Draft Forward Plan Mark 2

With the failure of the first Forward Plan, this long awaited revision is finally getting here. I was told back on 6th May 2009 by Councillor Gordon Thorpe that: "I believe that I have covered the major projects and objectives detailed in the Forward Plan which incidentally will be updated and released soon." Soon is so far 7 months and still counting.

Having read Draft Forward Plan MkII, I see many errors, some omissions and a few items I don't understand.

At the Town Council meeting on 6th January 2010, Cllr Julia Hayward was talking about the plan being "aspirations"(A definition: strong desire, longing, or aim; ambition). This is downgrading the Objectives and Projects. If these are Aspirations then these should be marked as such. Otherwise how are readers of this Forward Plan supposed to distinguish between an Aspiration or an Objective/Project. This is wrong!

Now there seems to be a problem over the period this plan covers. If the Plan had been produced back in May 2009 then it would have been a little late. Now in January 2010 it is too late for 2009/10. The plan should be looking ahead to 2010/11 and be integrated into the budget process.

Cover Page: 2009/11
Page 1: Forward Plan for 2009/10. So what is the plan period?
Page 5:
1. Community Centres -We will investigate possible provision of community centres in other areas of the town not already served. - If these are just aspirations how much can be investigated when there is no money?
2. New Cemetery - We will seek to develop a new cemetery by Autumn 2009. Well it is 2010 so why is this in the Forward Plan?
3. Grounds Maintenance - We will bring Grounds Maintenance completely in-house and provide a new depot to store the new machinery in the current financial year. I thought this was done in 2008/09. Does this mean there is another depot on the way with more new machinery?

Page 8 - Project Details
1.a The Eatons Community Centre. ....estimated completion Autumn 2009. But in Page 5 - 1 the aim of completion is Winter 2009. Two different dates?
1.b Eynesbury community Centre. This seems to be an aspiration. There is no money for this project, so is it really a project?
1.c Love's Farm Community Centre. ...However that sum (£350,000) will be insufficient to provide a suitable building. I feel this is wrong. £350,000 is the budget. Get on with it. 
2. New Cemetery- I do read a history of what has gone wrong. I don't see anything about a project!

Page 9 - Project Details
4. Allotments - Lots of history. The project seems to be about pursuing additional sites only in 2009/10. So not in 2010/11?
6. Festival - Again lots of history. The Council will organise and promote an enlarged Festival in 2009,... . So nothing new!
6a Christmas Lights - Again history.

Page 10 - Project details.
9. Additional Bus Shelters - Again history.
11. Priory Centre Refurbishments - Again history.

Page 11 - Project Details
12. Cinema - ...long been an aspiration. So this is not a project. So why is this in the project section?
13. The Council Constitution - Why is this a project? This something the Council should be doing. This is just filler!
14. Town Outdoor Swimming Pool - This is not a Town Council project. So why is this included. Filler!

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Much of what I have read in this Forward Plan Mark 2 is filler. When I take out all the filler and history there isn't much left. I also cannot find any explanation as to what happened to the previous Forward Plan.

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The Council's Budget. (Page 12). This is an outline for the 2009/10 Budget. This is now out of date because they have just passed a budget for 2010/11. The pie chart (Page 13) is an excellent graphic of how the budget is split up. Pages 14,15,16,17 and 18 continue on the budget theme but are all out of date!

Documents:
Forward Plan Mark II
First Forward Plan