Editor's Comments on Stoke ferry PC Minutes

Stoke Ferry Parish Council - July Meeting

I did not attend the July meeting of Stoke Ferry Parish Council and, indeed, have never attended any of their meetings.  This has been a conscious decision, perhaps misplaced, on the grounds that as editor of The Village Pump for the past  14 years I felt is necessary to keep politics and our local magazine well apart.

A number of members of the public who did attend the July meeting have voiced their concerns to me on the decision NOT to publish council minutes until they have been approved at the next meeting. There is a letter on this subject above from a previous Parish Chairman.

As a relatively long standing resident of Stoke Ferry I would like to my comments to this ongoing debate.

First, does the ruling also apply to the Annual Parish Meetings?  If so, those minutes will not be published for a full 12 months after the event! Not very practical!

Second, an identical decision was made in June 2012 but, due to concerns expressed by the public, it was over-turned a couple of months later although that fact appears not to have been minuted in Parish Minutes.  One of the deciding factors was that The Lynn News confirmed in writing to The Clerk that they would be unlikely to publish items over a month old.

Perhaps the Parish Council could explain to all Stoke Ferry residents the reasons behind this decision? I can’t believe the rumours that this is an attempt to cut The Village Pump out from Parish processes, although the decision to publish a quarterly  newsletter does give these rumours some credence.

I would be delighted to hear the real reasons behind these two decisions!

The Village Pump has been “The Mouthpiece” for Stoke Ferry Parish Council for over 35 years; why does the current council suddenly wish to change this relationship?

Ray Thompson