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The Bradworthy Wind Turbines
Councillor
Christie's Weblog
From your Torridge District Councillor Peter Christie
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18th January '09
The town council undertook something unusual last week when it co-opted a new member to replace one who had resigned. No-one had asked for an election so we were allowed to choose from eight candidates who had put themselves forward. As the Mayor remarked they were ‘quite brave’ to stand up and present themselves in this very public way. All eight were interesting and each offered some good ideas – as well as stressing they were non-political – which is slightly odd given that the majority of the present town council were elected under party labels. After hearing the presentations from all the candidates we then embarked on a somewhat arcane voting procedure which saw us voting three times before the Deputy Mayor had to use his casting vote to elect Emma Farrington. She is a teleworking Advertising Manager who has worked with national tabloid newspapers for some years. Her speech was short and to the point and she stressed her interest in helping the young people of Bideford. It is always good to get new blood onto the council and I think we were all impressed that only minutes after being elected councillor Farrington was putting some searching questions to Police Sergeant Bassett about ’boy racers’ congregating on the Quay and using the High Street to zoom up to Clovelly Road industrial estate which they then used as a ‘drag strip’. Sergeant Bassett did say that Bideford police have just got a new ‘Speed Indicator’ which they will be deploying in the next few weeks.
The story in the papers last week about the cost of consultants to Torridge was eye-opening – even to councillors. Given the figures one might be forgiven for thinking ‘nice work if you can get it’ – and I think you would be right. Over my 26 years on local councils I have not been impressed by many consultants – indeed only one really stands out as impressive – and some have been so dire as to be laughable. So why does the council continue to employ such firms? The answer is simple; when applying for grants from government bodies we have to have an ‘independent’ report on whatever scheme we are putting forward. The fact that many of these government bodies are quangos staffed by political appointees on huge salaries seems to reinforce the perception that this is a publicly funded merry-go-round for a charmed circle of unelected and often dubiously qualified people. I should add that when the figures came up for discussion at Torridge the vote in favour of moves to tighten up the system was unanimous with only councillor Adam Symons abstaining as he actually is a consultant. Intriguingly we received this report only weeks after agreeing the outlay of some £200,000 on consultants looking into the proposed new Holsworthy Agribusiness centre.
The sad news of Bill Tanton’s death was upsetting to the many who knew him – from whatever sphere of his life they came into contact with him. Having served with him on Torridge for quite a few years I recall him with great fondness – even if we always clashed over global warming and wind turbines! Whenever we exchanged heated words he would always come up to me after the meeting and ensure there were no hard feelings on either side. He was in many ways an old-fashioned ‘gentleman’ who brought his long experience of living in the North Devon countryside to the council chamber – and enriched debates with that knowledge.
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