And now St Neots Town Council is found out...

I was down at the Town Centre and I thought I would look at what is on at the Town Council. I find there is a meeting of the Town Council on 30th September 2010 from the Agenda posted on the noticeboard. From the Agenda I also found out was there were meetings of both the Operations and Amenities Committee and the Finance and General Purposes Committee on 2nd September 2010. There was also a Personnel Committee meeting held on 9th September 2010. So why was none of these on their website?

With the Council Offices closed, I walked over to the Library. I asked to if they had Town Council minutes and agendas as I couldn't find a section. I found the a section of Priorities Magazines going back years. I also found the Forward Plan - Version 1. I was told by two different librarians that they "hadn't seen the Town Council for years". This made me think of what I was told by Grant Thornton about the Forward Plan version 3.

Well the Town Council lied about the library. I couldn't find version 3 in the various sections. The Minerals Plan - Yes. Town Council Forward Plan version 1 - Yes. The Town Council Forward Plan Version 2 or 3 -NO.

The Library staff informed me that all the minutes/agendas are online at the Town Council website. They have been misinformed.

As ever, this Town Council can put the agendas and minutes up for the joke of a planning committee but can't do the same for the other committees that actually take decisions that mean something.

How can the Town Council be open, transparent and accountable if it just keeps what it is doing effectively secret. This is just bad Government! Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative are in a Coalition on the national stage. I would have thought both parties policies on openness, transparency and accountability would have filtered down to the lower levels. Obviously hasn't.

Forward Plan Version 1 but no version 3

Priorities magazines going back years