Last night's town council was at times a fairly unruly affair. Whether through ignorance of the constitution or the way meetings run; or as a deliberate attempt to destabilise the meeting, one councillor kept interrupting and cutting across speakers. Another relatively new councillor seemed at last to find his voice, having spoken little since he was co-opted. Perhaps this was because of what has been a changed dynamic, now that Gavin Harris's uncharacteristically informed and uniquely strong two-year chairmanship has finished. Maybe this gave some councillors a confidence they never had before, always assuming this is channelled for the advancement of Rhuthun/Ruthin, rather their own ends and rather than grandstanding on Facebook's live streaming.
I do sense a fracturing, a bickering, a divide into factions and a heightened sense of politicking, where once town councillors laid aside politics for the good of the town. The new reality was well illustrated during the debate about whether (or not) Senedd members should address the town council.
So unruly at times was last night's town council meeting that one of the councillors, top left, felt it necessary for his own safety to don a high visibility jacket...
And then there was the debate about where Rhuthun should be in the UK parliamentary constituency reshuffle. An important question but one with less relevance of the actual workings of the town of Rhuthun and, in any case, who realistically is going to listen to a small town council representing some 6,000 people? Councillors in the past have complained that the Vale of Clwyd is marginalised when compared to more industrialised North East Wales, yet the opportunity to join with Delyn to the east is seen as anathema.
The debate of the five free parking days allotted to the town was the most illuminating and, perhaps, the most painful. A councillor-cum-shopkeeper contributed a significant amount but made no sense at all.
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Town Council