It would seem from tonight’s meeting that Anston comedy club is alive and well.
It was a special meeting for the co-option process for five places; there were six candidates. Three turned up for the meeting, the other three did not; but had put their paper work and personal statements in.
The chairman only read out the names of three who had attended, who made short statements; he never mentioned the other three. The councillors, except for one, went into private session to discuss the candidates.
They then came back into the meeting, the chairman once again read out just the three names out; then asked for proposers and seconders for them. Then he took a block vote to co-opt the three on to the council; then commences to take separate votes for the three places.
Confused yet? At no time were the other three applicants mentioned, no proposing, no seconding or voting for them. The recommendations on co-opting states that the potential co-optees do not have to be at the meeting to be selected to be co-opted on to the council.
The whole of the process took 45minutes, what a mess, democracy died tonight. If this council wants to gain the trust of the people of Anston they will need to be a lot more democratic than this.
Dave Smith
Rotherham Politics 
Blind monkeys, red rosettes! What do you expect?
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Can’t work out if this is irony or you missed that the comedy club now has a new dynamic unaffiliated cast.
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‘Blind monkeys, red rosettes!’
A very strange comment considering Anston Parish Council is controlled by Independent councillors.
I agree with Dave Smith’s comments. He and I had a 5 or 6 minutes discussion during the evening and both of us were struggling to understand how the Clerk and the Chairman had arrived at their solution to what is a fairly straighforward process.
I’ve been banging on about openess and transparency at APC for the past few years and the new regime needs to shake off the legacy of the discredited Labour party by not only doing what is right but be seen to do what is right.
BTW. I was one of the people co-opted on to APC and look forward to working with my new colleagues in the efforts to bring Anston Parish Council back from the brink of collapse.
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Rik
I’m still in sunny Tenerife but home tomorrow, but reflecting upon the Anston farrago – there were no names mentioned and the whole affair sounds distinctly dodgy. Also, isn’t it the case that one of our esteemed Commissars is a resident of Anston, hmmm?
And if she’s so apparently passionate about local affairs, perhaps she should put herself forward as a prospective parish councillor, hmmmmm?
Cheers
Rob
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I was pleased that Colin Tawn, a long standing warrior for openness from Anston council, was co-opted on he along with some of the others will make sure that last nights fiasco will not happen again.
Dave Smith
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Thanks for your comments Dave.
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I was at the meeting, and it was my intention to remain in the room ( I had previously informed the Chairman of this) . However on taking my seat I was informed by another Cllr that two of the Candidates had pulled out. I was not informed of this before the meeting, and nor were other Cllrs it seems. On top of this three of the other Candidates did not turn up, nor did they contact the Council to say they would not be attending. Because the situation had changed dramatically, I made an on the spot decision to leave the room with other Cllrs.
It should be made quite clear that the Yorkshire Local Council Assn`s own guidelines state quite clearly that it is acceptable for Cllrs to retire into Confidential session to discuss potential candidates. Cllrs were of the mind to vote “in block” on the three candidates, (which again is acceptable, no rules regulations or Laws prevent this), however I insisted that three separate votes take place. There was no Block vote.
On the question of the candidates who did not turn up, again no rule regulation or Law states we have to co opt these persons on to the Council, and no rule regulation or law says they have to be voted on, regardless of whether they are there or not. I was later informed that the candidates who did not turn up, failed to return a certain form, which prevented them from standing anyway.
The final vote was taken in open session for all to see, and the three candidates were co opted on by majority votes.
Whilst the meeting may not have been perfect, it was filmed for all to see,. which is more open and democratic than all the other Councils in the South of the Borough.
Nearly every Parish/Town Council in Rotherham has or is having to go through a co option process, and I can bet your bottom dollar, that every single co option will be done differently.
If after watching the film of the meeting, any person feels the the way it was done was wrong, or has a complaint, then they should contact the Parish Clerk. If this were to occur, I would recommend that YLCA be asked to make a “legal” decision and that the decision be made public.
Cllr Stuart Thornton
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Thanks for that Stuart I apologise for getting it wrong over the block vote issue, and I understand why you went into the private session. However the clerk did say that there had been eight candidates and two had dropped out and that is why there are six. Still no point in continuing with this you have people on there now who will ask questions and not just blindly follow Sinjin like in the bad old days. Good luck to you all I am sure, as we will, you will make it work.
Dave Smith
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Dear Dave
I have read your posts with interest for some time now, in fact it they were one of the factors that led to me standing as a candidate for APC. The new council certainly has a considerable amount of work ahead of it, but I believe that we are moving in the right direction.
With regards to the co-option meeting (these are my personal views by the way) I very much disagree that ‘democracy died’ on Monday evening. Two of the candidates had informed the Clerk that they no longer wished to stand and the council agreed that the remaining candidates will be invited to attend a further co-option meeting so as to provide a further opportunity to give an oral statement prior to a vote on their co-option.
All the best
Drew
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Dear Dave
I have read your posts with interest for some time now, in fact it they were one of the factors that led to me standing as a candidate for APC. The new council certainly has a considerable amount of work ahead of it, but I believe that we are moving in the right direction.
With regards to the co-option meeting (these are my personal views by the way) I very much disagree that ‘democracy died’ on Monday evening. Two of the candidates had informed the Clerk that they no longer wished to stand and the council agreed that the remaining candidates will be invited to attend a further co-option meeting so as to provide a further opportunity to give an oral statement prior to a vote on their co-option.
All the best
Drew
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Rothpol, I would respectfully suggest that your reports on the Anston Parish Council entitled ” Anston Comedy Club” are not only inaccurate but irrelevant compared to the events of the past year with the RMBC. I would also suggest that reporting on the activities of the APC under the laughable title of “Anston Comedy Club” should cease or be given a title which is more deserved, seeing as this is a brand new Council who in my opinion deserves a chance to show that it has the desire and capabilities to work incessantly with the aim of making Anston and Woodsetts a better place to live in. If you have nothing better to report than your latest effort then perhaps it’s time to give up. Unless of course you would care to write about all of the good things that this Council is striving to achieve.
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Satire is a powerful weapon in our armoury, these cover past events and were the work of locals, Rothpol was merely the publisher. I am reluctant to return to previous posts and to remove our change them.
I am pleased that Anston Parish Council has made significant progress and I look forward to reporting on this in the future.
The comedy club will have more examples of failing parish councils to report on in due course and to hold them to ridicule if that is what is required in the circumstances.
Best wishes to all at APC.
Rik
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“Posted on June 2, 2015 by rothpol”
“It would seem from tonight’s meeting that Anston comedy club is alive and well”. This is the first two lines of the post that I was referring to. I don’t care who wrote it. rothpol posted it and rothpol is tarring ALL current members of Anston Parish Council with the same brush by referring it as “Anston comedy club” As a new member of APC I am more interested in the present and the future than what has gone on in APC in the past and strongly object to being labelled as a member of a comedy club. Of course mistakes will be made, we are only human. Of course we won’t be able to please all of the people all of the time, we are not miracle workers. Of course we will do our utmost to address every issue as fairly as we can. If you see these as fuel for your comedy club name calling then you must have a strange sense of humour. We are trying our best, it would be nice to have this acknowledged rather than just being the butt of your attempted jokes.
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