11th May 2022
WEST BLETCHLEY PARISH COUNCIL SHOWS DISRESPECT TO OUR POLICE AND PUTS RESIDENTS AT RISK
I am Chairman of Thames Valley Police Community Forum. As such I was obliged to deal with your council’s misconduct. However, I sending this communication on a personal level to council members, I am doing so as a resident of West Bletchley since 1971. I would invite you to act as an individual person representing the community and not to act under instructions from the corporate body of West Bletchley Council as you consider what I am about to say.
The last meeting of Thames Valley Police Community Forum took place on Friday 22nd April 2022 where the actions, failures and disrespect of West Bletchley Council became apparent.
FAILURES ONE AND TWO:
Our community policing team gave West Bletchley Council posters to display on its parish notice boards. When It became apparent this had not taken place I e-mailed the council to remind them of the need to publicise the event. My e-mail did not receive the favour of a reply and the notices were not put on display.
FAILURE THREE:
The community policing team booked and had confirmed accommodation for the meeting at the Frank Moran Centre operated by West Bletchley Council. This over the years has become the venue for meetings. However, when those attending the meeting arrived they found the building locked. Nobody arrived with a key to open the door and honour the booking. Fortunately I was able, at short notice, to secure alternative accommodation.
It could be considered the above happened by way of incompetence on the part of West Bletchley Council but in my experience this is not something I have ever experienced within the council’s administration team. Perhaps on this occasion such was the fact but I can not help but wonder if there was something more sinister afoot.
FAILURE FOUR:
Not a single member of West Bletchley Council attended the meeting. You are one such failure ! Please do not attempt to excuse your failure by saying you were unaware of the meeting taking place, the council was advised of such by our community policing officers.
I trust you read my feature STAB CITY in the media. I was able to provide insight for the feature drawing on my past work with teenagers and vulnerable adults. Since the article there have been many more serious incidents both within the West Bletchley and wider areas.
As a local parish councillor you have a responsibility to support our police and community yet you on an individual basis and as a member of the council have failed so to do.
In the run up to recent local elections I was angered to see candidates using knife crime within their election propaganda. Such made it clear they did not comprehend the situation. ADDITIONAL POLICING has to be good thing but it is not the answer. Those who comprehend what is behind knife crime will be aware of that said by Thames Valley’s Police and Crime Commissioner.
I have made the Police and Crime Commissioner aware of the failings within West Bletchley Council and such are now held on file.
FAILURE FIVE:
Those attending the meeting were made aware that West Bletchley Council had withdrawn funding for Crimewave Solution cameras and had done so without proper consultation with the police. In so doing you and your fellow council members have put our community at risk and removed a significant took from community policing.
As you will be aware I was a member of West Bletchley Council for eighteen months and acting on a request from Thames Valley Police was responsible for the installation of the cameras.
During my tenure as a West Bletchley Councillor I was the ONLY member who put in 100% attendance at meetings and was the ONLY member who attended all organised training sessions. I resigned when Milton Keynes labour party hijacked a motion of love I put to the council to support, recognise and honour key workers during the pandemic. When a minority of members refused to associate themselves with this political hijacking they were verbally attacked by a member of the council.
Immediately before the meeting there was a Zoom meeting where the Head of Legal at Milton Keynes Council expressed the importance and legal requirement for every councillor to declare interests. When a vote was taken on the amendment to my motion of love not a single member of Milton Keynes labour party honoured their legal obligation to declare such interest and the chairman failed to remind them of such. Given the dishonourable way in which West Bletchley Council conducted itself I considered the only honourable course of action I could take was to resign. In my opinion as a resident of fifty-one years West Bletchley Council has acted without honour and respect, will you do as I did and act honourably by resigning in protest against this matter.
Now having reminded you of these circumstances I would return to West Bletchley Council’s refusal to fund the Crimewave Solution cameras.
· These cameras are a vital tool in the hands of community policing officers and their removal without question has put residents of West Bletchley at risk.
· The failure to fund the cameras was undertaken without proper reference to the police and without crime statistics being taken into consideration.
