In the event of that never happening I am often asked what I would do with the Town Council. In previous leaflets I have called for it to be abolished altogether but to some voters that is a bit too extreme. I would argue though that its £240,000 a year price tag is also extreme for what we as a community get out of it.
It could be argued that Todmorden benefits from having a voice when it comes to planning matters and suchlike but the reality is that Calderdale takes absolutely no notice of the planning recommendations made by the Town Council’s Development Committee. Calderdale’s flouting of our Moorlands Policy is a classic case in point.
Town Councillors also sit on various boards to do with the running of our public services and represent us and fight to make the town’s voice heard - or so they say! They also spread a lot of money around for Community Groups, some of them worthy causes (such as the Todmorden Food-Drop-In) and some of them self-serving cliques run by nobodies (such as the Mid-Pennine Arts Council).
But again, do we need a full time Town Council to do that??
In my opinion a bloated Town Council is no substitute for our own Borough Council. By law a Parish Council only has to meet thee times a year and publish its accounts. I still think the people of Todmorden like having a Mayor and agree that it’s good to fund community causes.
I think, and think I speak for the majority of Todmorden here, that Todmorden Town Council should meet three times a year to fund the array of community groups, and once more to elect a Town Mayor and leave the people to decide what’s best for our future.