Campaigns

Anger at Dishonest Council Maps

Published on Sunday 13th March 2011 by Jon Hubbard

I attended the consultation exercise being held by the Community Area Partnership at the Town Hall again on Saturday to see what people were saying about the proposed Campus development.

Not suprisingly the issue being spoken about more than any other was the "mistake" make by the council where they issued maps showing that the development would be built on land that they don't even own.

I have asked the councilf for clarification on this and have been assured that they have no intention of buying any new land for the campus and that the maps were "a mistake" and that the campus will actually be built behind the school on land the council already owns.

I have today sent this letter to the Melksham news and Wiltshire Times making clear how I feel about the whole process.

Sir

On Saturday I attended the consultation at Melksham Town Hall on the proposed campus development.
What a shame that officers from Wiltshire Council declined to do likewise. This meant that members of the public, who came to ask questions to clarify issues before completing their questionnaires, were denied the chance to ask questions or get clarifications on any of the details of the development.

One clarification that we would all like to hear is just where the campus will actually be built, now that we have had confirmation from the council that the maps they supplied were “inaccurate”.

So to date we have the council refusing to answer questions until after the consultation has completed and issuing inaccurate and misleading information in advance. A cynic may think that they had a hidden agenda!

It’s now clear to me that the council is either being incompetent or dishonest, although to be fair it may well be a combination of the two. It’s time to stop this whole process, give the real facts to the people of Melksham and allow a real and proper consultation, together with the chance to ask questions, to take place.

Cllr Jon Hubbard
Wiltshire Councillor for Melksham South