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Local Government
Rochford Parish Council
Rochford Parish Council
To see the part of the conversation where Keith speaks of his role as a DISTRICT Councillor, please CLICK HERE
To see the part of the conversation where Keith speaks of his role on the PARISH Council, please CLICK HERE
Interview with PARISH Councillor Sandy Gordon (5th November 2010)
In order to compare Parish and District Councils, we spent some time with Keith & Sandy Gordon, both Councillors. Here is the part of the conversation where Sandy speaks of her role on the Parish Council.
RL: Sandy, you’ve only been on the Parish Council a relatively short time? Why did you become a Councillor?
Sandy: Yes, I think about two years. It is because Keith, being on the Parish and District, has his telephone number given out and I used to get loads and loads of phone calls for him. I didn’t know what they were talking about and I’d get, for example, some elderly lady and she’d be on there for half an hour and she obviously wanted to talk about it but I didn’t know what she was talking about so I thought the only way to find out is to join the Parish. That way when they phone up I’ll have an idea. Obviously the District is a bit different because I don’t know much about that but in the Parish I can now answer them when they phone up.
RL: Tell me your part in the Parish Council then.
Sandy: Well, I am Vice-Chair of Planning and I do like to get involved with that. I’m also on the General Purposes Committee and I’m also on the Finance Committee and I’m learning about that.
RL: Tell me what Planning does.
Sandy: Well we get a sheet come through telling what people in Rochford area would like to do, and we give our comments to District and they take them into consideration. We also go to some of the Planning meetings that the District have, to keep us up to date with the Planning laws. Sometimes we may be unsure, for instance in respect of what you can do with listed buildings, and so we have asked if we can have a training session so we can fully understand that, because sometimes we disagree with District because we haven’t got all the information. When we get the lists we give our reasons for what we think and we don’t get the District’s reasons until later when its gone through, and mostly, it’s pretty good, ours are mostly similar to theirs.
RL: Sandy,do you have such things as hopes and aspirations for your role on the Parish Council?
Sandy: I am happy where I am at the moment but I would like to be more involved perhaps and perhaps take more responsibility, but I’m not sure actually how that works.
Keith: When you think of it, when we first took over the administration there were about two of us that had been councillors before. At the time I was chairman of the Rochford Conservatives and so helped bring the change about. Maureen was the one who was left and I asked her to remain as chairman because she was an experienced councillor and knew exactly what she was doing and we had, say, seventeen councillors who knew nothing.
Sandy: Yes, a lot of us are still learning.
Keith: We’ve got lots of co-opted people but Maureen taught people and it was good that way. She was fantastic, and she wasn’t political. If you read the minutes of the first Council meeting we had, when we took over the new thing, I made a statement there that this Council is non-political and it will remain non-political. Now, basically, everyone on the Parish is Independent. I may be Conservative but we are down on the Paris as Independent so there is no politics in there at all, so you don’t have that problem of what people are, or anything else, we enjoy ourselves.
Sandy: We really do, and we work well together, all of us. Everyone has a voice. We all have a voice, which is good. Can I say about the Christmas spectacular on the 4th December, it’s going to be absolutely brilliant. We’ve worked very hard on it. It takes us all year to plan it. We didn’t have one last year, we just had the Carol Service. It just brings everybody together and everybody is so friendly, it’s niece and of course it’s Christmassy and there’s a really good feel
RL: Sandy, you are really passionate about the Christmas Festival. Tell me, why should I and my family be there?
Sandy: There is something there for the whole of the family, not just for Mum or Dad, but for everybody – and there is a wonderful Hog Roast, and it’s the smell as you walk into the Square, that hits you first! It starts about one or when they start cooking. Then of course there are all the stalls and Tombola, there is face painting for the children and of course Father Christmas is in the W.I. Hall. There is a balloon man or juggler who goes round and then of course you have all the big events that are going to be on the stage, as the Parish Pump says, musical entertainment from dance groups, a local choir and cheerleaders culminating in a performance by ‘3T’ a “Take That” tribute band. We’ve got the little girl from East Enders. It runs from 1.00pm to 6pm
RL: Well thank you both very much indeed.
To see the part of the conversation where Keith speaks of his role on the PARISH Council, please CLICK HERE
To see the part of the conversation where Keith speaks of his role on the DISTRICT Council, please CLICK HERE
In order to compare Parish and District Councils, we spent some time with Keith & Sandy Gordon, both Councillors. Here is the part of the conversation where Sandy speaks of her role on the Parish Council.
RL: Sandy, you’ve only been on the Parish Council a relatively short time? Why did you become a Councillor?
Sandy: Yes, I think about two years. It is because Keith, being on the Parish and District, has his telephone number given out and I used to get loads and loads of phone calls for him. I didn’t know what they were talking about and I’d get, for example, some elderly lady and she’d be on there for half an hour and she obviously wanted to talk about it but I didn’t know what she was talking about so I thought the only way to find out is to join the Parish. That way when they phone up I’ll have an idea. Obviously the District is a bit different because I don’t know much about that but in the Parish I can now answer them when they phone up.
RL: Tell me your part in the Parish Council then.
Sandy: Well, I am Vice-
RL: Tell me what Planning does.
Sandy: Well we get a sheet come through telling what people in Rochford area would like to do, and we give our comments to District and they take them into consideration. We also go to some of the Planning meetings that the District have, to keep us up to date with the Planning laws. Sometimes we may be unsure, for instance in respect of what you can do with listed buildings, and so we have asked if we can have a training session so we can fully understand that, because sometimes we disagree with District because we haven’t got all the information. When we get the lists we give our reasons for what we think and we don’t get the District’s reasons until later when its gone through, and mostly, it’s pretty good, ours are mostly similar to theirs.
RL: Sandy,do you have such things as hopes and aspirations for your role on the Parish Council?
Sandy: I am happy where I am at the moment but I would like to be more involved perhaps and perhaps take more responsibility, but I’m not sure actually how that works.
Keith: When you think of it, when we first took over the administration there were about two of us that had been councillors before. At the time I was chairman of the Rochford Conservatives and so helped bring the change about. Maureen was the one who was left and I asked her to remain as chairman because she was an experienced councillor and knew exactly what she was doing and we had, say, seventeen councillors who knew nothing.
Sandy: Yes, a lot of us are still learning.
Keith: We’ve got lots of co-
RL: Sandy, you are really passionate about the Christmas Festival. Tell me, why should I and my family be there?
Sandy: There is something there for the whole of the family, not just for Mum or Dad, but for everybody – and there is a wonderful Hog Roast, and it’s the smell as you walk into the Square, that hits you first! It starts about one or when they start cooking. Then of course there are all the stalls and Tombola, there is face painting for the children and of course Father Christmas is in the W.I. Hall. There is a balloon man or juggler who goes round and then of course you have all the big events that are going to be on the stage, as the Parish Pump says, musical entertainment from dance groups, a local choir and cheerleaders culminating in a performance by ‘3T’ a “Take That” tribute band. We’ve got the little girl from East Enders. It runs from 1.00pm to 6pm
RL: Well thank you both very much indeed.
To see the part of the conversation where Keith speaks of his role on the PARISH Council, please CLICK HERE
To see the part of the conversation where Keith speaks of his role on the DISTRICT Council, please CLICK HERE
Councillors Keith & Sandy Gordon
5 Willow Walk, Hockley, Essex, SS5 5DQ
5 Willow Walk, Hockley, Essex, SS5 5DQ
01702 207470
Local Government
Rochford Parish Council
Rochford Parish Council
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