Why Lydford FS?
Why a website?
The aims of this website are clearly stated on the home page and it is hard to see how anyone could take issue with them. A good deal of effort goes into making sure that items here support those aims and that the information provided is accurate.
This website is primarily about issues local to Lydford. The Parish Council is mentioned extensively. This is simply because there is so much improvement that could be made in the way this council conducts itself and handles matters of interest to residents of Lydford. There will be those who think that it would be better to approach the council direct and bring matters of concern to their attention. This has been tried
Clearly there is a range of actions that can be taken if one is unhappy about decisions of the powers that be. The Government's Directgov website suggests various ways to get one's message across but most of them are not applicable to very local issues.
One suggestion that is applicable is starting a website. This seemed particularly appropriate as Lydford Parish Council has previously used the expense of maintaining and updating a website as a reason for not providing information to the public. It was interesting to test this claim and in fact it is very cheap and easy. See sections LPC website and Publishing a website for more on this.
Directgov also has the following:-
"Sometimes making your case directly to those who have made decisions with which you disagree can be more effective than protesting."
Good advice but only useful if those one is trying to persuade will actually listen.
Return to top of pageWhy FS?
Why the FS in www.LydfordFS.org.uk? It stands for Free Speech and this is important in any democracy. It is a feature of dictatorships that free speech and freedom of the press are suppressed and that access to information is controlled.
Fortunately in this country we have a democratic system of government and generally people are free to express opinions that criticise government policy. The Human Rights Act 1998 provides a legal basis for this in the form of a right to Freedom of Expression.
There are many quotations relating to free speech but this seems particularly apt:-
"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." - George Orwell, Preface to Animal Farm (1946)