Local  Government structure.

I do not believe that we need both county and district councils.  We should move to two unitary authorities and scrap the county and district councils.  Once the costs of reorganisation were met there would be considerable savings in administration on top of the savings in staff and bought in services and supplies.  For example, there would be far fewer councillors needed than in the existing four district councils and the county council, probably saving upwards of £500,000 per annum.   However, it would be essential for the unitary authorities to be more representative of the electorate than at present.  This would require legislation to establish a system of proportional representation to elect councillors.

The lower tier of local government also needs reforming so that parish and town councils can take on more responsibilities, if they are willing and able, either directly or as delegated by and paid for by the unitary authority.   Examples are:  upkeep of pavements and footpaths, youth services, tourist information, and sports facilities.   Some parish boundaries should be reviewed so that where there is a continuous built-up area across parish boundaries, the whole of the built–up area is in one parish such as the southern end of Penn joining up with Beaconsfield.

Finance

The average annual revenue support grant from central government to local government will fall in the next few years by about 28% but may be even greater for the relatively wealthier councils such as in Bucks.  This will impose a real strain on their finances; services will be cut and staff made redundant. In addition to the announced pay freeze for local government employees earning more than £21,000p.a., I suggest that pay scales over that figure should, for two years initially, be reduced on a sliding scale from 5% at the bottom to 15% at the top.  This would help to keep key services going rather than having to cut services and staff through more extensive redundancies. Voluntary Job sharing and short time working would also help to reduce costs but retain skills, and fewer employees would find themselves unemployed with a much reduced income.

Secondary Schools

Selective secondary education, though popular amongst middle class parents, is more expensive than comprehensive education and single sex selective schooling is even more expensive.   Single sex schools should start taking pupils of the other sex and selective schools should start taking all ability pupils.  Parents should pay the travel costs of sending their children beyond the nearest secondary school. The money saved by these policy changes should be retained within the education budgets.

NOTE that the Soapbox section is designed to allow individuals to air their personal views.  They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Association.

Beginnings
The origins of the Association go back more than half a century. In 1956 a Holtspur resident  Patrick Freeman, discovered a plan to develop a vast area of land between Holtspur Top Lane and the railway line. He alerted fellow residents, who formed an ad hoc committee to oppose the plan.

They established a fund to hire legal representation at the Public Inquiry on the proposal, and the scheme was eventually thrown out. The area has remained as green fields to this day.

Such was our beginning.

Ratepayers’ Association

Only four years later, a proposal came up to reassess all the houses in the area for rating purposes. Had it gone ahead this would have been to the detriment of residents. A public meeting was called  at which the HOLTSPUR RATEPAYERS’ ASSOCIATION was formed. Pat Freeman was its first Chairman. The campaign took the form of mass individual appeals. Many, although not all, were upheld, The residents had developed a taste for action.

Over the next few years, the Association successfully fought off many other threats to the local environment, such as the erection of electric pylons across the Holtspur, but the group remained unofficial.

Independent candidates

By 1964, however, members felt that it was time to nominate candidates for the Beaconsfield Urban District Council  the local authority at the time.

An initial venture in 1964 was unsuccessful, but a year later the town was divided into three wards. West Ward covered the Holtspur area. Two independent candidates were elected to represent it.

In subsequent years more independent members were elected. Some came from other wards in Beaconsfield, and were supported by small groups of residents.

The Beaconsfield Ratepayers’ Association

1970 brought a new threat to the whole town − the development of gravel pits on the land south of the M40. The Association changed its focus, and its name, to THE BEACONSFIELD RATEPAYERS’ ASSOCIATION. It swiftly formed an Action Committee to oppose the development.

With help from other environmentally concerned groups (including both Labour and Liberal parties, although the Conservatives refrained) the scheme was successfully opposed − for a while.

Sadly, however, the County Council’s Mineral Subjects Plan allowed the development to go ahead at a later date. A survey had shown that mineral deposits were plentiful in other parts of the county, but it was South Bucks that ’bore the greatest exploitation’.

Town and District Councillors

In 1974, under Local Government reorganisation, Urban District Councils were disbanded. Some of their functions were transferred to County Councils and others to the newly formed District Councils. At the same time, Beaconsfield Town Council was formed, with limited powers. It was based in the existing Town Hall.

Elections for the District Council took place in 1973, a year before its official formation, and the Association sponsored two Independent candidates for the West Ward. They won against opposition from all three mainstream political parties..

