THE OTHER VIEW, FROM HUISH EPISCOPI
By John Wood
Indeed Sean Dromgoole (The Somerset Leveller, April 12, 2024) paints an attractive picture for forming one council to represent both Huish Episcopi and Langport. This has been the aspiration of Langport town for many years, the main object being to gain full control of our finances.
In the recent Huish Episcopi Langport Plan (HELP) survey the question posed was “Should Langport Town Council and Huish Episcopi Parish Council work together to explore the advantages and disadvantages of forming a single council to serve both communities”.
From the Huish Episcopi’s 358 replies, 80% did say yes and the no/don’t knows recorded 20%. However, this 80% figure only represents just 10.6% for this proposal from our population and this is for only exploring the proposal. To date no list has been issued supporting the advantages or disadvantages of the two councils joining up. In fact there are no advantages that I’m aware of for the residents of Huish Episcopi to even wish to be combined, quite the reverse.
The parish of Huish Episcopi is wrapped around Langport which means that the population of Langport remains about 1000 because there is nowhere left for the town to develop. Pretty well 100% of the 505 new houses under the 2006/2028 Local Plan have had to be built in our village, bringing our population up to about 2700. This has resulted in a number of significant S106 contributions being made by developers for improvements to local facilities. These are currently up for grabs.
From this S106 money, £47,000 is earmarked towards a new village hall. This would replace St Mary’s Hall which was sold to the school by our church diocese many years ago.
Huish Episcopi Parish Council is currently made up of a majority of councillors who favour Langport, including past and current members of Langport Town Council, which has resulted in a decision being made at the very first Joint Council Committee meeting to drop any further time, money or effort on working towards a dedicated larger village/community hall despite the question in the HELP survey resulting in a combined 49.1% saying yes that they wanted one. This is a clear indication that there are many within both communities that really do believe the need for one; albeit, as above, this could also be argued as only representing about 6.2% of our combined population. No doubt the next move by both the existing Langport and Huish Episcopi Councillors will be to vote to spend this £47,000 in Langport, more than likely on the Town Hall to make it into some form of a replacement community centre although this is totally unsuitable for so many reasons.
To claim that Huish Episcopi is taking over Langport but that it will still remain a village is clearly a nonsense. On joining up, it definitely would become a town whatever its final name would be.
For all those living in Huish Episcopi, although your postal address is definitely Langport, that does not mean that you live in Langport. Do you believe Langport Town Council would do anything for Huish Episcopi? Well if they did, in my experience, it would be the first time in 22 years.
Also to state that a single council will be cheaper is again a nonsense. All your Huish Episcopi Councillors serve unpaid. It could even be stated they serve at their own cost.
I have served on Huish Episcopi Parish Council for the last 22 years, during which time this question has been raised numerous times, voted on and defeated. To this day I remain to be convinced of any advantages for the Huish Episcopi parishioners in forming a single council.
We have worked together for years but the benefits have always been for Langport. Your village hall could have been built years ago but for the non-cooperation of Langport Town Council.
For the record, you should be made aware that very large amounts of your money are already voted on by Huish Episcopi Parish Council every year to go to Langport Town Council in support of their various facilities. Read your council’s minutes - you will be surprised just how much.
It will soon be your time to vote. Do your research and be fully aware of just what you are being asked to vote for.
You might then even conclude: -
It’s now time for Huish Episcopi’s residents, the council tax payers, to take back control of their council before it’s too late! Check out huishepiscopi.org.uk where the boundaries are clearly defined, to see if this proposal could adversely affect you.
