Traders losing faith in the District Council

February

25

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The Rayleigh Chamber of Trade are clearly losing faith in the District Council . The crux of the matter is that they weren’t consulted about the increase in car park charges. They sent the following by email to the council on Feb 13th:

After last nights extraordinary meeting of the Traders of the District with the Officers of the District council to discuss further the non consultation over the proposed Carpark Charges that had been allowed to take place, also the fact that it was also felt that the NNDR consultative process had not been adhered to, It was a consensus of the group that we think we have a long way again to go to get acceptance of the business community into the realms of the District Council. The reaction of the Chambers and other representatives over these matters was one of disbelief.

The gratuitous comments from some officers did not go down at all well and the overwhelming feeling of the traders was why should we bother to continue with any consultation process?s. Terry Cutmore tried his best to see a way forward but there is real concern that this may be too little too late

The latest comment on the chamber website says:

This week, as February comes to an end, has seen more correspondance between the Chambers of Trade/Business groups and the officers at Rochford District Council since the last rates rise.

Legal swords have been wielded regarding the interpretation of the rules surrounding consultation. The proposal is to appoint Cllr Terry Cutmore as the emissary for the Council to liaise with our Business representatives. Is this too little too late?

The car park increase debate still rolls on with further discussion at a meeting on Tuesday 27th Feb. Proposals have been forwarded to the council. Will they be heard?

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