Friday 17 February 2012

Carmarthenshire County Council meets to approve budget and LDP plans

The full council will meet next Tuesday at 10 a.m. to discuss two of the most important issues it will deal with this year, namely the budget proposals and the Local Development Plan. Both will have a major impact on everyone in the County.

In common with the vast majority of people in Carmarthenshire, Cneifiwr will be unable to attend and report because, like most people who are not retired, I will be working.

Thank goodness Caebrwyn will be there to let us all know what happens. Brief accounts of the discussions and decisions will follow in the local press, but people will have to wait a week to read the hard copy reports. Probably about two or three weeks after the meeting, the council will publish its minutes which will almost certainly bear little relation to what those present witness.

If the meeting is anything like the normal run of council meetings, the date and the time will also be a problem for about one in five of the elected councillors. That's the usual absentee ratio.

The council is in no hurry, as we know, to allow us to see an online broadcast of its meetings, and if anything, the noises coming from the top brass would suggest that they would rather it never happened. Like so many other rogues in public life, they constantly witter on about being quoted out of context, whereas if truth were told, they know they have far more to fear from allowing the public to see them in context.

The other possibility would be to move the meetings to an evening slot, starting at 7pm, but then that would be inconvenient for some of the elderly councillors and the officers, who no doubt would want overtime. So stuff the public; who ever thought that the council was being run for the convenience of the voters?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looking at most of the councillors, I shouldn't think they would even be awake at 7.30p.m. They would probably be in bed!

Anonymous said...

nooooo. don't do 7.30pm starts, the overtime from officers will go to 4 hours. unless they finish at five an d go home for tea, and come back at 7.30 lol.

mark james overtime bill? (((((shudder)))))

besides that, it would hinder the public if they rely on public transport and it be doubtful if there is a bus back after 9pm or 9.30 (anon2)

Anonymous said...

Get rid of this terrible council! Vote Plaid!

towy71 said...

they don't seem to be awake most of the time if you ask me ;-)

Anonymous said...

Yes, hold meetings in the evenings after their bedtimes. Don't standing orders force them to stand down after they have failed to turn up several times?