Bits and Bobs

The notice board at the Jubilee Gardens is looking very faded with the photographs bleached out by the sun.  Some of the plants have died, although some of them were dead shortly after they were put in, although they probably had a bit of help with a tug here and there. Also put in by people who knew little about gardening other than emptying a pot into the ground.  I reckon she is going to be a high maintenance lady.

The seat at the side of the railway bridge on Station Street has been broken.  Is this a casualty of large Stobart type vehicles not getting under the bridge and having to turn round in a limited space.  One of these days we will have a bit of trouble there.

The notice board  on Marsh Lane has virtually nothing on it relating to the Parish Council, no past minutes no future agenda.  Are the rest of the same?

All going quiet on the Victoria Institute, wonder what their next move will be.  I'll say one thing about this little pantomime, war makes strange bedfellows.

Election Result

Well we have our result.  Not a big turnout but I suppose not to be expected, although the turnout at Beckingham was 30.7%.

Anyway good luck to the new chap, he's going to need it because according to what you hear, you need your tin hat around that table.  Some of the participants are not very friendly and a bit scary. Let's see if he can liven and stir things up.

The Old School House

I see this building is now going up for auction with a guide price of £75,000.  Three bedroom, two reception etc.  Also a lot work and expense to bring it up to scratch.  Having said that, if it is done properly it will be a nice family house.  It certainly makes the bungalow across the road look relatively cheap at £125,000.  At least you could live in that one while you renovated, and it has a garage and back garden plus doorstep access to the village shops without dragging your car out.

It does however, leave the Victoria Institute looking a decidedly poor relative when it is eventually sold, as common sense must dictate.  The thing that really annoys me about this building is where were all these 'friends' when the building was vacated and vandalised 10 years ago.  Not a whimper from any of them.  Spending money then might have been a viable option, if only to put the more responsible billiard players back in control.  Now they ask for our support on a project that is doomed to failure.  Too much money needed for something that will have no real purpose other than to gobble up cash.  Already a grant of £10,000 has been spent for a feasibility study.  A complete waste of money in my opinion and to commit more to this project will be folly.

Still no news on the election results yet.

Cast your Vote - Thursday 20th June

We have a chance to vote for a Parish Council member.  You might think it doesn't mean much, but when you think that there is a budget of  £50,000 plus a year involved, plus what's left in the bank, to me it is  very important.  Without pointing any finger, Misterton does not seem as proactive as it used to be, nearly not worth getting the Epworth Bells for the bit of print that Misterton  takes up.  So, we have a chance to add a bit of spice to the proceedings, water down the non combatants so to speak and vote for a proactive individual.

A leaflet on each candidate has been distributed around the village, so we can look at their CVs and see how they relate to what we want in our village.  One apparently thinks his feet are already under the Parish Council table and there are a few inaccuracies that might get him into trouble with Bassetlaw.

Personally, I've looked at  the evidence and know where my vote is going, I want someone who doesn't stand up and talks about it but gets on with it.

Anyway, as they say, what will be will be.  

Interesting

Someone obviously wants to keep me up to date with the goings on in Misterton.  I had an email this morning about a meeting that took place last night.

Apparently a large number of parish council members (but not all) and others, were seen going into the home of another council member on Hillsyde Avenue.  What for, no idea really, but it seems very odd.  I have heard of these little meetings before where it was thought they carved up what they were going to do at the next PC meeting so they were all singing from the same hymn sheet, to the detriment of those outside the group.  Very undemocratic.

More Building?

Some of you may have received a leaflet giving details of a new proposed development facing Grove Wood Road and Gravelholes.  Why some received them and others didn't I don't know.  I didn't so I only know what people have told me.  I suspect it is a regurgitation of the plan put forward some years ago.

Two football pitches, new surgery.  Did it mention houses, no idea.  Why two football pitches when the one on Marsh Lane has only just got football started again after a number of years (prior to that the pitch had been used by a visiting club).  New surgery, well our local surgery has already expanded and while they are still one permanent doctor down, I hardly think they will be investing elsewhere.  Why are  they being so altruistic, well I suspect  that more houses is on the main agenda.

