Stoney Middleton representatives attend The District Council's Area Community Forum

5.18.34pm GMT Sat 11th Nov 2006

Six Stoney Middleton residents attended the District Council's Area Community Forum on Monday 6th November at Agricultural Business Centre, Bakewell. Cllr Judith Twigg chaired the meeting.

Presentations were made about the councils spending plans, the fire service, neighbourhood policing, road safety and speed limits. After these presentations, a public question and answer session followed which allowed the Stoney delegation to put questions to the panel of councillors and members of the council. The District Council stated that it was not involved with the proposed closure of our school but was happy to hear our views. A representative member of the education department had been invited to the forum but no-one could attend.

During the presentations about road speed limits, Michael Miller explained that the A623 an exceptionally busy road and unsuitable for young children to walk along to school. Councillors said they are duty bound to carry out a risk assessment on the road to assess the dangers.

Sue Bettney explained to the panel that over 9000 hand delivered letters to councillors had not been opened for over a week after they were delivered and that they were considered a security risk. She also asked what was the policy regarding opening letters from the public. The councillors present were horrified to hear this and said that they would check that our letters would be opened and distributed as promised on the Tuesday.

Lyn Holyoake informed the panel about the lack of consultation prior to the decision to recommend closure and that the governors had been instructed to inform parents by letter. She asked why had the governors not been consulted. Lyn also highlighted the inaccuracies in the report to cabinet which led to the decision to proceed.

Another question was posed about the heavily used A623 as had been noted earlier in the meeting. Photographs of traffic on this road were displayed in the meeting room and referred to.

Beth Ely expressed concern about the proposed council housing for Stoney Middleton which had not been built due to gazumping and asked what were the council's plans to build and subsequently house families when property becomes available. The councillors agreed that a survey has shown the need for more housing. Beth also pointed out the community used the school building for Parish Council meetings and all other village groups. There is no other facility in the village and the school is also the village evacuation centre.

As there was no representative from the education department it was difficult for the environmental services officer to answers questions in detail. However he did undertake to look into the question of our letters being left unopened.

The Stoney Middleton delegation was pleased to have the support expressed by individuals on the panel at the meeting and believe that it was good that the questions and concerns were raised at this public forum. There were also individual expressions of support from councillors after the meeting.

In a follow up phone call from Councillor Twigg the next day she thanked the Stoney Middleton representatives for their courtesy and the calm and reasoned manner in which they had expressed their concerns and put questions to the panel. There was all credit due to them for demonstrating their passion for their cause in this way.