Why the secrecy over plans for Spinning Point development?
LAST Wednesday - over a week ago now - Rossendale council called a special meeting of the council, much of which was held in private.
The purpose of the private part of the meeting?
To discuss two things critical to the future of this borough – an ‘investment purchase opportunity’ and the detailed planning for phase two of the Spinning Point development.
Despite the minutes of the meeting, published earlier this week, describing the investment opportunity as ‘key to delivering the council’s medium term financial strategy’ at the time of writing we, the taxpayers of Rossendale, aren’t allowed to know what it is the council wishes to buy, why and for how much.
As for Spinning Point, very little is clear from the minutes, other than the fact regular tax payers weren’t allowed to know anything about it.
The minutes say it was ‘key to delivering the vision for Rawtenstall’.
Clearly of little interest to the regular public then. Why the secrecy? Commercial sensitivity was cited by council leader Alyson Barnes in last week’s Free Press, but is that good enough?
Tory opposition leader Brian Essex described whatever the decision the council was making in private as ‘the single most important decision ever made for Rossendale’.
Just as well it was done
behind closed doors then!
In his column in last week’s Free Press, Coun Essex gave us a glimpse of the secrecy being deployed by the council.
Councillors got to attend a special briefing where papers were issued and then collected before anyone left. Councillors could also view plans – plans of what? – in person at the Town Hall.
At the meeting itself,
once councillors had voted to exclude the public, a proposal printed on yellow paper and would be circulated, each copy numbered, and then collected at the end after a vote had been made. A vote about what? And how did people vote?
The minutes don’t tell us, we’re not allowed to know.
Until a press release appeared on the council’s news website – not the main council website, but a special one they have to share their own news stories – on Monday saying a spa would be coming to Spinning Point, along with a big-name hotel and a selection of retail and food units.
In short, pretty much what was on the table as an option back when the council pushed through planning applications for the Spinning Point scheme earlier this year. So why the secrecy?
Council leader Alyson Barnes told the Free Press that the council’s default position was to hold meetings in the open.
But actions speak louder than words.
The sale of Rossendale Transport to Transdev is still cloaked in secrecy, even the simple question of ‘How much did Transdev pay?’ goes unanswered.
The councils seems unprepared to fully disclose the true cost to the taxpayer of the Empty
Homes Scandal, even though some people put the cost at £5m.
How much of that could have been spent on other services?
The council seems reluctant to tell anything, instead promising to talk more if/when a police investigation into alleged wrongdoing is wrapped up.
The problem with arguing commercial sensitivity around Spinning Point is that huge sums of public money have been spent trying to make the project a reality. Surely at least some of the paperwork could have been shared publicly, even if not the actual sums involved.
Coun Essex talks of
‘enormous amounts of money involved’ yet nobody in the ruling Labour cabinet felt compelled to try and find a way for the most important decision in recent times to be discussed in public.
Given how controversial the scheme has been to date, and the volume of criticism over how the council has engaged - or has failed to engage - with critics of the scheme, you’d have thought the ruling Labour party in Rossendale would have tried harder. Clearly not. Our taxes are paying for Spinning Point, but clearly we’re not allowed any more involvement than that.