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A Councillor's
Comments - March 2007
At the March 2007 meeting of Soham Town Council, the
usual opening Agenda Items were gone through, but Item Number 8. St. Andrew's
Church Hall, again came under discussion. To remind councillors of the story so
far the clerk had prepared a short report on all the various stages this issue
had gone through. It began with the decision taken by East Cambridgeshire
District Council on 5th December 2006, which was followed by the response of the
Town Council in subsequent meetings. The Church then informed the Town Council
that the sale of the Church Hall was going ahead and this was presented to
councillors at our February 2007 meeting. This appeared to be the end of the
saga but what was still left was the offer from East Cambridgeshire District
Council of £5,000 to fund a public consultation exercise on the future of this
site. The Clerk had a meeting with an officer from the District Council to seek
support and advice from them if the Town Council should decide further action.
The response from East Cambridgeshire District Council came with three options.
1. To advise East Cambridgeshire District Council that the
funding is no longer required.
2. Request that the funding be held over for a period of time
to see if circumstances change.
3. To request East Cambridgeshire District Council agreement
that the funding be used for a broader consultation exercise to identify whether
there is evidence of need for additional community facilities in the Town.
The Town Council made the decision that the third option be taken.
Standing Orders This item came up because our present standing orders
were introduced in 2002 and since then many procedures regarding councils have
been brought in and in the light of the coming elections it was considered
appropriate that new standing orders be in place for the new council. These
would cover the appointment of Committees, Public Speaking at Council and
Standing Committee meetings and Public Relations, especially the Council's
relationship and contact with the media.
200th Anniversary of Abolition of Slavery This was a Soham Action 4 Youth
request for financial assistance. They have been successful in a bid for funding
several different projects to mark this important event, but are lacking funding
to provide for a statue of Olaudah Equiano and a stained glass window in St.
Andrew's Church. They are in need of partnership funding of £8,750 and were
asking the Town Council if they were able to contribute in anyway. Much
publicity is given to Wilberforce and Clarkson for what they did, but Equiano,
once a slave himself, wrote a book that highlighted the evils of the slave
trade. He has local connections as he was married here in Soham at St. Andrew's
Church as well as having both his daughters baptised there. The Council asked
for more information before committing any money.
The Annual Town Meeting The date has been set for Monday 30th April 2007
at 8.00pm. So come along and hear the report about what Town Council has been
doing over the past year as well as receiving reports from our District and
County Councillors. There is also opportunity to have your say on what you think
the Council should be doing.
The Town Council were also notified of the forthcoming Parish and District
Council elections to be held on Thursday 3rd May 2007and a timetable for when
candidate nomination papers should be in. The closing date was 4th April 2007,
so by the time you read this it will be already too late.
Kindest Regards
George Ginn
Soham Town Councilor
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