Co-operation is the key

He was attempting to persuade members of Sidley Residents Association to become involved with a new civic pride group. Cllr Gubby was trying to encourage members to join with other organisations in the village who are forming "Sidley Voice".

The group will create a community action plan on how best to improve Sidley.

A March meeting on the subject met with an enthusiastic response with a host of improvements being suggested.

However some association members at last week's meeting at Sidley Sports and Social Club feared a centralisation of power and loss of autonomy. Cllr Gubby said the individual groups should remain but will work more efficiently if all parties held meetings on Sidley's future together.

He said: "Over the years there have been so many bodies in Sidley and so many meetings that nothing has come of it. I'm keen to get all the groups in Sidley to sign up and come together and cooperate on it.

"What I would like to do is see them collaborate much more together. You're much better off having one meeting. There is no reason you should not meet independently as well but you do need to work together. By having an action plan people can understand what is going on but at the moment not everybody hears about it."