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Simon Knoyle
Please excuse the rather blunt and longpost!!
Glynneath Town Council are getting some bad press at the minute for a few things which I really want (as Chair) to defend.
The latest item concerning some of the CCTV cameras not working is yet another item that GTC are genuinely trying to get right but because of the influence of others it is not getting done.
Because of the Clerks resignation last week, we are now looking for our 7th Town Clerk in 4 years and this is the Primary reason that we are struggling to sort out things such as the CCTV cameras!
Elected Cllrs are able to drive things forward like we are trying to do with the Welfare Park Transformation Project and the New Visitor / Entrance and Kitchen within the Town Hall BUT it needs the Clerk to do the formal / legal parts of all this and Cllrs are not allowed to do this.
Our Clerks are dealing with an awful lot of things which stop and hamper their efforts and abilities to get things done which will move Glynneath forward.
For example: Did you know that recently there were four (4) Freedom of Information requests sent into the Clerk from four different people but all with exactly the same wording contained within them.
The FOI’s were requesting to know if, when and by whom the authority was given by GTC for residents to erect brackets on the poles at the rear of the Tennis Courts in order to hang Hanging Baskets from them.
All four were exactly the same!!
Now FOI’s are things which require them to be answered following a strict process, all of which takes time to respond to, the Clerk would have had to trawl through historical information / minutes in order to find the information requested and to write back to each person who requested the information and they need to be replied to within 20 working days.
The four FOI’s were responded to and because one of the residents did not like the reply, they complained to the ICO (Body that looks after FOI’s). Because of this, our Clerk had to undertake a more detailed report and response which needed to be sent to the ICO again within a time limit, and they would send that back to the complainant. This was done and the ICO sent the further information across and the complainant did not even have the decency to reply and the complaint was thrown out. A complete waste of time!
I’m not sure if any of you agree with me but the requesting of this information by 4 separate residents seems a tad “over the top” to me for this particular item!!
This is just one of the reasons why the current Clerk has resigned.
We will never be able to move forward while there are residents of Glynneath who are continually wanting to drag the Council down, bringing up past historical issues which have no real impact on where we are today.
Now we have seen this week that the FB page - Glynneath News & Views who were set up many years ago I believe, to help residents of Glynneath, to advertise local businesses, groups and organisations have seemingly sided with some residents who have concerns about the Residential Development on Heol y Glyn.
The Admins of N&V believe that residents need to know what’s going on with the land and I 100% agree but, the N&V page is only allowing posts on this subject from 1 person / side of the argument and blocking posts and members who dont agree.
The Admins of N&V also think that your local County Cllrs - Cllr Del Morgan and myself have gone missing and not responding on this subject which is quite wrong, I was even asked a question at the Rugby Club last Saturday evening and because the person did not like what I had to say, he told me to “F** Off”!!, I didnt like that this was said to me in public and asked him to apologise for that but proceeded to tell me to “get lost”!!
Anyway, trying to move things forward I really want us ALL to come together for the greater good of Glynneath, we have seen political issues became less prominent and like the election of Mike Pugh, he has been elected on this front, someone not afraid to say what he wants to say and has no political beliefs but stood in order to try and help Glynneath and the wonderful people that live here.
I wonder if we can all come together and if we want answers to questions that we do it properly and correctly, scrutinising decisions where necessary and appropriate.
Not looking back and blaming others but looking to see where and
how everyone can help Glynneath for the better of EVERYONE.
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