An open letter to the Stradbroke Trust

Like many people in Stradbroke even though I am a candidate in the parish council elections and the Chair of the Parish Council I am already getting a bit fed up of leaflets through the door.

Recently we had this leaflet from the Stradbroke Trust and this open letter is my response to it. I am deliberately not going to get into a “tit for tat” exchange but rather make an appeal to the Trust to stop sending this kind of letter and find a better way to communicate.

If you live in Stradbroke and cast your mind back almost exactly one year you might remember another similar letter from more or less the same people:

This letter caused quite a stir — not least because it was anonymous — but its authors came forward at an open meeting they held just before the annual parish meeting last year. More than 100 people attended the annual meeting that normally is almost empty. Many were unhappy with the letter in part because of it was anonymous but also because of the way it was written. At one point in the meeting one of the authors claimed (to much amusement) that the reason they hadn’t signed the letter was because there wasn’t enough room on the piece of paper!

Moving on a year we at least have a letter that is signed but sadly the tone of the letter remains the same and again it appears more of an attack on a group of people — the current parish councillors and our professional salaried clerk.

The Disagreement

You don’t have to read between the lines much to work out that there has been a disagreement between the Stradbroke Trust and the Parish Council.

I’ve already documented my view of this disagreement in my blog post Stradbroke Surgery what actually happened. The parish council has also published a great deal of the documentation about this on the parish council website.

As with all disagreements there are at least two sides to the story.

In this case the Stradbroke Trust’s view is that the the rent they pay to the Council for the doctor’s surgery ought to be just for the land not the building. They also think that this rent should be spent on a variety of community projects and not just the doctor’s surgery building.

The Parish Council think that the rent the Stradbroke Trust pay to them for the surgery building should be for both the land and buildings. They think that the money that comes in as rent (from the Doctors who get this from the NHS) should be spent on maintaining and expanding the doctor’s surgery building.

Both these views are entirely legitimate. They are just a difference of opinion on a single issue.

The argument has become personal

Sadly what has happened is that this has become personal. Rather than saying that they don’t agree with the Council the Trust say it isn’t fit for purpose.

Rather than understanding that it is the job of the clerk to implement the Council’s decisions she is personally attacked.

Disagreeing with someone on a single issue shouldn’t mean that you can’t work with them on something else yet this has sadly become personal and at times nasty.

An appeal to the Stradbroke Trust

It is time for this to stop now. No more leaflets. No more attacks on individuals be they councillors, the clerk or anyone else. We need to all find a civilised way to work with and even disagree with each other.

This should be what happens irrespective of what happens in the parish council elections and whoever “wins”.

The Trust has done many good things for the village and so have many current councillors. It is time to move on and remember there are many other issues facing the village.

Personally I am really keen to be advancing plans for a new nursery building to replace the old building that really isn’t fit for purpose by any criteria. I am more than happy to work with anyone, on the Council or not to move this forward. Our energy should go into this kind of positive thing.

James Hargrave, Chair of Stradbroke Parish Council

The author of this post has been Chair of Stradbroke Parish Council from May 2018. It is written in a personal capacity.

Election Impint: Promoted by and published on behalf of James Hargrave, 3 Meadow Way, Stradbroke, EYE Ip21 5JW (this is because I am a candidate in the 2nd May 2019 Stradbroke Parish Council election).