A Penrith Town Council meeting erupted into a forty-minute heated debate on Monday evening over how the town council communicates with the public about itself. The heated town council debate was on a motion put forward by Cllr Thomson calling for the creation of a new town council communications committee.
The motion by Councillor Thomson proposed that Penrith Town Council resolve to set-up a Communications Committee with overall responsibility for the Council’s PR, marketing, communications and engagement with all its audiences. The motion was seconded by Councillor Shepherd.
Cllr Thomson said in his motion “Penrith Town Council needs to communicate effectively with its local community i.e., engage with residents, improve its profile, build its image, gain confidence and trust, and show it ‘represents’ and is working for, and on the behalf of, the town’s people.”
The heated atmosphere erupted from the start of the agenda item as Cllr Thomson accused the acting town clerk of excluding words used by Cllr Thomson.
Cllr Thomson also accused the council of putting obstacles and blocks in his attempts to put forward the motion for debate.
The forty-minute debate by Penrith Town Council members and officers remained heated throughout with one town councillors asking why the public would be interested in what the town council does and others accused the town council of having too much red tape and bureaucracy.
After a heated forty minutes councillors were asked to vote on the motion to create a communications committee to manage and develop the town council communications with the public.
The voting split the 13 council members attending the meeting with 5 voting for the motion 6 voting against and 2 abstentions as a result of the vote, The motion to establish a Communications Committee was not approved was rejected by the town council by just one vote after Cllr Shepherd who has seconded the motion opted to abstain from voting.
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