As you might remember a couple of weeks ago, I posted up information regarding Town Council meetings and asked if anyone attending would like to report back to the blog, in order that those who don’t have time to go, get to hear about what’s being discussed and how decisions are made.
This is something that we feel pretty strongly about given some of the Town Council’s recent decisions and how they behaved last year when discussing and approving the over development of St Josephs in Madeira Road.
One of our readers has taken up the gauntlet and agreed to act as correspondent for all Town Council meetings. So off he trotted last Monday, down to the Winter Gardens to take notes at the Planning meeting.
Just for clarity, the Town Council website states that “members of the public are welcome and encouraged to attend.”
Well, you can imagine that our correspondent was a little perturbed when he was told quite sharply by Town Clerk, John Farrant that the the public were NOT allowed to attend Planning meetings.
It appears that this was not only news to him (and us), but also Councillors Brian Lucas and Brenda Lawson. Both expressed surprise at the news and confirmed that the public ARE welcome to Planning meetings as well as Town Council meetings.
Just why John Farrant denied public access is still unclear.
Anyway, as we weren’t able to report on the discussions surrounding decisions made at that meeting, here are some of the notes they put out.
Perhaps I’ve misunderstood what she’s saying, but what confuses me about this one is that Brenda talks as if the application is a done deal.
Forgive me if I am wrong, but the democratic process regarding Cheetah Marines application to build on the public car park has not yet been completed.
Good for you Mr B Munt, I still can’t believe that the TC, despite huge public opposition, considered this application a goer. There still appears to be lots of question marks over the original deal and how a public amenity got sold off at a rock bottom price to a commercial entity.
Anyway, on a brighter note, it’s Friday and the sun is shining!
