New Saddleworth Parish Council Chairman Calls For Change
The new Chairman of Saddleworth Parish Council, Bill Cullen, with his wife and fellow councillor Enid Firth.
Cllr Bill Cullen used his first speech as Chairman of Saddleworth Parish Council to say he hopes the council will “change for the better” over the coming years.
Pointing out that the council was still working to the Standing Orders set down when it was established in 1974, the Liberal Democrat said: “We should address that issue. I hope that during the four years of this council we can examine how we work.”
Cllr Cullen served as Vice Chairman last year, and will spend the next 12 months as Chairman. He was elected unanimously by his fellow councillors during Monday night’s meeting at Uppermill Civic Hall.
In an interview with Saddleworth News following the meeting, Cllr Cullen said the Parish Council should look to take advantage of government plans to devolve more powers to a local level.
He said: “We certainly need to smarten our act as a Parish Council, for when that comes in. We need to be ready, to have procedures in place, to take advantage of the fact that we can take control and do some things.”
Cllr Cullen added: “Our current Standing Orders I don’t think fully allow us to do this. We need to sit down, review them, bring in the changes that are necessary, to a point where we think they will be suitable for the new-style localism.”
As for the Chairman’s charities for 2011/12, Cllr Cullen said he had chosen three main causes to raise money for, namely research into multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and osteo-arthritis. He said he had picked “slightly selfishly” because they are illnesses which have affected people close to him.
He said: “There are lots of other charities that could do with the money, but you can’t do all of them. I’ve picked the ones I know something about, that I know people would really appreciate the extra funding to do a little bit more.”
You can hear the interview by clicking on the box below:
Cllr Cullen, 61, spent his working life with BT before retiring seven years ago. In proposing him for the Chairman’s job at Monday night’s meeting, Cllr Pat Lord joked: “You can tell by looking at him he took early retirement!”
He has been joined on the Parish Council by his wife, Cllr Enid Firth, who was returned along with her husband in the Springhead Lower ward in this month’s election.
(Editor’s note: You can read another article about Monday night’s meeting here. I’ll publish an interview with Cllr Cullen’s new Vice-Chairman, Cllr Ken Hulme, tomorrow)
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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