As time went by, Independent candidates stood for election in all three town wards. Ratepayer-sponsored Independent candidates won seats on all three councils, including two elections for the County Council. There were successes and failures − good times and bad.

Beaconsfield Independent Electors’ Association

In the early 1990s, when the rating system was abolished (later to be replaced by the Council Tax), the name of the Association changed yet again. As its main activity was now to support aspiring Independent councillors, the name was changed to THE BEACONSFIELD INDEPENDENT ELECTORS’ ASSOCIATION

Our Association is not the only one of its kind. There are similar groups under

different names in Denham, Burnham and other parts of the county − and country. Like us, they support individuals of integrity and ability whose loyalties are simply to their community.

Your part in our future

So we come to the present day. Our Association is still a fighting vehicle on behalf of local voices. It offers a positive response to the general disillusionment in political parties, especially when they come to roost in local councils.

Our Association offers an alternative. That alternative is to have local government by men and women answerable only to the community, in a council chamber where decisions are made openly by rational debate.

Draft AGM Mins 2010b

.The first invitation was to attend the AGM of the Trefoil Guild and to meet ladies who had been Girl Guides in their younger days but still enjoyed a long association with the Guiding movement. It reminded us of the days when my wife was a Sea Ranger and I was a Boy Scout.  Later I attended the AGM of the 4^th Beaconsfield Scout Group and my wife went to the Guides Thinking Day Service.

The first of the civic events outside Beaconsfield was in June, this was the reception and regatta at the invitation of the Mayor of Marlow – a sunny day with lots of excitement on the river.  The following day we attended the Civic Service at St Mary’s Church, Amersham. A week later we took part in the twinning weekend in Beaconsfield with visitors from our twin town of Langres.  Guests and hosts went to Marlow, a reception in the Town Hall and a supper and performance of Midsummer Night’s Dream at Hall Barn. We also went on a canal trip and attended a  beautiful sung evensong service in Windsor Chapel.

It is the pratice for the  new Mayor to become an honorary Member of the Beaconsfield Rotary Club so I began by attending the inauguration of our Town Clerk, Margaret Mathie, as the President of that club.

In July I went  to  the National Film and Television School to meet Prince Edward who came to see the new extension.   Later that month I was accompanied by the Deputy Mayor and his wife, Ken and Sue Brown, to Langres where we joined in the 14th July festivities and were made very welcome. The Mayors of Langres and  the three towns twinned with Langres (Beaconsfield, Abbiatograsso and Elwangen) lined up to cut two ribbons depicting France and the European Union. This was the official opening of  the festivities followed by firing of mediaeval muskets and a magnificent firework display in the evening.

An interesting experience was to witness the shooting of a scene from an episode of Midsomer Murders in the Old Court House, Windsor End. One of the rooms was turned into a mortuary where an actor had to pretend to be a corpse whilst John Nettles discussed his murder with the mortician!        Although I have never ridden a motor bike, I was delighted in early August to present awards to members of the Harley Davison Motor Cycle Club of West London who had their annual show at the Beaconsfield Sycob Football ground. .   The bikes were splendid in their size and appearance.

August Bank Holiday Monday was the day of the Beaconsfield Country Fayre and Stretcher Race  which were greatly enjoyed by spectators and participants alike.  Shortly after I was invited to cut the ribbon to open the second tier of the station car park, a much needed extra  parking facility for train commuters.  On 15 September my wife and I visited Mrs Margaret Cooke at her home on her 108^th birthday to the accompaniment of the RAF Band based in Uxbridge.  Next day I assisted at  the opening of the new Helen and Douglas House Hospice  charity shop.

Later in September we attended the Civic Service of the Mayor of Godmanchester who happens to be our eldest son, Graham!. He reciprocated by coming to my Civic Service  at the Jordans  Quaker Meeting House in October.

Together with Dominic Grieve, our M.P., we officially opened the new Woodland Trail in Malthhouse Square Playground  and congratulated the members of the Malthouse Square Playground Association who had raised over £30,000 to meet the cost.  In October I attended a showing of  ’Strictly Ballroom’ which was the first film of the new Film Society at the NFTS.  I am sure that this  society will be a very popular addition to the town’s cultural and social scene. We were invited to the first concert of The Beaconsfield Concerts season 2008/9  and we enjoyed listening to The Brodsky Quartet at the Beaconsfield High School.  In early November we had an  excellent Christmas Lunch as guests of ‘The Squirrels’ at the Masonic Lodge in the Old Town. This is an annual event greatly enjoyed by elderly persons from the locality; the Town Crier, Dick Smith, is the Master of Ceremony.

