Up to 15 minutes are allowed for public participation. Participants are restricted to 3 minutes each.
Minutes:
The Chairman welcomed Mr Adrian Campbell to the meeting, who had indicated he had a question he wished to pose to the Committee.
Mr Campbell addressed the Committee and made the following statement: -
“Thank you for this opportunity.
My question is about the fairness and effectiveness of your public consultation process for the people of Market Rasen.
I’m part of the newly constituted Market Rasen Action Group that arose with huge energy learning the news, with no prior consultation, that Market Rasen was to be gifted with a new dry leisure centre where, what it seems is wanted, is a swimming pool.
I am a qualified marketing professional and undertook a short survey and preliminary results suggest exactly that. No business case has been released to support the dry centre plan.
No business case was released to the public either for the advice you relied on that Market Rasen car parks would generate £50,000 a year. The consultation process could have identified flaws in Parking Matters' recommendations had you trusted the public to view them. Your consultant proved wrong bringing embarrassment to you where revenues now don’t meet costs.
There has been a new consultation announcing that:
"The primary aim of this review being to support town centre viability and local traders (and) seek some cost recovery"
Those traders know that increasing profit (or reducing losses) is more than just about increasing prices yet increasing prices are the only options offered by your consultation. The consultation is flawed then. There should have been two further options:-
1) look how to reduce costs and
2) look how to increase usage and therefore income.
It should also have been given more time, appearing as it did in a holiday season and before Market Rasen's new Town Team and Action Group had been established.
I recently conducted another short survey asking people if they were aware of consultations about:-
1 Car Parking
2 Leisure Centre
3. Crematorium
No-one was aware of a consultation about a crematorium. Neither was I.
I am shocked to learn that some of my Council Tax will go toward a £6 million facility that almost no-one in Market Rasen will use. It is further away from Rasen than two existing crematoria.
Market Rasen Town Council tell me they were not consulted either. They learned about it after the decision had been made. Market Rasen people do not routinely engage with Gainsborough. It is 20 miles away.
My question then is: -
Does the way you consult the District on key issues disadvantage Market Rasen?
Should you not announce measures more widely especially using social media; giving more advance notice, facilitating replies by means other than your website eg facebook polls?
And should you not automatically release back-up documents so an intelligent population can comment on them?
Thank you”
The Chairman thanked Mr Campbell for his questions.
As the Committee had not received prior notice of the questions to be posed, Mr Campbell was advised, as outlined in the public participation scheme, to submit his question in writing. On receipt of which, a full written response would be issued to Mr Campbell and all Members of the Committee.
Mr Campbell thanked the Chairman and Members of the Committee before leaving the meeting.