Councillors past and present have been crying out for the public to get more involved “come along to meetings see the work we do and how we are helping to improve village life”.

The present Parish Council are indeed happy for residents to go along to watch and listen, but DON’T ask questions!

At a number of recent meetings when residents had the ‘audacity’ to ask questions, they were treated to abuse.

The car park is a good example. A simple question “how much has it cost” turned into angry exchanges at a number of meetings, with the constant attempt to avoid the issue, “we can’t discuss it in public”. At Mondays meeting a councillor stormed out because residents were not content with the answers he had given them.

The profanities used in public were unnecessary and unbecoming for a member of a Parish Council. One other councillor resigned and accused a member of the public of bullying – how ironic! He later retracted his resignation, but not before grandstanding in front of an audience.

Why the questions? There has been a lot of speculation about the cost of the two main projects in the village, £1 to £2 million for the hub. The car park has no final figure yet, but could be as much £450,000. It is this blatant attempt to avoid talking about the real costs that concern residents.

… and what is their next £1,000,000 project?

This is an serious question because under the ‘watch’ of the current Chairman of Melbourn Parish Council the spending and borrowing of large sums of money have become the norm and they have shown a great deal of smug complacency with their achievements.
 

So what issues are the parish council interested in?

Certainly not the 199 houses. This very serious situation will have far reaching consequences for us all. So you would think the Parish Council would be up there representing their village, fighting hard to get what is right for all of us.

No! There was no sign of Chairman of Melbourn of the Parish Council or the Chair of the planning committee – in fact not one councillor attended the meetings.

And the Chairman’s response, “I suggest that we wait for the outcome of the appeal and then formulate a course of action.” (See 199 houses threat!).

It is this level of avoidance to discuss issues that has made the residents suspicious of the council. Residents have a legitimate right to know what how the council are spending ‘their’ money!

As a rider to the above, if the council are required to pay the full £450,000, they do not have the reserves to pay it in full. They will need to borrow, and this could add at least another £150,000 to the existing mortgage – that we are all paying.