Penarth Town Council SECRET groups

CHRIS LOYN ARCHITECT of
the controversial Northcliffe
Development and member of the 
secret advisory group 
Future Projects Partnership 

Can you tell me why it is acceptable or even necessary to have secret groups such as the Future Projects Partnership and the Strategic Review Group that have town council officers attending  but the membership, meetings, agendas and minutes are not open to public scrutiny? Who appoints these people? Members of this group do not need to declare any interests as do elected members yet influence policy and spending decisions. I believe controversial architect Chris Loyn is a member and that Martin Gossage chairs the Future Projects Group. Members of the community cannot  attend these meetings or make comments on the decisions. There is no means of knowing if there is a gender balance. Town council meetings are open to the public but this seems to be a mechanism to enable decision making  on the QT by a select few.  This system is unacceptable and undemocratic. I do mWill you agree this practice has to end now? I can not accept that this is 'normal' practice. 

MARTIN GOSSAGE  
Chair of the secret advisory group 
Future Projects Partnership 

I think Penarth Town labour Council practice of having secret advisory groups is undemocratic. 

Recently I made a FOI request to the Penarth Town Council but the town clerk justified having secret advisory groups. So I have written to my town Cllrs and AM....

FOI answer. This is an excerpt from the town clerks reply  

Additionally, we discussed your opinion of "secretive" groups. This infers that a Council cannot hold internal and private meetings aside from the public committees, which is completely wrong. I advised you that the Future Projects Partnership and the Strategic Review Group are advisory groups and can forward proposals to the official committees. It is for those committees to make the decisions and members of the public are welcome to attend these public meetings to hear what is being said. This is common practice in any efficient organisation or company that is proactive in its approach to working for the people it represents, whether they are town residents and visitors or stakeholders of another kind.

Therefore, as the Strategic Review Group meetings are not part of the Council's official public committee structure, they are not subject to FOI requests. The groups you perceive to be "a closed shop and secretive" are very much working hard for the community of Penarth and dealing with matters at the sharp end. This process makes any organisation that adopts such an approach much more effective in meeting targets and achieving goals and outputs in a set period of time, which I am sure you would support.

Thank you for contacting me and enabling me the opportunity to advise you of the reality of the situation.

Kind regards,

Emma Boylan 
Town Clerk

Full answer here https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/where_can_i_find_the_agenda_and#incoming-994298

Would you not agree that action is required to strengthen the inclusiveness of community and town councils. Community and town councils should actively seek to increase representation from women, ethnic minorities, disabled communities and other hard-to-reach groups. Councils should review the influence of their structures, working practices, meeting times and locations, and communication and consultation strategies in facilitating or restricting participation by different groups within the community. Councils that are inclusive are more responsive to the needs and interests of their community and can more effectively serve that community. Having 'advisory' appointed groups meeting in secret is contrary to these aims.