Further Resignations Must Surely Follow This

Clerks & Councils Direct is circulated to ALL local authorities and 9,500 Town, Parish and Community Councils in England and Wales.

This is their March 2007 edition.

Double-Click the picture to enlarge.

This publicity does nothing but bring Manorbier Community Council into disrepute. It must surely be the time for Cllr Wales and Cllr Neads to consider their positions and do the honourable - resign from Manorbier Community Council.

They have both been instumental in bringing this shame on the whole community of Manorbier.

It is time for them to face the reality that they are very poor decision makers and have cost every one of us a considerable amount of money.

Please turn off the light as you leave.

Western Mail Front Page Item

Manorbier Community Council is featured on the front page of todays Western Mail. To read the article in full, click here -

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_headline=council-farce--like-vicar-of-dibley-%26method=full%26objectid=18461106%26siteid=50082-name_page.html

Better still, buy the paper - the picture is perfect.

BBC News WebSite Story

Click here to see the original article on the BBC News Website -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/6253043.stm

or read the text of the article below -

'Scandal' of council legal fight

The council will meet on Tuesday to discuss its next moveA community council has spent £18,000 in legal fees - more than its annual income - unsuccessfully defending a court case over a £4,600 unpaid bill.
Manorbier Council in Pembrokeshire contested the fee from a local firm for a report on a survey of how residents wanted the community improved.
One councillor has branded the decision to fight the case "a scandal" and said it had cost each household about £40.
The council said it was considering appealing against the judge's ruling.
Haverfordwest-based ICT Marketing submitted a bill in 2005 for £4,600 for a report it produced based on a community survey.
At a meeting in November that year councillors voted to contest the bill, despite advice from their solicitor that they should look to negotiate a settlement.
The case came before Haverfordwest County Court last October and this week the judge found in favour of the marketing company.
Residents will pay the equivalent of in the region of £40 to £50 per household to cover the legal bill Councillor Martin Davies.
On top of the £18,000 the council has spent in legal fees in the past year it has now been ordered to pay the company the £4,600 plus £700 in interest.
Martin Davies, who was one of two councillors who voted against contesting the case, said: "The fact we have spent £18,000 on a bill that was £4,500 in the first place is absolutely scandalous.
"The precept [the money from the council tax which goes to the community council] for 2006/07 was set at £16,500 and we have spent in excess of that on one legal case.
"This means that the residents of this small rural community will pay the equivalent of in the region of £40 to £50 per household to cover the legal bill."
Among the council's regular outgoings are financial support towards maintaining the village hall and playing field and providing a community Christmas tree.
Councillor David Neads, on behalf of the community council, said at the time the decision was taken to fight the case members had a number of issues with the council's financial reports and procedures.
There are about 550 households in the community of Manorbier
"They therefore took a very cautious approach in dealing with the financial matters that came before them," he said.
"The council decided that they were unable to pay out public funds on this basis and felt obliged to defend the claim.
"This was a complicated matter resulting in the judge taking two days to hear the case and almost three months to reach a decision.
"The court's decision will be considered by the council at a public meeting on Tuesday.
"The council's barrister has advised that there are sufficient grounds for the council to make an appeal."
Debbie Garside of ICT Marketing claims the saga has damaged her business and reputation.
"It's not as if I have won anything - all that has happened is that I have been awarded the money that was due to me," she said.
"It really has been the most awful case.
She said she was considering whether to take the matter further and issue a claim for damages.

Deafening Silence

Manorbier Community Council lose their court case with ICT Marketing.

Surprisingly enough, the Council's blogging mouthpiece has been very quiet on the matter - obviously licking his masters wounds, from what will no doubt turn out to be a very severe beating.

Congratulations (with a hint of sarcasm) must be in order for certain members of Manorbier Community Council, who were instrumental in the defence of this claim.

