My Letter to MKNEWS in Support of Woughton Community Council

Dear Sirs

As a former employee of Woughton Community Council who was one of the four redundancies referred to in your article. I thought I would write (as I am now in a position to do so), to say how sad I am to read that yet again the most poorest communities are to suffer a potential loss of services not through the fault of the Community Council, but because of the way that Parish and Town Council's can raise their funding due to the tax banding (with all properties in the Parish being in the lower tax bands with not many bigger properties being able to offset this anomaly, unlike other mixed communities in Parish and Town Councils throughout Milton Keynes.)

I shall resist commenting on the rights and wrongs of Woughton on the Green, Woughton Park and Passmore being granted to set up their own Parish Council, as it was traumatic to say the least being a member of staff having to work in the middle of the cross fire and I don't wish to re live that experience, although suffice to say that I think Milton Keynes Council's Boundary Review Panel missed a trick, in working up proposals for bigger financially sustainable Parish and Town Council's, who could punch above their weight and provide efficient on the ground services that the communities need and want, and would have avoided what Woughton Community Council is now going through. I know Turkeys will not vote for Christmas and the Panel may have been unpopular but sometimes tough decisions have to be made.

National Government and Milton Keynes Council need to get their heads around this complicated funding issue as the problem is not going to go away and is only going to get worse, obviously in these hard pressed times the Community Council cannot raise the Precept massively to keep some services going, as quite rightly it is a hard sell to the electorate, who do not forget, are not all on benefits but on fixed incomes such as pensioners or working in low waged jobs and just miss the thresholds for Government assistance.

I do not have all the answers but if more budgets were devolved from Milton Keynes Council for Woughton Community Council to use on the ground it would be more cost effective and get rid of some of the petty bureaucracy, along with more partnership working with statutory bodies to pool resources together to make a difference, as too many times different organisations were setting up some worthy initiatives but were often covering the same areas in trying to tackle educational, health and poverty related issues, seconding staff for projects or benefiting from fines for example levied on fly tippers, or having a cut from the local business rates and sponsorship by businesses, perhaps Milton Keynes Council allowing the Community Council to use the empty Netherfield Housing Office rent free to save office costs just a thought.  

There were some good examples of partnership working with The Parks Trust and Chris Carvell's Environment Team at Milton Keynes Council the Community Wardens, PCSO's, Residents Associations, Schools, the Sure Start Centres, Community Mobilisers, Woughton Leisure Centre Trust, Milton Keynes Academy, Woughton Skills Ladder and the NHS Primary Care Trust as examples, but unfortunately there were many times when some Officers at Milton Keynes Council thought they knew best and tried to dictate what would be happening on the ground in the Woughton area without sometimes even consulting the Community Council.      

I think Milton Keynes Council is doing a bit of a divide and rule by saying that £50,000 monies set aside for help with the boundary changes had to be used in defence of the Judicial Review by Campbell Park Parish Council, (as a former Vice - Chair of Campbell Park Parish Council I fully support them doing so as it would of been quite wrong for them to have lost the Willen Community, and then be in the same position as Woughton Community Council), why were there not other budgets from the Legal Department used to off set these costs, yet again the local community have been deprived from having the money invested in Woughton.  

I would like to say that the staff have gone through a restructure and had to cope with a lot of change, and it is very easy for the public who see staffing costs in the budget and say that there should be more redundancies, with the cost savings going towards saving services but staff need to deliver these services, Councillors should not and cannot due to work and familiy commitments deliver services as they need to be devoting their time to campaigning and supporting the communities that they serve, and not knocking volunteers that do great work and save the Government and Milton Keynes Council a lot of money that would need to be invested in supporting residents going through tough financial and emotional periods of their lives, there is only so much time that they could commit and if they find alternative employment the knowledge is then gone and the time and training would need to start all over again for a new set of volunteers. Also not all staff are administrators although some would see this as a non job but it is a legal requirement to send out agendas and write out minutes that record all decisions, so that the residents can see what is being done on their behalf. To pick but a couple of examples on how staff can make a difference the Youth Workers for instance have helped many young people who are going through some very bad experiences, and have been able to advise them or just been a shoulder to cry on, many young people have gone on to be outstanding hardworking citizens, which who knows how their lives may have turned out had not that support not been there, and its not easy on the staff who have to cope listening to such sad harrowing accounts of their lives. The Community Workers by setting up and funded initially by the Community Council such as the Busy Bees Lunch Club on Coffee Hall and the Tinkers Bridge Drop In for example, then help those groups to have the confidence and know how to run them themselves, this not only empowers these communities but makes a difference by easing social isolation with a friendly chat and a change to make friends with their neighbours also sign posting residents to other organisations that can help them when they encounter personal problems.

Woughton Community Council has a yearly Carnival another success story run and managed by all members of staff giving up their time on a Saturday which brings all the community together and an opportunity for all local groups to work together making costumes for the procession and their floats, and business to offer their services by taking up a stall.

Grant Aid has also been given to help groups survive or be set up who have identified a need in the area along with Residents Associations to not only function but assist with their Fun Days and coach trips as Woughton has the lowest rate of car ownership so it is not always possible for families to get away and have some quality time together.

I know as a former Parish Councillor on the old Woughton Parish Council, Campbell Park Parish Council and Bradwell Parish Council and also as a Bradwell Ward Councillor on Milton Keynes Council, that difficult funding decisions have to be made, and so I want to wish all members the best of luck in making these hard choices, even though I no longer work for Woughton Community Council I do still follow its good works and want to see it go from strength to strength along with most importantly the communities that they serve and have their best interests at heart.

I do not want see in my life time in this great city that I love and that has given me so much, divided and social excluded communities  ending up with a two track Milton Keynes, with opportunities for some to prosper and enjoy a good quality of life and not for others because of where they live, although it makes frightening reading in the Social Atlas that already a child born in Woughton will live 9 years less than a child born in the nearby Middleton Ward.  

Kind Regards
Brian Barton