OK, the truth isn't as grand as it sounds. But articles published on the blog 'muckandbrass' run by blogger Niall Connolly has effectively shut Somerton Town Council down. It ended up with eleven of the fifteen councillors resigning, one walking out in sympathy and one going on 'holiday'.
It all started with a local council meeting where the blogger took a lot of notes then launched a scathing attack on the council from his computer console. Something the council claim he is always doing.
The whole affair appears to stem from a 'democratic deficit' in Somerton. With the council allegedly ignoring the wishes of the locals, unable to answer funding questions and fighting the Freedom of Information Act.
From the blog you get the impression that the resignations happened en masse at the meeting, like some sort of lemming leap. From the councillors came the story that it was a post meeting, considered event. According to the councillors, it was the blogger wot dun it. In the blog he was more of a bystander. Whatever the case there were a lot of unhappy people at the meeting, on both sides of the table.
Reading between the lines it looks to me like the blog is a distraction. An annoying one for them but still a distraction. It looks to me as an outsider, that the council were being found wanting more and more, little by little, day by day. The blog is being investigated by lawyers for possible defamation.
If only this site were as powerful. General election in a months time then!
Give it time David…give it time…:-)
The mass resignation was best covered by the BBC's political correspondent, Michael Crick. The coverage has sparked great interest in Muck&Brass from across the country and abroad. It would seem that the issues in Somerton resonate with many people and many people feel ill-served by their local representatives. Muck&Brass is pleased to have contributed to a much wider debate and still awaits information from Somerton Town Council under the Freedom of Information Act, a piece of legislation that Somerton Town Council has been obstructing since May of 2009.
Regards and best wishes.
Niall Connolly
Keep up the good work Niall, having looked at it I see it's about time that a bright spotlight was focused on local government.
"The blog is being investigated by lawyers for possible defamation."
guess whose paying the solicitors bills…. according to the published town council minutes we the council tax payers are…..if thats not illegal use of coucil funding it should be
Update – April 2010
Somerton Town Council's accounts for 2008/09 have been the subject of an ongoing investigation by the External Auditor as a result of an objection to those accounts lodged by myself in July 2009. The investigation is not yet complete (a measure of the problems that the Auditor has located?) and a 'Report in the Public interest' is expected in May, hopefully after the Election has faded.
In January 2010, Somerton Town Council provided all the information requested by myself and this showed, amongst other things, that Somerton Town Council had sought three legal opinions with regard to obstruction the Freedom of Information Act. All three opinions advised the Council that the information requested was 'Public Information' which the public had a right to examine.
I hope that those councillors who resigned will find the time to read and digest the Auditor's report and make their response to it a matter of public record.
Regards and best wishes.
Niall Connolly
(muckandbrass)