Despite clear legal advice from the outset, from the Council's Solicitors (Lowless & Lowless), to settle the case before it went too far, two Manorbier Community Councillors in particular were hell bent on making sure the case was defended - and it now turns out to be - at considerable cost.

The total cost of defending this case has cost somewhere in the region of £20,000. That is besides the cost of the claim itself, which is almost £5,000. As stated in previous posts, this can only be described as catastrophic for such a small community council - for those who are not familiar with this matter, previous posts will enlighten you.

So, where are Manorbier Community Council now? What is the Council's next blundering move going to be?

Cllr Davies was challenged in a local public house over his role in this monumental disaster and as he is a serving member of Manorbier Community Council, was branded as being part of the problem. Clearly not so, you only have to look at official Council Minutes to see what his position has consistently been in all of this.

The comparison made to illustrate his position in this catastrophy was interesting - he compared Manorbier Community Council to an out of control bus. Some members of the Council were merely passengers on that bus, which was under the control of two incompetent drivers.

The bus has now crashed.

If there is any justice in this world, resignations must surely be forthcoming.

Night Time Firing

Manorbier Sam has an interesting statement in his last post, he says -

"......It was only when the issue of Night Firing arose and I became aware of the disgraceful conduct of certain councillors that I decided I should try to do something, which was why I set up this blog."

Would you like to explain which "certain councillors" were guilty of "disgraceful conduct"?
I presume from your statement that as these certain councillors did not share or support your views, that their conduct was therefore disgraceful. You put this point across in your last post -

"I suspect what you mean is if the Council do things you approve of that is proper, but if they do things you don't approve of that isn't proper.

A rather self-centred attitude don't you think?"

Well, Manorbier Sam - pot, kettle, black..! - people are entitled to their own opinions, because they may differ from yours doesn't necessarily make them wrong.

As far as Manorbier Taxpayer is concerned, I would again refer to Manorbier Sam's last post -

"The rest of your rant doesn't merit any response except to say that I feel a sense of sadness and shame that my village can harbour someone with your views!"

Manorbier may have issues and divisions in certain areas, but on the whole it is a nice community in which to live. When "outsiders" move into the community, they are generally accepted and most make a valuable contribution. Don't tar us all with the same brush.

Manorbier Tax Payer

I read with interest your comments about the Christmas Tree and the subsequent retort from Manorbier Sam. Don't worry about his opinion, he is only a mouthpiece who doesn't have the courage to be identified - the folks just call him yellow.

Some of your other posts have been read this evening also. I understand your interest in council expenditure and would encourage anyone living in the Community to take more interest in the way your Council Tax is being spent.

Don't forget, Councillors are elected into office by voters from within the Community. If you don't like or agree with what Manorbier Council is doing in your name, your course of action is to help vote other nominees into office at the next elections. Why anyone would want to become embroiled in it's petty politics is altogether another matter....

Manorbier Council has it's faults, but to address your Christmas Tree concerns, you deserve to know the current state of play as this is an issue being discussed by councillors today.

The Chairman - Councillor Tony Wales has asked for help from fellow councillors to erect the Christmas Tree. The arrangements for time and date are currently awaited. I am sure that just as soon as people are available, Tony Wales will make sure that the Christmas Tree is erected. As Council Chairman, I am sure that if there are any other readers with concerns about the Christmas Tree, or indeed any Community residents with an hour to spare to put it up, he would be happy to speak with you on - (01834) 871698.

Points For Manorbier Sam

Manorbier Sam's previous post is Black text - points to his post are in Red.

I see that Cllrs Davies and Cllr Calver have both rushed to publish their distorted, but strangely similar, versions of the December meeting of the Community Council.

(Of course they are similar - they were both present).
Let me put the record straight. I have spoken to 3 of the 5 councillors present when the meeting opened and to 1 member of the public, their account is a little different.

