OK lets do Grove House. When Cllr Colbert presented her motion to the new Town Council on 5 June, they simply refused to discuss it.
I refer you to a letter from Cllrs Colbert and Howes published in the Fenland Citizen on 20 June 2007:
We find the whole matter of Grove House highly perplexing.
As we understand the situation, Grove House was owned by Chatteris Urban District Council, who transferred its care to the newly formed Fenland District Council in 1974.
The Chatteris Town Council met in the building right up until the mid 1990s and the Museum was housed there.
We understand that in the mid 1990s Chatteris Town Council asked Fenland District Council for the building back, but FDC insisted they would have to pay £250,000 for it (!) so nothing happened.
Then, in 1996, Fenland District Council sold the building to the Isle College for £6,000, under conditional terms and it being used for education for 10 years.
According to the article by Cllr Alan Melton in Citizen Extra, the building was in a poor state and the Isle College undertook a “massive refurbishment” of the building and educational use started in 1997.
First, there are two questions.
(1) Why did Fenland District Council let the building get into such a poor state of repair?
(2) Why were Chatteris Town Council asked for such a huge amount of money only shortly before the sale to Isle College?
Now we move on to the present time, and we are told in Cllr Melton’s article that the building is in a very poor state now and that it cannot be used as a public building “as there is no lift and is not ‘disabled and disability acceptable’”.
This raises further issues.
(1) Why is again in such a poor state if the Isle College had it “massively refurbished”?
(2) Why should it have to have a lift? We have never noticed one in Fenland Hall, or the One Stop Shops.
(3) How about using just part of it as a public building?
(4) How about using the small side building for something like the Youth Cafe that everyone seems to agree that Chatteris could do with?
A motion for the reacquisition of Grove House for the benefit of the people of Chatteris has now twice been put before the Chatteris Town Council, but the majority group will not even discuss the matter.
Surely the Town Council has a duty to the people of Chatteris to fully investigate the condition of the building, and all its possible uses rather than ignore the matter.
And surely the Chatteris community is entitled to some substantial recompense from Fenland District Council for what looks very much like mismanagement of a substantial Chatteris asset.
This was in response to an article in the Chatteris Extra edition of the Fenland Citizen the previous week by Conservative District and County Councillor Alan Melton (and party colleague of 8 out of 12 of the Town Council) Cllr Melton wrote: "... the hope is that some private developer will save the building for domestic use, just like Chatteris House.”
During the life of the previous town council, Cllr Melton stood before them and promised that if at any point in the future Grove House was no longer required for educational use, it would be returned to Chatteris. Well I suppose that a couple of years is “a long time in politics” !
Funny thing though, while Cllr Melton hopes for a ‘benevolent’ developer to ‘save’ Grove House, Chatteris is full of rumours that it has already been promised to a developer. Perhaps Cllr Melton became converted to the idea while working as project manager for a local developer during the restoration of Chatteris House ?
Walter Burnett is a pen name.
Wednesday 20 June 2007
SHOOT THE MESSENGER !
I must apologise to my many readers (both those that like the blog, and those that love to hate it) for my silence. Following the reports I received of the 5th June meeting of Chatteris Town Council, I was so disillusioned / disappointed / disgusted / outraged / despairing that I felt I had to hold my tongue.
To say what I think would likely invoke a civil action for libel. Now we all know that a remark can’t be libelous if it is true, but on the whole I’d prefer not to have to spend time and money discussing it in Court.
Well what’s been happening ? I’ll deal with Grove House in a separate blog. A source of considerable expectation at the last meeting of the toy council was Cllr Murphy’s anticipated answers to the questions asked him at the inaugural meeting of the new council on 8th May 2007. (previously reported on this blog as More Stuff - yawn). Would the good district councillor be able explain the £17 million reduction in the FDC revenue account ? Could he promise that any of the £507,000 that FDC had received for the sale of land formally belonging to Chatteris, would be re-invested in Chatteris ?
Well surprise, surprise, Cllr Murphy failed to turn up, so the questions remain unanswered. Readers may not be aware the a councillor only has to attend one meeting every six months. Cllr Murphy has already failed to attend two meetings (and apparently neglected to even offer his apologies). He doesn’t actually need to attend again until November. Please Peter, don’t make us wait that long for the answers you promised !
This blog has attracted a healthy number of comments. The majority welcome it and read with interest what our council is doing (or perhaps not doing) on our behalf.
