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If they won't say, then we must ask

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Published on Tuesday 15th February 2011 by Jon Hubbard

Following the Council's refusal to allow any questions or debate on the proposed new campus for Melksham I have today submitted a range of questions to be asked at the full meeting of Wiltshire Council on the 22nd Feb.

I fully recognise that this is not the most appropriate forum for these questions to be rasied, but as the council is refusing to offer any other opportunity for councillors or the public to ask questions in a public forum I have no choice but to use the few constitutional routes avaialble to me.

Following the Council's refusal to allow any questions or debate on the proposed new campus for Melksham I have today submitted a range of questions to be asked at the full meeting of Wiltshire Council on the 22nd Feb.

I fully recognise that this is not the most appropriate forum for these questions to be rasied, but as the council is refusing to offer any other opportunity for councillors or the public to ask questions in a public forum I have no choice but to use the few constitutional routes avaialble to me.

The questions I have asked are reproduced in full below.

 

To the Cabinet Member responsible for Communities and Area Boards

Context

At the recent Area Board meeting in Melksham, attended by the Cabinet Member, the proposed new Community Campus was on the agenda. A presentation of the council’s single proposed site was given but there was no opportunity for questions or discussion. Instead a very limited number of points of clarification were permitted. From these it became clear that no economic impact assessments, transport studies or feasibility studies have taken place, and they will not take place until after the final consultation for the public has completed.
In addition, the public are being invited to participate in a consultation on the issue before the issue is debated and before councillors (and the public) have the opportunity to ask questions of officers in a public forum such as the Area Board (the consultation is due to close on the 15th March and the Area Board scheduled for the issue to be discussed is on the 29th March).

Questions

Could the cabinet member please tell me:
1)    In his opinion does this “putting the cart before the horse” demonstrate best practice or will he confirm that, in this instance, the council have got it wrong?
2)    If he does believe that the practice that has been followed is acceptable could be please explain how this demonstrates how the Council’s by-line “where everybody matters” can be justifiably used?
3)    Does he intend to make it standard practice for the facts about proposals only to be disclosed only once any consultations have been completed?

To the Cabinet Member responsible for Workplace Transformation

Context

At the recent Area Board meeting in Melksham the proposed new Community Campus was on the agenda. A presentation of the council’s single proposed site was given but there was no opportunity for questions or discussion. Instead a very limited number of points of clarification were permitted. From these it became clear that no economic impact assessments, transport studies or feasibility studies have taken place, and they will not take place until after the final consultation for the public has completed.
In addition, the public are being invited to participate in a consultation on the issue before the issue is debated and before councillors (and the public) have the opportunity to ask questions of officers at the Area Board (the consultation is due to close on the 15th March and the Area Board scheduled for the issue to be discussed is on the 29th March).
It has therefore not been possible for members or the public to ask questions in a public forum on this issue. Therefore I am asking today, and in order that they are a matter of public record, the questions that I believe I, and others, should have been permitted to ask at the meeting where the proposal was presented.

Questions

1.    The library is currently used by a number of organisations that are based, or meet, in the Town Centre (such as the majority of the Town’s primary schools and voluntary groups such as the Cubs). Can the cabinet member tell me what impact assessment has been made on how these groups will be affected by the closure of the town centre library?
2.    Wiltshire recently spent £288,727 refurbishing Melksham’s Town Centre Library. How does it represent best value for money to spend it and then scrap it?
3.    Wiltshire Council, and it’s predecessor West Wiltshire District Council, fought the new Asda Development in Melksham on the basis that it was an ‘out-of’town’ development and this was against their policy. Could the Cabinet Member please inform me when they performed a about turn on this?
4.    I, along with many others, have been asking for a copy of the proposals for the Campus for several months. Indeed in November when I presented to this council a petition signed by 2,184 local residents objecting to the proposed closure of the Town Centre Library and its relocation to the Melksham Oak site I was informed that there were, as yet, no such plans and that such documents were not yet produced. Yet now that we finally have the council’s proposals I see that the Sustainability Appraisal Report, the main document released to the public, is dated October 2010. Can the Cabinet Member please explain why this document was withheld from members, despite their requesting it, and could he say, categorically for the record, what other reports are being, will be or have been produced in relation to the Melksham Campus and provide a timeline for when they will be available to the public.
5.    In the council’s own sustainability report when looking at the preferred option the report itself identifies the potential impact on the Town Centre of removing the library and says (Page 54, item 13 Community Facilities) “If a campus were built in this location, retention of some services in the town centre eg the library, should be considered” and then (Page 55, item 14 Education and Skills) “Provision of a new library may be better located within the town centre where there would be greater accessibility to a wider number of people.”

Most damaging however is the statement (Page 55, Item 16 Economy) “Directing services and facilities to town centre locations would draw people into the centre, helping to improve vitality and viability of retail and other businesses. Development of an edge-of-town campus would have the opposite effect and would be unlikely to aid regeneration – a priority for the town a dn stated in the Wiltshire LDF.”

Why is the council not following its own advice and policy?
6.    Why has the council dismissed the option of a split site campus, with the Library and Youth Centre being retained at their current locations and the new development at Melksham Oak housing the remaining facilities as being hypothetical and therefore impossible to cost? These facilities are in place at their current locations and surely the cost of these buildings is know to the council?