Down Your Way for Thursday 11th October Edition

The Borough Council is currently conducting a consultation on whether 7 areas should have a Parish Council. St. James is one of those areas and the Council want you to fill out a questionnaire and give them your thoughts on whether you wish to have a Parish Council in St. James, or not! The consultation runs until 19th October. In addition, they will also be giving you the chance to vote on the issue on November 15th, but have given no details as yet as to how you can do this. The only problem is that the Council do not want to post the information you need, to make an informed choice, to your home. The issue here is you may end up paying a potential £50.00 extra on your council tax bill without ever being formally consulted on it!

So, the SJRA has created a webpage http://www.sjra.info/cgr.html to give you the basic information and to signpost you in the right direction, in addition we will be discussing the issue at our next meeting on 11th October, after the AGM, with representatives from both sides of the debate.

POLICE AND CRIME COMMISSIONER ELECTION
The election for this new post will take place on November 15th and its very important that you vote and find out what is all about as this will have a huge impact on the way you are Policed.

Again, the SJRA has created a webpage http://www.sjra.info/policeandcrimecommissioner.html to inform you about the role, how it affects you and what the candidates are proposing in order to get your vote. You can also find out more about the candidates on the webpage.

In addition we will be discussing this issue at a special meeting on October 25th at &.pm in the Doddridge Centre. Four of the five candidates will be in attendance to tell you what they will do if elected and you will get the chance to question them.

Please note; residents of St. James will be admitted first along with invited guests. Any others from outside the area and with no connection to the meeting will only be admitted once the above have taken their seats and subject to seats being available.

SJRA Annual General Meeting – New Date
The next meeting of the SJRA will tonight Thursday 11th October  at 7.pm at the Doddridge Centre. This meeting will be in two parts; first the AGM will take place. This is where you, the residents, elect a new committee for the forthcoming year and change to the constitution take place, if any. Why not consider joining the committee? To join the committee all you have to do is to have attended one meeting in that year, and if you attend this meeting that will count! To be nominated for a management committee post, such as Chair, Secretary etc you need to have attended four meetings in the previous year.

The second part of the meeting, will be the normal residents meeting but we will be mainly debating the merits of a parish council for St. James and we will have a representative from the Borough Council to speak about the process, and local councillors or their representatives to speak for and against the idea. Free Tea and Coffee will also be served!

This meeting has been moved from the previously advertised date of 18th October to accommodate the Parish Council consultation closing date which is 19th October and to give residents enough time to make an informed choice. Please make every effort to attend as this parish Council decision will affect the way you are governed!