A small (and often barely literate) minority are terribly upset (why do they read it then ?) and have posted hostile comments. However these criticisms centre on speculation on this author’s identity, and criticism of specific councillors that dare to think for themselves, labeling them with that ultimate insult of the reactionary and small minded - ‘new comers’ !
Funny thing is, all the criticism is of the fact of the blog itself. Nobody has suggested that the content is anything other than accurate. A classic case of shoot the messenger ?
Walter Burnett is a pen name.
To say what I think would likely invoke a civil action for libel. Now we all know that a remark can’t be libelous if it is true, but on the whole I’d prefer not to have to spend time and money discussing it in Court.
Well what’s been happening ? I’ll deal with Grove House in a separate blog. A source of considerable expectation at the last meeting of the toy council was Cllr Murphy’s anticipated answers to the questions asked him at the inaugural meeting of the new council on 8th May 2007. (previously reported on this blog as More Stuff - yawn). Would the good district councillor be able explain the £17 million reduction in the FDC revenue account ? Could he promise that any of the £507,000 that FDC had received for the sale of land formally belonging to Chatteris, would be re-invested in Chatteris ?
Well surprise, surprise, Cllr Murphy failed to turn up, so the questions remain unanswered. Readers may not be aware the a councillor only has to attend one meeting every six months. Cllr Murphy has already failed to attend two meetings (and apparently neglected to even offer his apologies). He doesn’t actually need to attend again until November. Please Peter, don’t make us wait that long for the answers you promised !
This blog has attracted a healthy number of comments. The majority welcome it and read with interest what our council is doing (or perhaps not doing) on our behalf.
A small (and often barely literate) minority are terribly upset (why do they read it then ?) and have posted hostile comments. However these criticisms centre on speculation on this author’s identity, and criticism of specific councillors that dare to think for themselves, labeling them with that ultimate insult of the reactionary and small minded - ‘new comers’ !
Funny thing is, all the criticism is of the fact of the blog itself. Nobody has suggested that the content is anything other than accurate. A classic case of shoot the messenger ?
Walter Burnett is a pen name.
Monday 4 June 2007
COMING SOON TO A BLOG NEAR YOU ........
Tuesday 5 June is the 2nd meeting of the new Chatteris Town Council. Your blogger can hardly contain his excitement !
Will Cllr Murphy don his District Council hat and give full and informative answers to the questions asked him at the first meeting ( faithfully reported to you in my 18 May blog - MORE STUFF) ?
Cllr Colbert has resubmitted her Grove House motion that was disgracefully voted out by the last Council in March 2007:
"Following the cessation of the education use of Grove House, Chatteris Town Council calls upon Fenland District Council to secure the return of Grove House from the College of West Anglia at a figure deemed appropriate given the terms of the sale agreement. Chatteris Town Council further calls upon Fenland District Council to return the building to Chatteris for the benefit of the community at nil cost to Chatteris."
As my ‘Grove House’ blog related, this motion endeavours to give Chatteris the opportunity to have our former building returned to the people it once belonged to - us ! Will we be thrilled to learn that the Council has astonished us by supporting this fine motion, or will it instead bury its head in the sand, ostrich like, and rule out the opportunity of regaining a Chatteris asset?
The fun starts at 7pm with an opportunity for the Public to speak - a few places in the gallery still remain - apply on the door! (If you can’t make it, watch this space)
Walter Burnett is a pin number.
Cllr Colbert has resubmitted her Grove House motion that was disgracefully voted out by the last Council in March 2007:
"Following the cessation of the education use of Grove House, Chatteris Town Council calls upon Fenland District Council to secure the return of Grove House from the College of West Anglia at a figure deemed appropriate given the terms of the sale agreement. Chatteris Town Council further calls upon Fenland District Council to return the building to Chatteris for the benefit of the community at nil cost to Chatteris."
As my ‘Grove House’ blog related, this motion endeavours to give Chatteris the opportunity to have our former building returned to the people it once belonged to - us ! Will we be thrilled to learn that the Council has astonished us by supporting this fine motion, or will it instead bury its head in the sand, ostrich like, and rule out the opportunity of regaining a Chatteris asset?
The fun starts at 7pm with an opportunity for the Public to speak - a few places in the gallery still remain - apply on the door! (If you can’t make it, watch this space)
Walter Burnett is a pin number.
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