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The Bradworthy Wind Turbines
Councillor
Christie's Weblog
From your Torridge District Councillor Peter Christie
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27th May '07
The new Torridge District Council held its first meeting on Monday 21 May and although the business transacted was fairly formal some points of interest did come up. The Chief Executive John van de Laarschot kicked off with a masterclass in business-speak the essence of which was that we, the councillors and officers, needed to be ‘A council that the community can take pride in’ – a sentiment heartily shared by all the present councillors both new and old. This approach has been put into concrete form by the new Leader of the council James Morrish opting for inclusivity – or making sure the council draws on and uses all the skills of councillors and isn’t locked into party politics and cliques dominated by personalities. Following the extremely bitter in-fighting engendered by the partisan nature of the last Leader this is a refreshing and potentially successful approach. The Leader’s role has also been redefined to a certain extent with James and his deputy Des Shadrick acting as the outward link between Torridge and other councils and Government bodies. In order to let them know what the rest of the council is thinking, however, a Leadership Team of senior councillors has been set up to act as a conduit between the two. Not everyone was happy with this, indeed Cllr.Len Ford pointed out that a similar 3 man team drawn from the Conservatives, Independents and Lib-Dems had, with no prior discussion with their fellow councillors, agreed back in March to pay the soon to be ex-Leader Pat Ferguson to stay on and ‘help’ the new Leader – clearly they and she didn’t think much of her chances of re-election! Hopefully, however, there will be a far better grasp of political realities now all the Group Leaders are involved.
Speaking of the ex-Leader I should perhaps mention that new councillor Chris Leather stood up and publicly congratulated her on all her work for the council in her 4 years of Leadership – although it was rather notable that no-one else joined him in this sentiment. Speculation is of course still continuing as to what will happen over the election in Cllr.Leather’s ward following the ‘interesting’ letter circulated at the time by a disgruntled member of the public in which his opponent in the election was roundly lambasted – and which I understand is now in the hands of Devon’s Chief Constable.
Developers often have to sign Section 106 agreements with the district
council when they apply for planning permission. These are conditions
the developer has to fulfil as part of
the system. At a recent council meeting we were told that compliance
with these agreements has not always been total – and that the
council’s solicitor is now compiling a database of them in order
to begin checking if conditions have been carried out or not. Legal action
is being looked at in those cases where the law has been flouted and
one particular case at Northam I know is exercising a few councillors.
Torridge is also strengthening its approach to Listed Building consents
and one owner of such a building in Bideford who gutted it (he put it
down to ‘over-zealous builders’) is now under investigation
with possible court action in the offing.
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