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Fun at the Town Hall (not!)
It was no surprise that there were so few people present for the council meeting last week when next year's budget was discussed and agreed.
Even by council standards it was a weary affair. I think there were six people in the public gallery. From where I was sitting even the council officers looked bored (and they're paid to be there!).
The 'big event' is supposed to be the main budget speech by the cabinet member for finance. This is the Eastbourne equivalent of the annual budget speech by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Unfortunately in Cllr Mattock's speech there was far too much about petty party politics and point scoring than there was about the current council's plans for the future of our town. It was a relief when she sat down. She also has a very annoying habit of repeating things very s-l-o-w-l-y just in case we didn't understand it the first time – which of course we did.
On the evening the big event turned out to be the response to the main speech by Cllr Marsden who compared the whole thing to a pantomime! Very appropriate I thought.
Graham (Marsden) managed to get a council officer to admit that the council will receive an unexpected 'windfall' payment of over 2 MILLION. Talk about a lucky Council! Let's hope they spend it wisely rather than having to bailout their cock-ups like Airbourne. In the light of this, there should have been a zero per cent increase in council tax rather than the above inflation, above average rise we've ended up with.
The other thing people in the audience were there for were the 'motions to Council'. I stayed for the Airbourne one, which was calling for Cllr Tutt to apologise for charging for the event. Bizarrely he claimed a vested interest and left the room, making the whole debate pointless! What a cop out! It's this inability to take responsibility that really riles people.
They'd all be better off making a meaningful apology and moving on – if they did this the opposition would have nowhere to go with the story, but for some reason the council don't seem able to do that.
By the way there's a rumour going round that Cllr Wallis apologised for the fiasco. Not true. What he actually said was that he was sorry that charging hadn't worked. That is different to saying sorry for imposing the unpopular charge in the first place; slightly different.
Anyway, it was good fun if you like that sort of thing. I left after that (it was 8.30pm by then and I'd had enough), so I missed the other discussions on cycling, bus fares and Joe Townsends' planning permission.
So there we have it. On a final note it was the first occasion that the full council meeting was held in the accessible Court Room, rather than upstairs in the Council Chamber. A 'historic occasion' according to the Mayor. Another councillor called it a 'new room' (even though it's as old as the Town Hall itself!).
Have a great week friends.
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Weather for Eastbourne
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
