It’s been a hectic week, which means my good intentions of posting my first impressions of life as a Town Councillor have been a bit delayed. Monday night was meetings night!

Planning Committee kicked off with a brief training session for new councillors; followed by a meeting of the Planning Committee (14 planning applications rattled through in 40 minutes – 3 recommendations for rejection, the rest for approval with or without conditions). Planning decisions are actually taken at the next level up of local government (SLDC). The Town Council is expected to provide a broad, informed perspective from the town’s perspective which helps inform the SLDC decision making. I’ll let you know how I think it works in practice

Then on to a full Council Meeting. The Council Chamber is a grand affair, and the Council likes to think it is conducting itself with great formality, but it doesn’t always work like that. The meeting opened with a presentation on possible phased improvements to various green spaces along the River Kent. Achieving the big picture would cost the best part of half a million pounds … we wish … but some steps along the way may be affordable.

We then got a bit excited about the threatened closure of the Youth Hostel in Kendal, which not only sounds daft in a tourist destination, but would also have a serious impact on visiting youth groups, sports teams, and our town twinning with Rinteln. The Mayor will lend his weight to the campaign to save the hostel.

Even more excitement followed over the issue of prayers. Like many historic councils, Kendal had been in the habit of opening its meetings with a five minute prayer slot organised by the Mayor’s Chaplain. In other councils, this practice has incurred the wrath of secular humanist fundamentalists, and the previous Council had tried to find a compromise position. The new Council agreed that any Councillors desirous of a ‘Thought for the Day’ could organise one themselves for the five minutes before the Council meeting. If a six month trial showed there was no demand, it would be dropped. It seems the good Councillors of Kendal of whatever religious persuasion (or none) are able to get along together without resorting to the courts.

After that the other agenda items threatened to be a bit of a let down. Councillors were (morally) blackmailed by our very able Town Clerk into volunteering to don hi-vis jackets to maintain law and order during the Christmas Lights Switch On (21st November – put it in your diaries. Based on Sunday’s experience a severe weather warning should be issued).

We agreed to stump up £500 for the Cumbria Community Memorial Fund – created in response to the shootings of June 2nd – and to advertise the fund. The Council has already created a Book of Condolence, in the Town Hall. We also agreed that the proposal for a directly elected Mayor for SLDC was bananas; that the lack of polling cards for the Council election was a disgrace; and that new Councillors needed some tender loving care.

I agreed with the last point as we staggered out after nearly four hours of meetings.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 at 9:14 pm and is filed under Kendal Town Council. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.