TREATED WITH TOTAL CONTEMPT

At the Southport Area Committee meeting held on 7th March 2007, the Chairperson and other Councillors treated anyone they suspected of supporting The Southport Party with total contempt. That is why we have reported this matter to Sefton's Legal Department and are encouraging a member of the public to report this abuse to the Standards Board for England, 1st Floor, Cottons Centre, Cottons Lane, London SE1 2QG.

Our letter to Sefton's Assistant Legal Director:

Dear Peter,
Re: Southport Single Area Meeting, 8th March 2007
On behalf of our party members, who regularly attend the above meetings, we wish to protest about some of the offhand treatment we received when asking our questions, both in the police forum and when asking for the opinions of the assembled Councillors. This is mainly because of the interruptions and personal opinions of the Chairperson during the asking of these questions.
We consider these tactics are being used to devalue the valid comments of The Southport Party by the Chairperson in the lead-up to the Local Elections of May 2007. Also, this occurred in front of the press and members of the attending Southport residents, These personal comments during the police forum from the Chair, in our opinion, are not welcome as the Police Inspectors present are well able to give their own experienced responses. Imbalance also occurred along political lines in the handling of questions from the more favoured attendants at this meeting; for instance, one more-favoured questioner was allowed triple the time to explain his concerns over the Lord Street traffic problem. This finally turned out to be a Sefton matter but was allowed by the Chairperson during police question time.
On the other hand a Southport Party police question about the relative cost of employing 2 police officers on horseback as against the effectiveness of four police officers on foot patrol, considering their relative costs, was rubbished by the Chair Person who deemed it to be a silly question. Another party questioner was falsely accused, again by the Chair, of NOT wanting more police on the beat. All this was taking place while Inspector Trubshaw was trying to answer these reasonable questions.
This unwarranted interference is creating an institutionalised imbalance and is undermining the idea of the supposedly democratic Single Area Committee meetings, especially at public question time where we consider that bias is being shown against The Southport Party members and we now consider it needs the attention of the Sefton Council Legal Department. For, as can be seen in Government, being in one job for too long is not a good way of preserving a healthy democratic system.
So, may we suggest that a more frequent rotation of the chair occupancy for future meetings would help to solve this 3-year “Big Sister” dominance.
Finally, two other Southport Party questions were met by a wall of silence from ALL of the assembled councillors, who refused to answer perfectly reasonable requests on the subjects of the Sand-Winning Plant closure and the lack of public toilet provision in the Southport suburbs.
Yours sincerely,
Bryan Naylor, Press Officer of The Southport Party.
To: Mr Peter Cowley
Assistant Legal Director Metropolitan Borough of Sefton,
Town Hall Lord Street
Southport LANCASHIRE, PR8 1DA

 

This letter from a member of the public appeared in the Southport Visiter on Friday, 30th March, 2007:

Stop the spin
I REFER to the recent reports of the escalating disorder around the town centre between the so-called moshers, chavs and outsiders.
I raised this issue during the police forum at The Southport Area Committee meeting on November 1 last year.
The police stated the town centre was an extremely safe place to visit and, along with a number of councillors, implied I was scaremongering.
During the police forum at the recent area committee meeting I asked the inspector present why it was necessary to have two mounted police officers patrolling the Lord Street area on a recent cold wet evening, the week after school half-term when the town centre was absolutely deserted and seemed a total waste of limited police resources.
Although the question was directed to the police inspector, the chairman and a number of councillors tried to spin the question and imply I was against police on the streets.
Far from it.
I am in the town centre most Friday and Saturday nights using public transport and I want to see more high visibility police presence on foot patrol in the vulnerable locations.
The Southport Area Committee, which cost the council tax payer £30,000 for a referendum, is dying a slow death.
One of the reasons for this I believe is the attitude of the over-zealous chairman who interrupts more often than Jeremy Paxman.
The original idea of the Area Committee system was to engage the public in Local Government affairs and give them the opportunity to question the elected councillors and local authority on the decisions made, or to be made, on their behalf.
Unfortunately, the Southport Area Committee has been allowed to drift into nothing more than a rubber stamping exercise for council business by a chairman who has been allowed to serve too long.
JEFF CARTER,
Baytree Close, Southport.