OPENNESS AND TRANSPARENCY.

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OPENNESS AND TRANSPARENCY.

Over the last 15 to 20 years Preston Parish Council has never been known for its openness, transparency or its engagement with residents but in mid 2013 the Council expressed the aim of becoming more open, transparent and engaged with residents of the Parish. Since that was announced there would appear to be very little evidence of any progress being made in achieving those aims.

Those aims were expressed following a request by a resident to have a Parish Meeting where residents would have been instrumental in producing an agenda for the meeting and all residents who are on the Electoral Register of the Parish would be entitled to vote and have their views and opinions recorded. Our understanding is that the Council was not helpful in assisting residents to hold a Parish Meeting and it has never been mentioned since.

The only visible evidence that the Council is trying to achieve its aims is the possible holding of the Parish Council Meeting being held in Preston South on 10/03/14. This we find is disappointing, there are fundamental issues, which we feel, should be addressed as part of the process, one of those issues we cover here.

Preston Parish Council Website, this is possibly a first point of contact for many residents who wish to locate information or possibly have access to their elected Parish Councillors.

PARISH COUNCIL WEBSITE,

This by definition is there to give as much information as possible to residents and people who would like to find out more about the Council and Parish, not only on the historical nature of the Parish but also on Council business, lets look at the contents of the website,

Home Page.

On the Home Page there is a short narrative mainly covering the boundaries of Preston and the population level in the village. There is a short acknowledgement to George Stephenson author of “Welcome to Preston in Holderness”.

There is a picture of a row of houses we believe on Weghill Road leading out of the village. That introduction we feel is uninspired, lacking in substance and gives very little if any real information of interest to anyone reading it for the first time. This uninspiring narrative we feel would immediately fail to grab anyone’s attention and would in fact put readers off from looking further into the village or  its website.

We in Preston are blessed with a Grade 1 listed church nestling in the center of a conservation area with views looking outward that many people would love to have on their doorstep. Preston has a history second to none but the Council seems to make no capital of it what so ever. We’re sure there are many historical pictures that would show how interesting  Preston is and would make the site compelling reading for visitors.

Someone has graciously put the website together with the bare minimum of information as a format and template for others who are more knowledgeable on local issues and history to expand upon and make it interesting and compelling, why has no one taken the time or interest to make the site more informative and welcoming? If, as appears to be the case the Council have no interest in doing that, enlist the help of residents and lets start a project to have the website ungraded and welcoming to visitors, they may just look a little further if we do. A small group of residents we’re sure would be better placed in improving the site and keeping it up to date with relevant information.

If we want proof of the effectiveness of residents and what they can achieve we need look no further than the Community hall.

Parish Information.

A very boring narrative with 2 interesting pictures of the Church and allotments buried deep within its bowels. The 2 pictures we consider to be better suited to the ‘Home Page’ or at least to be considered as such. About half of the sub listings under Parish Information have no information at all, they are simply boring, ‘fun less’ and uninformative. There isn’t even any information on bus routes or timings and none on taxis, but they are listed as items, why?

Parish Council Information.

This fares worse than the previous section. There is a list of Councillors who are elected to represent residents and to be on hand should residents need to contact them especially in any kind of emergency.

As we understand it, a councillor’s main task is to engage and get to know the views of residents so that they are able to represent those views in council, holding a Councillor surgery each month is a good idea and we know some residents suggested this in 2011 prior to the local elections, but the current arrangements need much more thought and publicity.

There are no contact details for any Councillors except through the Parish Clerk who we understand works about 12.5 hours a week, so for the vast majority of time Councillors are not available and are not contactable through the site should any resident need to contact a Councillor in an emergency. Why would people put themselves forward for election in order to represent residents and then withhold their contact details?

Added to that the list of Councillors is hopelessly out of date (02/03/14) as it still lists Councillor Harrison who resigned some months ago and it does not list Councillor Obernay who was co-opted onto the Council some months ago. Again if the Council have no interest in updating the site, which it clearly does not, would it not be a good idea to recruit residents who have the time and interest to do the job for them.

There is a Register of Councillor Interests, which is equally out of date as the list of Councillors, this particular item along with the list of Councillors, was only added after those interests were posted on this site, again the Council should be leading residents and not following them.

Policies and Procedures, as with most of the other sub headings of this section, is blank. This is a very important section of the site as it is supposed to inform residents or any one visiting the site, how the Council operates and the standards to which it operates. We are aware the Council adopted Policies and procedures developed by NALC and more recently have agreed to adopt an internal grievance procedure.

It comes across to the reader of the site that the Council really does not want residents to know how Council business is supposed to be conducted and therefore residents do not have any information that would enable them to hold the Council accountable.

As with most other sub sections under PC Information there is a calendar of local events, it is completely blank, it would appear there are no activities or events in Preston at all, that is very misleading there are many events that have happened and are to happen that are well deserving of a mention.

Council Meetings and Agenda’s. It seems to be the same old story, sometimes they’re listed and sometimes they’re not, it depends whether the Council can be bothered! The same applies to Council Minutes although following a recent observation to the Council by email from a resident these have now been brought up to date, this should be done without the need for a resident to prompt the Council into updating them.

Local Business.

There are 2 businesses listed, Cranswick Foods and Songbirds Nursery with links to the company websites. The sites that the links take you to are good but how many people would have lost interest long before they get here?

Surely the local shop and Post Office deserve a mention, its essential to Preston North and is a great service to the village, why is this not mentioned?

Community Groups.

Of the three sub sections Clubs, Organisations and Societies there is only ‘Preston Walkers’ Listed, again a narrative that is uninspiring. We are sure this could include pictures and explanations by the walkers group to inspire local people to join them, and in doing so meet new people, keep fit and get to see some of the local sights. If there are no listings under these headings would it not be better to have them replaced with subjects that can be expanded upon and that are of interest to people?

Image Gallery.

Even this is totally blank, surely there are lots of interesting images that could be posted here, we could come up with quite a number.

The site gives a reader the distinct impression that some one has simply thrown on information without any thought or interest because they have to. What has been thrown on is the absolute bare minimum and the information is just piled up any old how to get the job out of the way, just looking through this site is depressing!

Our conclusion is that the Council had the site produced by ERYC as a response to the requests and comments of residents, and then listed the bare minimum of information very reluctantly, showing no ongoing interest in a vehicle that could give residents a very great deal of relevant information.

At present the website is boring, uninspiring, incomplete, and does not achieve the aims that are inherently associated with a website. The design of the site is probably the most basic and worst attempt at ‘Corporate Identity’ we can think of, there is not a single thing about the site that says ‘read me’ or ‘visit Preston’. 

It comes across to residents that the Council appears to actively deny information to residents and do not want to engage with them. If the Council is sincere in reconnecting with residents, becoming more open and transparent it could do much worse than making the website a first project and inviting residents to get involved. At the very least it would be visible!

Maybe the end result would be a complete revamp of the site or start again from fresh and rebuilt it?

Can we suggest the Council take steps to find out?

If there are any residents with similar experience of the council do please contact us by comment or email. If you wish we will post on your experience without your identity being released, or not post anything if you simply want to share your experience it’s entirely up to you. We would love to hear your story, your not alone, there are a number of us, let us compare notes and grow as a group.