On Remembrance  Sunday I had the honour of laying a wreath on behalf of the Town Council  at the War Memorial in the Old Town along with representatives of other organizations.  Afterwards I was whisked away to attend the customary curry lunch at the Defence School of Languages as guest of the then Commanding Officer, Cdr Andrew Cropley.

Christmas celebrations were the theme of the following events  beginning with the Ian Rennie ‘Light up a Light’ ceremony in the churchyard of St Mary’s Church. A wonderful carol service  in  St Mary’s Church was presented by the girls of High March School. Next came the annual Festival of Lights  when the Town Crier and I  led a long procession of school children, parents, teachers, a band and street entertainers from Hughes garage to the Town Hall Green where carols were led by Rev. John Wynburne. The streets were lined with stalls and fair attractions  and many shops and businesses stayed open dispensing refreshments to all and sundry.  My wife and I attended the Chesham Town Service of Lessons and Carols in the parish church.  Christmas events were attended at the Curzon Centre for the Over 65 Club and the Thursday Club, and we went to another concert at St Mary’s Church in aid of Cancer Research UK.

In the New Year the regional chairman of the  Alzheimer’s Society  and I cut a ribbon to open the new Sunrise Senior Living Home in Station Road.

Parish and Town Councils throughout the country have been urged to prepare new Parish Plans and to involve their communities as much as possible in their preparation.  In Beaconsfield we held a consultation meeting on 29 January at the Fitzwilliams Centre and I was pleased to welcome over 60 persons who enthusiastically discussed the future of Beaconsfield.  In February, there was a public speaking competition for local school pupils at the Beaconsfield School organized by the Beaconsfield Rotary Club.  All the teams presented their topics in a very interesting and thoughtful manner.

Throughout the year I or my Deputy, Ken Brown, have been to several young people’s events:  4^th Beaconsfield Scout Group at Butlers Court School, Fun Day with the HOPE project at St Mary’s School, St Thomas’s Church Community Week at Holtspur recreation ground, football match between the Police and a team of Holtspur youth,  Positive Activities, a young persons celebration event at the Beacon Centre,  South Bucks Celebration of Youth Participation at the Curzon Centre, and the South Bucks Youth Fair at Stoke Poges.   All these events illustrate the opportunities that exist for young people to express themselves in a constructive way but emphasise the need for more youth workers to ensure all  young people who wish can get involved.

On 3 April my wife and I were delighted to welcome guests to the Beaconsfield Civic Reception. The numbers present were just within the legal maximum for the Council Chamber !   We went to St Mary’s Church on Easter Sunday to hear Rev John Wynburne conduct his last service at that church and were moved by the joy and sadness of the occasion.  I attended the official opening of Universal Care’s training centre  in the Old Town  and met a group of new  recruits who were embarking on a most worthwhile career as care workers for people in their own homes.

The  annual Town Meeting took place on 23 April when residents and representatives from various organizations came into the Council Chamber to receive a report from the Mayor and to  raise issues for town councillors  to consider.

The last civic service which we attended was that of the Mayor of High Wycombe on 26 April when the Mayor’s party processed from the Mayor’s office to the Union Baptist Church behind the mace bearer carrying a magnificent gold mace made in the 17^th century.  This was followed a few days later  with  an informal reception given by the Chairman of the Wycombe District Council to mark the end of his year in office..

My year in office ended when I passed the Mayoral  chain  to Ken Brown, at the Town Council meeting   on 7 May. I wish him a very happy year as the Mayor of Beaconsfield

In 2007 I was elected District Councillor to represent Beaconsfield at the South Bucks District Council where I am now a member of the Planning Committee after serving as a member of the Licensing Committee and the Environment Committee. I believe the connection between Town and District is very important especially as the Town Council is closer to the communities of Beaconsfield but many decisions affecting it are taken at District level.

The Beaconsfield Independent Electors Association and their members have always been there to give me their advice and support and it has been very much appreciated. The Association is a truly independent organization; despite it having to register as a political party so that it can have the status of being allowed to have its logo on the electoral voting papers for recognition purposes. The organisation is there to assist people who wish to become involved in local politics without the influence of major political parties. Such independence allows members to follow their own beliefs supporting and proposing policies that are close to the hearts of their communities. I am a firm believer that local town councillors should be guided by the community and not by a political party.

