Take the shackles off, councillor
With the two new buzz words of openness and transparency now coming from the new 'squeaky clean' Parliament, it's a pity this hasn't filtered through to a local level as Cllr Haeberling refuses to answer the Chronicle's question of why Cllr Lees was substituted on the Development Control Committee recently.
Undoubtedly Cllr Haeberling is a shrewd political animal but as the east and west of the city are about to be thrown into chaos by this leader's policies, people have the right to know why this substitution was made.
Cllr Clarke also recently wrote he was confused by Don Foster's comments on the Bath transportation package. But at least Don Foster has a view which is more than can be said for Fabian Richter, who continues to have his head in the sand.
Cllr Clarke complains the Lib Dems are 'politics playing'. As if that isn't what your party is doing, councillor! Even ex-Tory grandee Sir Elgar Jenkins is complaining about the Batheaston posters.
Anyone sat in the public gallery at the Development Control Committee meeting (of whatever political hue) would say the impassioned and well reasoned arguments put by the Liberal Democrats and Labour were far better than the weak arguments put by the Conservatives.
I can remember the gasps when one Conservative seemed to imply he wasn't even in favour of the green belt. Which of course begs the question of what someone with these views was doing on the development control committee.
So it came with total surprise when one of the Conservative members suddenly started talking enormously good sense about the Newbridge BRT and agreed it should be deferred.
Subsequently, Conservative councillors Ian Dewey and Martin Veal have expressed unease. Cllr Haeberling should take the shackles from her party and allow full and open debate.
PETER BURNS Avon Park Lower Weston Bath
2 Comments
by Derek S, Bath
Saturday, July 04 2009, 2:43PM
“In a BBC Radio Bristol interview, broadcast live 18th June, Peter Dawson, B&NES Group Manager Transport and Planning Policy, was asked the question: "Over a thousand people (opposed to park and ride), you can't ignore them can you?
He replied: "We do think the park and ride will take over 1400 cars off the London Road in the morning peak because that's the size of the park and ride. We're introducing a bus lane that will reduce congestion and reduce the capacity of the London Road to avoid the induced demand that might occur... It will reduce congestion on the A4 roundabout."
Not only does he (significantly) avoid answering the question but his reply is without foundations, untrue and grossly misleading. Even if stated in error, this surely illustrates that senior positions are held by individuals failing to check the accuracy and validity of information before release into the public domain.
It seems the B&NES Council interpretation of being 'honest, open and transparent' concludes that those responsible for planning the future of transport in Bath, to spend millions of pounds of public money, can simply express an opinion and present it as fact with impunity.”
by Peter Streater, Bathwick
Thursday, July 02 2009, 12:34PM
“There appears to an institutional aversion to the principles of democratic transparency at B&NES Council in regard to the BTP. It's not just Cllr Haeberling's silence that illustrates this either.
Cllr Kew, Development Control Chairman, seems to have learned nothing from the mistakes of the 20 May meeting when he personally redefined the term 'embarrassed silence' in failing to answer Cllr Coombes's questions on the very poor arrangements to accommodate the public.
Even the same poor sound system is to be used so that those who can make it won't necessarily hear everything anyway. All the same inadequate arrangements are in place once more. But this time there can be no excuses as there has been plenty of time to make better provisions.
Instead, there's the feeble excuse of "a room large enough... had been booked for another event as long ago as November." A doubly feeble reason given that DCC meetings are regular fixtures in the Council calendar. More feeble still because numerous requests to adjust the agenda timings, so that those interested in the BRT but working during the day could attend, have also been ignored.
It is absolutely clear there is every intention to involve the B&NES voting public as little as possible in the process. No-one could seriously reason otherwise. Openness and transparency is evidently what most of B&NES Council's manoeuvrings and efforts on this subject have been deployed to avoid.
Regardless of whether a rapid transit route is a good idea or not, the processes being applied and the means by which approval is being sought here in Bath will not withstand any diligent and reasonable scrutiny.
If you're not going to tell us exactly what is going on, you can sit on that in silence Cllr Haeberling.”