Great Cambourne
Notice Boards and Megalomania
I have been requested by
Ted Bocking the temporary Parish Council Clerk to explain the notice
board item in the Mad Monk article in the Crier in February, and feel the
residents of Cambourne should be aware of my response to the following:-
"I wonder how you could have got so wrong an impression of the
Council's decision? Would you please be
kind enough to confirm to me that you have given your apologies to the people
concerned and, in all the circumstances, perhaps it would be appropriate for
the correct situation to be publicised through the Crier."
I am happy to explain
this but it may be not what they want to hear.
First the history.
Notice boards play an
important role in a village being the formal place that official notices
are displayed for planning issues, elections, and agendas for official
meetings, as well as being a place for residents to display details of groups
and services.
When the notice board in
Great Cambourne was provided by the developers, the Cambourne Residents
Association were given permission by the developers to
use the boards. I personally paid for the key and agreed to manage the board
for the CRA. I subsequently did the same when the
I sought help with this and
two sets of residents volunteered to help with the day to day care.
This worked well during the
days of the MLC which was part of our formal representation (pre Parish
Council) along with Bourn and Caxton Parish councils.
The MLC clerk sent me
all the formal notices and I ensured they were posted up.
When the Cambourne Parish
Council were formed the MLC clerk became the temporary
clerk for the Parish Council. She continued this arrangement, with the
agreement of the Parish Council.
The Parish Council then
appointed their first official clerk.
What happened next ? I am not sure, but I was phoned by a member of the
Parish Council asking about the notice boards and how he could get keys.
I pointed out that the
developers still owned the notice boards and he should approach them.
His response was
"nothing is ever straight forward in Cambourne".
I continued to take general
care of the boards, still with the resident helpers as there was no further
contact from the Parish Council, but I now know that the newly appointed
clerk had been to see the couple who looked after the Great Cambourne
board, asking for a key saying (in their words) she was "from the
Council". They had no idea who she was.
At the end of December the
question of availability of Parish Council minutes was raised on the forum. It
was claimed they were available on the notice board. I had never seen Minutes
on the boards; all I ever saw were the agendas. A member of the Parish Council
then visited the couple in Great Cambourne and asked them if they had removed
the minutes. They were in fact on holiday at the time so there was never
any question that they had.
There was a meeting of the
Parish Council in December with a new temporary clerk, Ted Bocking (I
understand the previous clerk had resigned).
It was discussed and
alledged that minutes had been removed, and their
solution was either to buy two new boards (the temporary clerk gave
details of the costs) or to reserve areas on the existing boards, exclusively
for their use. They decided to ask for areas to be reserved on a trial basis,
despite the fact that this had never been necessary in the past as formal
notices had always taken precendence.
Clearly they were taking
control, so the next day I emailed the clerk, the vice chair and chairman
asking for clarification of the new management arrangements. I also asked for a
letter of thanks to be sent to the two sets of residents for their previous
help.
I heard no more until a few
days after the Mad Monk article first appeared in late January (February
issue).
During the interview for
the clerks job I was asked how I had managed to interperate their
decision so wrongly. I was also quizzed at interview on what I thought about
the Megalomania
article and my involvement in its publication, I was able to say that I did not
know who was responsible.
I was also asked how it was
deemed that they had "taken over" the management of the Lancaster
Centre.
It had been agreed by all
that it was necessary for the Parish Council to take over the lease rather than
the two residents who had agreed to take this on before we had a Parish Council,
as it involved financial commitment should there be any problems.
The Parish council took up
my offer to continue taking bookings. When I asked about management they told
me that they had appointed a management committee from the Parish Council. I
was not invited to be part of this management committee.
I later asked about
invoicing and banking; they decided to take over the funds and place the
responsibility for invoicing in the hands of the paid temporary clerk. In
future all payments would be made to the Parish Council and the £4300 in the
Lancaster Centre bank account that the previous management team had opened
would be transferred to them and the account closed. I pointed out that it
was necessary to ring fence at least the £2000 start up grant from SCDC
which should go the Community Centre. (They have now agreed to ring fence
the whole amount).
During the few days that
followed I felt I was the subject of a witch hunt by emails from the temporary
clerk, asking me to explain everything again and with the request to apologise.
I copied to them all the
relevant emails confirming the sequence of events, quite expecting an apology.
None was forthcoming.
Needless to say, I did not
get the job. Neither did the other applicants it seems !
They are now advertising the job at an even higher salary !
Megalomania
A psychopathological
condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or
omnipotence.
An obsession with grandiose
or extravagant things or actions.
You decide
Roger Hume