News

The Pigeon watches and wonders

Isn’t it warming to know that the Parish Council is there?

The web pages of the Hawkinge Partnership give a detailed answer to all those who ask:

What do they do? and what are they for?

And the answer ...

The services available are given freely by its members' time and include all the normal things, planning, highways, traffic, community safety, housing, street lighting, allotments, cemeteries, playing fields, community centres (plural), litter, War Memorials and the list goes on.

The councillors are ‘Always pleased to hear from you on the variety of matters including the above’, it is stated.

It continues, the Parish Council (PC) is here to improve your quality of life and to enhance your local environment.

Well, would you believe it? Doesn’t the district council and county council do most of that?

The PC is a talking shop. It is one of many groups who are consulted on matters affecting the area. The decisions are made higher up the chain by qualified officers and district and county councillors, or central government, as policy.

That’s called democracy.

We all agree with, or disagree with each other’s views in a long chain of consultations before those at the top make their decision which will probably be as it was in the first place.

One question is though:

How do the PC know the views of the majority before making their suggestions within consultation on, for example, housing?

Someone will no doubt dream up an answer under the “How do they do that?’ heading.

The PC “ is there to improve your quality of life’. That’s nice to know.

Do they really believe that?

The quality of life’ factor for most people is managing to survive at a civilised level whilst bearing higher living costs and lower incomes with many paying one third of their earnings on a mortgage.

The total attendance at the monthly PC meetings are normally in single figures. Few then are concerned with the ‘good’ being done for, or to them, it seems.

The real option of doing good would be to get rid of the many layers of those wanting to do us ‘good’.

It maybe that the total cost of all these layers of talkers, if pruned a little, may result in savings that would be of huge benefit.

It's those being done ‘good’ for who are paying for it,  as we are, for the millions the Hawkinge Partnership is costing.

It all comes from tax in one form or another and it's probable that most would prefer not to have their money taken from them to pay for their betterment, rather be left alone to provide for their own choice of how their money is spent in their own pursuit of betterment.

The figures are there to see. The combined cost of the many layers of bureaucracy if reduced would lead to much more money in your pocket and if pigs could fly they would make more mess than from a single Pigeon.


The Pigeon