Thursday, 23 October 2008

After a busy day in the office, I welcomed Michael Lassman of Equality Edge to WCVS to meet with members of the Watford One World forum on their future priorities.

Meanwhile, I attended One Watford’s evening consultation on revisions to the Community Plan. We saw the finished vox pop DVD on Watford and heard various speakers from the One Watford LSP.

Through initial discussions, the One Watford LSP has identified six priority tasks to create: a well-planned town with homes to suit all needs, a safer town, a healthy town, a prosperous and educated town, a town that protects its environment and heritage, a well-informed community where everyone can contribute. I ended up speaking on the theme of a well-planned town.

The event was well attended and there were some lively discussions as people talked through the themes and the individual priorities within the themes. The meeting was hosted by elected Mayor Dorothy Thornhill who spoke eloquently on Watford and its people. It is a subject on which she feels great passion and she manages to communicate this passion very well: she can be quite magnificent like a fully rigged galleon running before the trade winds. Tonight she was not even ruffled by the (temporary) loss of her glasses.

I have always admired the raw democracy of the town meetings of ancient Greece or eighteenth century American. Tonight’s meeting felt very egalitarian, honest, charming and human: but it is only one stage in the overall process of revising the local plan.

Taking part in discussions on Watford’s future meant that I once again missed out on folk dancing in Welwyn – a small price to pay for a healthy local democracy.