Friday 19 February 2010

Winchester City Council Meeting 18/02/2010

At first expectation as I entered the Guildhall was anticipation as to what I were to behold in the coming hours. This wasn't my first council meeting ever, however it had been a while since I stepped into the shoes of a watchful public citizen, surveying how our city was being run.

The entire hall stood at a halt for the entrance of Winchester's very own mayor, which was shortly followed by the announcement of the purpose of this meeting: To agree a budget. This was soon followed up with announcements, in which the City council won an award and the landlord service passed a survey. Next were apologies for any absences which is practically a standard routine for any meeting as previous experiences at cricket AGM's had told me.

The next half hour though was one of major significance. It was perhaps the most enthralling yet most confusing thirty minutes of my entire career as a human. One major topic of this period was housing. One question raised to the main table was whether preparation for banding issues over housing was sufficient, a question to which our Mayor dismissed and quickly replied: "I think we're entering dangerous ground over equality issues".

I thought my house was controversial but after attending this meeting made my household more than respectable. One councillor accused leader Councillor Beckett of having memory loss regarding to a previous meeting around four years ago, an accusation which Beckett himself responded that a change in government will see a change in housing trajectory, such as providing the number of the houses that people actually need.

This topic of housing continued with Councillor Thomson enquired as to the poor quality outside of new properties, a problem which Thomson deemed a matter of urgency. Councillor Coates answered this statement, saying that there is an aim to improve the service of housing officers, along with spending money on current properties rather than new ones, before revealing that there had been the opening of 67-69 social houses last year.

As time went on, my attention and certainly some of my fellow Journalism students' attentions began to wander. Yet it was not us who seemed lost by the topic of conversation after seeing several unnamed Councillors 'playing' on their mobile phones and 'tucking' into sweets. Time told and soon after our exit took haste. Not my greatest experience since joining university to say the least, however such is life!

G-Man

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