Councillor Spencer's speech to Senior Mens Fellowship

I have been fortunate enough to have been elected chairman of the Parish Council this year, a year in which we have seen the completion of several of the council's projects which were started many years ago.

I remember I had a young colleague once who was married to a local politician's daughter. He told me that he had determined to marry his wife when he saw a statue of her grandfather in the local park! I believe the first conversation I had with my wife was on the subject of European unity and luckily our part of the world has managed to live in peace for the past sixty years.

Buckhurst Hill is not a very old council. It was only created twelve years ago along with Chigwell Parish Council and Loughton Town Council.

The aim of forming these councils was to encourage voters to become more involved in local democracy. Unlike Residents Societies the councils can raise money via the council tax to pay for projects such as the purchase of the Roding Centre, to improve outdoor and indoor facilities for young people and manage other buildings owned by them such as the Roding Valley Hall and the Information Centre.

There are eleven unpaid Parish Councillors who are elected every four years. Eight are Liberal Democrats and the Liberal Democrats have been in the majority since the council was formed. They have led all the campaigns to provide indoor and outdoor facilities for our young people. The largest project undertaken so far has been the saving and refurbishment of the Roding Centre, now re-named the Woollard Centre, thus saving the venue for all the hall users including the bowling club. .

In our advisory capacity we are being consulted about the government's development plan for gypsies and travellers in the district. A minority of travellers have given their community a bad name as illustrated by the old joke about the forty gypsies and travellers who arrived at the pearly gates to be met by St Peter who said 'We can only accept a few of the most worthy as we are a bit over crowded'. Later St Peter told God that they had gone, 'What all forty?'. 'No, the gates---------the pearly gates!'

However they do need to be settled somewhere and various sites are being looked at but none, I understand none are in Buckhurst Hill..

In Essex there are three tiers of local government at present, Essex County Council which controls schools and education, Highways, Social Services, Trading Standards, Waste Disposal and Libraries. Epping Forest District Council which controls Housing, Planning Applications, Rubbish Collection, Car Parks, Leisure Centres and Environmental Health. Also the District currently employs a 'Safer Communities Officer' and an 'Anti-Social Behaviour Officer' who meet senior policeman at regular intervals.

The Parish offices were originally located in the Roding Valley Hall. A previous chairman worked hard to secure the leasehold of the offices in a new building in Queens Road. The Council achieved quality status in 2004.

The Information Centre provides two public meeting rooms and accommodation for six members of staff. The council also employs two caretakers.

The councillors are advised by the Parish Clerk and the council conducts its business through her, Irene Sullivan who has worked for the council since 2001 and as Parish Clerk has worked hard to implement all our recent building projects. We opened a new Ball Court and Playground in the Recreation Ground in November after a long consultation process.

Now I have here an 18th Century quotation from Edmund Burke which is apposite

' Those who would carry on great public schemes must be proof against the most fatiguing delays, the most mortifying disappointments, the most shocking insults and worst of all the presumptuous judgement of the ignorant upon their designs.'.

Because of the democratic process it can take many years for projects to be finalised. Apart from meetings of the full council which must ratify all decisions of the committees, there are meetings of groups of councillors who sit on Working Groups, Sub-committees and Committees. The four main committees are Finance and Establishment, Recreation and Amenities, Planning and Environment (Advisory only) and Community Forum. At present there are two sub-committees, Personnel and the Woollard Centre.

This Christmas we are holding our annual carol service on the 12th December and already we have organised the school Christmas card and illuminated houses competitions, and will deliver 48 Christmas boxes to deserving residents.

I think that our local Parish Council is a success story and my wife, when she was Chair facilitated the formation of the Buckhurst Hill Historical Society and recently the BHFUTH Committee and organises the regular coffee mornings and litter picks.

Now, I am also a District Councillor. Although the District Council can be more political than the Parish Council, a large amount of the work undertaken is at the behest of central government. An elected dictatorship did I hear you say? I couldn't possibly comment.

Most of my life I have been a Liberal because I believe both in encouraging enterprise but with a fairer distribution of wealth.

I sit and vote on the committee planning applications in Loughton, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill. Although councillors can vote against planning officers recommendations sound planning reasons must be given otherwise the decisions can be overturned by an Inspectorate based in Bristol and the council have to pay the costs involved in an appeal.

Recent governments have created a less regulated market economy. Unfortunately excessive greed has enabled some people to abuse the system and accumulate large amounts of money in the process which is often protected in tax havens,

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrats shadow Chancellor of Exchequer has been ahead of other politicians in warning of the dangers of excessive borrowing AND with his solutions some of which have now been adopted by the government.

In fact independence for the Bank of England was a Liberal Democrat policy before it was implemented by Gordon Brown.

It now appears that bankers, upon recommendation by people they did not know invested in companies that they did not need with money they had not got illustrating the old adage that a banker is a person accustomed to think in millions-other people's millions.

Hopefully our leading politicians will think their way out of the financial morass but all local councillors can do is to prudently manage the council tax which is collected from tax payers whist attempting to provide them with the services to which they are entitled.

As you have amongst your members two Buckhurst Hill citizens of the year I would like to toast their health. Raise your glasses --- To Derek and Ron Derek and Ron.