J B MUNN, of Teignmouth, writes: In mid-March 2005, private discussions took place between Simon Chalk, his publicity team and Cllrs F Tooley, G Bladon, and the town clerk, D Tickell. This was followed by an emergency meeting of the council, immediately before Easter, at which a proposal was tabled that a recommendation be put to Teignbridge Council for the siting of The Spirit of Teignmouth trimaran assembly building on The Den at Teignmouth. The proposal was put to the finance and general purpose meeting of Tuesday, March 27, immediately following Easter Monday. By this Tuesday a number of councillors had, with justification, become sceptical of a decision which was based on minimal information and without an opportunity for members of the public to pass comment. Indeed, the town clerk had stated that the building would be a blow-up plastic-type temporary structure bolted directly to the tennis court tarmacadam, similar to the one used for the jazz festival the previous year, and that the building would definitely be removed by June 30, 2006. At the F and GP meeting Cllrs G Bladon and F Tooley in particular forcefully pushed the recommendation as a matter of extreme urgency because The Spirit team was to submit for planning approval within a matter of days. The chairman, Cllr G Bladon, denied both councillors, still sceptical of the proposal, and interested members of the public, the opportunity to speak. So much for democracy at Teignmouth council chamber. The arrogance of a few missed the opportunity of receiving sound advice from some more experienced in project development. The rest is now well known in the public domain, an ever-increasing size of building, late submissions, denials, delay upon delay, excuse upon excuse with everyone else to blame except Simon Chalk and his team, a team which has now, outrageously, submitted a notice to Teignbridge Council requesting authority to keep the building on The Den for an additional 12 months, from June 30, 2006, to June 30, 2007. This is a 12-month extension on a 10-month contract, claimed to be due to adverse weather. In fact, records indicate that weather delay was no more than two or three days. I trust that the town clerk and those councillors who pushed The Den site now feel suitably embarrassed for they certainly have a great deal of egg on their faces. Can we ever trust them again?
