Coun Brent Roach, of Manorfield Avenue, Driffield, writes . . .
It is now more than two months since the East Riding of Yorkshire Council set its budget for the year 2004/05.
However, since that time, the Conservative grouping at County Hall has seized power as a minority
administration supported by a handf
ul of Labour councillors. I am sure that a lot of voters would not have voted in the way they did last May if they had known that the Tories and Labour were going to act so undemocratically. There was no mention in their election addresses that this was what they intended to do, so they had no mandate from the electorate for their actions.
This move to undemocratic activity at County Hall also seems to be mirrored in the Tories' outlook on providing voters with information. Driffield was promised a new swimming pool and sports centre last year but since the budget was set in February our elected representatives have remained noticeably reticent to tell us anything about the plans, timescales, etc, involved in the provision of the new facilities. So much for open government.
Just what is the position regarding the provision of the new facilities for the people of Driffield and area? Was the £4 million approved in the budget?
There has been no mention of this in the press, especially the East Riding News, but there has been details of the £7 million being spent on a new pool and a refurbishment of the sports centre at Beverley.
This brings me to ask the obvious question: How is the East Riding going to build Driffield a new sports centre and swimming pool for £4 million when the Beverley centre is costing £7 million?
The answer is obvious – the £4 million has been voted by ERYC in order to attract match funding from elsewhere, possibly Sport England or the Lottery Fund. If this is the truth, why is it that our councillors conveniently fail to tell us the truth about the funding of the new facilities?
What will happen if match funding fails to materialise or is not agreed by another body as a grant within the 36 months indicated as necessary to provide the new centre? Would this be grounds for the Tory and Labour councillors on the East Riding Council instigating a U-turn on the policy on the grounds that they did not have the full funding available?
The way that the whole scheme has been presented to the people of Driffield is lamentable. We have not been presented with the full story, which seems par for the course with our unitary council, who use the East Riding News as a self-congratulatory publication rather than one in which to fully inform the Council Taxpayers of the area.
By now, according to the initial timescale, the ERYC should have commenced a full consultation process on what the public, various groups using the facilities and the Town Council wanted to see included in the new sports centre/swimming pool complex.
To my knowledge, no such consultation has yet begun. Why is the local authority dragging its feet?
Has an application yet been made for match funding from an outside body? If not, why not? Please tell us the truth and the full truth please.
Our elected representatives made us promises before the elections last May regarding our sports centre and pool. Now they must keep us informed about all developments so that we can judge whether they are working effectively for us, the electorate, to achieve the things that we require in Driffield. We do not want to find ourselves in a position where the current facilities are closed for health and safety reasons but the new facilities are not being built due to lack of funding.
