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Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp
I wouldn't describe inhabitants of Accrington who are interested in their surroundings as having a screwed perspective. Simply because some of us have a point of view regarding the Panopticons doesn't mean we don't have a point of view on other subjects also. But it's beginning to look like it doesn't really matter what the local people think because it isn't even the council who make the decisions, it's a small section of that council. This doesn't sound like democracy.
Now I'm getting confused. You say the people of Peel ward elected you to put forward their priorities. Just as I vote for my local councillor based on what he tells me he will do once elected. But from what you've said earlier regarding what goes on in the Council then the individual councillors have very little effect at all.
I still don't see how abstaining from voting on the Panopticons issue solves any other problem. I'm sure quite a few of the people of Hyndburn feel their views are hijacked when a decision is made to have something on top of the Coppice which the majority of people who voted on the issue have said they would rather not have.
It's none too brilliant here in the Scaitcliffe area either. My main complaint as many of the AccyWeb members will know because they are probably fed up of hearing about it by now, is the rubbish in the streets. It's worse than Whinny Hill tip up here and it starts every bin day when at least one sack ends up emtying its contents down Willows Lane and Ormerod Street. The resulting mess is not cleaned up and then settles in corners and in people's gardens. There is one unmade back not a million miles from Scaitcliffe House where I wouldn't be surprised to see rats and often the smell is appalling. That can't be blamed on residents because that rubbish blows down Ormerod Street, round the corner and lodges in the grass and weeds where it proceeds to rot.
Each time someone puts up for the council they say that rubbish on the streets will be a priority. In my naive little way I believed them at first and voted for whoever made the most promises regarding improving the state of the area. Now I no longer need to wonder why none of the promises have ever been kept because if I've understood you correctly once elected there is very little they can actually do on the council.
This leaves me wondering what on earth we are voting for.
However, although rubbish is my main concern personally and it affects me personally I am also interested in wider issues and I have an opinion on other things. If I were told that a concrete cow on the Coppice would solve my rubbish problems, apart from the fact that I'd query how, I don't think I would be all that willing to accept a concrete cow because apart from not enjoying living on a rubbish dump I also actually do enjoy the wider environment and don't want to see it spoiled by something which would be tasteless and tacky and not in keeping with the area.
I also dislike the latest "improvements" to the town centre - I feel the building which houses JJB sports and Wilkinsons is out of proportion to the rest of the area and that the market isn't half as good now it is so cramped.
Surely we are entitled to our opinions on the town as a whole even if they will be largely ignored.
It's not only the people of Peel who have problems but wouldn't it have been a simple matter to vote one way or the other and then move onto other issues? All of these things affect the residents of Hyndburn some affect a small minority and some affect the majority but all are valid.
I think it was Tealeaf who brought up the subject of the deferred meeting for the sake of a football match. That seems to have taken up rather more time than a vote for or against the Panopticon would have done.
It's not that we feel the Panopticon is more important than other issues, it's just that we have opinions on the subject and would like to think that the council we elected might take some interest in our opinions.
Somebody else could probably have put that much better than I have.
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I take on board your point and your view and I agree with what you said. All of it.
PB used it as a tool to control the budget debate, to try and expose Labour as some local trendy lefty art loving daft loonies. With an election coming up PB couldnt afford to take any flak so for once he took a cabinet decision to full council 'for a show of hands'. Clever politics. He ran Labours budget out of town, exposed us a bunch of loony lefties and got a council mandate for tricky cabinet decision. The panopticons was a tough hurdle to jump but he cleared without touching the frame.
The reality is this item has come up several times, we have had 8 council meetings since the debate began at least. Members of the public will now not know that Labour proposed 2.9% council tax and the Tories 5%. Or that under Labour 24 wardens will employed straight away or all the hard work we have put in over 3 months for this meeting.
Like the thread says 'Council get something right at last'. PB played it perfectly to the electorate and the chap that started the thread probably thinks better of PB now this decision has made. One of the items not debated was the sacking of the only two bus station inspectors just so we could have a panopticons debate. Is that good governance?
I am an honest person and want the best for Hyndburn. I agree with the chap above that issues should be dealt with in a responsible way.