Local Issues - Local and Barnsley Council

BMBC Matters
- Like a festering rash. Barnsley people are down-to-earth and basically honest types. They call a spade a spade. Their political masters at Barnsley council are not the same breed.

The Barnsley coat of arms motto reads 'Spectemur Agendo', 'Judge Us by Our Actions'. We ought to enjoy enjoy their invitation. Barnsley Council (BMBC) doesn't like or help Penistone much, while they love our council tax money and splash it around with glee on wasteful schemes. Think of the Tuscan Village, the halo, closing old people's homes, £9m on consultants, £3m to a football club, etc. Their leader is one of the highest paid of his position in the country.

Rampant and relentless housing development is generating heaps of money. It was said by a Barnsley councillor some years ago that their attitude to Penistone was based on our voting patterns. That message has been repeated several times over the years but it is self-defeating. Firstly it admits that it is appropriate to ignore our wishes and secondly it suggests that bullying us into submission is acceptible.

BMBC has a veneer of democracy with some public participation but it's all puff and no substance. Serious decisions are made in private using the Local Government Act to exclude public and media scrutiny (as in Penistone's supermarket plans) which has even led the Barnsley Chronicle to complain about excessive secrecy in decision-making.

Local Council Matters
Unlike Barnsley's politicos, our local council generally do a good job and our elected councillors appear to serve the public interest rather than their own. Much of their good work goes unnoticed and unappreciated and I know that there are good people there who take notice of local concerns. But we have a duty to keep a watchful eye on council activities in general and not shy away from comment about them. That is something which they accept with the office.

I have observed how their potentially embarrassing matters are only discussed in secret. I have been on committees before and know how the 'groupthink' of the moment can sway people away from core values and their responsibility to the public whom they serve. So in what ways might they have strayed in recent times?

1. The Great Organ Blunder
Organ concerts are hugely popular and a great 'selling point' for our town. They bring in a lot of visitors (also called 'trade') and we need plenty of them. Unfortunately, a major fall-out developed in 2003 between the council and the Organ Trust. It started small and turned nasty and nobody would give ground. Even routine maintenance access to the organ was obstructed out of spitefulness.

The council demanded an apology from an Organ Trust supporter about some allegedly insulting behaviour from the driver of a vehicle organised by the Trust. It had been legally and properly parked outside the town hall but was thought to be in the way. The story goes that he had been ordered (in an allegedly domineering style) to move his vehicle. His reply might have been unfit to print. The council demanded a personal apology from the individual concerned but the Organ Trust did not feel that it was able to apologise on his behalf. The situation escalated.

The story reached the newspapers and regional TV news, with much derision about what looked like stupid obstinacy. Labour MP Michael Clapham offered the Bishop of York as arbiter. That was rejected by the council, with the implication that they had a weak hand. Perhaps it was just 'damage limitation' but it was a clumsy strategy.

Bad feelings dragged on for months and the Organ Trust talked in private about relocating the organ out of Penistone at the end of their 2008 lease. Compensation was quietly granted for an organist's loss of earnings during another 'in camera' council meeting 'in the public interest'. You all know how that goes. After tempers cooled and the national media lost interest, the council calmed down and the threat to remove the organ reduced somewhat. It was a barmy episode of small-town politics that did no-one any good.

2. Lack of Openness with the Public
For at least thirty years, council minutes, agendas and planning minutes were available in Penistone Library, for all to scrutinise. Now the public can see these public documents only if they ask. A few out-of-date documents are on the current council website but too much is unavailable and none of the planning minutes are there. We have a right to see this information.

There is no suggestion that Penistone Town Council cannot be trusted or that it acts illegally but, at a time when people are sceptical of people in public life, it makes sense for procedures to be as open and transparent as possible (within reasonable limits), which is in fact also what national government recommends. The Essential Clerk's Guide says: 'It is good practice to make the agenda public' (Page 15). Also: 'It is good practice for the clerk to make the minutes available for public inspection as soon as possible after the meeting' (Page 17).

The public can view these documents by arrangement at the council office adjacent to the Community Centre but this might involve travel and a day off work. That is unacceptible in the 21st century, it should all be on-line; agendas, minutes, planning minutes, the lot. It is all in electronic form anyway. Both Dunford and Oxspring parish councils are good examples of the right way to do it.

