A local village which I drive through on my daily commute is holding a
parish council meeting regarding proposed speed humps on the road.

Firstly even though I don't live within the parish can I attend this
meeting?

Secondly is it possible to obtain information from the police/council about
the traffic levels and accident rates/speeding rates on said road at all?
From what has been said it would seem taht there is some doubt about the
need for such devices and it could just be one or two people on a crusade
to get them installed.

TIA

Firstly even though I don't live within the parish can I attend this
meeting?

They are open to the public.

Secondly is it possible to obtain information from the police/council
about
the traffic levels and accident rates/speeding rates on said road at all?

That information should be given. The highways department/ Police will look
very closely at the proposal.

From what has been said it would seem taht there is some doubt about the
need for such devices and it could just be one or two people on a crusade
to get them installed.

Just because a vociferous few make a lot of noise does not mean their wishes
will be granted.

Peter Crosland

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 20:25:05 +0100, Peter Crosland wrote:

Firstly even though I don't live within the parish can I attend this
meeting?

They are open to the public.

Thanks


Secondly is it possible to obtain information from the police/council
about
the traffic levels and accident rates/speeding rates on said road at all?

That information should be given. The highways department/ Police will look
very closely at the proposal.

OK I'll enquire. Is there any formal wording/request application etc that I
need or just a polite letter saying I would like X and Y for location Z?


From what has been said it would seem taht there is some doubt about the
need for such devices and it could just be one or two people on a crusade
to get them installed.

Just because a vociferous few make a lot of noise does not mean their wishes
will be granted.


From previous experience it's amazing what a local counciller will do for
votes. Last time I had one of these it only got stopped when the local fire
dept said they wouldn't be able to make their response times if they were
put in - that stopped it stone dead!

"Peter Crosland" wrote:

Firstly even though I don't live within the parish can I attend this
meeting?

They are open to the public.

Secondly is it possible to obtain information from the police/council
about
the traffic levels and accident rates/speeding rates on said road at all?

That information should be given. The highways department/ Police will look
very closely at the proposal.

.....and the procedures allow for quantitative analysis to be
overridden by peoples feelings eg a vociferous minority.

Freedom of Information from the County Surveyors office. Look on the
County Council website. They have to make it easy for you so you can
merely ask for the results of traffic surveys in X parish over the
last 5 years and let them do the work.

From what has been said it would seem taht there is some doubt about the
need for such devices and it could just be one or two people on a crusade
to get them installed.

Contact the local ABD person
URL:http://www.abd.org.uk/local/index.htm to get them to list the
proposal on the local section of their website.

Just because a vociferous few make a lot of noise does not mean their wishes
will be granted.

No, it merely make it likely ime. Local councils are adept at jumping
on such bandwagons to the detriment of the silent majority of the
population who are not adequately consulted.

Daytona

Peter Crosland wrote on Fri, 12 Aug 2005 20:25:05 +0100....

[Chris Street]
Firstly even though I don't live within the parish can I attend this
meeting?

They are open to the public.

I once went to observe a meeting of my local parish council. I just
walked in before the meeting started and sat down at the side of the
hall. They weren't at all bothered by this and made no attempt to check
if I lived in the parish.

One of the councillors did ask if I was the reporter from the local
paper, but no doubt that was just a politician's desire to make himself
known to the press :-)

I said no, and they didn't ask me anything else. They just offered me a
copy of the agenda and got on with the meeting. The reporter turned up
later; I imagine he quite likely didn't live in the parish. No other
members of the public attended.

--
Tim Jackson
lid
(Change '.invalid' to '.co.uk' to reply direct)
Absurd patents: visit http://www.patent.freeserve.co.uk

Just because a vociferous few make a lot of noise does not mean their
wishes
will be granted.

Unless your a friend and/or sleeping with one of the council / local police.
This happened when a friend of mine was refused planning permission to
build an extension on their house in Woking, Surrey. The next door
neighbour, who was a "friend" of one of the people on the planning
committee. My friend was in the gallery when the planning application was
being discussed, and spotted the next door neighbour (who didn't spot them).
When the decision was made for refusal, the neighbour stuck her thumb up to
the friend on the planning committee. If that's not corrupt, what is?

It was later approved on appeal.

Freedom of Information from the County Surveyors office. Look on the
County Council website. They have to make it easy for you so you can
merely ask for the results of traffic surveys in X parish over the
last 5 years and let them do the work.

Dream on:

"The information you have requested would require a manual search of
individual records which would be lengthy and time consuming and the
information is likely to be inaccurate."

In message , Mitchum
writes

When the decision was made for refusal, the neighbour stuck her thumb up to
the friend on the planning committee. If that's not corrupt, what is?

Parish Councils tend to be the most corrupt organisations in the UK.

The chairman of my Parish Council recently sent me a number of letters
and emails to me suggesting that I form a partnership with him to
convert my car garage to a cottage (it has two storeys). The District
Council Planning Department would approve the conversion. He had
contacts. I bet he did.

In the last few weeks, using a large grant, he has helped finalise the
Parish Plan which has been years in the making. On opening it I find
that the first two items deal with the Council's opposition to any
conversion of garages into houses. Nobody else but me owns a two-storey
garage.

Luckily I intend to continue leaving my car in the garage and sleeping
in my bed.

Parish councils operate outside the law and beyond the reach of any
ombudsman.

--
Geoff Wearmouth

In message , Mitchum
writes

When the decision was made for refusal, the neighbour stuck her thumb up to
the friend on the planning committee. If that's not corrupt, what is?

So a councillor voting for what one of his constituents wanted is
corrupt?
--
John Boyle

Parish Councils tend to be the most corrupt organisations in the UK.

The chairman of my Parish Council recently sent me a number of letters
and emails to me suggesting that I form a partnership with him to
convert my car garage to a cottage (it has two storeys). The District
Council Planning Department would approve the conversion. He had
contacts. I bet he did.

In the last few weeks, using a large grant, he has helped finalise the
Parish Plan which has been years in the making. On opening it I find
that the first two items deal with the Council's opposition to any
conversion of garages into houses. Nobody else but me owns a two-storey
garage.

Luckily I intend to continue leaving my car in the garage and sleeping
in my bed.

Parish councils operate outside the law and beyond the reach of any
ombudsman.


They certainly do not! Report to the standards board.
http://www.standardsboard.co.uk/ for details. They do investigate, and if
you have a case will pursue it.



Peter Crosland