Page 17 - Phonebox Magazine October 2006

numbers of Councillors should be changed, or whether the Parish should be split into Wards. Olney Town Council will recommend leaving its area as is.
Olney Healthcheck
David Coles reported that the Healthcheck community meeting held at the United Reform Church was absolutely full and that there is now a list of people who wish to be involved and take the process further. The next meeting, which will have been held by the time this report is published, aimed to split the people into working groups. He explained that the Healthcheck was a forum in which all were welcome, and it was not a Council project.
Dave Price believed that transport would be an issue, both from the point of view of the increased traffic on the High Street and of Milton Keynes Council appearing to shy away from having an integrated transport structure.
August meetings
Deidre Bethune explained that, a few years ago, the Council had voted not to have a full
meeting in August. This was appropriate at the time but now, particularly with the various problems discussed during this meeting, people in Olney would want to know that their Council was available and working for them. The Council agreed unanimously to reinstate the August meeting.
Mercury liked this: two months is a long time to forgo the pleasure of sitting listening to a Council meeting for two hours of a Monday evening.
Section 136
The Section 136 Withdrawal Action Group (SWAG) – consisting of Olney and other Councils financially disadvantaged by the change – has received an update from the District Auditor who has been considering the legality of the decision to end Section 136 (S136).
The three main points he’s been investigating were discussed in detail in the report of June’s Council meeting, contained in the July 2006 Phonebox Magazine. A letter now received by he Council summarises his provisional findings.
Briefly, it appeared to him that:
a the full implications of the likely financial impact to the individual Councils were not explained in advance of the Cabinet decision to withdraw S136;
a the full implications were not explained to Cabinet members in the Cabinet report of 7th October and the minutes of that meeting do not mention the differential impact on Parishes;
a MKC did not give notice to the Parish Councils and so, in his view, were in default of the arrangement by mid- November 2003 when it did not supply the provisional cost estimates.
The District Auditor’s final report should be available by 30th September. d
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Phonebox Magazine 17
The next meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Monday 2nd October in the Council Chamber in the Olney Centre.
Members of the public are always welcome to attend and, if they wish, speak at the start of the meeting.