Having been in attendance at the Forrabury and Minster Parish Council meeting on November 13, I can only describe events as degenerating into a shambolic caricature of what a parish meeting should be.

Yet another parish councillor resigned (the Chairman having resigned on October 27); the parish clerk, who is the only unelected (paid) member of the council seemed to feel it encumbent upon himself to take on the role of a quasi-chairperson... As one member of the parish council commented towards the end of the meeting: "We have acted like a lot of schoolchildren tonight."

One of the items on the agenda to be discussed and voted on at this meeting was South West Water's planning applications for a joint sewage treatment works for Boscastle/Tin­tagel to be sited at either Trevalga or South Bossiney. As the final date for the sending of letters of objections/approval was Novem­ber 14, this was understandably a matter of some urgency. It needed to be resolved, and parish councillors should have decided whether to approve or reject the applications.

Unfortunately, certain factions within the council seemed determined to thwart this process (or so it seemed to a mere onlooker), and it was at this point that the meeting deteriorated into such a debacle that all the parish councillors present except two were deemed to have prejudicial issues regarding the applications, so no vote was taken.

A member of another local parish council, present as an observer, was disgusted by the behaviour of these elected representatives of the people, and quite rightly so. In my opinion, not only was one councillor insulting towards his fellow councillors, he was also extremely insulting towards members of the public. He obviously felt that the residents of Trevalga had no right to participate in these meetings, despite the fact that the parish council's 'decision' on South West Water's proposals would directly affect their lives.

Is it any wonder that the residents of Trevalga feel that a certain faction within Boscastle (both on and off the parish council) are determined to 'export' their sewage to a (previously) friendly neighbouring parish. This faction has ensured that Boscastle's residents have not received any 'official' literature regarding the joint sewage scheme, and have also ensured that they had very little opportunity to study South West Water's planning documents.

Thankfully, 'unofficial' literature has been distributed in the area so, hopefully, despite the inadequacies of their parish council, the people of Boscastle and the surrounding area have at least some idea of what is likely to happen.

There has certainly been a lack of transparency regarding this matter.

Trevalga,

Boscastle.