Vacancies

The Town council have two casual vacancies for the Shepton west ward of the Town Council.

Councillors Cook and Dunscombe have resigned.

If anyone wishes a byelection they have 14 days to submit 10 Shepton west electors to call such an election.

I would like to pay tribute to Will Dunscombe, he has resigned for personal reasons, I will not raise them here.

It is fair to say Wills time as a Town Councillor has not been easy. The investigation that resulted from complaints made by the majority of the Conservative group, undoubtedly left there mark on him. The independent investigation found that Will Dunscombe did not break the Code of Conduct, the only thing the investigation did was waste thousands of pounds of tax payers money.

Will Dunscombe was the driving force in shaping the Town Council policy in regard to the skate park, I think it is fair to say without his input there would not be a skate park or BMX track.

When Shepton had a youth centre, Will was the councils key supporter of youth work, he supported the Town Council spending money on youth, but never received majority support.

I believe Will offered an unique view on those sections of the community that does not engage  in civil society, the cases he fought around poor housing, this never gets headlines, but this makes a difference to peoples lives.

The Council will be a poorer without this experience, Councils needs a mixture of experience, a cross section of the community, the need for empathy for those in need.

Sadly the vast majority of Shepton Mallet Town Councillors could not see beyond Wills direct way of speaking, but in a sense, we all are concerned with our High Street, the Skate park is now Council Policy, Will was a powerful advocate for these issues and he will be a loss.

Knowing Will thou if something upsets him, he will be back.

In truth I knew Sue Cook less well.

But I know she gave the Council her time and the community should be grateful for that.