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00222: Democracy - St Nicholas Referendum No2

From: "Bernard Clayson" <bernard-clayson(at)shuartfarm.fsnet.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 8 May 2005 15:24:29 +0100
Subject: Democracy - St Nicholas Referendum No2

Dear all,

Having just done the second Public-run Village Referendum in eight weeks, I am back looking for some more international support i.e. another Catch-22 like the first one.
The first referendum was a District Council political issue, this one is a County Council bureaucrat issue.
I have no wish to attack an officer who is doing a good job in difficult circumstances, but a push in the right direction will/may assist him out of a set way of thinking.

http://www.planet-thanet.fsnet.co.uk/referendum_index.htm

The route to democracy is a long, difficult, yet often an amusing set of co-incidences.
The first referendum came about by the frustration of a political-appointee's frustration in achieving anything with the many boards and organisations he is chairman of.
The second referendum came about due to a church warden failing to get any action going about a church related issue i.e. the footpath.
A consequence of me delivering a reminder notice to all the residents, had one notice laying on the kitchen table when the district conservation officer made a visit on another topic, he saw the notice and asked how to get in contact with the organiser because he had some interesting information for me.
By the time I had got back home to receive his telephone call, he had but a stop order on the county officer due to them not doing a Listed Building Consenton the footpaths adjacent to listed buildings.

So, I have -
  • an influential, but frustrated, political-appointee,
  • the church,
  • district planning officers,
  • the ex-chairman of the parish council (who resigned in frustration of 'watching paint dry' i.e. bureaucratic restrictions),
  • plus an increasing number of the public, 
on the same wave-length of using referendums, I now need to get a 'bit' of pressure on the county officer.

Using your own words, could you email the leader of the county council and congratulate him, and his officers, in supporting the public decision in the St Nicholas Village Referendum, and being so forward thinking in accepting the alternatives the public have suggested.

The leader (Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart sirsandy(at)kent.gov.uk ) does not know about the referendum, but he will ask questions, which is what I need to raise the profile of the referendum.

Thank you in anticipation, and could you send a blind-copy of your emails to
referendum(at)planet-thanet.fsnet.co.uk

p.s. -
1. I am not wasting time with the newspapers, the reporters fit things in to what they know/understand, they do not get up from their desks to find-out/understand something new.
2. If this works, I will be doing the third referendum in the very near future.

Regards
Bernard

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