LETTER: Councillors seem afraid of public

On April 30 during the council meeting to consider Cllr Claire Vickers’ Proposed Strategy for housing and economic development of Horsham, several councillors made much of the critical importance of the decision they were about to take.
By The Newsroom
Published 16th May 2014, 07:00 BST
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Only 35 members of the public were able to be present in the same room where the councillors were meeting. Three developers were also able to get in though these were not part of the strict list HDC staff had imposed.

The rest of the public were consigned to the Capitol where they could hear the debate but had no chance to demonstrate their feelings to the council nor to get a true feeling of the atmosphere pervading in that chamber.

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Why would the chairman, Cllr Circus, or the leader of the largest group, Cllr Dawe, or the chief executive, Mr Crowley, not think it appropriate that such a critical decision for Horsham be debated at an alternative venue where a greater number of the public could be present.

The Capitol or the Drill Hall could have been used.

The probable reason is that they did not want the public in attendance and this has been the story all the way through this sorry saga.

The council’s history of involving the public in this critical decision has been negative, despite being asked for meetings with the public right back to the summer 2013 they have refused.

Cllr Vickers held a ‘meeting in public’ as a gesture towards this but it proved very superficial and stage-managed.

This gang of councillors seem to be afraid of the public who voted them into office.

NEIL JONES

Tennyson Close, Horsham

Related topics:CouncillorsCapitolHDC