A little more response...

Received 8 June 2008

Dear Mr. Brotherton,

Thank you for the information. As you say, much of the detail is currently being looked at by members of the Cabinet and this is because it is of a financial and commercial nature and cannot be disclosed to members of the public for obvious reasons. We have commercial companies bidding and we have to respect the confidential nature of such bids. There is nothing unusual or secret in this – it happens in all public authorities for any commercial contract. How else would we secure best value?

Borough Life is certainly not political. It is issued by the Borough Council not the Conservative Group. Officers have to ensure that political statements are not made. Clearly the Liberal Democrat Group have made this a political issue, as shown in their publicity, and I very much regret this. It is an important and vital project and I had invited a member of the Liberal Democrats to join the working group so that politics did not feature in our discussions. However I have agreed to keep them up to date, in confidence, with significant developments as and when they occur.

Reverting to you original email I will ask our officers to provide further detail, particularly on planning policy.

On the question of public meetings we are some way from looking at detail as there are, at this moment, no final schemes or options to present. I have repeatedly said that we will present fully costed and sustainable options to the whole of the residents of the Borough and clearly this is a much wider consultation than a simple public meeting. We are already aware of what some users of the swimming and diving pools would like but Riverside comprises far more than that. As such I cannot give you much more detail. It will be some weeks before the companies put forward their final proposals and in the current financial situation enabling development has become more difficult.

Other options have then to be fully assessed and compared with the proposals put forward. However we have to be realistic in the current economic climate so any decision may be some time away. Your questions on who will run it, costing etc are therefore somewhat premature but will be looked at in due course as part of the overall package. This is a very large and important project and any decisions will be taken by the whole Council at a meeting of the Council which is open to the public. I would hope, at that stage, that both political parties will have agreed the way forward so that we can get work underway for the benefit of all of our residents.

Roy Whitehead
Leader
Chelmsford Borough Council

[ This is just an opinion, but given that the timeline for the redevelopment was put at 2011 (less than 4 years) it seems that very little detail has been considered if our questions are 'premature'. As this development is not just housing, the credentials of the developers in developing leisure facilities (or those of their partners in the leisure industry) should be paramount. ]