Asked about his year as Mayor, Henry said he had very much enjoyed his duties as Mayor, particularly his contact with the many organisations and activities that make Beaconsfield the vibrant place it is.  He describes his year in an article in the Archives -My year as mayor- under Commentary

He did, however, express regret at one thing; the lack of commitment exhibited by some Councillors.  He explains this below.

Attendance Record of Councillors at main meetings 2008/9

The Town Council consists of 16 councillors and during 2008-9 there were nine Conservatives and seven Independents. The council year started in May 2008 with the meeting of all 16 councillors to elect the new Mayor and Deputy Mayor for the coming year and to appoint members to the main committees, sub-committees and working groups and to outside bodies.  All 16 councillors elected  to serve on the Finance and General Works Committee but only 14 chose to serve on the Planning Committee because the other two had planning responsibilities at the District Council and wished to avoid conflicts of interest.

Records are kept of councillors’ attendance at town Council meetings and of the Finance and General Works committee.  Two of the Conservative councillors had leave of absence for six months because of medical problems but happily are now able to resume most of their council duties.  There were 12 meetings of the Town Council and 11 meetings of the Finance & General Works Committee.

Excluding those councillors on leave of absence, the overall attendance was 75% of which the seven Conservative councillors averaged 65% and the seven Independents averaged 84%.   Of those councillors who had an attendance record in excess of 90%, two were Conservatives and three were Independents.  The three councillors who attended less than 50% were all Conservatives: indeed one only attended 22% of the meetings (i.e. four Town Council and one Finance and General Works committees).

Whilst the personal circumstances of councillors are their own affair, it does seem reasonable for electors to expect that individuals whom they have elected to serve their community as town councillors should fully participate in the business of the council by attending most of its meetings. Democracy is not served otherwise.

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The full minutes and talk can be found by pressing on mins below.

mins-2009b

To view the Newsletter, click on link below.  (Note that it contains 2.5 mb)

Newsletter 2009

The death occurred shortly before Christmas 2007 of Archie Legg, a man who made a huge contribution to the community of Beaconsfield.

He was a Town Councillor in Beaconsfield for many years, serving as an Independent.  He was the Town Mayor in 2005/6 and in November 2007 was named as Beaconsfield’s Citizen of the year.  The local press described him as a Beaconsfield stalwart and quoted the citation: “Archie more than deserves this award, because when he sees a problem or is approached with issues, he does everything he can to make sure that something happens”.  Archie spent a lot of time and effort trying to help others, always prepared to take things on.  He grappled many times with the bureaucracies of local government on behalf of others; in fact one sometimes felt he relished the battles he had and derived satisfaction from pressing the levers of power and getting things done.

It was not just into Town Council matters that he put his talents.  He was a very active member of the Beaconsfield Lions Club, twice being President.  Archie’s fingerprints can be found on almost all the initiatives that the Lions Club has made in the past 15 years.  There are literally dozens of charities that have benefited from Archie’s activities in the Lions Club: the Air Ambulance, Scan appeal, our local hospices, the Donkey Derby, local schools and many others.  Archie was also an active member of the Beaconsfield Old Town Residents Association, the Old Town Probus Club, a sailing Club…the list of his involvement in the community is vast.

Archie was a very strong character: forthright, tenacious, determined, an achiever and a leader.  He was a man of ideas and initiative.  He had a fine sense of humour and was a generous man.  I don’t know the full extent of his generosity, but I could name half a dozen charities that have benefited considerably from Archie’s energy and personal support.  Archie remained very active throughout his life.  Even a couple of weeks before his death, when not able to get around, he was sending his input to meetings of the Town Council and the Beaconsfield Lions Club, and no doubt other bodies with which he was concerned.

Moving on to Archie’s achievements: as you would expect, a man of his calibre achieved much in life.  From his professional career as a civil engineer, there are many monuments visible today to his talent for getting things done.  The Union Bank of Switzerland in Broadgate; The Brent Cross Shopping Centre and the building known as The Ark, on the M4 going into London are to name but a few.

Archie’s death will leave an empty void in the many organisations in which he was engaged.  However, we should be grateful for all he has done.

Tom Aspinall, Beaconsfield Lions Club.