town councils and describes the typical functions of a local council, although some might fall more within a Borough Council's domain. Although these are typical of any parish or town council, the purpose of the annual public meeting is not restricted to these topics but is supposed to include any topics which might concern the public. Also see the NALC Good Councillor's Guide (Pdf) on the same subject.

In outline, a local parish or town council has an overall responsibility for the well-being of the local community, falling into three main categories (from NALC):

• Delivery of services, including:
  • Allotments,
  • Leisure facilities,
  • Bus shelters,
  • Litter bins,
  • Car parks,
  • Local illuminations,
  • Community centres,
  • Parks and open spaces,
  • Public toilets,
  • Street lighting,
  • Festivals and celebrations,
• Improve quality of life through:
  • Local housing and infrastructure through neighbourhood plans,
  • Promoting dementia-friendly communities,
  • Tackling loneliness,
  • Acting as community hubs,
  • Funding community projects and vital services that have been cut,
• Give communities a voice, through representing:
  • To the local police and health services,
  • On planning matters with principal authorities and developers,
  • To parliamentarians and government.

Other Councils
We can learn a lot from how other councils regard their annual parish meetings; some as special community events with invited local groups; others more controlling and discouraging any discussion of local issues thereby subverting the whole point.

A simple web search for 'Annual Town Assembly' or 'Annual Parish Meeting' will return details of meetings throughout the land, in greater or lesser degrees of enthusiasm. These examples are chosen at random and some are better than others. They might prompt our more community-based councillors to intervene in PTC's current broken, destructive and unwritten policy on Annual Town Assemblies and suggest how they could return to the status of worthwhile community events.

Penistone Annual Assemblies - A selection from over the years.

This section will be filled out from time to time with information from archived material, recordings, personal notes and previous Agendas and Minutes. With so much information on record, the public might ask why a council's one meeting to engage with the community is generally undermined.

2024:
Annual Assembly - Thursday 18th April 2024 at 7pm, Lower Hall, Penistone Community Centre. About a dozen of the electorate attended. A sound recording was made. The meeting ended at 7.45pm.

This was the 'Can't be Bothered' meeting with weaker than usual advertising, with not even the statutory notice, just word-of-mouth. The exceptionally poor effort by the council could be called a dereliction of duty but I describe it as 'cynical and deliberately engineered to fail.' It demonstrated the council's mindset to diminish this type of meeting. Before the event, one councillor had described it as "not a proper meeting" and it was not even included on the PTC website page on meetings. At an ordinary council meeting before the event, the council had been directly asked for the date of the annual parish meeting, which the council declined to give. Meetings are of necessity planned months in advance so there could have been only one reason not to supply this information. Again, 'engineered to fail.'

This was a risible effort by the Town Council. They expected none of the public to turn up and had put zero effort into it. The greatest effort had been by those who set out the chairs. It was a disgrace and insult to the community which had elected the council. It brought the council into disrepute.

The statutory notice (required by law) was not displayed. There was no Agenda, no Clerk's Report, no Mayor's Report and no Financial Report, all of which the public would expect in previously democratic times. It was saved only by the energetic participation of about a dozen members of the public. For failing to comply with the law, the meeting should have been declared 'null and void' and rescheduled in a proper manner. The council was asked to do this at a following ordinary meeting but rejected it out od hand, with no reason given.

Other councils might invite community groups such as Scouts, church, etc. to give short presentations, making it a more significant community event. With no statutory notice posted to advertise this meeting, the public had discovered it by word of mouth. To their credit, Penistone FM also put the message out on air, by request. PTC ought to be ashamed of damaging their one annual event where they engage with the community. They can't always blame public apathy, this was PTC apathy. You get out what you put in.

Present: Cllrs Mandy Lowe-Flello (Mayor) as Chair. Also: Cllrs Lynne Crisp, Lisa Cork, Anita Kimberley, James Kitchin, John Palmer, Frances Nixon. The Town Clerk Nigel Bailey and Elaine Miller officiated. There were about a dozen members of public but nobody from the Press.

Although not compulsory for council members to attend, seven of the 15 councillors did so and our thanks are due to them. It was a busy meeting, as you can see from the subjects discussed below. It was presided over by the Mayor who addressed the Assembly from a standing position with no notes, there being no desk provided for her. She started by listing the matters which the meeting was there not for and she outlined the limits of the town council's activities.