· West Bletchley is now one of only a few parishes within Milton Keynes not operating Crimewave Solution cameras.
Crime within West Bletchley is significant and there has recently been a very serious incident – I TRUST YOU ARE AWARE OF SUCH ! There has not, thankfully, been a murder. YET !. Prior to the pandemic I did support a West Bletchley resident who had been threatened with a knife. Organised criminal gangs selling drugs across West Bletchley is of much concern. The action of such gangs is now supported by West Bletchley Council removing the camera tool from the police. Hopefully, we will not see a murder nor another serious knife crime within West Bletchley but if such happens I trust that you as an individual council member and West Bletchley Council as a corporate body will take share of the responsibility.
Discussing your failure within the community I have received considerable support. I have made Ian Stewart MP’s office aware of the above but protocol forbids his speaking out. I have given the information to Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner and such is now held on file.
I am placing this communication into the public domain so all residents can form their own opinion in regard to what has happened. I am here inviting you as an individual person to respond, to respond as an individual and not as someone taking orders from the council. PLEASE THINK FOR YOURSELF. Your response will be placed in the public domain for residents to be aware of. I will also place in the public domain the names of all West Bletchley Council members who do not respond within a reasonable time. This communication is dated Wednesday 18th May 2022, I consider seven days a reasonable time within which such a response should be forthcoming.
As I was preparing this document I looked at the attendance record of council members at meetings and was utterly horrified at what I found. Looking at your attendance figures it is not hard to comprehend the attitude and failure of West Bletchley Council. These statistics are below.
I
await hearing from you.
Sincerely
David J B Ashford
Author and Community Activist
WEST BLETCHLEY COUNCIL MEMBERS – CURRENT YEAR ATTENDANCE RATES as recorded on the council’s website.
Geraldine Halder – Abbey’s Ward - 77%
Kit Power – Abbey’s Ward - 20% !
Zarak Dorsett-Morgan Abbeys Ward 100%
Christian Drugo Abbeys Ward 100%
Matthew Burn – Castles Ward- 63%
Sue Long – Castles Ward - 62%
Gladstone McKenzie – Castles Ward 63%
Wagas Ahmed – Church Green Ward – 67%
Jim Kearon – Church Green Ward – 90%
Nabeel Nazir – Church Green Ward – 60%
Paul Harvey – Counties Ward – 85%
Nigel Long – Counties Ward – 86%
Sheri Defalni – Fairways
Ward – 42% !
Derek Hircock – Fairways Ward – 83%
Ian Layded – Fairways Ward – 78%
Michael Donald – Poets Ward – 92%
Paul Moore – Poets Ward – 75%
James Butson – Racecourses Ward – 67%
Elaine Wales – Racecourses Ward – 81%
Veronica Belcher – Rivers Ward – 88% *
Ray Brady – Rivers Ward – 76%
Naomi Sinclair –
Rivers Ward – 42% !
Andy Coaton – Saints
Ward – 50% !
Ernie Thomas – Saints Ward – 89% *
Ken Rowe – Scots
Ward – 33% !
Felicity Cockbain – Scots Ward – 79%
Barbra Moore – Scots Ward – 79%
Veronica Belcher and Ernie Thomas have their attendance calculated against ONLY full council meetings and not, as they are chair and vice-chair of the council, including any committee meetings. Even so both have failed to put in 100% attendance.
During the time I served on West Bletchley Council I was the ONLY member to put in 100% attendance. As you can see from the above just two councillors within the present membership match my record.
If you are prepared to accept a lower figure of 90% as being an acceptable attendance level only two councillors have achieved such. FIVE achieve 50% or less attendance with one putting in only 20%.
I reside in Rivers Ward where during the past twelve months not a single member of the council representing the ward has made any contact at all with residents.
From the above figures an average attendance rate across all councillors is 71.37%. If a child in school put in a similar attendance his/her parents would likely be called to account for such with a possibility of action being taken against them. Is there an employee anywhere in the country who would accept such a poor level of attendance from a staff member ?
