issue 5

editor@cradleyenquirer.com
CradleyEnquirer.com
editor@cradleyenquirer.com
Online News & Topics for Cradley,Storridge & Mathon
asking the questions you want asked and seeking the answers you deserve
Issue
5
17th February 2018
in this issue
Page 2 Integrity: a basic question
Who makes the decisions ?
Page 3 Who makes the decisions ?
Enquirer Ethos
Page 4 Employment Matters, a veil
of secrecy
Page 5 When is it allowable to lie?
Page 6 Censorship and new
councillors
Page 7 Sewage Fly Tipping a warning
Page 8 Contacts and what’s to come
From The Editor
Welcome, to the first edition
of the Enquirer in magazine
form.
With the amount of topics we
have had raised and are handling, the
old website format was beginning to
creak so we decided to place each
edition of the Enquirer in this format
so that reaching back into history will
be oh! so much easier for readers to
follow the topics handled.
You read this version just like you do
any printed paper or magazine. Just
click to turn the page.
Community
Why don’t the Parish Council hold
Question
two meetings a month until they
clear the backlog of work as
opposed to cramming in so much
stuff at one meeting?
That way they might just achieve
more for the community than
total chaos
A NEW DAWN FOR OPEN COMMUNICATION
IN
CRADLEY, STORRIDGE AND MATHON

INTEGRITY: A BASIC QUESTION
WHO MAKES THE DECISIONS ?
Now that the elections are over and Cradley and Storridge now have for the first time in a long while a
Parish Council who have been voted there by the people of the community. The future should be
planned well so that this body can no longer be a battlefield for personal interests and agendas.
Those who have given themselves up to the task of serving only the interests of the people of this
Parish before everything else, should seek out wise council to develop, over time the skills and wisdom
required of such a position.
They should think deeply about the burden that being a part of probably the only truly democratic tier
of government that exists in this nation, will place on them.
As the old saying goes “you can please some of the people all of the time………(I’ll let you look up the
rest and realise the truth held therein).
As we have a large contingent of people elected, who have never served on a PC before, the first few
meetings can be akin to the first day at School when everyone apparently knows oh so much more
than yourself and you are afraid to ask. Don’t be!
It is a councillor’s job and responsibility to question, investigate and ultimately to seek out all the
correct information needed to make well informed decisions on behalf of the community
Seek out more experienced councillors (old and new) and ask for guidance and their advice but
ultimately you choose and make your decisions based on the principles you sign up to.
2

3
Simon Alexander (Editor)
WHO MAKES THE DECISIONS…cont
The basis of a Parish Council is that IT makes ALL of the decisions democratically, by all councillor’s
participation.
NOT the Clerk NOT the Chair NOT the vice Chair NOT any single councillor NOT HALC
The Clerk is employed by the council and is there to ADVISE the PC on the legal aspects of the council
and to supply the PC with whatever information is needed by councillors, to make decisions. The
Chair is elected by the council to chair PC meetings not make decisions on behalf of the Council.
All councillors have the right and the duty to question and examine, oppose or support anything put
before council for decision and should do so without fear or favour.
It is not the place of any councillor or the Clerk or the Chair to censure, alter or withhold from the
council information that is relevant to councillors’ decision making. Inclusion or relevance is for the
council, as a whole ,to decide. No one else!
It is a lazy and ineffectual council that allows others to make decisions and does not examine each
and every suggestion without true democratic debate and discussion.
All workings of the Parish Council should be carried out professionally, with integrity, honesty and
complete transparency
The leader: “Jump!” the Follower: “how high?” style has no place in our Parish Council
Submitted by K.Nason
3

EDITOR
It appears that the veil of secrecy is drawn more tightly around our PC every time
they have a meeting.
The extract from the PC minutes of 23rd January of the closed session seems on
the surface to be straightforward and decisive.
On closer examination, a veil is apparent:
20.3 “after detailed discussion it was resolved to overturn the appointment of
the existing internal auditor”
Straightforward? Not at all. The internal auditor has served the PC for many
years for minimal reward to support the community, and without criticism or
censure. He is a fully qualified accountant.
Was he ever informed of this decision or the reasoning behind it, or even been
involved in any council discussions on it?
” Following legal advice…”All very well, and the PC should seek such support
when it is needed. What is patently missing here is that the councillors who were
asked to support this resolution have NEVER actually been given the details of
what that “legal advice” was.
Now this is totally contrary to councillors being FULLY informed on all
resolutions they are asked to vote on, whether in open or closed sessions.
The questions that the PC should and must answer b are:
1) Were all councillors given full details and reasons for the legal
recommendations before they voted?
2) How can HALC be appointed as a new auditor on behalf of the PC?
HALC are a subscription -based advisory body not accountants. How can they
replace a qualified long serving accountant with an unblemished record? HALC
may be operating a “jobs for the boys” policy but our PC should NOT be involved
4

