Council Meeting - Coming to the End of a Very Long Evening!

My notes started to peter out by this stage in the evening - and I felt sorry for Gareth, who had to wait until about 10.30pm to present his County Councillor's report! By that stage, he just wanted to make it very short, but he did make it clear that there have been meetings he should have been present at, but was not invited to, and other meetings that he took time off work to attend that had been cancelled with nobody informing him.

Other matters that came up included the impending closure of the Nat West bank. It seems that, although they want to close the bank, they still want to have an office in Hay where bank officials can meet customers, and one suggestion was that there is an office free in the Council Chambers - or there's a lovely building in Oxford Road they could use if they wanted....

Now that Hay Council is responsible for the Sports Pavilion, they have to be aware of things like the need to test for Legionella in the hot water supply - apparently they have to ensure that the water is hot enough for the legionella not to form. They will be seeking advice on the best way to do this.

The new school will have no caretaker, and there is no provision for one in the budget, so the school will have to find other ways of dealing with maintenance issues, for instance if there are problems with boilers or the electrical supply.

Several years ago now, Hay Council ended up taking over the budget for a Two Towns, One World project, funded by the EU, and although they finished the project, the EU department concerned is still not happy with the paperwork that was provided, so they are sending someone over from Brussels to look at the records.

There was some discussion over whether Steve Like should have some sort of recognition for serving on the Town Council for 40 years, now that he has retired from that. There was an objection to this proposal, on the grounds that councillors choose to serve, and eventually they decided on sending a letter of thanks. They also mentioned that Gareth Ratcliffe had served on the Council for 17 years.

The Bowls Club have asked for financial help to build their new club house, though initially the Council understood that they had the means to do it all themselves. They are being referred to the Recycling Fund.

Chris Davies, our MP, has sent an invitation to councillors to come on a tour of the House of Commons, which is very nice, but would need some organisation for transport and staying over and so forth.

There was a question about having a charging point for electric vehicles in Hay, as more are coming onto the roads. This is already part of the Town Plan.

And there was a display of disbelief that the County Council have asked all the Town Councils in Powys to provide details of the local businesses in their areas. Since they collect business rates from all the businesses, surely they already know this?

There has been some concern that it is illegal for the Town Council to meet in the Swan, because it is a place where alcohol is served. Of course, no alcohol was present during the council meeting - nobody even sent out for a cup of coffee. But as soon as the meeting was over, just before 11pm, one or two councillors were seen heading off to see if the bar was still open!

The next Council meeting will be on Monday 2nd October at 7pm - hopefully there will be less business to get through!