On a PERSONAL level I would celebrate the
attendance Zarak Dorsett-Morgan and
Christian Drugo. However, I would call for all members listed above in red to seriously consider their position and give an undertaking to immediately increase their commitment or to resign their membership. For those listed in RED BOLD: Kit Power, Sheri Defalni, Naomi Sinclair, Andy Coaton and Ken Rowe to IMMEDIATELY RESIGN from West Bletchley Council in order to make way for people who will offer a stronger commitment to our community.
Moving on now to the various committees operating within West Bletchley Council.
ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITTEE:
Chair Paul Harvey –
Counties Ward – 85%
Vice Chair Elaine Wales
– Racecourses Ward – 81%
Members:
Wagas Ahmed – Church Green Ward – 67%
James Butson – Racecourses Ward – 67%
Sheri Defalni –
Fairways Ward – 42% !
Michael Donald – Poets Ward – 92%
Zarak Dorsett-Morgan 100%
Geraldine Halder – Abbey’s Ward - 77%
Derek Hircock – Fairways Ward – 83%
Jim Kearon – Church Green Ward – 90%
Ian Layded – Fairways Ward – 78%
Gladstone McKenzie – Castles Ward 63%
Paul Moore – Poets Ward – 75%
Ken Rowe – Scots Ward – 33% !
14 members Average overall attendance 73.78%
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Chair Barbra Moore – Scots
Ward – 79%
Vice Chair Nigel Long –
Counties Ward – 86%
Members
Ray Brady – Rivers Ward – 76%
Felicity Cockbain – Scots Ward – 79%
Sheri Defalni –
Fairways Ward – 42% !
Zarak Dorsett-Morgan 100%
Christian Drugo Abbeys Ward 100%
Jim Kearon – Church Green Ward – 90%
Gladstone McKenzie – Castles Ward 63%
Paul Moore – Poets Ward – 75%
Nabeel Nazir – Church Green Ward – 60%
11 members Average overall attendance 77.27%
COMMUNITY COMMITTEE
Chair Felicity Cockbain –
Scots Ward – 79%
Vice Chair Sheri Defalni – Fairways Ward – 42% ! How is it
possible to have a vice chair who has such a poor overall attendance record ?
Members
Wagas Ahmed – Church Green Ward – 67%
Ray Brady – Rivers Ward – 76%
Zarak Dorsett-Morgan 100%
Christian Drugo Abbeys Ward 100%
Ian Layded – Fairways Ward – 78%
Sue Long – Castles Ward - 62%
Paul Moore – Poets Ward – 75%
Ken Rowe – Scots
Ward – 33% !
Naomi Sinclair – Rivers Ward – 42% !
11 members Average overall attendance 68.54%
SALDEN CHASE SUB-COMMITTEE (NOTE there are issues opening details for this committee within the council’s website. The URL lists it as parking sub-committee)
Chair Ernie Thomas –
Saints Ward – 89%
Vice Chair Andy Coaton – Saints Ward – 50% ! How is it possible to have a vice chair who
has such a poor overall attendance record ?
Members
Michael Donald – Poets Ward – 92%
Nigel Long – Counties Ward – 86%
Nabeel Nazir – Church Green Ward – 60%
Elaine Wales – Racecourses Ward – 81%
6 members Average overall attendance 76.33%
NOTES:
Not a single committee chair or vice-chair has an acceptable overall attendance record.
Community Committee vice chair Sheri Defalni has an overall attendance record of 42%
Salden Chase Sub-committee vice chair Andy Coaton has an overall attendance record of 50%
The following members of West Bletchley
Council do not serve on any committees:
Kit Power – Abbey’s Ward - 20%
Matthew Burn – Castles Ward- 63%
I would invite residents of West Bletchley to consider the above statistics and form their own unbiased opinions as to the relevance of West Bletchley Council within our community and the level of support given by individual councillors.
When this has been done I would ask residents to place their conclusions alongside West Bletchley Council’s failure to support our local police and in so doing have put the safety of the West Bletchley Community at risk.
D J B Ashford
A West Bletchley Resident since 1971
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