Community Council - comments & representation?

[Grunk]

admin: this thread has been split from the .

Does the CC have any authority?

What do they do exactly? are they a conduit to form a fair and objective representation of the entire Portobello Community without bias towards personal feeling or the sway of a small vocal minority?

Do I need to write to someone to make it known that not everyone is opposed to the hovercraft? will it make any diffference if I do?

[seanie]

They don't have any authority as such but they are statutory consultees and so frequently express opinions on a range of things, from local and national government consultations, through to planning policies and individual planning applications.

The statutory duty of a Community Council is to represent the broad spectrum of opinion and interests of their community. To that end the opinions and views of individual Community Councillors are secondary. We're supposed to communicate the views of the community over our own interests.

In reality it's very difficult to ascertain what the community's views are on each and every topic that comes up so you really have to rely on the membership of a Community Council being reasonably representative of their community or, alternatively, very aware that they might not be representative and so need to be careful when expressing their views.

If you are in favour of the hovercraft you'd probably be best submitting such a comment to the Planning application, although you could still contac the PCC to make your views known.

[Maria]

Feel free to write to express your views Grunk or even better, attend the monthly meetings and put your views in person. They are held on the last Monday of the month at 7.30 pm in the Baptist Church Hall (behind The Portobello Bar on the High Street) and are open to all.

At the last meeting, the point was made that many in Portobello were in favour of the hovercraft crossing and my understanding of the meeting was that the CC would be stating general support of the application, while also expressing concern regarding some of the detail. As the hovercraft application lies outwith the boundary of Portobello Community council , they are not statutory consultees for this particular issue.

[wangi]

[wangi]

[seanie]

[Maria]

[wangi]

[seanie]

In fairness, the PCC is aware of the need for better communication and I think we will be looking at ways to engage more directly with the wider community. But the statutory duty of Community Councils is actually pretty difficult to fulfill to the letter.

To genuinely ascertain, coordinate and reflect the views of the community, given the number of issues that come up, you'd need a near continuous stream of surveys, questionaires, public meetings etc. Not only do CCs not have the time or resources for that but most straightforward methods of gathering such information are prone to bias.

Who's going to go to the trouble to e-mail the CC to say 'I've just read about such and such a proposal in the Evening News. I just wanted to let you know that I'm not really fussed either way"?

I'll admit that a couple of dozen people meeting once a month in a church hall isn't an ideal way of divining the broad spectrum of opinion in a community of over 12,000 people. But adding the voices of a couple of dozen people who contribute to a local internet forum won't change that a whole lot.

Personally I think we need to be a more ambitious about how we can engage the community and genuinely reflect their wishes. I've been working on some ideas but they're not quite ready yet.

[Maria]

[wangi]

[Porty]

[seanie]

[Porty]

[Pal of Porty]

[Maria]

[Porty]

I'm not sure either. What happened at the January meeting is somewhat irrelevant to the decision to object in november, which was taken on the basis of an anonymous and unseen objections (to the vast majority of the council) from just three out of 12,000 residents.

As a serving community councillor; how do you feel this fits with the Guidance Notes for Community Councils and the Code of Conduct for Community Councillors? The crux of which is Consultation prior to representation, making sure both sides of the story are heard. ensuring the wide range of community views are expressed and community councils should "rarely be involved in householder applications."?

[seanie]

[Bob Jefferson]

[Porty]

[seanie]

[seanie]

[seanie]

[Porty]

[seanie]

[allaboardtheskylark]

[allaboardtheskylark]

[allaboardtheskylark]

[Porty]

[Porty]

[seanie]

[Porty]

[seanie]

[Porty]

[wangi]