Parish rates revolt fails to materialise

Thursday 15th July 2010, 11:30AM BST.

Last night’s St Sampson’s parish meeting drew an audience of more than 200. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0998282)

ST SAMPSON’S parishioners voted for no change in the way their rates are calculated at last night’s parish meeting.

More than 200 people turned out, but only 125 cast a vote with 82 choosing to keep the payments as put forward by the douzaine.

Homeowners, businesses and growers were given two proposals after the original options were rejected.

The owner of a small house, for example, had the option of paying £37.21 per year under the status quo or £40.33 in proposals put forward by growers looking to cut their payments. Rodney Brouard spoke on behalf of the latter and pointed out that growers might pay £200 for an acre of glass, while a homeowner might pay £126 for a house.

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View more: Growers news, Rates news, St Sampson's news.

1
David Cranch

July 16, 2010 at 1:53 am

Interesting meeting.

The growers had apparently deputed Rodney Brouard to make their case. In the same way that he advocated the strong case for the Baltic waste processor, he obfuscated the argument with incomprehensible figures.

The vote went against the growers, not so much for the weakness of Rodney’s speech, but more as an example of the tyranny of the majority. It was declared a victory for democracy but, as anyone who has witnessed a lynching will admit, there are limits to democracy.

The mood of the meeting was perhaps typified by the car parking outside. The rather large car park had huge amounts of space when I arrived. However, after circling the car park, I realised that the empty space in the middle was completely surrounded by cars – absolutely no way in.

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