A community & Parish Council to be proud of

The first priority of any Council is to do what is best for its own community, Eastfield Parish Council has proved that it holds the good of the community at the centre of the decisions it makes. Eastfield has improved in terms of facilities and community involvement over the years since it formed its own Parish Council. Eastfield has a skate board park, Eastfield has a massively improved play area at Beech Walk, Eastfield has a Dell which is now looking like it will be a site of significant importance in terms of the diverse wild flower and wild life as well as being the jewel in Eastfield's crown in terms of a place for residents to enjoy. The Parish Council has a rolling programme of bus shelter provision, Eastfield has a boxing day bus service, Eastfield has Christmas functions for both the older generation and the younger generation. The Parish Council is supporting Eastfield Library in order to keep it open, the Council is also supporting the Boxing club to help it expand and grow. Through the years Eastfield Parish Council has supported countless groups and organisations to support the community and its residents. Eastfield Parish Council hands the decision making to the residents them selves through the Voice Your Choice events (no other Parish Council gives this type of direct decision making power to its residents) The Parish Council is funded by you the Council Tax payer through precept, every penny spent is spent for the good of the community as a whole. If Eastfield did not have a Parish Council the community would not have the things set out above, there also many more things the Parish Council does to support the community.

 

Cost of paranoia

Recently Cllr Carole Gerada questioned the financial management of the Parish Council as it is her right to do as a member, the questions she raised were answered, Eastfield Parish Council this year received an excellent report from its internal auditor (a clerk form another Parish Council to ensure it is an independent audit) An external auditor appointed by the Audit Commission then looked at the accounts and were satisfied the the Council accounts were in good order, the Parish Council has to pay the external auditor for the work it carries out. It is a great shame that Cllr Gerada then raised the same questions for a second time even though they had been addressed by the external auditor, as a result of this the audit was delayed and extra work had to be put in by the external auditor which pushed up the cost of the audit form around £200 to over £500. Of course it is you the tax payer who has had to pick this cost. The auditor has now signed off the Parish Council accounts and given them a clean bill of financial health as well as looking into concerns raised by Cllr Gerada, they found nothing wrong which proves her concerns were not founded. However Cllr Gerada seems to be continuing and repeating her concerns. This represents a great danger that Eastfield Parish Council could be forced to pay the external auditors £250 per hour to answer again Cllr Gerada's concerns even though they have been proved unfounded, this could run up a bill of thousands and thousands of pounds which means that the Parish Council could be forced to raise a second precept form you the Council Tax payer to cover the cost of what looks like Cllr Gerada's crusade and personal vendetta against the Council and the rest of it's members. We do not think this is a good use of public money, we do not think Cllr Gerada is in any way justified in perusing this course of action and thus costing you the tax payer more money in the form of dramatically increased Council Tax. If you agree with us please feel free to contact us, indeed you may wish to tell Cllr Gerada what you think about the fact that she could cost you a lot of money.