Rochford District Council have refused Rayleigh Town Council’s application for a sports pavilion in King George’s Field, to replace the dilapidated building there now.
Chris Black writes: I was the only Lib Dem councillor in the debate , because Ron Oatham , Chris Lumley and June Lumley are town councillors as well and had a conflict of interest. It was very depressing. Although some genuine concerns were raised , particularly about the layout of toilets, some councillors had clearly wanted to vote against the pavilion no matter what the facts were. Councillors have to be prepared to see both sides of the argument. If there had been strong planning reasons for refusing the pavilion , I might have supported them – but I couldn’t see any.
Whereas the District Council cheerfully agrees to let the County Council build houses on the Park School Playing Fields, it has a very hostile attitude whenever the Town Council tries to do something positive.