THE COUNCIL is under a duty to secure the best deal for its taxpayers and therefore it is absolutely correct that in these straitened times they should look to fund new capital investment through the disposal of assets and not simply by increasing borrowing.
There should be no sacred cows in this process and therefore both the leisure centre and the old town hall should be assessed. The problem with the leisure centre was that the council acted disingenuously in attempting to disguise a disposal as a rational response to an independent report when in reality it was nothing of the kind.
It is becoming more and more apparent as each of the report’s so-called evidence-based credentials is questioned that the report was not a fortuitous outcome but a document with a pre-determined purpose.
The council must be transparent in its disposals plan. There will always be objectors whatever decisions are taken, but that goes with the territory of being a councillor.
ROBERT STRANKS
Cedar Drive, Southwater