Whilst congratulating the 565 real voters out of an electorate of 10708 who turned out to vote, it is evident that 422 (4.51%)out of 10708 is NOT representative of the a possible 10708 and that Nigel Ward should now stop spending tax payers hard earned money on his reckless behaviour.

He should also be sensored for his comments at the Town forum on 10 June where when talking about the clustering of parishes, he clearly stated in a dismissive tone that quote, "We do not want Loftus". These comments were offensive and not representative of the people of Whitby and are the behaviour of a trouble maker and miscreant.

Shame on you Mr Ward!

A good vote for Sainsbury's. If you dismiss this because of the low turn out then you must also disregard the 422 voters out of over ten and a half thousand electorate who seek to destroy the legally appointed WTC. And at what a cost. Mrs clegg and Mrs Kenyon have said it all elsewhere in todays paper.

Stick to film making Mr Ward.

Although a huge majority approved the proposal the result is not legally binding on the council. The low turn-out looks bad but that is at least in part a result of the poor rules which currently govern our local democracy. The "parish poll" regulations (1) need to be re-written. Citizens of a parish should be able to make a proposal and trigger a poll (ballot, referendum) in and run by THE PARISH. At the district council, town and city levels there should be a similar procedure available for the citizens of the area. To trigger a poll a LOT of people, not just a handful, should endorse the proposal. Say, in a parish with 2000 eligible voters, one in twenty should sign up. (There's a handy sliding scale depending on size of community, available on request.) Coming from a lot of voters, these proposals would show a strong pubic interest. The council has to take this more seriously.

1. Local Government Act 1972 and subsequent gov. regulations.

More detail about "citizens' democracy" is at
I&R ~ GB Citizens' Initiative and Referendum
http://www.iniref.org/

Regards
Dr. Michael Macpherson

Nigel is the troublemaker and I'm the lunatic, who is the miscrent?

Whitby Community Council has no wish for its work to be legally binding on anyone; we meet, we discuss, we say what we want and we do what we say. Would you like to meet with us?

Pete Budd wrote: "Whitby Community Council has no wish for its work to be legally binding on anyone; we meet, we discuss, we say what we want and we do what we say. Would you like to meet with us?"

It's fine to have a local initiative like that but sometimes in a community or town it is necessary to come to a decision. Having the option of direct democracy enables the electorate to decide on public issues. But only proposals (or veto of council) which can show a lot of public support can go forward onto the ballot.

If there is interest then we can answer queries or arrange for a talk -- go via web site:
I&R ~ GB Citizens' Initiative and Referendum
http://www.iniref.org/

Michael

A parish poll is a bit like commenting on a planning or licensing application. I've sat on hundreds of planning and licensing boards where only a vanishingly small number of people send in comments or objections. The important thing is to give due consideration to what is said, not to the numbers of people who say it.