Reply to comment by AT.

Reply to comment by AT.

Written for the Blog by a Preston resident.

Hello AT

We’re so pleased to hear from you, at last someone who actually supports the council in what they do, we’re sure your right in some respects and, we do try to give the council credit where its due and where they are right the difficulty is we never really know what they’re doing.

I have sat in council meetings as the only member of the public there and because of my presence councillors have tried to speak in some sort of code, presumably to confuse me and when they have realised it’s a bit of a clumsy effort they have stopped the debate and decided they are not really allowed talk about the subject and refused to continue it.

One particular occasion was a short discussion on the positioning of a council office to the rear of the Preston Community Hall and the fact that the decision was to be taken by a Planning Officer and not a Planning Committee. The discussion seemed to be complete nonsense and councillors talked under their breath in order for me not to hear them, they know I’m pretty deaf and the whole thing was in danger of becoming a farce and was abandoned. I probably knew as much as they did about the subject so the whole thing was a waste of good debating time.

When the council has a vote to approve or reject whatever it is they may be voting on they invariably vote not with an arm or hand in the air as would be considered normal but with the slightest movement of a finger. We are not able to see who voted which way because any votes from councillors not facing the public are very well hidden, why for heavens sake, it’s a parish council meeting not MI5.

The items I personally bring up about the council are a result of digging deep often in the face of stiff opposition from the council but, I eventually find what I’m looking for and they almost always show the council in a poor light, hence the struggle to find it out and get the information from the council in the first place.

There is a recent posting about getting information from the council if you read that you may begin to see what I mean.

Having said that, I do wish our council was exemplary and I would not have to be sat here punching a keyboard when I could be doing something more productive to my life. The sad fact is they are not exemplary and I do need to be sat here because someone has to challenge them and drag issues into the open for discussion. That cannot be resolved by the council being as difficult as possible it can only be resolved through dialog and debate.

I do respect your view and wish you well in your relationship with the council, if you are able to contribute some positive aspects that are attributable to the council we would be extremely pleased to hear from you again and publish that contribution.

Unfortunately the Village Hall is not one of them, that has absolutely nothing what-so-ever to do with Preston Parish Council. I do agree that the improvement is vast and a credit to all those residents who have been involved in its transformation, I think they all deserve to be mentioned in dispatches.

I know this won’t satisfy you AT but we have different views and we need to respect each others position and opinion, if you bring a positive angle to the discussion and can suggest some good things the council have achieved for Preston and residents we will be very happy to publish them and talk about them, I will look forward to hearing from you again.

Just to finish, in late 2010 I believe, I did ask the council in writing what they had achieved in their 13 years in control of Preston Parish Council, you may be amazed at the answer. If I am able to locate that paperwork I shall Publish it because it details the councils achievements for Preston in their own words.

In the mean time, thank you for reading and making that comment.