Letter: The silent leader: my experience

May I share with you below my experience of politely trying to communicate with Cllr Derek Bastiman, leader of Scarborough Borough Council, and the lack of response:
By The Newsroom
Published 7th Dec 2017, 10:46 BST
Updated 12th Dec 2017, 09:14 BST
How difficult is it to get a reply?How difficult is it to get a reply?
How difficult is it to get a reply?

From: Ali Wilkins Sent: 23 November 2017 14:03 To: Cllr Bastiman’s PA -

Hi, I have not received any reply to the emails below and wondered if you could tell me if Cllr Bastiman is able to reply to emails now?

Best wishes, Ali Wilkins

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From: Ali Wilkins Sent: 30 October 2017 13:10 To: Cllr Derek Bastiman -

Hi Derek, I was wondering if you are able to reply to emails now. I would be pleased if you could reply to my query.

Best wishes, Ali

From: Cllr Derek Bastiman Sent: 05 October 2017 17:12 To: Ali Wilkins -

I am unable to reply to emails at the moment. If your enquiry is urgent please contact my PA or the Deputy Leader Cllr Helen Mallory.

Thanks Cllr Derek J Bastiman, Leader of the Council

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From: Ali Wilkins Sent: 5 October 2017 15:26 Ali Wilkins wrote -

Hi Derek, I am a bit puzzled and wondered if you could help. I was under the impression that the Stephen Joseph Theatre Trust Ltd was owned by the Scarborough Theatre Development Trust. Now I understand from the opening statement of the response to the objections to the Futurist demolition planning application that it is stated that Scarborough Borough Council own the Stephen Joseph Theatre. So is the Scarborough Theatre Development Trust Scarborough Borough Council? I would be pleased if you could clarify this for me. Best wishes, Ali

This highlights how difficult it is to get an answer.

We are forced to submit a Freedom of Information request in order to get a simple answer to a pertinent question.

If the council was as honest and transparent as they would have us believe, I would not be writing this.

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I have had similar experience with three complaints to the Standards Committee in June concerning unacceptable behaviour of councillors at the Vote of No Confidence meeting. They have gone to the Meeting of Independent Persons apparently, which sits every eight to 10 weeks ... 21 weeks later and I have just received a response from Mr Kitson, “deputy monitoring officer”.

Ali Wilkins

Londesborough Park

Seamer

Related topics:Scarborough Borough CouncilCouncil