Town Council – Four Resign!
Independents for Arlesey
Arlesey Town Council have advertised to fill vacancies for four new
councillors. This has been prompted by the resignation of four from
the existing council. They have stepped down citing ‘Governance and
Leadership’ issues. The four councillors are Darren Hazlewood, Chris
Gravett, Duncan Wang and Andrew Ward. One of these ex-councillors
outlined his reasons which included ‘It fails to adhere to its own Standing
Orders and National Law’ and also ‘It acts in a fundamentally unsafe manner
in respect of Human Resource Management and Personnel matters.’
Summing up the situation he stated “I am concerned that perpetually unsafe
decisions and failure to act responsibly could be deemed unlawful and I wish
to distance myself from any subsequent liabilities.”
This comes less than 3 years after 6 councillors resigned in the wake of
alleged bullying. In total 16 councillors have resigned in the 3 years since
October 2011. Although some of these have done so for personal reasons, it
is still an ‘high rate of attrition’ within the current electoral period.
Looking forward to the elections in May 2015 the role of councillors
has been brought to the fore. Giving your spare time for free, and making
decisions that affect the whole community, but our Town Council need to
keep a compliment of 15 members to stay in line with the constitution.
Ten residents have written to CBC Returning Officer to ask for an election,
so individuals are being asked to step forward as candidates for an election
before November 27th, and would be held as well as the election next May
the cost of the election would be borne by the Council . If more than four
candidates come forward then an election will be held. If four or less step up
then they will be ‘elected, uncontested’. If any of the four posts are not filled
by election then the posts are likely to remain empty.
On Wednesday 17th September Independents for Arlesey (IfA) held a public
meeting at Arlesey Town Football Club. Around sixty people attended the
meeting to hear the ethos and objective of the group presented by six of its
members. Main speaker Chris Gravett, who recently resigned from Arlesey
Town Council said “The IfA is a group of Independent people working to
the same ethos.” The model that the IfA is working to is laid out in the book
‘Flatpack Democracy’ by Peter Macfadyen.
Speaking after the meeting Councillor Mick Holloway who is a member of
IfA said “I think it went well, there were some good questions and hopefully
people understand our message – Arlesey Deserves Better.”
Questions were fielded from the audience after the initial presentation,
then an informal talk in the function room.
To put yourself forward as a councillor contact the Clerk at the Town
Council offices next to the Resource Centre – telephone 01462 733722
Or contact: Brian Dunleavy Deputy Returning Officer Priory House
Monks Walk Chicksands Shefford Bedfordshire SG17 5TQ
ARLESEY VILLAGE HALL
High Street, Arlesey SG15 6TD
EVERY THURSDAY 6.30 PM
For more info call Pam 07922 199252
or email [email protected]
JOIN FOR JUST £10 WITH MONTHLY PASS
PLEASE BRING THIS TO RECEIVE A FREE GIFT WORTH OVER £5
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October 2014
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to advertise telephone: 01462 834265 or go to the website: www.onthebuttonarlesey.co.uk