September 6th 2022 and the school of Wymondham Town Council returned from its summer holidays for its first assembly since breaking up in July. Headmaster, Mayor Kevin Hurn (Con) rang the bell at 7pm and called the register. One councillor was running late. Another had a note from their mum.
Yes, it’s a back-to-school theme for this month’s Town Council Watch covering September’s full council meeting, so spit out that gum, tuck in your shirt and sit up straight. Here’s what we learnt this month.
There will be a test at the end.
Toilet Talk Part Deux
An easy start to term saw the meeting launch straight into one of Town Council Watch’s favourite subjects: public toilets.
Cllr Robert Savage (Con) asked the Clerk whether there had been any further vandalism to the town centre toilets. Thankfully there had not. You could practically hear the plugholes of Wymondham gargle with relief.
A comforted Mr Savage then proposed a motion for the council to resolve that toilet vandalism is a bad thing, which was universally adopted. Controversial, hard-hitting stuff.
This column looks forward to next month’s motion on whether the council believes the sky is blue.
Neighbourhood Plan Approved
Next up, the town’s Neighbourhood Plan was officially approved by Town Council. The local planning policy document has been 7 years in the making.
This columnist never liked big essays at school either.
Once finally adopted, the Plan will mean the town keeps more of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) that developers pay to local authorities to ease the impact of new homes on an area. Currently 85% of it goes to the Greater Norwich Growth Board, of which Wymondham is a beneficiary. After, it’d be 75%.
But Cllr Suzanne Nuri-Nixon (Lib Dem) had been reading her Sherlock Holmes over the hols and smelt a conspiracy:
“For some reason South Norfolk are not happy with our Neighbourhood Plan. Could it be that we will keep more of the CIL money?” “... they keep kicking it down the road. And I don’t really know why. Apart from the fact that they just don’t want us to have additional money.”
Always tell a dinner lady if the big boys are stealing your lunch money.
Cllr Kim Carsok (Con) was keen to show the class she’d done her homework, with a 10-minute question and answer session to the chairman on the contents of the Plan, including whether it should make better mention of the need for extra GP, dentistry and school places.
With those few additions and amendments incorporated, the Plan will now return to South Norfolk Council and, if approved, will trigger a referendum among voters in Wymondham to accept or reject it.
Jubilation Inflation
The council voted to strip a few features out of the design for a Jubilee Garden at Chandler’s Hill after the initial construction quote, accepted in July’s meeting, went up in price in the meantime.
Cllr Tony Holden (Con) lamented the council’s slow decision-making for causing delay and escalating costs: “why on earth has it taken so long? We first talked about this in May off the top of my head and here we are in September and so far nothing’s been done apart from prices have gone up.”
It’s unclear if the troubled project will be delivered in this jubilee year and the Queen sadly passed away two days after the meeting.
A sympathetic teacher might award the council an A for good intentions here. But unfortunately it’s an F for execution.
Consult Me After Class
Up next, the council formally agreed on which consultants to work with to begin planning and designing future improvements to Browick Road recreation ground.
The project still very much in Reception then, with a lot of hard work to go before its A-Level results day.
MinD Your P’s and Q’s
After that, the council voted to sign up to the National Association of Local Councils’ civility and respect pledge, governing councillors’ and staff’s conduct towards one another.
The proposal was positively received in the room. Though some noted sadness that such a measure is required. Given some of the tetchy exchanges in previous meetings, it might not be the worst idea for this council though.
Cllr Julian Halls (Lib Dem) said he thought it “brilliant” but wanted to know how it’d be enforced.
Six of the best at the front of the class surely?
Road To Nowhere
Confusion reigned in a section on potential changes to road restrictions to the north of the town, resulting from Norfolk County Council’s Western Link Road consultation.
An unclearly worded agenda item led to councillors talking at odds with each other - with some wanting to formerly give the Town Council’s approval/disapproval for the various measures and others saying they’d not had any of the information to make a decision. The council voted to defer making a decision until it had more information.
Chalk that one up to experience.
Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
We then came to an agenda item to place this year’s 20ft Christmas tree on the market place in Wymondham.
Cllr Savage’s primary concern was whether the Christmas tree would block foxhunting group, the Dunston Harriers and their boxing day meet: “This is an event that’s well looked forward to and enjoyed by several thousand people”.
Foxhunting, always a great unifying topic of course.
While Cllr Peter Broome (Con) had been practising his geometry. “I’ve done some calculations on my own and I expect it to take up between a quarter and a third of the market place and I’m surprised that traders are going to be happy to fit in around this tree.”
He then cited potential erection issues, the size of the tube, the girth of the trunk and the need to avoid manhandling it.
Stop sniggering at the back.
But we weren’t done. Because Cllr Halls had checked his school timetable and it was marked Drama:
“There is information that should come to this council, which I would think would require us to suspend standing orders.” “There’s something that’s been brought to my attention that directly affects this discussion, which I don’t think should be brought into the public domain.”
I-know-something-you-don’t-know.
And with that, the item was bumped until after the meeting, when the cameras were turned off. Behind closed doors. Town Council Watch would love to tell you what happened. But there’s now no public record of it.
Market Place Enhancements
One of the final pieces of business was a proposal to make the pavement widening outside the Cross Keys and Mad Hatter’s Tea Shop permanent. Currently achieved via some large planters, the eventual idea would be to pave the area instead, at an estimated cost of £150k (of which the Town Council would contribute £50k).
The proposal divided the room with Cllrs Savage, Broome and Yvette Astley (Con) arguing most strongly against the measure, on the grounds of cost vs benefit and inconvenience. Cllrs Richard Elliott (Con), Nuri-Nixon, Carsok and Holden argued for, on the grounds of creating a more pleasant environment in the town centre, citing the just-approved Neighbourhood Plan and its provision for pavement widening and “space creation”.
A narrow vote saw the measure approved. The result pits the Town Council who voted in favour of the measure vs the town’s county councillor, who is vocally against it.
A playground scrap could lie ahead then.
It’s Good To Talk
The last proposal, which was adopted, will see a new Chairman’s Questions section in future meetings, where councillors will get to ask any burning questions they’ve got for the chairs of the council’s various working groups in front of the public.
It’s your French oral exams all over again.
The Bell’s For Me, Not For You
After a gruelling 3 hours had elapsed and an impressive 18 agenda items been covered, the bell finally rang and the councillors put up their chairs and ran out to see their parents, who were waiting outside:
“What did you today?”
“Dunno. Nothing?