There must have been a misunderstanding here as she clearly explained that the meeting was not "to deal with the bus service or potholes." Several members of the public had come specifically to talk about bus services but then declined to do so, having been silenced. As we know, no topics of local concern should be out-of-bounds at any Assembly meeting as that is their main purpose. However, that was the message received by the community.

Subjects Discussed:
These included the Principal Towns scheme, the availability of PTC grants, road speed indicators, the possibility of a Berneslai office in Penistone, objections to unisex toilets, an unrepaired and dangerous wall on Wentworth Road, lack of a Mayor's Report and inadequate publicity for this meeting, heavy lorries on High Street, trainee truck drivers on Green Road, the PTC precept, PTC's events committee plagued by a lack of volunteers, and a Vote of Thanks at the end. What was not discussed was the public transport issue which some had come to talk about. Even so, people said at the end that it had all been worthwhile.

A Public Notice? - None, but the Public did notice!
This meeting failed to comply with the legal requirement for a statutory notice. Neither was it shown on the most conspicuous page on the PTC website, the Welcome page, nor even as an 'Upcoming meeting' on the Meetings page as they don't regard it as a 'proper meeting.' Nor did they use their legal power of applying 'additional advertising' by submitting it to the Barnsley Chronicle. The PTC website did include it in a hidden corner, the fourth item down on their News page along with other, presumably more important, news items above it. Very shabby; very cynical.

When asked about the failure to publicise the meeting, they explained that there had been a message on the Council's Facebook page, as though it was enough to use an ephemeral medium. The matter was raised at the Ordinary council meeting of 22nd April 2024 and the general response was very defensive in spite of the obvious irregularities. There was some mitigation by members offering to look into the matter for next year. The PTC Minutes admitted that '... the meeting had been advertised on the PTC website and Facebook page' (but not by any method which might be 'noticeable').

We are Catch-22 territory here: you need to know about something in order to go searching for it. But not if proper notices had been displayed. Neither was the Facebook message any good and not 'Shared' to community pages, which is unforgivable if Facebook is deemed to be an effective channel of communication (which they argued). Again, a disgraceful lack of effort. The two-line message on the PTC News page and Facebook:

'Any local issues you want to discuss? Come to the Penistone Annual Town Assembly.
For further information please contact the PTC office on 01226 370 088, admin@pentowncouncil.gov.uk.'

When it was pointed out that not all residents are on Facebook, the Clerk replied that: "Enough people seemed to have heard about it." Yes, but only because of the Penistone grapevine which never sleeps. Some say that social media is the way to go but messages quickly disappear as new messages pile on top. The useful lifespan of a social media message might be just a few hours if you are lucky. None of that 'Seven clear days notice' nonsense at the Town Council; far too busy! And if you really wanted it to work, you would share the message as widely as possible.

To their credit, a few community-minded people, including at least one local councillor, did do PTC's job for them by sharing their inadequate two-line message to others in the community. These good people were: Philip Watson, Frances Nixon, Jan Stanley, Ruth Pearson and three more. Many thanks to them for their public spiritedness and democratic instincts.

2023:
Annual Assembly - 7pm, Upper Hall, Penistone Community Centre. A sound recording was made. The meeting finished at 7.45pm. An unstructured meeting, inadequately publicised. Only six members of the public attended, although a severe parking problem that evening could have deterred others.

The central part of the meeting was the Mayor's Report for the municipal year ending March 2023, presented by the retiring Mayor, Cllr Neville Shiggins. It was a very full report, enthusiastically presented by the Mayor. The Financial Report and other parts of the expected Agenda were omitted. This was followed by public questions and comments from the Penistone Electorate to which the council responded well and in depth.

Matters Arising
The notes below have been taken from a recording but are not a direct transcript. They are paraphrased or summarised and slightly re-ordered. Section numbers are arbitrary.