(How can you put the record straight when you make it sound as if you weren't even there? You must be basing your "facts" on third party information!)
The Chairman opened the meeting and announced that because Cllr Neads, the Proper Officer, was unable to attend the meeting he was asking councillors if one of them would volunteer to take the minutes. There were no volunteers so the Chairman had no option but to adjourn the meeting(it is a legal requirement that minutes are taken at council meetings).

(Technically speaking, he should not have opened the meeting in the first place - if there was no one to take the minutes, how can the fact that he has now adjourned it be recorded?)
Both Cllr Calver and Cllr Davies suggest in their posts that someone had something to hide.

(It certainly seemed orchestrated - vice-chairman Brian Coleman was quite sure he had no intention of being helpful).
If they were genuinely concerned that there was some dire plot underway they had a simple and effective way to forestall it. One of them could have offered to take the minutes but, strangely, they too declined to do so, I wonder why!

(As the vice-chairman and Chairman Wales had no intention of being helpful - why should any other member be placed in the position that neither of them would allow themselves to be placed?)
So I repeat the question I posed in the title of this blog.
Why didn't either Davis or Calver offer to take the minutes.

(See above).
If, as they seem to suggest, there is some guilt attached to not wanting to take the minutes of the meeting then it attaches equally to them. Perhaps they are the ones with something to hide! Think about it.

(In the not too distant past, there has been much done that shouldn't have been done. There are reasons amany for the Council to have something to hide. This debacle goes someway to show it).

For your blogs to be credible Manorbier Sam, you need to stop seeking information from third parties. Posting "facts" and "putting the record straight" from what others have relayed to you just makes you the messenger of other people's opinions and you are only being drip-fed one side - that obviously make you biased.

On another note, one of your latest posts states:

Finally, can I suggest that one of the reasons for the anonymity of the Manorbier blogs is Cllr Calver's propensity to threaten anyone who opposes or upsets him with legal action which, however unlikely to be carried through or succeed, does deterred some people. (Does this sound familiar to you Mr Editor?).

Interesting one this! If what you have to say is true and factually correct (but it cannot possibly be, because you are only a mouthpiece..) then you have nothing to fear. You continue to hide behind anonymity because you are yellow.

It is somewhat of a pity that I am not 100% sure of your identity, because I would most certainly like to reward you for all the entertainment that you have provided since March. Having another village idiot has proved such fun.

Something to hide...?

The needs of Manorbier residents are again dismissed by its Community Council, who failed to conduct it's monthly meeting last night.
Councillor Neads has not been in the Community very long, has been a councillor for a shorter period of time and has been acting Proper Officer only since Spring/Summer this year. However, in his absence, the Council collapses into disarray.
At the start of the meeting, Chairman Wales informed Councillors that Councillor Neads would not be attending the meeting due to being called away on an urgent matter. As he was the one who took the minutes, the meeting could not take place unless there was a volunteer to take his place. Such is the position within the council at the moment, it was suggested that Councillor Brian Coleman who is the current vice-chairman volunteer his services. He instantly declined to be of any assistance to the meeting. As Chairman Wales was not prepared to take the minutes either, the remaining Councillors were left somewhat bemused when Chairman Wales abruptly called a halt to the proceedings and without any further ado, adjourned the meeting until further notice.
Councillor Calver asked Chairman Wales when the meeting would reconvene, only to be told that the meeting would only now reconvene when it suited Councillor Neads. The Councillors have no idea when the December business can now be dealt with. This is a ridiculous position for the Council to find itself in - the Council unable to function because of the absence of one Councillor.
The issue that comes to mind here, is this - what was the Chairman scheming to hide from the Council and public? There is no real reason why the vice-chairman Councillor Brian Coleman should have refused so bluntly to help the Council. Under handed trickery has been mentioned in this blog before, the unanswered question to this debacle is - what are they trying to hide?
If Chairman Wales has nothing to hide then the clear position is this - the Council cannot function without Councillor Neads. If this is where the Council finds itself, then God help Manorbier.

Prophesy comes true....

