Gerald Penney, of Teignmouth, writes: It's a shame that Simon Chalk blames everyone except himself for the apparent terminal problems with The Spirit of Teignmouth project. For example, one of his assertions for delay, which he made in August, was that he couldn't get hold of carbon fibre as the entire world production had been cornered by the A380 airbus project. In letters which you published from me in May and July this year, my main contention was that unless Simon Chalk produced a detailed and costed business plan which was monitored by (among others) our councillors, there would be little external control over what was happening. This obviously didn't happen even though he assured us in his August public meeting (attended by many Teignmouth councillors) that he would. However, apparently the persons who pulled the plug were firstly the bank and therefore (inevitably) Mr Chalk. Our councillors appear to have been caught flat-footed. In the final paragraph of my May letter I said: If this [a detailed and costed business plan] is not done and the project is allowed to drift on, the people picking up the pieces, should it all go pear-shaped, will be the citizens of Teignmouth and not the politicians or Mr Chalk, whatever the outcome of his round the world voyage. I hope that at least the council has retained the £50,000 bond Mr Chalk was required to post which will at least pay for the removal of the Den building, it's contents and refurbishment of the site, at no cost to the taxpayers.