1. (Public) Thank you to the council for the good work, from 'a self-appointed representative of the public' (applause).
2. (Public, Q) How supportive are BMBC to PTC, given what we pay in Council Tax? PTC: Lines of communication are open to certain sections, especially Planning; Sub-committee for roads communicates well with Highways; BMBC Cllrs help when asked but don't always attend PTC meetings; unusually there are no BMBC sitting on PTC; the Principal Town Scheme spreadsheet has become available and such as Town Hall schemes are out to tender in about four months, with that money locked in; repeated vandalism to public toilet costs more than insurance; PGS art installation arranged for the bus station; BMBC takes notice of PTC; Remembrance Day is now taken over by PTC from BMBC in association with other participants (Church, RBL, Scouts, etc.) and PTC now controls the road closures for the service and parade.
3. (Public, Q) BMBC had a Parish and Towns Charter which included recommendations for street naming, can PTC look into this? And, in connection with street names, can PTC look into the possibility to use our own coat-of-arms on signage? PTC: Will look into what is involved with doing this; it's a piece of history. On entering Ingbirchworth, signage implies people are entering Barnsley but Penistone has its own identity.
4. (Public, Re C Tax) All items in Council Tax went up this year except PTC's Precept; PTC is commended for not asking for extra. PTC - Good point.
5a. (Public, Q) What is borough spending from residential C Tax? PTC: Tried for 25 years to get an answer but was impossible to discover. As Pen was classed as affluent, we did not appear to get our fair share. Our houses have more Band B than the rest, which are more Band A.
5b. (Public) "Not saying we should get more back but we that we would be entitled to get more and (given a knowledge about finance) it would be possible to get it." PTC: We can ask via the BMBC Cllrs.
6. PTC: Regarding 'Community,' a lot happens un-noticed by the public with all sorts of activities in clubs and groups which are facilitated through the work of unpaid volunteers. Also, when a young lad went missing, hundreds of people turned out to search, aged from 8 to 82. More than 400 of their cars were parked at PGS. Most would not have known the lad but they came together to help; "One of ours was in trouble; and they came." People did not stop coming until perhaps 10.30pm. A Police leader said he had never seen anything like it. Returning searchers would ask where to go next. "If anything represents Penistone pulling together as a community, this was it."
7a. (Public, Q, Re Section 106 funds from the big development): How much is it and what will it to be used for? PTC: It is £3.2 million but not yet defined how it will be spent on infrastructure. Details will not be fully released until the development is finished. There is a known allocation for schools. The BMBC contacts will provide information as it comes out.
7b. (Public, Supp. Q) When Planning applications pass through PTC, is there a process for making Section 106 recommendations? PTC: No, but they can lobby for their preferences. As an example, a strip of land adjacent to the Showground could be purchased in order to extend the field, as one possible idea to spend some of the funding.
7c. (Public, further comment, Re Sec. 106) A suggestion to improve Bridge End junction using Sec. 106 funds, to include Hudds Rd. by adding traffic lights or making a Box Junction. PTC: Working with the school, they are in touch with BMBC and looking into changing the junction by putting in proper crossing points. This is a work in progress and there is already a scheme to improve the road from Hoylandswaine to Flouch. Not clear whether the new estate will access Wellhouse Lane but one suggestion is to put a new roundabout on the top road to slow down the traffic where the blending of traffic might be a problem, especially for slow-moving HGVs.
8. (Public, Q) Probably mentioned about two years ago, is anything being done to improve the car parking situation at Penistone Railway Station (as BMBC had bought land off Yorkshire Land)? PTC: There's a legal challenge going on at the moment by Yorkshire Land about a Compulsory Purchase Order. Plans for up to 60 spaces on Laird's Way (for Park and Ride) are up in the air. A footbridge from the station was also being considered costing around £1m, but for which the member failed to see a need. It looks like 'a slow burner' which might take a few years.

PTC Minutes (pdf).

2022
Annual Assembly - Wednesday 20th April 2022, 7pm, Council Chamber. Minutes for this meeting are not available on the PTC website. The PTC link for Minutes goes to the Annual Meeting, not the Town Assembly.

The Agenda

• To elect the Chair of the meeting.
• To receive apologies for absence.
• To approve Minutes of the last Annual Town Assembly, 28th April 2021 (a virtual meeting which the public could not 'attend').
• Matters arising.
• To receive the retiring Mayor's Report for the municipal year ending March 2022, Cllr Andrew Millner.
• To receive public questions and suggestions from the Electorate of the Penistone.

