THE THURROCK Drama Festival was on recently. Missed it? So did 45 of the 49 councillors. T-Fest was on last year. Missed it? So did 37 of the 49 councillors.
Chafford Hundred Sixth Form Open Evening. Missed it? Yep, so did 46 of the councillors. The list goes on and on.
At full council recently, Deputy Leader Val Morris-Cook highlighted her concerns regarding councillor attendance at functions. In short, it wasn’t good enough.
Val is sensitive to the fact that hundreds of council officers are in fear for their jobs and livelihoods at the moment. In such a climate, every councillor will be under the microscope.
Val doesn’t expect the councillor for Aveley to turn up to Corringham Women’s Guild Jam Afternoon but with events like the Thurrock Drama Festival dying on it’s feet, every councillor will need to justify and even have an event/meeting/attendance audit in order to justify every penny that the taxpayer gives them.
What makes the deputy leader think that I want my contribution to a councillors allowance to be spent on them attending a drama festival or any other festival for that matter. Its ensuring the people that elected them get their voice heard , is what they should be doing, not attending freebies, they are not celebreties
It should be obligatory for a Ward Councillor to attend Community Forum meetings. Liaison outside of meetings is usually good but the recent attempt to strangle NGAGE has raised concerns. Conservative Association and Labour Group please take note.
For Consultations bring back the Forum Central Assemblies – this way large Consultations such as Master Plans and LDF could have reached a far greater audience. There must of been no savings as instead of officers attending 4 large meetings they were required to serve 20 ward Forums?
Oh come on now, we all know that the majority of councillors do not give two hoots what goes on in the community, they can’t even turn up to their own meetings half the time.