Council Meeting Part 2

One of the members of the public at the meeting was Mr Grafton, who lives down by the Glis/canoe landing stage. One of his neighbours has put a claim in to the land registry for ownership of a piece of land down there that they have been treating as their garden for years - at the same time as the Council has put in a claim for ownership of the rest of the Glis after all the work that has been done on it. He was there to complain about the Water Board, after the storm drain overflowed - again - and spread raw sewage about the place. He said that this has been a constant problem for 35 years, and the Water Board have not sorted it out yet. And why is sewage going into the river here anyway?
Another member of the public, who had come for the item about affordable housing, also knows a bit about water pollution, and she said that the Water Boards in the UK are the biggest polluters of the waterways. However, the Environment Board have the authority to do something about this, and they can be alerted to the problem now.

And then it was time to talk about Christmas! Planning has to start early. The Chamber of Commerce have taken over responsibility for the Christmas lights around town, but the old people's party needs to be arranged. Last year's party at the Swan was a great success, so they want to book it again, but first they need to find out who is eligible to be invited. In previous years, Community Support have been able to help with a list, but this time it looks as if a couple of councillors will have to sit down with a copy of the electoral roll and see if they can come up with a list of their own.

The Recycling Fund has been approached by the Bowling Club, which used to be supported by the County Council. Now they have been cast adrift, they have asked for money for a shed to store their equipment.

There is a vacant office in the Council Chambers which is now available to rent - and it seems that the Council Chambers needs to have a contract with the County Council in order to get their rubbish collected, which will cost £83 for 26 green sacks, plus free recycling.

A large document, with lots of maps, has been produced for the Affordable Housing scheme. One of the sites under consideration is the present Community Centre, where they reckon they can put 19 houses and a little community room. They need to think about this before the County Council make a decision about the land over the Town Council's head. There should be a copy of the Affordable Housing booklet in the Library shortly. The councillors also agreed that the document should be sent to the County Council and the National Parks as a statement of the wishes of the town to be considered during planning applications. A huge document was put together by United Hay some years ago, which should have been taken into consideration in that way, but which has been mostly ignored and is now out of date.

Meanwhile, in Timbuktu, elections have been held, after a fashion. A lot of people were unable to vote for various reasons, but at least the way is clear for international aid to enter the country now - and the people of Timbuktu now have an electricity supply for five hours a day. Schools have also re-opened, though some classes have between a hundred and a hundred and fifty children in them. The rains have failed, too, so the harvest will be poor.
The second co-ordinator for Two Towns, One World has left the project, but it seems that it will be completed on time after all (neither of the two co-ordinators seem to have been entirely satisfactory). Sandra Skinner of Hay2Timbuktu has got involved, and is working on the project on a consultancy basis, which was agreed to be better than having to give up on it and send the grant money back to the EU. The Timbuktu Trail around town is one part of the project which has been completed, but now the links with various local groups, and the educational projects, look as if they are going to be completed by December.
There was going to be a visit to Hay by Timbuktu teachers and midwives, but they are having enormous trouble with getting their visas, due in part to the Border Agency here being paranoid about them being economic refugees.
CDs of music to raise money for Timbuktu are now available at £3 each.