I received a response from Rutland County Council, not surprised by the response but surprised they say the newspaper article is wrong especially when the same request is published again in this weeks Rutland Times.
Must be a coincidence I received the email very shortly after I had told the town clerk I had applied, He is a member of the Town Partnership, along with 3 other Town Councillors.
He is one of the reasons there will be no live music at this years Christmas late night shopping, after many years of assisting at the event unpaid the Clerk decided he no longer wishes to give his time. He said "last year he had to wait in the street until midnight for the removal of the trailer used by the band and Rutland Radio, when all the others had just gone home" he then said "I would prefer to just attend and enjoy the event".
The problem I now see is the event is becoming less of an event because people are unwilling to help and those who do want to help are turned away!
Published Rutland Times on Thursday 3 November 2011 17:00
A TOWN partnership is looking for new people to join its ranks.
Oakham Town Partnership hopes to recruit people of all ages and walks of life to join it and inject some new ideas into the town.
Chairman Vernon Moore, of Moore’s Estate Agents in High Street, Oakham, who joined four years ago and has been chairman for a year, said: “It is a commitment when you have a business and a family but everyone on the partnership is passionate about the town and the county and that is why we do it.
“We all feel strongly about what the experience of living in Rutland is like and it’s little things like the farmers’ markets that make the difference.”
The group is particularly keen to attract more young people.
Mr Moore said: “Most of us are in our 30s and 40s or older so it would be good to hear what young people think about events and decisions.
“There’s no denying it, new blood invigorates the partnership with new ideas and that is what we need.
“It is an opportunity to have an input rather than moan about what decisions are made.”
Oakham Town Partnership is currently looking at ways to improve the town centre.
The railway crossing in Melton Road is in the spotlight because new housing developments are likely to increase traffic passing through.
The partnership is in talks with council highways staff about ways to cut queues when the crossing barriers are down.
Mr Moore said: “We are discussing a number of methods that could solve the situation.
“One is forcing traffic to go up to the college to turn around to queue instead of waiting to turn right out of Cold Overton Road.
“Another is better signage for the bypass so that no-one just passes through the town.
“We would like to make the town centre more focused on pedestrians with wider footpaths and only short stay parking spaces.”
The annual general meeting, open to the general public, will be held on Monday at 6pm at Rutland County Council offices in Oakham.
The nomination forms can be downloaded from www.rutland.gov.uk/markettowns
From: PBailey@rutland.gov.uk
To: martinjbrookes@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2011 18:06:53 +0000
Subject: RE: Board Nomination Form
Dear Mr Brookes
Thank you for completing the nomination form to be a representative on Oakham Town Partnership (OTP).
As I understand it, OTP is looking for nominees for a couple of business representative positions which are subject to election at the OTP AGM on Monday evening (7 Nov 2011). At present, all four of the community representative positions on OTP are occupied on unexpired terms. Given this, my understanding is that the opportunity to become a community representative (on behalf ‘Residents’ in this instance) is unavailable at the current time.
I appreciate that you may have seen an article in the Rutland Mercury which stated that there are four vacancies on OTP and also did not specify that only nominations for business representatives are sought.
On behalf of OTP, I apologise for any inconvenience and I will relay this message to the Chairman of OTP.
Yours sincerely
Philip Bailey
Philip Bailey | Welland Market Towns Manager
Rutland County Council
Catmose, Oakham, Rutland LE15 6HP
t: 01572 720935 | m: 07717 361678 | e: pbailey@rutland.gov.uk
