Epworth Town Council to buy audio recorder to tape meetings

It was revealed in June this year that a new three-stage arrangement had been implemented at the White Bear junction, giving priority to traffic travelling along Burnham Road, and the 60 second interval had become 90 seconds to allow HGVs more turning time.

However, Epworth Town Council has received a complaint from a resident about the “backing up” of traffic on High Street.

Council clerk Caroline Maguire told the Bells: “The timing of the lights has solved the problem on the A161 but has created a problem on the High Street at busy times of day. We are going to discuss it next month. It’s an ongoing issue.”

Discussions also took place to consider the purchase of a hand held digital recorder to audio record meetings.

Recent legislation means that anyone can record council meetings, potentially using the recordings on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Mrs Maguire said: “We agreed to purchase one as members were concerned that people might record meetings and take snippets and misrepresent what has been said.

“They wanted to have a verbal copy of the meetings as evidence.”

The device will cost in the region of £170.

The long-standing problem with the state of Turbary Road was also a topic at the meeting. Action on the road that suffers from pits and holes on its rough surface has been a controversial topic for several years, due to the issue of responsibility for both road and footpath between councils. Epworth Town Council is now looking towards helping to resurface the road, explained Mrs Maguire, adding that North Lincolnshire Council is expected to also help with that.

A working group was set up to improve the condition of the road in 2009, one resident saying: “The road is a danger to both drivers and walkers and desperately needs doing.”