Two meetings in one night!
It’s been a quiet few weeks at Stone Town Council and we are now playing ‘catch up’! Last night I attended two sub committee meetings and shall be doing the same again tonight.
Our first meeting was the Environment committee chaired by Mark Hatton. We spent a lot of time discussing Crown Meadow. Last year we put in a wheel chair accessible footbridge over Scotch Brook, improved the footpaths around the river path and created the amphitheatre. We are anxious to continue the project and Mark was pleased to announce the completion this week of the resurfacing of the path across the meadow. This will provide a very pleasant direct walk across the meadow into town from Walton.
In addition we approved plans to create three wetland ’scrapes’ and the planting of native wildflowers, including fratillaries, in the Spring. Whilst it will take a few years to become established, I am in no doubt that Crown Meadow will soon become a real haven for wildlife. It’s very exciting.
Other items on the agenda incuded a reprint of the Doorstep Walks leaflets, dealing with a request to consider the felling of a sycamore tree on one of our allotments and agreeing to meet a local developer who has exppressed an interest in providing a piece of public art.
The second meeting was much shorter - thank goodness! The Management sub committee chaired by Lin Davies, dealt with three grant applications and then discussed International Relations i.e. twinning issues. Sadly there is a tormented history of issues relating to the Friendship Agreement that Stone signed with the Italian town of Bagnacavallo a few years ago. The work of a very committed and hardworking twinning committee has been sidelined by various personality conflicts between certain persons who have, at one time or other, been town councillors and members of the committee. It has now reached a point where I try to ensure that the Twinning Committee is left to deal with twinning issues (and I will give them my fullest support) and the Town Council simply attends to its civic responsibilities and courtesies. I hope that we can proceed on this basis but I fear there are too many bruised egos around ! And tonight one councillor very properly declared a personal interest. I am convinced there are at least another three who should do the same whenever twinning is discussed.
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