Record of Council meeting of 9 January 2012

We have received some complaints about this blog.

Cllr Glazier felt the references to him were "untrue, misleading and disrespectful" and "misleading, offensive and disrespectful".

The parish council objected that (1) the blog did not make it clear that it was not published by the council and that it represented only the views of the authors, (2) it did not offer the right of reply and (3) there were factual inaccuracies.

On (1), it appears that the notice displayed at the top of the blog went unnoticed. This says "The latest news on the activities of this Council from Winchelsea ward councillors, Ben Chishick and Richard Comotto. These are not necessarily the views of other councillors or the council."

On (2), the comments function was also unnoticed.

On (3), we were subsequently informed that: (a) the cost of the recording equipment was not £1,100 but £746, (b) the cost of the community noticeboards erected in Icklesham and Rye Harbour was not £280 (this was an extra cost of installation): the total was in fact £1,520! and (c) the Asset Register has been "maintained" since 2005/06, having been shown to councillors for comments in October 2005.

We apologise for the error on the cost of the recording equipment and accept that the council spent £1,520, not £280, on two community noticeboards. But on the Asset Register, we beg to differ. This was shown to councillors but was never seen again until the last meeting. Nor does it appear to have been finalised, given the corrections that were still necessary.