‘Not enough meat on the bone’ to ‘mix up’ Swaffham councillors’ gazebo sessions

A proposal to “mix up” when councillors meet members of the public didn’t have enough “meat on the bone” to be approved.

Differing opinions were flying across the room at Swaffham Town Council last Wednesday when councillors were asked to vote on introducing a new surgery initiative.

Currently, councillors have a gazebo on Swaffham Market Place which gives members of the public a chance to meet them and raise any concerns they may have.

However, some councillors have said a “mix up” in their system wouldn’t go well for councillors who work full-time.

They therefore decided to defer the proposal.

Cllr Stuart Bell said the proposal didn’t “have enough meat on the bone”.

Proposals were that a group of councillors would be available across different locations from 10am-12pm twice a month on a Wednesday and a Saturday.

However, Cllr Steph Cooper said that the proposals would not be “viable” due to the amount of councillors that work full-time.

She added: “None of you councillors will be doing it on a Saturday.”

Other councillors who are retired said that they would be happy to attend more of the surgeries held during the week.

Cllr Bell said: “I think this project is too ambitious. There would be more gaps than fills.”

Deputy mayor Lindsey Beech said: “The proposal was to mix it up a bit.”