This is why the Parish Council went into secret session in December,
questionably invoking a device to exclude the Public and the Press.
Why would a few residents who organise the excellent Winter
Wonderland oppose Chairman Jan Strelczenie’s Parish Council vision?
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Hagg Lane Green, the Village Pond, the Memorial Garden and the Oldways into an
unmatched local heritage and conservation area featuring an outdoor classroom,
memorial walk and quiet contemplation area protected against commercial development in perpetuity.
I think less selfish people would contribute
their undoubted conservation expertise to the wider village scheme.
The Hagg Lane Green Wars continue. I’m not surprised three long serving Parish
Councillors, Messrs. McCann, Senior and Pickering, failed to regain their seats
at the last Parish Election. They were
Members of the Hagg Lane Green Group that came to dominate Council business for
years. Unlike the Parish Council, this
private group is not subject to public scrutiny. Even the Parish Clerk was surprised some
“£50,000 of public money” could be spent without the public being able to look
at the accounts.
One of the last straws that hastened the decline of the
Conservation Group on the Council was Councillor Senior playing silly buggers. He would not reveal the identity of the
person dumping commercial enterprise evergreen clippings on the Hagg Lane
village green. The Conservation Group
admitted later that it had given one of its own Members permission to dump the
shreddings. With no ownership rights,
they gave the Parish Council no chance to comment on or agree their plan, preferring mystery instead.
Only the mostly mute Councillor Harrison of the Conservation
Group retains her “vegetable plot” seat on the Council. She is “supported” by the presence of former
Councillor McCann in the public seats at most meetings.
When the Hagg Lane Green Gang and their friends dominated
the Council for four years until 2015, they disgraced themselves
spectacularly. With interest rates at an
all time low, lacking ideas or ambition, they built up the Council reserves in
the bank. The Council’s Auditor criticised
them for not spending the precept – our money - on schemes to benefit residents.
While residents contributed money, goods
and labour to the Memorial Garden and Oldways projects, they offered nothing
from bloated parish funds.
In spectacular fashion, they shot themselves in the foot! The campaigned for re-election with ‘more of
the same’, and carped on about vendettas and plots.
N.B. “Vegetable Plot” Seat? I coined the term years ago after watching Councillors Harrison and Senior in particular sitting through countless Council meetings. They added virtually nothing to the general discussions except in planning session when they poked their noses into people’s housing plans. They stirred into life for Hagg Lane discussions: they waited for Councillor McCann to vote on a proposal, and then voted likewise.
