Business owners, Councillors and other members of the Funding Taskforce to Inject Life into the Economy (FuTILE), set up by Smalltown and Dullbridge (SaD) Town Council to contribute ideas for The Task Force for Economic and Tourism Advantage (TaFFETA), will be meeting with the All-New-Yet-Unimproved Somerset Cuonty Council Economic Undevelopment Officer today to spend four hours wasting their time.
Assuming that the people who make up FuTILE have nothing better to do – for example trying to Inject Life into their own businesses – the Economic Undevelopment Officer will be justifying the budget of £50,000 set aside to pay consultants to look at ways to improve Smalltown Main Street.
The meeting will be an opportunity to explain to the members of the Funding Taskforce to Inject Life into the Economy exactly what the purpose is of a Funding Taskforce to Inject Life into the Economy, and hopes to achieve this by conducting a number of ‘exercises’ by which it is hoped to find an answer to the burning question ‘Why are we here?’.
Attendees will also be invited to write a ‘Postcard from the Future’, which presumably will include the line ‘Wish you were here?’.
With the meeting starting at 10.00am and finishing at 2.00pm (including a break for lunch) it is likely that the only people who will be present will be those who are either of pension age or have taken early retirement from their previous jobs as school teachers – so essentially the members of Smalltown and Dullbridge (SaD) Town Council. Any one who may have something useful to contribute will no doubt have something better to do.
It should also be noted that SaDTC has missed the memo which mentioned that, although there is £50k funding in the All-New-Yet-Unimproved Somerset Cuonty Council budget for TaFFETA, the money is to be spent on consultation and free lunches. Smalltown and Dullbridge Town Councillors are under the misapprehension that the sum is available to help fund any ideas FuTILE comes up with.
Unfortunately there isn’t any money in the pot to fund any actual improvements, and given that an awful lot of thinking and talking must take place before any decisions are made, it is expected that the £50K will be quickly frittered away.