A meeting is taking place next week which provides an opportunity for local residents and organisations to learn what the Parish Council has been doing on their behalf for the past year.
It could also provide an opportunity for residents to discuss and ask questions about local issues which are important to them, as has happened in neighbouring towns and villages.
The Annual Parish Meeting is being held prior to the normal monthly meeting of Alderley Edge Parish Council at the Festival Hall on Monday, 14th May, starting at 6.45pm.
Whilst this is not a separate meeting, like the ones held in Knutsford and Prestbury last week, my understanding is that an annual parish meeting is not intended to be a council meeting but a meeting for the residents of the village.
I am waiting for a response from Alderley Edge Parish Council as to whether this is the case in Alderley and whether members of the public will be permitted to speak at the meeting - although the clerk has informed me that this may not be allowed until the Standing Orders have been changed, which will not happen in time for the Annual Parish Meeting.
Both Prestbury Parish Council and Knutsford Town Council asked me to promote their annual meetings for them, inviting local residents to attend so I am hoping to receive clarification this week from Alderley Edge Parish Council as to whether a similar open forum will take place.
Speaking about the Knutsford Annual Town Meeting, Knutsford Town Mayor Cllr Stewart Gardiner said "This is the opportunity for all the Town's residents to put questions and express views about issues affecting Knutsford and so I urge everyone to attend."
Whilst the Chairman of Prestbury Parish Council, Cllr Arthur Dicken, said "Our annual parish meeting is an opportunity for the Parish Council to explain to village residents what they have been doing on their behalf for the past year. It is also an opportunity for people to come along and give us their views on what is going on and what they feel to be important."
Below is the agenda for the Alderley Edge Annual Parish Meeting, which is scheduled to last half an hour and will be followed by the Annual Parish Council meeting and monthly meeting.
What do you think about the Annual Parish Meeting, should it include an open forum, like in Prestbury and Knutsford, where residents are invited to raise any local issues which are important to them or ask questions of the councillors?
If you want to speak at the Annual Parish Meeting you may wish to check with Anne Ross, Clerk to Alderley Edge Parish Council on 01625 582400.
AGENDA
- Apologies for Absence.
- Minutes of the Annual Parish meeting of 9th May 2011.
- Parish Council Chairman's Report.
- Report from the Chairman of the Parish Council Finance Committee.
- Report from the Chairman of the Parish Council Plans Committee.
- Report from a trustee of The Alderley Edge Institute Trust.
- Report from the Alderley Edge Community Primary School Governor.
- Reports from Cheshire East Council councillors.
- Contributions from other persons present.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
Normally the two meetings are held on separate days to avoid confusion. See Prestbury, Disley, Handforth etc.
http://www.alderleyedge.com/assets/alderleyedge/files/pc-agenda-20120514.pdf
Just looking at the agenda for the meeting it's also astonishing that they have only allocated half an hour for this annual Parish meeting!!
The result of this is that AEPC have no need of the residents and are able to run their cosy club as they like
The half an hour allocated to this meeting is AEPC waiving two fingers to the residents .
Louise... separate evenings? there are 9 Parish Councilors, several of them have to work, its often hard enough to find one evening when all can attend.
Claire... we do actually care what people say; I get a lot of feedback from people in the Park and people in the village and I report to my colleagues what I am told e.g. in meetings/surveys, people say that they want a cafe in the park but most of the users of the park say that they don't want a cafe in the park; so if it comes to a vote, can I have two votes? One yes and one nay!
David... its called democracy; if the village has a majority of Conservative voters then you'll just have to live with it! We do not wave 'two fingers to the residents'; please don't be insulting!
Lastly... if enough people want to have a public meeting to air views then why not hold one?... and invite the Parish Councilors to attend...I'll turn up (not before 6 please and not to last after 8.30 please; if it can't be discussed fully in 2.5 hours then its all gone wrong?)... approach the Hall Manager to try to book the Hall?
And you are basing your view on residents' opinions on ad hoc 'chats' with people you bump into in the village? (Perhaps the people who don't use the park now but would like a cafe in it WOULD use it, if there was a cafe in it. Perhaps those who don't want the cafe would not use the park, if a cafe was provided... We can only speculate ) Whatever, I would hope that you would seek opinions in a more formal and organised setting than just relying on those who happen to know what you look like and approach you informally. This website is a pretty good way to gather a variety of views and opinions and would be a good starting point (although, admittedly, not everyone expresses agreement or support for decisions made by the Parish Council, some do).
I base my view of what residents want on whatever is said to me by whoever says it to me; what more can one do? I will mention here that I speak with more people than the total of people using this forum; people dp approach me in the park; this last few days I've been asked about the future of the park, what's happening to the allotments, is the Medical Centre happening, what will happen to the bowling green, is there flooding on C.H. Lane playing field, who's to repair the cemetery, will there be an apprentice at the Hall, where is the speed reading device going next etc. etc.(I'm considering a false moustache, a balaclava and saying 'I from Barcelona, I know nothing'!).
As to who should organise any public meeting; if the Parish Council do so, then it will be seen as an 'our' meeting with 'our' rules and so the Parish Council will be excoriated, thus a lose-lose situation for us... if enough people want to call a public meeting then why not simply do so? If you wish to change things, then go for it? In addition, you can always approach an individual Parish Councilor; we are contactable.
Some people approve of and some people disapprove of 'decisions made by the Parish Council'... quite right BUT if people don't either attend P.C. meetings or ask why we've decided to do such and such, then they can't know the back-story to decisions... I try from time to time to put info. on here to help clarify, but that's just a small contribution.
