Gornal News & Goings On

NEWS

Increased Council influence for Gornal As exclusively hinted at (not much of a boast, but it doesn't get much better on the Yampy news desk) on our Goings On diary page last week (when we said: Post-election reshuffles may mean more influence for Gornal in Dudley politics, can't say any more but come along and make your point), Gornal Councillors David Stanley and Anne Millward have been made Chair and Deputy Chair respectively of the influential North Dudley Area Committee, which met last Tuesday night at Robert Street School. This change is due to the appointment of former Chairperson Charles Fraser MacNamara as Lead Member for Culture and Recreation. Cllr. Fraser MacNamara continues to appear on the Committee panel but it was felt that his continued presence as Chair had 'conflict of interest' potential. Cllr. Stanley will be in the hot seat for the next twelve months, and had a taxing first evening in charge due to the sheer number of agenda points, which resulted in a gruelling three hour session. In general he carried it off with some humour, although there was an unwelcome return to political point-scoring that dismayed many members of the public in the audience. During Cllr. Fraser MacNamara's tenureship no better compliment could be paid than that, with just one or two slight lapses over a dozen or so meetings, it was more or less impossible for the casual observer to tell which party he represented. It seems that the year to come is destined to be quite different. Very early on in the proceedings Paul Harris of Gornal Furniture shop Harris Home Furnishings raised the question of car parking, asking all Gornal Councillors to publicly state their position. The village has been neglected in this (and many other) areas over a number of years, and the local rumour is that vested interests may have played its part. The Chairperson gave the first opportunity to speak to his political rival Ken Finch. Ken veered onto party politics within a couple of sentences and was slapped down unmercilessly by Cllr. Stanley, who then gave himself the right to reply to the point Cllr. Finch hadn't made yet, in a rather un-chairmanlike way. In Cllr. Stanley's defence, there is some 'previous' here with Cllr. Finch, in that a few years ago the roles were reversed and Cllr. Finch was a similarly partisan Chairperson. So, just as a boxing referee sometimes allows a fighter who has been punched below the belt to get a bit of illegal retaliation in before calling a halt to it, we may grant the new Chair some initial leeway. However, Yampy hopes that all members of the Committee will come to realise that local people are completely turned off by councillors expending their energy on attacking each other. The fact that Gornal's own councillors are now Chair and Vice Chair is not the only cause for renewed optimism in the village. The political control of Gornal Ward, the North Dudley Area Committtee, and the full Dudley Council is now aligned. Anyone who has attended these meetings will appreciate that little can be achieved when one party (whether left or right) is in charge of the Area Committee and the other one rules the Council. This is because a proposal is either rejected at Area level and so does not even get escalated to the full Council, or it is passed by the Area Committee but the controlling party on the Council ensure that the minority view of their political colleagues on the Area Committee is reinstated. It sounds world weary and cynical, but it is unfortunately true. There will be a special meeting of the Area Committee in a couple of weeks time to discuss the specific issue of car parking - details will be publicised on the Yampy site.

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