in such actions. If they want a new auditor then they must go out to tender for
the job- not scratch HALCs back READ YOUR OWN RULES PARISH COUNCIL
It is disgraceful that the PC, by printing such minutes should defame their old
auditor in such a manner .
We wonder what the PC’s “legal advice” on this would be?
Footnote: we note that the topic in item 20.3 was not as
stated in the Agenda and would question whether the
resolution passed is therefore valid or legally
enforceable
When is it allowable to lie?
We all tell fibs every day of our lives even calling them “little white lies”, though
I am sure the politically correct activists will have something to say about that!
Where it is not acceptable in any form is at a Parish Council meeting. The Parish
Councillors elected to represent the community in decision making are entitled
morally and legally to be given the truth and facts on matters before them.
At the Parish Council meeting on 13th February under item
“8.5 To consider process and volunteers for winding the church clock”
The chair was asked directly if he had in fact contacted Chris Lowder, who had
diligently wound the clock for a considerable number of years, to inform him of
the proposal to change the “winder”.
To this the Chair answered “Yes “
That was , to put it mildly a terminological inexactitude
The fact that there was then a flurry of action between the Chair and vice chair
and a frantic apologetic phone call does not change the position.
Mr Lowder did not even receive the basic good manners of notice of the
council’s intention of reviewing his position. Only a cover up call.
5

The following article was refused by CMS Newsletter
for publication because they said that….
“Its message is aimed primarily at the recently
elected councillors and the editors do not feel the
the Newsletter is an appropriate channel for this
communication. “
YOUR PARISH COUNCIL
COMMUNITY OPINION
Now that the elections are over and Cradley and Storridge now have for the first time in a
long while a Parish Council who have been voted there by the people of the community. The
future should be planned well so that this body can no longer be a battlefield for personal
interests and agendas.
Those who have given themselves up to the task of serving only the interests of the people
of this Parish before everything else, should seek out wise council to develop, over time the
skills and wisdom required of such a position.
They should think deeply about the burden that being a part of probably the only truly
democratic tier of government that exists in this nation, will place on them.
As the old saying goes “you can please some of the people all of the time………(I’ll let you
look up the rest and realise the truth held therein).
As we have a large contingent of people elected, who have never served on a PC before, the
first few meetings can be akin to the first day at School when everyone apparently knows oh
so much more than yourself and you are afraid to ask. Don’t be!
It is a councillor’s job and responsibility to question, investigate and ultimately to seek out
all the correct information needed to make well informed decisions on behalf of the
community
Seek out more experienced councillors (old and new) and ask for guidance and their advice
but ultimately you choose and make your decisions based on the principles you sign up to.
The basis of a Parish Council is that IT makes ALL of the decisions democratically, by all
councillor’s participation.
NOT the Clerk NOT the Chair NOT the vice Chair NOT any single councillor NOT HALC
The Clerk is employed by the council and there to ADVISE the PC on the legal aspects of the
council and to supply the PC with whatever information is needed by councillors, to make
decisions. The Chair is elected by the council to chair PC meetings not make decisions on
behalf of the Council.
All councillors have the right and the duty to question and examine, oppose or support
6

anything put before council for decision and should do without fear or favour.
It is not the place of any councillor or the Clerk or the Chair to censure, alter or withhold from
the council, information that is relevant to councillor’s decision making. Inclusion or
relevance is for the council, as a whole to decide. No one else!
It is a lazy and ineffectual council that allows others to make
decisions and does not examine each and every suggestion
without true democratic debate and discussion.
All workings of the Parish Council should be carried out
professionally, with integrity, honesty and complete transparency
The leader:- “jump!” the follower:-“how high?” style has no place
in our Parish Council
Ken Nason
Sewage Waste Fly Tipping
COMMUNITY OPINION
On Friday 2nd February at around 2:30 pm, someone disposed of what appears to be a septic
tank full of sewage waste into a storm drain in Oaklands. The result was a stream of foul
slurry pouring from the storm drain outlet into the fresh water stream that borders our
garden in Beech Close and feeds a tributary of the Cradley Brook at the bottom of our garden.
We were fortunate enough to be in the garden at the time and so were able to pinpoint the
time of this environmental crime.
We reported the incident to Severn Trent Water who reacted very swiftly and worked
throughout the evening to identify the cause of the slurry pouring from the storm drain
outlet. They returned the following morning and filled 3 bin bags with sanitary waste and
flushed the storm drain and stream until the water flowed cleanly again.
Some of our neighbours were able to add detail and reported having seen a small tanker of a
light colour (possibly yellow) with an elephant hose, working in the road at around 2:30pm
that day. It was accompanied by a small white van. Another dark blue transit van was seen
parked on the opposite side of the road at the top of Oaklands at round the same time. Just
before this, men were seen inspecting each of the man holes in the street in turn, presumably
to identify the main sewer drain.
This appears to be someone fly tipping sewage. Had they picked the correct drain, no-one
would have been any the wiser, though it would clearly still have been a crime. Our concern
now is that this may happen again, if not in Oaklands, but somewhere else. We hope that by
alerting the community of this illegal activity we shall all now be aware of the practice and
take a more active questioning approach to unusual vehicles working in our streets. It is the
last thing I would have expected a tanker in my street to be doing!
In addition to Severn Trent Water, the Environmental Agency and Herefordshire Council have
been informed and would be interested if anyone has any further information.
Peter and Sue Warner
7

SOME USEFUL CONTACTS, NUMBERS, EMAILS & WEB SITES
editor@cradleyenquirer.com
cradleyparishcouncil.gov.uk
clerk@cradleyparishcouncil.org.uk
cradleydiary.com
storridgevillagehall.org.uk
cradleyvillagehall.org.uk
IN THE NEXT EDITION
A review of what the Enquirer has achieved so far
How the site has performed month by month
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”
Your questions and opinions
And of course any breaking news between now and then
8
Simon