2021 - During Lockdown
Annual Assembly - In April 2021, because of the Covid-19 Lockdown, the Annual Town Assembly had to be an online event. The statutory notice appeared as required on the noticeboard but those wishing to 'attend' the meeting needed a code to be received from the council by emailing them first. The email address on the statutory notice was wrong and did not work. People could not contact the office in order to join the meeting as the staff were not accessible at the time and only the council members and staff could join the meeting. This would have been obvious to the staff.

As expected, the Annual Assembly took place with no public 'attending' at all, just one press representative. This was not due to lack of interest by the public but because of the wrong information on the notice and website, which ought to easily have been picked up by the staff. They were told about it and the usual apologies followed. Now, this could have been a genuine mistake the first time it happened but when the same thing happened a month later for the Annual Meeting (effectively the AGM, May 2021), it looked rather more deliberate.

From PTC Minutes:

Meeting held by Zoom, Wednesday, 28th April 2021, 7pm.
Present: The Town Mayor Cllr A Millner, Deputy Mayor Cllr Gilll Millner, and Cllrs Cutts, Perkins, Rusby, Shiggins, Walker and Wood. Also present were the Town Clerk T Ball and one member of the Press.
Election of Chairperson: Town Mayor chosen as acting Chair.
Apologies for Absence: Cllrs Kimberley, Unsworth and MP Miriam Vates.
Minutes of 2019 Assembly: dated 17th April 2019 presented to the meeting and accepted. (No meeting in 2020 due to Covid restrictions)
Matters Arising: None.
Mayor's Report: This had been previously circulated. (Attached to the Minutes published later).
Public Session: There being no members of public, no questions or suggestions were proposed.

There was no mention of the reason why the public could not join the meeting, even though that might have been obvious, and certainly to those who had arranged the Zoom Meeting. It is important to remember this sort of escapade when it is suggested once again that 'the public are not interested' in attending meetings. It's always a sham.

2016
Annual Assembly - 6th April 2016, 7pm, Lower Hall, Community Centre. Finished at 7.35pm.

Agenda (slightly condensed here):

• 1. To elect a Chairperson,
• 2. To receive apologies for absence,
• 3. To approve Minutes of the last Assembly, read by the Clerk,
• 4. To receive the Mayor's Report for the year ending 31st March 2016, read by Cllr Millner,
• 5. To note the Audited Statement of Accounts (ending on the same date),
• 6. To receive questions, comments and suggestions from the electorate.

The Agenda was displayed on the Town centre noticeboard but not on the Community Centre noticeboard.

From Minutes

Present: The Town Mayor, Cllr. Cllr. Millner, Cutts, Hand-Davis, Hinchliff, Mrs. Hinchliff, Hayler, Mrs. Millner, Marsh, Ogle and Kimberley. Also present the Town Clerk K. Coulton, press and members of the public.

Apologies for Absence: from Cllrs. Webber, Chadburn, Mrs. Rusby and Unsworth.

Mayor's Report - Read out and included in Minutes

Financial Statement - Accounts explained

Public Questions - About Litter, fly tipping and bins.

2015
Annual Assembly - Wednesday 8th April 2015, 7pm, Community Centre. A sound recording was made. .

2014
Annual Assembly - Tuesday 15th April, 7pm, Lower Hall, Community Centre. Finished 8.15pm.

Present: The Town Mayor, Cllr. Cutts, Cllrs. Barron, Marsh, Millner, Mrs. Hinchliff, Pilkington, Mrs Rusby, Starling, Unsworth and Webber and Mrs. Webber.
Also present the Town Clerk K. Coulton, press and members of the public (number not recorded).

Apologies for Absence: Cllrs. Beever, Chapman, Hand - Davis and Cllr Hinchliff.

Statement of Accounts: And in printed form.

Mayor's Report: Read out and included in Minutes.

Public Questions: Possibility of PTC achieving Quality Parish Status? (the scheme was 'wallowing dead in the water'), What is happening at Lairds Way?
Discussions have taken place with the SYPTE Barnsley MBC regarding parking, a park and ride and managed work space units on the site, however part of the land has now been approved for housing. There being no further questions the members of the public expressed their customary vote of thanks to the Town Council for the work that they carry out.