We have the Langley site where there must be 70 houses coming and I suspect the only reason they haven't built them already is that they can't sell them.  There are houses planned at the side of the vets and the houses being built  behind the Fire Station, which comes under Walkeringham.  Infilling all over the village in some form, do we really need more houses?

This is prime agricultural land and building on it will create greater drainage problems than we have already, not to mention the overall impact on the infrastructure of the village.  Misterton has already filled its housing quota for some years so Bassetlaw cannot  pass this plan without approval of the majority of residents.This piece of ground is also outside the village envelope for residential building.   Do we really need another housing estate near to what is a very nice side entrance into the village.  May be I'm wrong, may be there will be no houses.

This is purely my view but others may think very differently. 

How long is a piece of elastic

Following the comment about maintenance of the garden, I heard another little titbit today relating to the Jubilee Garden and I hope they don't mind me passing it on.

Brian as you may know is the groundsman for the Parish Council.  He litter picks the playing field daily, clears the glass and bottles left lying around  and clears the graffiti away (probably on a  daily basis) and then goes on to litter pick the rest of the village. He works 10 hours a week so he is quite busy and active considering his age.

Apparently this wasn't good enough, they wanted him to weed the Jubilee Garden as well and when he told them it wasn't his job and he didn't have the time with the other jobs, they had the cheek to ask him into the Misterton Centre for a Disciplinary hearing, conducted by the clerk.  I also have it on good authority that they produced a picture of a weed to show him.  Now if they had got a decent membrane down on the garden, they wouldn't have needed to weed for a long time.  Instead they got some cheap stuff that hasn't lasted five minutes.  All fur coat and no knickers springs to mind.

Finally to add insult to injury, the clerk, an employee of the council, did the interview, not the Chairman of the Council.  Well there is a copy of their Disciplinary Procedure on the website and informal or formal it is the responsibility of the Chairman to conduct interviews. 

Getting back to the garden, I suggest that them that designed it get down on their knees once a week and weed it or spend the extra cash and get a better membrane and leave Brian alone and give him a pay rise when they have that Strategic Review Committee meeting.

Guest Writer

As former Clerk to Misterton Parish Council I thought I'd put out an update re the 2009/10 multi-anonymous and forged letter attacks on the former administration whose term of office ended in 2010.  The attacks began with the illicit use of confidential Bassetlaw Standards Committee information, but then widened.

Several of us targeted have plugged away to get at the truth - the main reason being that some of the letters falsely and maliciously suggested financial impropriety on our part.  Personally I wasn't too pleased about the forged letter, used by a certain individual to cause me problems in my employment.  And then, of course, the whole thing was an attempt to undermine democracy.

It's not been easy because we've had no co-operation from the very people you'd think would want to help.  Bassetlaw District Council spent £10,450 on two inconclusive investigations, but, other than telling us what we already know, have refused to tell us anything, and are protected from publication under the Freedom of Information Act.  They won't even apologise for the misuse of their confidential information.  They refuse to meet me to discuss our evidence.  Likewise, the Clerk to Misterton Parish Council refuses to meet me, and has recently said that all emails from me will be directed to Trash if I persist in writing about the attacks.  Misterton members say they don't know anything about the attacks, and they refuse to discuss them.  We thought we might be getting somewhere on one occasion, but the conditions laid down made it impossible.

We've paid for professional, forensic analysis of certain anonymous letter envelopes and have received reports saying that, on a balance of probabilities, two identified individuals wrote them.  But we really want to identify the writers of the letters.  If anyone out there knows anything, please give me a ring on 01709 813360.

David Wright

Mixed feelings

Co-op Corner prior to changes

I have to say I have mixed feelings about this.  Great that the old bank building is gone but I do miss the nice grassed down piece, which suited our village perfectly.  Yes, it wanted a face lift now that more space was available but what we got was not suitable for a village like ours, not to mention the extortionate cost.  Also for some reason we were never asked what we wanted.  They ask us about the Victoria Institute and want to know our views on the War Memorial, but when it came to Co-op corner, they just went ahead and spent.  Anyway water under the Jubilee Garden bridge now.

Got a picture of the new garden, then send it to me.