11.5.13
| Minutes of WGPC meeting | First item – the discussion about suspending Max Wallis from his editorship of the Wales area newsletter. |
Draft
minutes of WGP Council meeting, 11th May 2013.
Present: Chris Were, Deputy Leader; Owen
Clarke. Local Party Rep/Local Party Development Officer; Sian Best (minutes),
Member; Peter Varley, member;Tony White, member; Martin Siloret, French GP
member/observer; Dorothy Wilson, Membership Secretary; Ann Were (General
Secretary); John Matthews, Local Party Rep (Cardiff)/Fundraising Officer;John
Evans, ERO; Trish Evans, Local Party Rep (Bridgend) Keith M Ross, Member;
Rodney Milton, member.
Apologies: Chris Simpson, Pippa Bartolotti,
Jane Cook
After
a minute’s attunement, it was noted that MW was not present, and had not
responded to AW’s request that he offer his resignation. Under the
constitution, his suspension from the post needed a two thirds majority of
those present. As seven Council members were present, the meeting was quorate.
JM proposed that the editor be suspended from office, because his actions had
brought the WG Party into disrepute. CW seconded and the motion was carried
unanimously. AW said she would take on the editorship until the November AGM,
notifying members of the suspension and why it had occurred. It was agreed that
she would send a letter to MW, by recorded post, formally notifying him of his
suspension, on behalf of the Council. The letter would also require him to
destroy all WGP members’ contact details in his possession.
Minutes of the last
meeting Accepted
as a true record.
Matters
arising The
PayPal account was now up and running. Gwent’s campaign against opencast
mining: OC reported that the grounds for opposition had changed from the
original archaeological ones, to those of land reclamation. Mythbusters: CW now
has a Welsh translation, it is now ready to be laid out and published for
distribution at events, displays, etc. Fundraising: JM regretted that he had
not had time to progress this, because of family illness. Elections: JM
reported that a new member is willing to stand as a WGP candidate in the
elections for Pontypridd Town Council. Mailbox at The Gate: there is mail there
for collection – JM will contact Chris Simpson and arrange to be the named
collector.
Officers’
reports CW said
that 1,276 different people had accessed the WGP website. Facebook pages and
Twitter had even more visits. RM said there was now a Facebook page for
North-East Wales GP members and supporters. DW said she had emailed reminders
to all lapsed members on the WGP contact list.
Local
parties Cardiff
– JM reported that a social evening had attracted 16 members and supporters.
Rhondda Cynon Taff – there had only been 2 members at recent meetings so the
group was, temporarily, moribund. Bridgend – usually there were 9 or 10 at
monthly meetings, with a good age and gender balance. A member is designing a
branch website. One older member is planning a 4-day sponsored walk along
Offa’s Dyke, to raise funds for the group. They are planning a clean-up and
barbecue party. They are heavily involved in the Frack-Free Wales campaign and
are pressing for a 20’s Plenty trial in one of their key wards, Bettws. Gwent –
had put forward a policy on the Severn Estuary and renewable energy to the
national GP policy group. A GP social in Abergavenny attracted 14 people.
To review job descriptions. It was agreed to postpone this
item until the next meeting due to the shortness of time.
Green
World and Population Matters AW
summarised this controversy on behalf of Chris Simpson. GW had reportedly
refused an insert from the PM charity. Apparently some members of the editorial
board felt that PM’s policies emphasised population control in the developing
world, at the expense of campaigning against over-consumption in the developed
world, and this emphasis was at odds with GP policy on population. Members
present disagreed with this stance and agreed that WGP council should write to
the GW editorial board, asking that this censorship be abandoned. The Leader
and Deputy Leader will be asked to write to the relevant conference committee,
requesting a plenary debate at national conference on population policy. AW
will draft the letters and send to Council members.
Any
Other Business AW
reminded everyone to try and get more members to attend the November meeting so
that it would be quorate, then we could either change the percentage of members
needed for a quorate meeting, or become a delegate conference.
Date
and place of next meeting.
For the next Council meeting, AW hoped that Sam Coates, formerly WGP Elections
Officer, now elected as a GP councillor in Oxfordshire,
would come and talk about his election strategy for WGP. Bridgend was suggested
as a venue, and 6th July as a possible date: this will be confirmed
ASAP.
-------------------- end minutes
--------------------
Post
Script.
At the end of the meeting AW
noticed that she had received a text from MW which read:
Apologies 4 missing WGPC. JM
disrespect with 'mole'etc, unchecked by chair. I decline to resign Editor,
follow complaints procedure. Max
Post,
post script.
Chris Simpson subsequently
pointed out that he had submitted a Local Party report for Ceredigion but it
had not been included in the documents circulated for the meeting or discussed
at the meeting. The report is reproduced below.
The General Secretary extends her
apologies to CS and Ceredigion GP.
Ceredigion
Green Party Report to WGPC, May 2013
1) Ceredigion Green Party held its
AGM on 23rd March. Pippa Bartolotti came to the meeting and gave us
a very interesting talk on progress being made towards a zero carbon society in
Germany, particularly centred on the town of Freiburg.
2) The attendance was only seven –
but it would have been eight if one member had not been stuck in Shrewsbury by
unseasonal snow the previous evening. Pippa told us about how Gwent GP organise
their telephone conference-style business meetings. We decided that we would
try one ourselves to see if there is any more member participation.
3) For the last two years,
Ceredigion GP has been in receipt of extra capitation payments for the
non-branched members elsewhere in the Mid & West region. We have made
several attempts over the last two years to get functioning local parties off
the ground in various places, but to no avail. Three Ceredigion members are now
moving to Machynlleth (North Powys), so we may be able to get a Montgomery GP
off the ground in the near future.
Chris Simpson, Ceredigion GP
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