South Somerset Greens and Yeovil TUC use little-known clause to summon cuts meeting

By PRSD, on Monday, January 31, 2011

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Yeovil Town Meeting South Somerset Green Party and the District and Yeovil TUC have called at Town Meeting to discuss the cuts

South Somerset Green Party and District and Yeovil TUC have summoned a Town Meeting in Yeovil using a little-known provision of the Local Government Act 1972, that allows six or more local electors to require the town council to hold a public meeting to consult the whole town. They have asked for a meeting to be held by mid-February.

The motion says:

We the undersigned, by virtue of the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, request and require Yeovil Town Council to advertise and convene a Town Meeting to discuss the following motion from us.

This meeting of the people of Yeovil condemns the cuts to services being made by Somerset County Council and the Coalition Government. Among them will be the loss of Police Community Support Officers, the closure of more than half of the county’s libraries and four recycling centres being shut. Bus services are likely to be halved. Arts funding is facing a 100 per cent cut, and the youth service is losing £3m per year. All of these will bring job losses and damage the local economy.

This meeting strongly urges Somerset County Council to reconsider.

We ask the town council to convene such a meeting by mid-February.

Ben Hartshorn, party contact for South Somerset Green Party, told the PRSD: “The draconian nature of the national and local cuts has shocked us all. Libraries are social lifelines for many and the county council is now planning to cut hours at all the libraries that remain open, including Yeovil.

“Young people are being hit hardest. Youth services are being squeezed and clubs will close. The County Council is cutting their student travel subsidy which, along with the national cut to the Educational Maintenance Allowance, will make it harder for many students in the town to continue to study.

“We really can’t just sit back and watch those facilities go forever,” said Ben.

“A Town Meeting will give the residents of Yeovil the best chance they may get to discuss possible solutions. We expect to see a lot of concerned people voicing their opinions there.

Mark Hoskins, press officer for Yeovil & District Trade Union Council, said: “From the outset it was obvious that the vicious cuts proposed by the Con-Dem coalition would lead to a backlash and Yeovil Trades Union Council would support and help any groups who wanted to fight back.

“The manner in which these measures are being steamrollered through, especially by such bodies as Conservative-led Somerset County Council needs to be challenged at every turn. The present government talks about a less ‘top heavy’ form of democracy, we will see just how serious they are when faced with local people challenging their proposals as will undoubtedly happen at this meeting of Yeovil Town Council and a deeply concerned electorate.”

From a press release

(image: inside the Fish tower folly at Barwick, Yeovil, Somerset Some rights reserved by A QUIVERFUL OF FOTOS)