2013
Annual Assembly - Community Centre, 7pm, Tuesday 23rd April 2013.

From Minutes:
PTC Minutes showed that the meeting had a proper Agenda, Reports and the Minutes from 2012.

Present: The Town Mayor, Cllr. Barron, Cllrs. Chapman, Cutts, Green, Marsh, Millner, Hinchliff, Mrs. Hinchliff, Pilkington, Mrs Rusby, Starling, Unsworth and Webber. Also present were the Town Clerk, Keith Coulton. Also one member of the press and nine members of the public.

Absent: Apologies from Cllr Hand-Davis and Mrs Webber.

Mayor's Report: Cllr Unsworth was Mayor at the time and gave a Mayor's Report for his year of office, including his Mayoral engagements.

Financial Report: A statement of accounts was presented and a copy could be found on each seat.

Public Questions:
These included bus timetables, what was happening to community grants from the wind farms (£1,000 given to a model aircraft club), the cancellation of a Folk Festival planned for the Market Barn and how to improve communications with BMBC the failure of which had caused the cancellation, a question whether the Road Safety Committee still existed (A - 'No'), whether a Stop sign could be fitted to Station Drive on to Sheffield Road (this would have been Network Rail's responsibility but enquiries would be made), inadequacies of the Squareabout road system (the No Entry sign to be re-sited and road markings renewed), vehicles using a pedestrian access to the Market area, and finally whether play equipment might be put on a field following the completion of allotments.

The meeting closed at 8.15pm. Publicity for the meeting had as always very weak but nine local people and a news reporter had found out about it and attended. The local community radio station Penistone FM had refused to announce it on their Community News.

Personal Notes from the Meeting - These were in plain text form and might have previously been posted on a webpage or Facebook. Only slightly edited here for readability and layout.

It was quite entertaining in patches. The Millhouse Green Community Group very expertly cross-examined the council to find out what had happened to two pots of money that had been screwed out of windfarm developers. One was a lump of £100,000 which nobody knew where it had gone. It was suggested that it might have gone to the other side of Barnsley towards affordable housing. The other income was an annual £10,000, of which £1,000 was earmarked for the Dunford model aircraft club (* which used to meet near Royd Moor).

After positive-sounding noises and much slipping and sliding about by one councillor, he conceded to pressure and had to admit that he did not have the slightest idea about the money. He had only heard about it on the night. I won't name names but this particular councillor often appears to have just two modes of operation: a) Credible Deniability, and, b) Damage Limitation.

The Chairman said that Dunford Parish council would have the answers. I remarked that, given that five PTC councillors are on BMBC and two of them are in Planning, there must have been a breakdown in communication, which could addressed on the PTC website. Then I ruined it by remarking that I would not hold my breath, given their usual very poor publicity for the Annual Assembly.

I ruined it because they did not pursue my point after a melee of excuses, and how one Peniston FM board member had 'done his utmost' to promote the meeting on the local radio, to which I bogged myself laughing. (Penistone FM had refused to announce the meeting details).

I went on to explain that I had listened all day to the radio and it had never been mentioned, neither had it been on their 'This is Penistone' website which was supposed to include community news. I could have gone further and told Penistone FM that I had sent messages via three routes to remind them, but I made my point well enough. The Millhouse gang had found out through facebook about this meeting and it was me who told them!

I raised the matter of how the Folk Festival had been cancelled because of a double-booking in the Market Barn with the Artisan Fayre. I said it was a poor do that their efforts were wasted as they had aimed to hold it as an annual event around St John's Day (24th June), like the old 'Penistone Sing'. A slightly shifty reply suggested that it might have worked for them to hold both events at the same time but I said that the Market Barn was not big enough to accommodate both. They said that PTC had no control over the Market Barn. Then it was suggested that marquees could have been arranged to accommodate one or t' other.

Actually a lot more was discussed at the meeting but I am running out of room on this page. So, all things considered, I learnt a bit more - but mostly about how certain councillors treat the public like idiots.

Links
External to this website:

• PTC Minutes - Annual Assemblies
• The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) - Specifically for parish/town councils. Good Councillor's Guide (pdf).
• BMBC Monitoring Officer - Ensuring that BMBC and other councils in the borough adhere to their legal responsibilities.

This webpage commenced in 2018 and was updated in 2023, 2024 and 2025.