There must have been around a hundred members of the public, not to mention Town Councillors, in the Public Gallery Area at the ADC Full Council Meeting on 9th January. Some carried 'Don't Close The Windmill' Banners.
So many questions had been submitted that Public Question Time was doubled to 30 minutes, and Supplementary Questions were not allowed in the first run-through - which in fact took nearly all the extended slot, and only one Supplementary was asked - but happened to be a Housing question, not Leisure Strategy - but twelve out of the thirteen asked WERE.
As reported elsewhere on this site, the Consultants' Report on the Public Consultation will be considered by the ADC Leisure Working Group and can be read on the Agenda for the meeting. The public uproar was noticed and taken into account, but there are still plenty of conclusions and proposals in the Report that are open to reasonable question, and indeed may not really be the conclusions that would have be drawn if the data-gathering had been as good as we might have hoped for - or if the Consultants had a less superficial knowledge of the locality and what makes it tick.
So there's still a long way to go, but at least the opportunity now exists to continue to influence events through Localism and more Community Involvement to support our Assets.
So many questions had been submitted that Public Question Time was doubled to 30 minutes, and Supplementary Questions were not allowed in the first run-through - which in fact took nearly all the extended slot, and only one Supplementary was asked - but happened to be a Housing question, not Leisure Strategy - but twelve out of the thirteen asked WERE.
As reported elsewhere on this site, the Consultants' Report on the Public Consultation will be considered by the ADC Leisure Working Group and can be read on the Agenda for the meeting. The public uproar was noticed and taken into account, but there are still plenty of conclusions and proposals in the Report that are open to reasonable question, and indeed may not really be the conclusions that would have be drawn if the data-gathering had been as good as we might have hoped for - or if the Consultants had a less superficial knowledge of the locality and what makes it tick.
So there's still a long way to go, but at least the opportunity now exists to continue to influence events through Localism and more Community Involvement to support our Assets.