A tale of two councils…

It really seemed like there were two Stradbroke parish councils last night. First there was the constructive council working hard to raise money to replace ageing children’s play equipment and make the village a better place to live.

Secondly there was another Council still clinging onto and fighting the battles of the past. This Council is nasty, cliquey and seems increasingly to be under the influence of people who aren’t even members. The two councils clashed last night in a dramatic way leading to one councillor exclaiming that she is “fed up taking time out from my family for this crap” as the Vice-Chairman managed to force the Council — against the clear wishes of the majority — into a meeting behind closed doors with the Stradbroke Charitable Trust who appear unable to just pay the rent they owe on the Doctor’s surgery and move on.

That councillor had a point. The Council could simply have insisted the Trust paid its rent and moved on to replacing the play equipment and looking after benches, the cemetery and the other things it is responsible for.

As it is the debacle about the rent is just the last in a series of distracting and unnecessary battles the Council has engaged in including the “website wars” and attempts to sack the magazine editors. It really is time this stopped.

Once again the Council’s clerk feels she is being accused of bias and treated badly simply for “doing her job” as she described it when having to defend herself from a personal attack from a councillor who resigned at the previous meeting.

We heard at the start of the meeting that there are now three “causal vacancies” for new councillors. Let us hope three community minded people who aren’t part of a clique or under the influence of any group of people come forward. The new councillors will be elected in January and for those who want to ensure that we hear more from the first council than the second this is the perfect opportunity.