A travesty of common sense and democracy
THE decision to demolish Horncastle Town Hall against the wishes of the local population is a travesty of democracy and common sense.
As another example of poor judgement, Louth already has a large swimming pool that could have been refurbished for one tenth of the cost wasted on the (£15m) Wood Lane sports complex – a small portion of this vast sum could have been invested in refurbishing Horncastle Town Hall.
Horncastle residents have clearly demonstrated over several years that they want to keep this building for the community – but it does occupy a prime piece of land.
Various ELDC spokesmen pontificate over their "independent consultant's" report that determined the fate of the town hall, but no one has seen the "brief" given to them to prepare that report.
ELDC has a Corporate Strategy that is published, and purports its intention of "promoting local communities", rather than (in reality) destroying them. Whoever formulated this strategy has no understanding or interest in local needs or any intention of adhering to their own policies, or wishes of the residents.
Name and address supplied
Comments
by Colin Mair, 131 High Street, Coningsby
Sunday, February 21 2010, 7:27AM
“It is with sadness that I watch how frustrated people in Horncastle are as the fate of the Horncastle Town Hall is determined behind closed doors by East Lindsey District Council, who have used our money to pay for an 'Independant Consultant'. What is wrong with consulting with the real experts on this matter, the people of Horncastle, who I gurantee are far cheaper and more knowledgeable than any 'Independant Consultant'. Too many of the decisions that affect us are taken behind closed doors by unelected local authority employees who we have no control over, except to pay our council taxes to support their ridiculously high salaries. Well there is something we can do. If a petition is raised demanding that the council hold a referendum on the matter and more than 5% of voters in the district sign the petition then the council are forced by law to hold a referendum. While we are on this matter look at what is happening in Doncaster, where they elected an executive mayor. If we petition on this issue, demanding that an elected council leader with exective powers is put in place by us, we will at last start to have real control over the many ways ELDC affects our lives, improving service delivery and saving costs despite whichever party is put in power this year. Let's start looking after our own back yard and give ourselves renewed pride in our towns, our county and our nation, which must be the best in the world considering how many people want to come and live here.
Colin Mair
Parliamentary Candidate for Louth and Horncastle
English Democrats Party
Tel 01526 344495”