LEDBURY Town Council is to be praised for considering a parish poll about access proposals for a major new estate, off the Bromyard Road.

But it is a surely a matter of concern that, for the second time in four months, a parish meeting has had to be called to get the ball rolling, when in fact the ball should have started rolling back in March.

It is then that a parish meeting agreed to seek a parish poll about the access arrangements; but the town council let the clock tick and did not make the necessary arrangements in time to make the parish poll happen. This is an almost inexplicable state of affairs.

While it is true that elections followed on shortly after the March decision, the town council was well aware of that when setting the date for the March parish meeting. The town council must also have been aware that the decision and right to call a parish poll is subject to a tight time-scale.

Ironically, despite the loom of elections, no elections happened for Ledbury Town Council, because there were not enough candidates. The ten candidates who did put their names forward each got a seat for four years, automatically. It seems to be a strange excuse to point to elections as a reason for missing the parish poll deadline.

It has been a stormy few years for the town council, with multiple resignations and the reserves drained to the tune of £220,000, because of a judicial review. Hopefully, with a fresh wind and new ideas, a corner might yet be turned.

But bridges still need to be built to the worried electorate. This Parish Poll fiasco hasn’t helped.