New Councillor Chris Harper thinking of dropping councillor surgeries....

The posting below has just appeared on Councillor Chris Harpers facebook social networking page.  Understanding that Chris is a newbie first time Councillor for Peterborough Stanground East - which includes Park Farm - and he will naturally seek to canvas the views of his older established  'fellow councillors'. We are very unhappy that he has so quickly after being elected already taking the view that the councillor surgeries are possibly a waste of time and money and may be dropped on the grounds of cost.

It also has to be said that he has added a couple of committees to his workload and that would impact on the time he has for Stanground & Park Farm Residents

Clearly if the surgeries are widely advertised, held on a regular basis, then they are attended and of value. Many older people don't have twitter or facebook, cannot afford computers and if it involves paperwork or forms of any kind, (eviction notices, legal papers, domestic violence for example?)  then clearly a cross table face to face meeting is required whatever the cost.   We have given the link to the direct.gov. uk website which clearly states what is expected of your local councillor. We would suggest that Chris uses Stanground Library where the hire charge won't break the bank or uses the small office at Stanground or Southfields Community Centre.  



Cllr. Chris Harper: "I'd like to canvas opinion on councillor surgeries. Having spoken to fellow councillors it appears that attendance at many surgeries is poor if not zero on many occasions. Bearing this in mind and being mindful that the hire of rooms does incur costs, I'm uncomfortable with wasting tax payers money on surgeries and my time if no one is likely to turn up but want to be available to everyone in the ward."

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/UKgovernment/Localgovernment/DG_073312

This is what they say on the Government Website 


Contact your local councillor
If you want to discuss any issues with your local councillor, you can contact them via your local authority or attend the councillor's advice surgery. Advice surgeries are available for local people to ask for help or advice, make a complaint or enquire about local authority services.

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Chris York who is championing Stanground writes:

I want to respond to Cllr Harpers FACEBOOK post,

Firstly, Councillors are paid with taxpayers money to represent us fairly across the board.



Secondly, the expense allowance is paid to cover costs of surgeries, newsletters, they cannot simply rely on the web.

Also, no councillor will get involved in other ward issues. Chris MUST hold regular surgeries and listen to all the people and not just those who elected him.

The CLF fund is there for the use of the ward, community groups etc, I will get the criteria from PCC website and quote it word for word, bit like the pool issue really.

Traffic issues are highways, also CLF funding is NOT for that purpose

If needs be I'll hold a bloody surgery every quarter to get peoples views to present to council, I want true responsible representation from my councillor, regardless of which political party they represent.

We want benches by the river, more dog bins, money for the youth booth, pensioners luncheon club might be good too and also monies towards setting up a Park Farm Residents Association and WI etc etc.

Donations to pre schools that serve the area in order to allow them to put on educational trips, half the money normally goes to Heritage Park School which I personally do not agree with

Kind regards

Chris York

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