Well the call for a Bleadon election resulted in the first contested poll since 25th September 1997. A sterling effort by all prospective candidates to produce a personal profile, that volunteers delivered to most of the parish electorate, actually yielded a 32.35% turnout on a wet & windy Thursday. Weston-Super-Mare (South) recently only had 25.36%, so not quite the disinterest and apathy assumed from some quarters. Congratulations to the 3 successful candidates and good luck on the road of hopeful change ahead.
New concillors will not have to wait long for the first Parish Council meeting to 'cut their teeth' as it is this coming Monday 13th May at 7.30pm in The Coronation Halls.
There is plenty on the agenda of interest, unfortunately only currently available to see on notice boards. I am sure a high priority for discussion will be how to get the PC website (or alternative) regularly and expediently updated with key information such as agendas, minutes, reports, consultation, policies, contacts etc. etc. The appointment of a Chair and Responsible Financial Officer is also happening.
So why not go along and see our new and full parish council in action. If you ever have any ideas for encouraging people to be involved in parish issues or to regularly attend PC meetings then please let our councillors know, or of course you can tell BOB and I will pass the ideas on. Who knows, in the future we may see and/or hear the meeting on a web or podcast via our parish technology and new hall broadband?
Finally, remember that although this contested election may have cost each of our 946 electorate a few pounds it is nothing more than should already have been budgeted. At least these new councillors now have the satisfaction of knowing they were elected by many more people than a co-option of 6 existing councillors and the electorate can also not complain they did not have a chance to choose them.
Make A Comment
Comments (0)