Its in the Times

Here's my letter published in the Derbsyshire Times today

Last week’s letter writers gave a good insight into Bolsover’s dilemma.  Anne Wood wrote in support of a Morrison’s saying it would save her shopping bills whilst John Edwards wrote in opposition asking does anyone in Bolsover Council care about the obliteration of a fine Victorian building and public green?

The two views seem irreconcilable but they are not. Bolsover Council can satisfy both parties. If the petrol station was ditched and a smaller store positioned closer to Town End Road we could keep both the Lodge and the Green intact. Instead of treating our heritage as simply an asset to be exploited, such an approach would balance the need for development with the desire for conservation appeasing both. It could, and should, have been set down by the Council over a year ago in a Planning Brief for the site which would have considered everyone’s view.  Instead we have now learnt that the Council made a deal with Morrison’s behind closed doors where the size of the store, the need for a petrol filling station and the purchase price were all agreed long before bodies such as English Heritage, let alone the wider public, were consulted.

The consequences of this blinkered approach have been spelt out on your letter pages over the past weeks. It is a sad case of missed opportunities which has meant that many other ideas have not been explored. For example a retained Lodge would make a great Contact Centre avoiding the need to rip-up Market Street car park, and Morrison’s could have gone into partnership with the existing filling station rather than building a new one. Without the clarity that a planning brief provides it is also very difficult to see how the Council got the best price out of the prospective developers.

Fortunately there is just about still time for Bolsover Councillors to stop stoking the fire they have built before they themselves get burnt.  Anyone who takes a dispassionate look at the scheme soon draws the inevitable conclusion that it simply cannot overcome the planning, legal and financial hurdles it faces. If the Council blunders on it will be left  looking like “Two Jags Prescott” struggling with managing not one, but two, over-sized HQs in Bolsover and Clowne. The idea that in the middle of the deepest recession we have known they can simply rent out all this excess accommodation is as much a fantasy as the hope that they will sacrifice some of their own excessive basic allowances to make good the short-fall.

Up till now the public have spoken but we have heard very little from the elected representatives on Bolsover DC.  I think now would be a good time for them all to share their thoughts with your readers.