It would be reasonable to say that my relationship with the Conservative-controlled Hambleton District Council (HDC) has been rather polarised.

This resulted in HDC restricting contact with me under the Council’s Management of Unacceptable Contact Policy, aka The Naughty Table.

On Monday that decision has been reviewed and the outcome of this is that the restriction has been lifted.

Points Of Note

I believe it appropriate to highlight:

• “The reason you were not informed sooner is that because of an oversight the review has only just been conducted” – Credit to HDC for admitting their failure in clear terms.
• “indeed the review was prompted by your email” – HDC goes further by admitting that my email last week was the reason for the review.   
• “I acknowledge that the review should have taken place no later than 27 January 2021” – Again credit to HDC who admitted for how long they had failed.
• “and I apologise that we missed this” – To end with an unreserved apology I take my hat off to HDC.

I have emailed HDC to accept and thank them for their apology.

Lesson For East Riding?

I would politely suggest that senior officers and Tory Cllrs at the Conservative-controlled East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) should pick up the phone to their HDC counterparts to learn why HDC has offered such a humble apology.

Could we see ERYC learn a lesson from HDC and turn over a new leaf in their relationship with Strangeway?