Posted by Denis Moorhouse
on 1/10/2010, 8:42 am
82.69.114.193
The Parish Council’s Strategic Review Committee - yes, I know you’ve never heard of it, but it’s a Committee of the Parish Council with five or seven or eight members - no one seems quite sure - devoted to reviewing things strategically - is in process of deciding alternative venues for Parish Council meetings, and has come up with the idea of occasional meetings in Misterton Fire Station.
Despite its name, the Fire Station is actually in Walkeringham Parish, so holding a meeting there would be, so far as I know, the first to be held outside the Parish, and would set an interesting and exciting precedent with endless possibilities for future experiment.
Misterton could be the first village to have a peripatetic Parish Council, rotating its meetings through a galaxy of attractive venues. Beginning in a small way, perhaps, with the village halls of the five villages, and expanding into larger territories as the idea took hold - taking a daring step over the County Boundary, maybe into Haxey or Graizelound, for starters.
We are often told that younger people need to be interested in public matters, so how about a Treasure Hunt style meeting, with clues leading to a secret meeting place and a prize for the first car to make it into the car park?
Many promising locations, alas, would be disallowed. No hot-air balloon, for example, is big enough for a full meeting, so unfortunately that is not on, though the fuel costs would be negligible, as hot air comes easily to Parish Councils. And it is illegal to hold meetings on licensed premises, so there’s no chance of a stiff drink while the meeting sorts out the minutes of the last meeting or two, welcome though it would be. But there’s a wide choice of other attractive venues.
The Bus Museum at Sandtoft, or the Tram Museum at Crich, when transport is on the agenda; County Hall at West Bridgford when County matters are under discussion - this would save County Officers and Councillors from having to find out where Misterton is and which County it’s in; or the Pets’ cemetery at I-forget-where when the talk is of dog-muck, or the Front at Blackpool to compare their Christmas lights with ours.
And don’t forget the chances to make PC meetings into fun events - at Alton Towers, say, or Flamingo Park, or Clumber or even Chatsworth, if we’re feeling posh.
Our new-fashioned PC’s thinking may not be exactly joined-up, but it is at least outside the box. The last lot took ages to move their meetings away from the dismal old Village Hall, and only did it when they turned up for a midwinter meeting and found the heating hadn’t been turned on. The new men and women have only been there a month or two and already they are breaking new ground. All honour to them!
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