Empty seats
Disappointed councillors blast poor turnout at public meeting
Councillors hit out at the lack of support for a public meeting last week, claiming it was the“poorest turnout in a long, long time”.
The Hamilton Area Committee met last Wednesday and – with many empty seats around the table and not one person sitting in the gallery – councillors expressed their concern about how many people were present.
A presentation from the Citizens Advice Bureau and the Home School Partnership Service were on the agenda, as well as a few planning items.
Councillor Jackie Burns praised both presentations but apologised that not many people were there to witness them.
The Larkhall representative said: “Disappointing turnout today. The quality of what Fiona (Robertson, senior community learning and home partnership worker) and her team are doing is fantastic but it is a shame that more people aren’t here to hear it.
“This is the poorest turnout to an area committee meeting in a long, long time.
“There are empty seats around the table but look at the gallery – empty.
“We need to re-engage with people. There is just a lack of support, perhaps we should try to hold these types of meetings down in local communities like the Hillhouse Community Centre and get more people involved.
“Councillors need to be down there for a lot of reasons. For such a long time, people don’t think what they say matters. We need to bring their enthusiasm back.”
Councillor Joe Lowe also expressed his disappointment at the turnout.
He said: “I’ve been coming to these meetings for 38 years and it is very seldom you get anyone from the public here – it shouldn’t be like that.
“I don’t know if enough people know about these meetings or not, but it would be good to get them involved.”
Council leader, and Hamilton South councillor, John Ross suggested that perhaps a webcam could be installed to allow members of the public instant and easy access.
All of the members of the committee were supportive of this idea and the chair agreed it is something that could be looked into.
Chair Mary Donnelly also said that all meetings are advertised on the council’s website, but Hamilton South Councillor Josh Wilson suggested changes to the council website would maybe help with attendance.
He said: “We’re trying to engage more on social media and have set up a Facebook page, but the council’s IT system needs an overhaul.
“The website advertising meetings is clunky and out of date, and the committee papers on the website are dry and unengaging.
“The website can be a bit difficult to navigate and find certain things, so maybe it would be an idea to look into changing it to make things more accessible.”
Information about all public meetings are posted on the South Lanarkshire Council website.
We need to re-engage with people. There’s a lack of support