Sparks fly over AWP fiasco
The unutterable shambles of the AWP meeting has given cause for complaint. A fully-fledged formal foot-stamping has landed with a thump at TDC Towers and should give a few people there pause for thought - a few snippets are reproduced below for your enlightenment.
Firstly, there is the problem of Mr Buchanan being given the opportunity to offically heckle the Council's draft report.
If simply by applying to address the working party results in one party with vested interests being able to speak in chambers, then this should be widely known. In this specific instance, I wish to know why officers did not think to invite other interested parties.
Then Cllr Gideon, the AWP Chair, and Cllrs Marson and Wiltshire come in for some stick over apparently partisan harrying of a TDC officer.
NB a couple of important snippets went missing during my cutting and pasting - shown in [square brackets] - my apologies to the three councillors, and particularly Cllr Marson for incorrectly ascribing Cllr Gideon's actions to her.
[Cllr Gideon, Cllr Wiltshire and] Cllr Marson repeatedly called into question the validity of the exercise. [However, Cllr Gideon’s line of questioning to Hannah Thorpe, the officer in charge of the consultation, should be called into question.] She posed a series of questions, leading questions, that included phrases such as "do you think it was fair", "was it more difficult for you to interpret", "was it not as good as" - going on at length to suggest that the process was somehow lacking. Hannah Thorpe was concise and clear in her response and said that the process was as robust and democratic as any, that this type of open consultation was one used by many councils and, indeed, was a type frequently used by TDC.
This should have been the end of that but Cllrs Gideon, Wiltshire and Marson repeatedly came back to this line of questioning. Hannah Thorpe finally advised that this consultation had resulted in the largest response in numbers of any council consultation and that continued undermining and questioning of this process was potentially "dangerous" as it could call into question all the many previous (and presumably future) consultations undertaken by TDC.
I consider the Chair's behaviour went way beyond that required/expected of a Chair. Clarification and further information was sought and obtained from Hannah Thorpe and that should have been sufficient. My view is that she brought her own opinion of the consultation into the discussion thus acting beyond her role as Chair.
Next up - Cllr Gideon's selective acceptance of numbers. Infratil's wishful forecasts are fine, but the World Health Organisation is regarded as questionable.
Cllr Green had asked that an amendment/addition of his be discussed and had supplied a paper. His paper contained detailed statistical evidence from the World Health Organisation, from the House of Commons and from Visit Kent as his points pertained to health, the impact of night flights on the local tourist economy and to serious concerns about quota count systems. The group were asked if they wished this paper to be added to the draft response. This was agreed.
At this point, Cllr Gideon said she was not sure where all these figures had come from, that they might be questionable, that they didn't need to be included and would Cllr Green be happy if the amended draft included the "spirit" of his comments. I consider this to be an outrageous intervention given that the presentation from Manston was unchallenged, that figures supplied by Manston seem, somehow, to be true and reliable yet figures researched by Cllr Green and all properly referenced to independent and nationally and internationally recognised bodies should be called into question and required to be removed from a subsequent document that will be presented to the scrutiny committee.
During the meeting, and subsequently in the press, Mr Buchanan has tried to merge the results of his own consultation (of unknown and unknowable impartiality) with the results of TDC's consultation. Any statistician worth their salt would puke with rage at the very suggestion.
Mr Buchanan does not seem to understand that you cannot simply add the two "surveys" together. Who knows whether his claimed 962 people in favour of night flights are the same people as wrote to TDC expressing their night flight support? The potential for double-counting here is enormous. In the interests of balance, the results from No Night Flights (and we understand and accept that there may be double-counting here too) must also be put in front of members.
All in all, it paints a very unflattering picture.
The way in which TDC conducts itself goes to the very heart of our democracy. If we, as residents/electors, can not have faith in the way the council and its officers conduct matters then we can have little or no faith in the democratic process. Most of council business is conducted out of the public gaze and, having attended this meeting, I despair as I contemplate how much must go unremarked upon and how little accountability there seems to be.
AWP, David Green, Hannah Thorpe, Jo Gideon, Julie Marson, Zita Wiltshire Manston, Night flights, TDC
Reader Comments (6)
Sire Toger Galefarce could be the axeman in his retirement since he's so pro execution! He should be pretty good at it as a member of axing and cuts party.
And Maurice, I'd like to agree but I feel that sadly you presume that the majority of the electorate gives a toss or indeed understands or cares why Thanet has become famous for being a "Rotten Borough". Most of the people here eat the shit that is dished up before them and will only wake up, if at all, when they have their flat screen TV's dragged away from them with their comics of newspapers, and a few of their remaining braincells, charged, educated and wound up for action to make a positive difference to this sunny hell hole.
Certain members of this island are not known as Thunts for nothing and that includes some in power and decision makers.
Gawd 'elp us!
The Local Government Ombudsman's office is familiar with complaints about protocols and mistakes by TDC. It is good to phone the LGO first to log your concerns and discuss the best course of action with them.
The notion that you have to wait for TDC to reply first can take for ever and if they know you have contacted the LGO in the first instance they get their skates on and sadly sometimes I've heard stuff gets kicked into the long grass. This case however is very public and very corrupt/ed.
Marvelous!
More bloody time wasted by concerned residents because of TDC's incompetance with dealing with a flying pig in a poke (airfield).
It amazes me how such a beautiful place as Thanet, can be irrevocably blighted by decisions made by so many incompetant, self-serving, dangerous anti-social idiots.
The real yobs are in charge (apparently) and should be "awarded" ASBO's.
Any way here's an interesting thought if we could mobalise people locally to rise up and stand as independent councillors in each ward we would soon wipe out the rot within our local councils (TDC/Canterbury) and have our councils run by real people who care about our wellfare and that of our children. Then afterwards maybe focus on the MP's to get the Rot out of parliament as well!!!