Caerphilly Town Council have launched an online consultation for residents to have their say on how the council spends its budget.
The consultation breaks down what the town council spend money on and asks residents which services they feel are most important.
Cllr James Pritchard said: “I’m pleased that following months of discussion, members of Caerphilly Town Council have now agreed to consult residents on the future of the town council budget.
“I would encourage all residents to have their say whilst also encouraging all colleagues to properly listen to the views of residents, not just play lip service to them.”
The consultation can be completed on the town council’s website.
I really hope there is a good ‘takeup’ on this from the public. In times of austerity every penny of public money should be spent wisely and the views of the tax payer have a place in the process.
Until this consultation councillors only had their own local experience and the views of residents they met to help them. If the public use this consultation page it will give councillors a wider selection of public opinion as to how how the money is allocated. Currently tens of thousands of tax money is routed through the Town Council each year which funds events, charities, churches and voluntary groups. Have your say and comment on the web page.
Please inform me of the process?
My experience in the past is that consultation take ages (Caerphilly council previous had a consultation for spending last year) but the opinions from the public are filed away but not actually read. In other words, the consultation is for PR only.
Can you guarantee the officers with power to make decisions will read every single form to make a decision that is popular with the public?
This is nothing to do with the Borough council Dean, this is a Town Council initiative that relates to that council only. Officers of the borough will have no role to play whatsoever, all spending decisions are decided by elected members after, a sometimes lively, debate when a vote is taken. As an aside, I would dearly like all votes to be recorded so that the public could see who voted for what. So far the majority on the council has rejected this but the matter will be raised again in future.
All opinions expressed by the public should now be made available to the elected members. Public opinion has always played a part, as councillors do talk with voters, but I hope that a page dedicated to obtaining the views of the tax payer will be helpful in deciding on future spending.
I note Trefor Bond’s comment on the limitations of this consultation but it is early days yet and improvements will be made in the light of experience.
I understand it is for the Town Council, but my point was that other councils conduct consultations for PR only. Can we be assured the Town Council will take the public opinion seriously in its debate?
I will certainly take any view expressed on the webpage seriously, we are not spending our money we are spending other people’s.
I think councillors would find it difficult to justify expenditure on an item if nearly all respondents were against it or wished part of the spending to be allocated elsewhere.
This has never before been tried by the Town Council and we shall have to see how it develops. It may be that very few people will accept the invitation to take part, which would be a shame.
It is not intended as PR excercise but as a gauge of opinion in the Town Council area. I am sure that we will get comments on the pay of Chief Executives and so on that are nothing to do with the Town Council but be assured that this is an earnest attempt at finding out how people want money spent.
This has to be a step in the right direction in allowing residents who pay for these things to express a opinion on how they feel their money is being spent. I understand this has come about due to the direct intervention and a motion by labour Councillor Jamie Pritchard to seek the views of residents, enthusiastically supported by Councillor Richard Williams.and others.
Having looked at the survey, and attempted to complete it, I find it difficult to do so in an honest way, the questions are clear in that they relate to specific spending streams, but the choice of response is limited and gives an ambiguous indication of satisfaction or not of that particular expenditure, or, is it the spending stream one is indicating satisfaction with? or the amount of money spent on it?.. When collated, the result can show complete satisfaction with the Town Council`s actions in spending ratepayers money on each council spending stream which is highlighted in the survey, depending on how the people assessing it decide to interpret the responses. It is Ambiguous. But the principal of the Town Council consulting the public in this way is commendable.
I’ve just completed the survey. I must admit it wasn’t very extensive but it’s a start at least.
Acorns and oak trees and all that.
I am pleased that the Plaid Cymru led Caerphilly Town Council have decided to ask residents what they think of the way they use their budgets. I am also very positive that the findings will support the Council in all the Plaid Cymru inspired policies it follows in spending public money, I also notice that other parties Councillors have never critisised these spending plans, or put up any alternative ideas for spending.
On one point of information, the Council could not have done this sooner because they have only recently set up their web site. So, if this is a sign of how Plaid Cymru will continue to consult the residents of the town good for them. This example of consultation, being shown by Plaid Cymru, maybe the `foundation for power` they are maintaining in readiness for the Caerphilly Council Election in 2017, I agree with another comment on this item, Acorns and Oaks and all that..
I am not sure that the comment by Idris Vaughen is correct in fact or in it`s assertions. I understand this new introduction of democratic consultation with residents is down solely to opposition members of the Council. i.e. Labour, independent, and the UKIP member.
The next step the Council should consider consulting ( Residents) about is, the WIDER range of ways they spend their budget, i.e. the names of the organisations and the amount of grant they give to each recipient organisation. The names of recipients organisations who work in partnership with, other organisations, ( if there are any) who as a result may be awarded more than one grant on an overlapping basis. How much the Council spends of grants to organisation supporting various groups, i.e. Youngsters, children, older people (OAP`s) the Arts, Youth Clubs, sports activities, Quasi political groups (if there are any), disablitiy groups, health support groups, community facility development groups, etc
I have to say, from my experience of following the work of the Town Council that they consider very carefully all applications for public money grants, and, on the whole they follow a fairly consistant approach, however, I know the town Mayor has expressed the view that if there are inconsistancies in the way grants are made it is down to the fact that many groups entitled to grants do not apply, for instance they make very little or no financial contribution grants to aged person groups, because, in his words, “they dont apply”.
Perhaps if there was more exposure to the grants process on their website more qualifying groups would know they can apply for financial grants to promote their organisations.and therefore benfit from the work of the Caerphilly Town Council