So what really happened at tonight's council meeting?

I've been pondering tonight's council meeting. I don't know if you can catch cynicism from being around politicians but I've been taking a cynical look and trying not to become a cynic, if you get my drift. The devil's in the detail.

The first bit of (possibly) dodgy dealing was in the formulation of the reason for the public meeting. Somehow point #14 on the agenda referred to "the situation regarding the red brick building" and not the whole site, as agreed at the meeting of Jan 13th. Check the video clips and press releases elsewhere on this blog if you're in doubt. Hazel Pegg noted this discrepancy and luckily it was cleared up: I would like to think it was a misunderstanding and not the work of a double agent in the council who's trying to play both sides against the middle. Check out Hanlon's Razor for an explanation, perhaps.

The Mayor kindly bumped agenda point #14 to the top of the list...so here we went.

Carl Budden, who takes care of regeneration for SWRDA in Somerset, spoke at length to the meeting. He had a few points to make after a bit of grovelling about SWRDAs failure to communicate and the mistrust it had fostered in the local community. They've decided to fix that, mostly by holding quarterly meetings with a revised executive group. Wait and see.

He also spoke about a closer liaisons with the Central Somerset Gazette. I wonder if they'll start buying loads of advertising space? I'll get back to the Gazette later.

Avalon Plastics, whose present factory adjoins the site, and who applied to build a factory on the site and were refused by the RDA, will soon be exchanging contracts with SWRDA. I'm not 100% sure but the word is that Avalon Plastics, after being snubbed by SWRDA, went through the normal planning process and effectively twisted SWRDA's arm...I'll have to check that out. Anyway, they're all best mates now and we should all buy SWRDA a drink or what?

The redbrick cottages (by The Beckery - not the Red Brick Buildings) will be transferred to Mendip Housing, but the original contractor has gone bust. They'll soon be appointing a new contractor - which I hope will be a local firm.

Developer Urban Splash are having difficulties, it seems (see earlier post). They're still involved with about 80,000 ft² in the Baily and Bauhaus buildings but they still want to proceed.

The other developer, Priority Sites, are still involved but...you guessed it, are getting credit crunched. Maybe they can start work in May or June 2009. To quote a Danish wag: "It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future."

Strode College were mentioned by the dapper Mr Budden who was chatty and relaxed...most of the time. Something about a skills and training centre was mentioned and the soon-to-be-rebuilt-after-an-oh-so-embarrassing-demolition Skate Park will be transferred to Mendip District Council so the RDA don't get sued for the inevitable broken heads and elbows. Just kidding. I used to ride a skateboard when I was 17 and it's great fun. The skaters will no doubt use the youth centre that will be built in the lovely refurbished Red Brick Building that I can see in my dreams.

Oh dear, Mr Budden, you were doing so well until you started explaining about why the Red Brick Building needs to be demolished. OK, it's a bit run down. Yes, the laws of gravity still apply so the kids who've been using it for a couple of years can fall over and hurt their poor widdle knees and they might cwy...

But honestly: lose their lives was laying it on a bit thick mate. You can lose your life crossing a busy road but people have the good sense to stay on the pavement! Get real.

So Urban Crash Splash say it's too expensive to renovate them. How can we trust your words when you haven't published the engineer's reports - if they exist - and the sums too? You've admitted responsibility for SWRDAs lack of communication and now I challenge you, on behalf of the people of this wonderful town: publish the engineer's documents and the financial projections so we can all see if SWRDA speak with forked tongue.

Just to remind you, dear reader: the now-averted demolition was announced on December 23rd 2008, to start on January 5th 2009. To make things worse, the bloke at SWRDA who could respond to enquiries was on leave...until January 5th.

Mr Budden insisted that the slightly dubious timing was due to "practicality". I know there's been a flu bug going round but at that point I swear there's a lot of coughing on my recording. I almost wrote "please don't urinate down our backs and then tell us it's raining" but that would be a bit strong...

The calm, measured, chatty Mr Budden sat down again, and a councillor (Ian Tucker, I believe [correction: it was Mike Free]) stood up almost straight away. Was the public going to have the right to speak, he asked. No, said the Mayor. Then it's not a public meeting, said Cllr Free. They can speak at my discretion, said Mayor.

At this, Mr Budden's leg started twitching and he bounced up and down in his seat a bit as he explained what an awful free-for-all such a meeting would be, it would descend into chaos, and we'd all become flesh-eating zombies that would devour babies and small furry animals..ok, I made the last bit up. Mr Budden does not want questions from the floor. Mr Mayor might allow them...although nothing on my recording shows The Mayor retracting his statement. Wait and see.

So we're going to have a public meeting in a hurry. Never mind that we've got very little time for questions. Never mind that it's on a Wednesday and will probably miss the deadline for the next day's Central Somerset Gazette (yeah, we noticed that). Never mind that it's still a tad unclear whether there will be questions from the floor...and tuff luck, SWRDA, if there are.

It's about time someone asked where the 19 million quid went, and if we're ever going to see if the community benefits from it. We owe it to the people who raised the alarm and froze their teenage arses off to make the point which so many people in the town have been thinking, and grumbling, about: the Morlands site belongs to the townspeople and we deserve to have our say in its future.