Thank you and goodbye

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5 April 2025

This is my last blog.  Next week I will cancel my subscription for this blogsite and I assume at some point it will be taken down. 

I find it amazing that over the past four years thousands of people have read my blogs – blogs about one small parish council and its doings.  I find it amazing that I have had only one mild criticism and no nasty comments (apart from those from my fellow Hughenden parish councillors).   

And I have had a lot of messages of support which were greatly appreciated. 

THANK YOU VERY MUCH   

All I have to do now is report on a few loose ends, look at the councilors for the next four years and see what I have achieved (or not).

Loose ends

•      Last July, I objected to the Governance Statement and Accounts for Hughenden Parish Council for 2023/4 to the external auditor (see my blog of 15 February 2025).  The external auditor accepted my objection on 13 matters and asked HPC to respond.

The Council asked Louise Steele, its locum Clerk and director of the Local Government Resource Centre (LGRC), to prepare its response.  Her response was long and detailed and must have taken quite some time.

The external auditor then asked me to review that response and let the external auditor know of any factual inaccuracies.  That took me quite some time as much of HPC’s response was pure fiction.

HPC is now 4th in the queue for investigation.  The investigation might take up to 6 months.

So I am not holding my breath.

All I would add is that, during much of the 2023/4 financial year, Ms. Steele was HPC’s Proper Officer as locum Clerk.  She also provided her services to HPC under contract with the LGRC to support an inexperienced Proper Officer.   For most of the rest of 2023/4, the Proper Officer was a locum Clerk (Mr. Truppin) also under contract with LGRC.

So the taxpayer has paid a high price for the LGRC to advise the Council during 2023/4 for actions, or lack of them, to which I objected.  The taxpayer has also paid a high price for the LGRC to mark its own homework.

• I put three complaints to the Information Officer’s Office (ICO) about HPC’s refusal to provide me with information. 

I asked for copies of two playground reports and it took me 5 months to get them.   

I asked for copies of invoices for payments that Council was asked to approve in March 2024.  I received the invoices last week after the ICO instructed Council to review its refusal to provide them and Council asked Ms Steele to carry out that review.

It turns out some of the payments made have no invoices and some have no documentation at all.

I asked for information about staffing in January 2024.  I am told by the ICO that Ms Steele has sent the information but I haven’t received it yet.

The current staffing is on HPC’s website at Council Staff | Hughenden Parish Council.  There are seven members of staff (albeit most are part-time) for six councillors who meet once every two months,  More than enough, you might think, particularly when almost everything is outsourced.  

In all three cases, the Council has been issued with formal Decision Notices from the ICO saying the Council was breaching the law. 

In all three cases, the breach was due to Mr. Truppin’s repeated failure to provide the information, and his failure to comply with the law and advise the Council on its legal duties.  

So, again, the taxpayer paid a high price for Mr Truppin’s services which caused a breach in the law and now pays a high price for his employer to review his actions and rectify the position.

Councillors for the next four years.

Only six people applied to be a councillor on Hughenden Parish Council – the same people currently on the Council minus its current Chair, Stan Jones.

So, it looks as though residents have voted with their feet about joining the Council. 

As there weren’t enough candidates for the seats available, all the candidates have been elected, uncontested.

So, the councillors for next year are: -

Great Kingshill ward – Yvonne Wilding

Naphill and Walters Ash – Richard Wilding and Usha Prashar

Hughenden Valley – Simon Kearey

Widmer End – Gareth Cadwallader and Sam Thomas

HPC has a quorum of 5 councillors.  I just wonder whether HPC will make it to 2029.

Things will probably continue as before - no strategy, no priorities, no planning, no competence, no regard for the law, no regard for the cost - effective and prudent use of public money, no communication, no respect, no honesty and no integrity.

And everything outsourced to contractors and consultants.

Achievements (or not)

The objectives I set when I became a councillor (and my name) were deleted from HPC’s website within about 5 minutes of my resigning.  And I can’t find them in my past papers.  But, from memory, I think I failed on all of them.  

So I will leave you with a quote from a resident which I will cherish: -

“Very sorry to receive the news that you are resigning from the Hughenden Parish Council.  I have read and enjoyed your blogs over the years and it appears that the council has been running around like a lot of headless chickens for many years but your efforts over the years may have helped to stop them running completely amok.

Good luck for the future and relax and enjoy yourself.”

If I have helped stop the council running completely amok, that is good enough for me.

I’m off now to relax and enjoy myself.