Council Leader’s Facilities Denial Decree U-turned Within 36 Hours

Published on: 18 Jan, 2018
Updated on: 23 Jan, 2018

HTAG website – click to link

Council Leader Paul Spooner (Con, Ash South & Tongham) appears to have performed a U-turn this week on an “intemperate” decision to give notice to a residents association who had urged better representation of planning concerns by ward councillors.

His response was criticised by Hon Alderman Gordon Bridger who said: “…Cllr Spooner believes he is entitled to bestow council facilities, which we all fund, or withdraw them, if the community using them upsets him.”

Holy Trinity Action Group (HTAG), formed in 1971, has, for some years, been given free use of facilities at Millmead council offices to peruse planning documents.

On Saturday (January 13) the Planning Secretary of HTAG, Bob Bromham, emailed Holy Trinity’s three Conservative ward councillors, Geoff Davis, Nils Christiansen and Dennis Paul, urging them, in moderate tone, to give more attention to residents’ problems, obtain more public scrutiny of planning proposals and better control of building operations in the area.

Cllr Paul Spooner

Cllr Spooner saw the email and reacted by giving the group three months notice to find alternative premises for their “planning meetings”.

In a widely circulated email, dated January 15, Spooner wrote: “Mr Bromham and HT are the only group given Millmead facilities on a gratis basis to attend their own planning meetings. No other Parish or RA has this level if support.

“I hereby give 3 months notice for HT to find another venue. Partnership goes two ways.”

But by the following afternoon (Tuesday, 16th) pressure on the council leader to change his mind seemed to have had told and there was an apparent U-turn.

Cllr Dennis Paul

Holy Trinity ward councillor Dennis Paul, playing down the issue said: “I’ve discussed this with colleagues and there are no plans to withdraw facilities on three months notice.

“I’ve spoken to HTAG member Bob Bromham to provide reassurance.  His feedback is always valued as is the great work volunteers in HTAG do, but I sense there may have been some misunderstanding about internal HTAG feedback that has manifested itself in some unintended frustration. This has been resolved.”

Cllr Nils Christiansen

Nils Christiansen echoed Paul’s comment saying: “This was a minor misunderstanding, now resolved. As Holy Trinity councillors we very much value the commitment and work of HTAG and other active members of the community, and we are always keen to work with them in the interests of our town and borough.”

David Stokes the chairman of Holy Trinity Amenity Group said yesterday: “HTAG enjoys good working relationships with our local councillors and the GBC. Our ward councillors often join our meetings, respond to our requests for information and are generally constructive and supportive.

“There are current issues in relation to the representation of local views at planning committee meetings and the enforcement of planning conditions on building sites within our area which we are working on with our councillors’ support.

“We firmly believe in ensuring planning applications have local residents’ input and to this end, we scrutinise applications in our area using the digital documentation made available to us in the GBC offices.

“Recent communications regarding our use of this facility have been satisfactorily resolved as they arose through a misunderstanding.”

Hon Alderman
Gordon Bridger

But Hon Alderman Gordon Bridger, a resident of Holy Trinity ward, was more critical. He said: ”I entirely agree with the chairman of HTAG, an organisation which for 40 years has been serving the community and has, for the last 20 or so, been heavily dependent  on Bob Bromham to review planning applications.

Cllr Spooner’s letter was addressed to 18 people, including myself, but the principal recipient was Bob Bromham – not our chairman. In it, he stated that he would no longer allow HTAG to hold “planning meetings” in council offices. He did this without even consulting his three local councillors who immediately intervened and no doubt pointed out that HTAG did not hold planning meetings there. He had confused them with monthly reviews of planning applications which the group has carried out monthly for some 40 years.

“This intemperate intervention was quickly scotched by our very embarrassed three ward councillors, who, as David Stokes says, have been very cooperative

“What worries me is that Cllr Spooner believes he is entitled to bestow council facilities, which we all fund, or withdraw them, if the community using them upsets him. These facilities, largely unused, should be available to all community groups at no cost.

“I would like to suggest that the council, as a whole, should determine who can use them and agree a procedure which does not depend on the whims of a councillor.

“Worse still is the way sudden emails are fired off to councillors, or indeed members of the public, criticising them. It is most unbecoming behaviour for a council leader and departs from past standards. I wonder where this idea came from? A new code of conduct seems to be necessary?”

Comment has been invited through the GBC Comms Team.

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