And they do all this for free?!

I went to the Council meeting last night, as a bit of moral support for Julie, who is a brand new councillor, and was putting forward the idea of Hay being a Fairtrade Town to the meeting.

I came away with huge respect for the councillors, and the work they do for the town. Gareth, the mayor, is brilliant! He kept the meeting moving briskly on (though it still ran over time because of all the stuff they had to get through), and he has saved the Council Offices for the town! The legal stuff still has to be sorted out, but he has an agreement with the County Council that the Town Council will take over the running costs of the building, pay a peppercorn rent to the County Council, and will be allowed to rent out office space to pay the bills. Gareth already has someone interested in the 'Back Room', a separate building that once was the nerve centre of Hay Festival, until they outgrew it. I remember going in there to buy tickets one year, and saw Stuart taking phone calls with a head set over his long dreadlocks - his friends were calling him D'Argo, after the character in Farscape, and I could see why.

Traffic management was a main topic of discussion, from boy racers and what to do about them to parking spots to the perennial problem of the turning from Broad Street over the bridge, between the Three Tuns and Black Swan Cottage. There's going to be a meeting with the Highways Department where they actually go round town and look at the problem areas.
CCTV cameras were also discussed. It seems I've been tucked up in bed when the real problems start, in the early hours of the morning, so maybe they are a necessary evil, after all. No-one was really enthusiastic about them, but no-one could think of another solution to the problem, either - and the CCTV camera at the Craft Centre cut vandalism almost to nothing when it was put in.

More cheerful topics were the disabled fishing platform, which has been well used, especially since a tree trunk washed up just beside it, which is a perfect seat. New Christmas lights are going to be bought, and Gareth asked the opinion of the four members of the public (including me) who had turned up to watch - combined with the best of the old lights, it's going to look really nice, and they'll have the cellar of the Council Offices to store them in now, as well. And everyone agreed that the Council newsletter had been a great success, which will be repeated before Christmas.

There were letters from members of the public and other official bodies to be read out. Lesley, the brand new clerk, was doing a sterling job - and she went away from the meeting with lots of letters and emails to reply to.
A city in Western Siberia wants to twin with Hay - someone local visited the city. Rob Golesworthy, who seemed very good at spotting what was really important, suggested that the council didn't reject the letter out of hand, because it could have benefits for the town, even though the twinning with Timbuktu was going ahead. The twinning with Le Redu, the book town in Belgium was brought up as a cautionary tale - which seems to have fizzled out. This was one of Richard Booth's bright ideas.
Mr Golesworthy was also very keen for an environmental study to go ahead in the gardens of the houses in Newport Street. There was a gas and coke works there once (and possibly naptha, too) and there has been a cluster of cancer cases which may possibly be linked to the old contamination of the soil.
Twinning (of any sort) was opposed by Nigel Birch, especially since the Timbuktu committee have asked for £200 towards putting on the celebration in October when the Timbuktu delegation come over. Sue, who is a councillor and on the Timbuktu committee, wasn't there at the meeting, so there was no-one to answer any objections, but the council voted to give the money, after they had checked that it was legal to do so (they have to be very careful about keeping within legal guidelines).

There was planning permission to look at for various properties around town, and an anonymous letter complaining that there wasn't enough affordable housing. One of the other letters was from one of the book sellers, complaining at length that he had recieved a parking ticket! There was an email from a visitor to Hay, too, complaining about the dog mess on the riverside path, and the lack of decent benches to sit on ("Ah," said Gareth, "another Council meeting, another discussion about dog mess.") And on the subject of benches, three just disappeared from the Cemetery - it turned out that they had been taken to Brecon because three benches had been vandalised there, without the County Council actually asking, or telling anyone, and we want them back. The County Council are also responsible for cutting the grass - about which there have been complaints - and cutting some hedges around town - ditto - and when are they going to move the pile of sand that's been blocking the railway line path since they put the disabled fishing platform in? The County Councillor wasn't at the meeting either, which was a pity. For the maintainance work that the Town Council is responsible for, they are looking around for a local handyman.