I have not bothered to post anything here for months. Manorbier Council has the effect of stifling the most energetic. However, occasion has arisen for me to put finger to keyboard and write about the most talked about of Manorbier Council's issues. This may well be of some interest to all Council Tax payers in Manorbier, with a few interesting straight forward facts.
Back on November 16th, 2005, this blog wrote at length about the legal case which was at the time about to engulf the Council. Well, it now appears that the prophesy has materialised.
At the time, this blog was quoting figures of £3,000 here, £5,000 there and £11,000 somewhere else. Well let me put your minds at rest....
At a recent council meeting, Councillor Davies asked the Responsible Financial Officer - Councillor David Neads - to confirm the amount already paid out in legal fees to Lowless & Lowless Solicitors. He advised the amount was in the region of £7,000. Here comes the eye watering part of the story - there has just been another invoice just received from Lowless & Lowless for a sum in excess of £11,000.
For the math geniuses amongst us, that is about £18,000 - in legal fees alone - to date. The case is not finalised yet, so the Council can expect a further bill for costs.
Now then, if the final figure can be guessed at being say £20,000 for the legal fees, there is the issue of the claim itself, which, with interest and filing fees, is a few pounds either side of £5,000. The interesting part, is this - if the Council wins it's defence, it will have proved no contract existed and as the grant was paid out by the WDA to furnish payment for that contract, then the money will probably have to be returned to the WDA. If the Council loses it's case, then the £5,000 claimed by ICT Marketing will have to be paid to them.
Either way, we can expect Manorbier Community Council funds to be smashed to the tune of £25,000.
Let's put that into some kind of perspective - Stackpole Community Council spends about £1,500 (one thousand five hundred) per year running it's whole council. £25,000 would run Stackpole for almost 17 years.....
We know that there are roughly 550 dwelling in the Manorbier Community area, so on a per dwelling basis, Manorbier Council Tax payers will be footing this bill to the tune of roughly £50 each. That's right, £50 each to pay for a case that should never have gone to court in the first place. The advice from the Solicitors was to settle. On the 18th October 2006, a letter received from Lowless & Lowless was advising the Council to settle. The day before the case was due to enter it's second day, the Solicitor was still unhappy at the Council's prospect for a positive outcome. Still, the council refused to accept the advice of its Solicitors.
On 5th January 2006, it was proposed by Cllr Neads and seconded by Cllr Coleman to instruct the Solicitor to go down the route of Small Claims. All councillors present were in favour of this action except Cllr's Davies and Calver, who were against.
As a result of this decision of the council, it is now faced with having spent something in the region of £20,000 in legal fees alone.
For a small Community Council in rural West Wales, this can only be described as a catastrophy. It is plainly clear from these facts and what has gone on in the past 12 months that there is one Councillor in particular who has been the driving force behind this action and that is the Responsible Financial Officer - Cllr David Neads. If anyone would like to make a donation to soon to be set up "Save The Council Fund", please contact Cllr Neads on 01834 871261 with your pledge, or write to him at 2, Windy Ridge, Manorbier.
A Christmas card might be nice - he may not have very many this year from within the community. He stands to receive even less if he presses the Council to pursue Cllr Pat Griffiths for repayment of the £20,000 legal fees incurred by the Council as he has already intimated at a Council meeting. Another court case - another shocking round of legal fees.
The last prophesy wasn't too far wide of the mark, so watch this space.

Police Called To Council Meeting

At the meeting this evening of Manorbier Community Council, the local Police were called. Some would say heavy handed - was there a requirement for them to be called? Well, there are procedures laid down - were they followed? Or were the Police involved too quickly?
More to the point here though, not too sure what this was all about, but apparently the Council wanted to go into "confidential session". Are there things afoot that the Council should be open and transparent about, which perhaps they are not?
One can dare to speculate all one wants, but, as Mulder and Scully will tell you - "the truth is out there".