Pledge 20 - Provide a one-stop-shop facility for members of our community
“Provide a one-stop-shop facility for members of our community.”
A search of WSotE councillor Facebook pages and other social media shows almost no posts talking about “one-stop-shop facilities”, either before or after the recent election. We have no information on what they planned to do, or even what their issues are with how things had been done before.
Unsurprisingly, the one exception is… Cllr Simon Boone! Did he write all WSotE's pledges?
On the 5th of June Cllr Boone wrote that he’d achieved several things 1) during the last four weeks, one of which was:
“A one stop shop set up and agreed for 98 councilor surgeries to take place over the next 12 months.”2)
Though poorly written, we assume this means residents could meet with councillors 98 times a year to discuss concerns, and that WSotE councillors would share the work of administering these surgeries.
This wasn't the last time Cllr Boone raised the matter - On the 21st of June, he made a similar remark, again with no information:
“Set up a one stop shop rota to provide town wide regular access to both town and borough councillors. A total of 98 Town wide events to be held a year.”3)
Most recently, on the 20th July Cllr Boone again declared that…
“The one stop shop has also been set up to deal with Town wide issues,”4)
…but still gave no details.
The question of why a “non-stop-one-stop-shop” is needed at all remains. Labour councillors previously ran monthly surgeries in which residents could talk to councillors about any issues, although attendance was poor. Why Cllr Boone thinks WSotE councillors need to be available to talk to residents every three days is a mystery, especially when seen in contrast to their pledge5) to drastically cut the number of WTC Full Council meetings. Councillors may be contacted by E-mail and phone call, if a public meeting is not possible.
It's possible that the recent “surgery” announced with less than 24 hours notice, where Cllrs Boone, Ford, Hartley and Clare met with a handful of residents (presumably their fans), is what Cllr Boone intended when he wrote this pledge. If so, WSotE have a LOT of catching up to do, having promised to hold about 60 meetings by now, of which they have held a tiny fraction.
This one just baffles us. It has to go down as a FAIL, as there is no realistic way that WSotE can keep to their self-imposed schedule.