Have a nice day,
For the record, last month the web site was visited 29,655 times generating 88,515 page views from 13,877 unique browsers (as reported by Google Analytics). Those numbers exclude people who choose to access our content through our iPhone application which was used on nearly 800 devices last month and is read on average once every 3 days by each person. Then we also reach a lot of people through our use of social media such as twitter where we have 1,912 followers. And our weekly alderleyedge.com email newsletter last week went to 1,980 subscribers.
I think you will be hard pressed to find a local web site anywhere in the country with a comparable audience relative to the population of the area (which I believe was about 5,000 at the last census).
How's that for a grovel?
Regards,
Duncan Herald
I greatly respect the work you do, in particular the positive improvements you have made happen in the park, and the fact that you are one of the few Parish Councillors posting on the site engaging with the parishoners.
I did start my earlier comment with the intention of making a further point but got sidetracked with the stats. The real purpose behind an annual parish meeting is to allow the Parish Council to explain what it has been doing, its plans going forward, and get a better understanding of the views and concerns of the residents of the parish. Given you have this wonderful free communication channel called alderleyedge.com isn't it about time the Parish Council as a whole started to be more proactive in making use of it? Doing so would supplement an annual parish meeting with better communication all year round.
arcane - Meaning "hidden, secret; mysterious, abstruse," it is from Latin arcere
You have described AEPC activities in a nutshell
There is little hidden/secret about the A/E Parish Council...come to meetings, read the minutes, ask to meet with an individual Parish Councilor (always accepting that you might not care to be in the same room as a Tory!).
Do I detect a grammar school latinist here?
I emailed all the councillors on May 3rd when I received the agenda asking:
"Am I correct in thinking that the Annual Parish Meeting is not a council meeting but a meeting for residents of the parish?
Knutsford Town Council and Prestbury Parish Council held theirs last week which they both asked me to promote to encourage residents to attend.
I published an articles on knutsford.com and prestbury.com.
http://bit.ly/IclqEL
http://bit.ly/JX8ZKj
Will you be inviting local residents to attend to ask questions and express views about issues affecting Alderley Edge?
If so could you provide a quote please Mike about the meeting and why local residents are invited?"
If the Alderley Edge Annual Parish Meeting is intended to be a meeting for residents of the parish I thought it would be worth publishing a news article in advance so those residents who read alderleyedge.com knew it was taking place. Last year only one member of the public attended and the year before three members of the public and one CEC officer.
I didn't receive a response to this email from any of the councillors.
Anne, the clerk, responded on May 8th. She explained that she hadn't been able to get hold of yourself so wasn't really able to answer the question as it was a decision for yourself as chairman to make. She did however say that two of the councillors that she spoke to saw no problem with members of the public speaking once the Standing Orders have been changed, however, these are in the process of being reviewed as agreed at the February meeting and will not be in place in time for the Annual Parish Meeting.
The reason I asked is because there is not a Public Participation item on the agenda of the Alderley Edge Parish Council meetings, as there is at the other 3 parish/town council meetings I attend.
I noted 'Contributions from other persons present.' on the agenda but I wasn't sure whether this meant members of the public or other people, maybe from an association, who had been invited to speak.
Very few people attend the monthly parish council meetings but those who do are not invited or asked if they wish to speak and at the October meeting last year when a group concerned about the allotments attended they were told they could not speak.
Hence I was unclear whether members of the public would be invited to speak or not at the Annual Parish Meeting but I thought it was worthwhile letting our readers know the meeting was taking place as my understanding is that Annual Parish Meetings are meetings for the parishioners.
The title of this article is not 'erroneous',(definition: wrong - mistaken - incorrect - false - faulty - improper) it is asking our readers a question.
I am not a resident of your area but I have been a parish councillor for over 20 years and chairman for most of that time. It seem to me that this debate has arisen because of the confusion between the Annual Parish Meeting and the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council so I'll try and explain the difference.
Both of these meetings are controlled by law, namely the Local Government Act 1972.
The Annual Parish Meeting is held on a date between 1st March and 30th June each year and must not start before 6pm. At least 7 clear days notice of the meeting (including agenda) must be given or 14 days if any of the topics concern establishing, abolishing or merging the parish council.
It is open to everybody although only those who are resident within the Parish have the right to speak and only those on the electoral roll have a right to vote. The meeting is designed to allow everyone within the parish to get together to discuss any topics of local interest and is a relatively informal and user-friendly meeting. Members of the parish council do not have to attend this meeting but the Chairman of the Parish Council must preside if he is present and the parish council as a body should take notice of the items raised at the meetng.
Annual Parish Meetings are also held in unparished areas so they are NOT a meeting of the Parish Council but are organised by the Parish Council (if one exists). The Parish Council pays for any cost associated with holding the meeting.
The Annual Meeting of a Parish Council, (often erroneously called the AGM) must take place in May and like all parish council meetings, only 3 clear days notice is required. In an election year the annual meeting must take place on the day when councillors take office, or within 14 days thereafter. Councillors take office 4 days after the day of election.
At the annual meeting a new chairman must be nominated. A vice-chairman may be nominated also and appointments to committees made.
It may seem strange, but local electors/residents do not have the right to speak at any parish council meeting, including the annual council meeting, but many councils set aside a period, often before the meeting starts, to allow for public comments and questions.
I hope this helps.