Will the Council award a lease notwithstanding apparent bias?

Our volunteers move a mountain of chippings

Dear Friends,

We are pretty shocked by the paper going to the Finance Committee on 25 June.

We may as well not have existed in the past third of a century - we have been ghosted. No mention at all! Three pages are devoted to letters of objection and support and some of it is laughable (pages 9-11). Those who said that we have done an excellent job are said to be supporting the Council’s proposal! The reply to those who believed there should be public consultation are told “The Council has complied with its normal regulatory processes.” Please do read it for yourself and form your own view.

If you want a summary of how the report is biased, please watch Part 6 of the Battle for Pensford Field made by independent film maker, Martin Baker.

The Council is supposed to approach consideration of objections with an open mind. But it has consistently shown that it’s mind is closed and the decision was already made, we believe, in March 2024 when the Leader, Cllr Gareth Roberts, met Sir Mark Rowley.

Anyway, we will attend the Finance Policy and Resources Committee on 25 June and will have an opportunity to speak. Will councillors listen? Most have not been involved before but the Leader chairs the meeting and he has shown sustained commitment to granting this lease from March 2024.

We have decided to send a Judicial Review Pre-Action Protocol Letter to the Council ahead of the meeting. Here is a copy of the letter.

Next Work Day is Saturday 12 July from 10-12 noon. Please come to our Summer Party picnic on the afternoon of Saturday 19 July at 1.30pm. Follow this link for more details. We very much hope you can join us either to say goodbye or even to celebrate that the Council accepts it has got this whole thing wrong and needs to start again.