What's it all about

At the outset, let me say that we have no political axe to grind. we are only interested in getting the facts about the proposed riverside development in Chelmsford available to the public. If we upset some political sensitivites on the way - well tough.

Chelmsford Borough Council is planning to replace the current facilities at Riverside Ice and Leisure.

Although subject to a ‘final decision’, the initial plan was to have a centre that lacked the current diving, deep water, outdoor swimming and squash facilities. The proposal includes a shorter, wider indoor pool, a larger gym and changes to the ice rink to make it suitable for use as a 4500 seat concert venue.

Their initial consultation process included a questionnaire which had just fewer than 250 responses and a telephone poll of 600 borough residents that had not used the facilities.There has also been a claim that all the relevant user groups have been contacted for their views - this claim is currently being verified, as there is some doubt of the veracity of this claim.

The leader of the Council has recently made the decision to disband the cross party working group that was dealing with this issue, and chosen instead to make it a private ‘Cabinet’ issue, which means that there is no scope for the public to influence the decisions, simply because the all the discussions will take place in private.

A request for greater detail was sent to the Council today (available below), in the hope that the full truth of the process can be determined and made public for the people of Chelmsford.

In the interests of fairness, the material that has currently been made public by the Council can be found on their website at: http://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=11266