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The Bradworthy Wind Turbines
Councillor
Christie's Weblog
From your Torridge District Councillor Peter Christie
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19th August '07
Some council meetings become dominated by one subject on the agenda – and last week’s Full Torridge District council meeting was one of these, the subject being the future of the Burton Art Gallery and Museum. Torridge has decided the way ahead for the undertaking is to hive it off to the North Devon Cultural Trust – notwithstanding that a group in Bideford has also expressed an interest in running the Burton. At a meeting of the Community Development Committee a few weeks ago the vote was very close at 5 to 4 to go ahead with the Trust idea. When the decision came to Full Council to be ratified the subject generated a lot of searching questions most of which hinged around the absence of any figures for costs etc. Councillor Geoff Lee voiced his fears that we could be making a major error in going ahead without a full analysis of costs and implications being carried out – a sentiment echoed by Councillor Tony Collins who feared that this first step of handing over control of the Burton to a Barnstaple based group could, with the looming possibility of ‘Regional Government’, see the Gallery being eventually run from somewhere like Bristol – with an almost guaranteed decline in quality.
At this point the Chief Executive entered the debate wondering if we weren’t seeing the results of ‘undue influence’ on some councillors following a ‘high level of lobbying’ from ‘a vocal minority’ – presumably a reference to those local people who had been expressing their unease over the proposals to their councillors. Personally I was rather surprised at this view as I’m pretty sure voters still have a democratic right to express their views to their elected representatives.
Other councillors then joined in with Andrew Boyd from Torrington querying the ‘North Devon’ part of the proposed Trust as he hadn’t heard anything about any benefits to other cultural providers in Torridge. He made the vital point that the Trust even if it does, as hoped, draw down new funds that money will almost certainly be directed to those museums and theatres under its control i.e. the Landmark, Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple Museum – and the Burton which is the sole cultural venue joining the new Trust. Northam councillor Chris Leather, who is chair of Torridge’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee, after pinpointing finance as the key element in the decision queried whether the Trust might not cost Torridge council taxpayers more in the long run than it does at present – he had seen no figures either way. Councillor Phil Collins agreed that finance was the linch pin of the whole thing but he considered Torridge was procrastinating and should push ahead with the plans. He was joined by Councillor Des Shadrick who actually attacked the Burton for not contributing to the well being of Torridge as much as it should have been. He himself is a great champion of ‘Ruby Country’ which concerns itself with Holsworthy – and which I suspect most people in Bideford have little knowledge of – but everyone is entitled to one hobbyhorse I suppose.
At this point I put a motion to have the whole thing sent back for further consideration on the understanding that a joint meeting would be convened between North Devon and Torridge District Council members plus representatives from Appledore, Torrington and Holsworthy museums and the Beaford Centre and the Plough which to me seemed the only sensible route to take given the black hole over facts and figures concerning the proposed Trust. Indeed I publicly stated that I refused to vote for a scheme where I did not know the financial details. Sadly, and somewhat predictably, the vote was lost – 18 to 11 with 1 abstention. Time will tell how wise this decision was and what its results will be.
Following on from this, in a tangential sort of way, it was interesting to see that 56 out of 62 councillors on Devon County Council (all the Tories and Lib Dems) have voted to challenge the decision by Exeter to ‘secede’ from the County and set up a Unitary Authority. As I have remarked before this could well see the rump of the County, including Torridge and North Devon, being forced to join together to provide services at a reasonable cost. This idea that joint working could be the future needs to be explored so what a shame that at the first opportunity for councillors to really explore the mechanics of joint working a majority have backed off from getting stuck in and learning what it really means. Oh well I’m sure there will be lots more chances.
So further restrictions have been placed on our old Bridge. Now we are told one of the walkways is possibly unsafe and has had to be fenced off. Add this to the existing ‘temporary’ weight limit and the ‘emergency’ scaffolding on the coping at one point and the Bridge is beginning to resemble a multiple accident victim. Devon County Council who look after it really must bite the bullet and start the planned repair programme as soon as possible.
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