My point is this: if the first instinct rather than the last instinct is to make information difficult to access, then this is an unhealthy attitude to the democratic process in the modern age. It looks obstructive and suspicious.

3. Irregular Consultation
Penistone Town Council has prepared a questionnaire to guide the development of Penistone's Parish Plan. Under the Localism Bill, this can directly affect planning applications. In what might appear to be a highly irregular and badly-judged move, it has come to light that it was drawn up with the help of three members of 'Friends of the Earth'. These are from a group in favour of massive windfarm development in the area, which is generally against the wishes of many local people and MPs.

In a letter from Angela Smith MP, it is clear that the public were invited to be part of the exercise but it is not clear how this was achieved. The council noticeboard is scrutinised at least once per week and it was not obvious there. The local FoE are very astute regarding their political connections and often appear to be fast-tracked in their involvement with local matters. Here is the guestbook message from Jonathan Brown:

Jack,
Been following your site for some time and agree generally with your views. I am very concerned regarding what I think is a very important current issue, which seems to be going through, with little interest from the residents of Penistone. Under the government’s Localism Bill, power will be devolved down to those "best placed to find the best solution to local needs", ie. parish councils. So, being on the ball Penistone Parish council is preparing a Parish Plan in anticipation of the new regulations (as explained to me at Penistone Show). I understand from published council minutes that this involves preparing a questionnaire to distribute in the area in the spring.

BUT, from today's Barnsley Chronicle (4th Feb), it would appear that the Penistone Plan is on the agenda for a Friends of the Earth meeting next week. On making further enquiries I found that members from this organisation are preparing the questionnaire for the plan. Should this organisation, who were the only supporters of the monstrous Sheephouse Windfarm application, be allowed to dictate what’s in the Plan. What do you think Jack?

Questionnaires can be phrased to elicit particular responses and I have yet to fill one in that works properly; there are always compromise answers. After attending a council meeting and raising the matter, it was confirmed that members of FoE are involved with the questionnaire but that other people are also involved. The questionnaire will be sent to households in autumn 2011.

4. The Market Barn
If we are being reasonable, nobody in their right mind would arrange to build something that was 'not fit for purpose'. It is more likely that the council hoped to build a landmark that Penistone would be proud of and right in the most important part of the town. They must have had the very best of intentions but we all know that the 'cock-up' theory has a nasty habit of coming into play at the worst possible times.

So, what went wrong. Given the usual lack of openness (see above), that is hard to make out but it might have had something to do with building it right up to the Co-op boundary or aiming too high, for something to impress. Nobody took into account the cold winds from Tesco, both real and figurative, and that leads to a suspicion that the meat of the deal was done by comers-in. All of us Penistone lads know about the wind. The Penistone climate is legendary.

I must defend Carpenter Oak here. They are the Devon company who built the cathedral-like structure of the cruck barn - and impressive it is despite the problems. But they built it to a specification and not to their own whims. They can be proud of their work and we will be too when the problems are solved.

A news black-out for the Opening Ceremony (21st July 2011) spared council blushes by avoiding any media interest but that did not go down very well with yours truly - or indeed with at least one councillor. See the Opening Ceremony (on this website) and visit Carpenter Oak and especially their Penistone page.

In General
All things considered, I don't grumble much about our council as they usually get things right and I know that a lot of dedication and personal sacrifice goes into being on the council. It is a shame that they seldom receive praise. Now, having attended my first council meeting, I was impressed with the quality of discussion, with some humour thrown in (and Werther's Originals). Alright, some controversial bits about National School access problems were left to the secret meeting afterwards but it was all very interesting. First prize goes to Cllr Wade for sheer enthusiasm.

Public Accountability
It is slow progress but with such as Tim Berners-Lee on the panel, the government is looking at making councils more accountable. In a private correspondence (email reply, December 2010) from the Department for Communities and Local Government, I received this answer:

'The Departmental webpages on local government transparency draw attention to council agendas, minutes and planning applications and decisions as examples of public data that should be in the public domain in a standardised format. The Department will shortly be publishing for consultation a draft Code of Practice on council transparency, through the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980'. Also: '... the Government agrees that all public documents should be made easily downloadable, in accordance with the Public Data Principles that have been developed by the Public Sector Transparency Board.'