Common Sense

Posted By: Wera Hobhouse
Date Posted: 22/03/2010

It’s tempting to say ‘told you so’. RO reported last week that the Town Centre redevelopment plans have suffered another set back since the only bidder left in the process has failed to provide clarification on certain financial requirements. Until last year, I was a member on the cross party Town Centre Committee. But I resigned last May when it became clear that I was a voice in the wilderness urging not to press ahead with a new bidding process after the previous one had failed.

The previous bidding process was based on a booming retail economy. By the time it had failed nearly two years we were heading for a deep recession. I couldn’t see a good argument for going ahead with a new process without fundamentally rethinking our strategy and priorities for the Town Centre. But I was branded as negative, trying to put spanners in the wheel and stopping the vital progress that this town so badly needed.

When last autumn it became clear that only one bidder was left in the process at a time when we should still have had at least two in order to keep open a competitive dialogue I wrote a worried letter to the Borough solicitor. But from the reply I received it became once again clear that my concerns were not taken seriously.

I don’t particularly rejoice in having been right. Any of these failed activities cost a lot of money at a time when we cannot afford it. As members we rely on the advice we get from so- called experts on the subject. During our Town Centre Committee meetings I tried to make a case against the advice of experts. Of course I am not an expert in Town Centre redevelopment but sometimes some straight forward common sense is all we need to make the right decisions. We should have waited to start a new bidding process until the economy had a more positive outlook and until we had developed new plans, which did not exclusively rely on retail and private investment.