Gerald Penney, of Teignmouth, writes: In my opinion the Spirit of Teignmouth project is in two distinct phases; the construction and commissioning of the boat and the round-the-world adventure. I can only comment on the first and wait for Mr Chalk to tell us of his objectives for the second. Any development requires a detailed business plan. Apparently a plan was submitted belatedly to the council and approved. This indicated, I believe, that the construction of the boat would be completed and launched in June 2006 (now revised to September) and, most importantly, the temporary building removed and the Den put back to its former state this autumn. If this did not happen a penalty of £2,000 per month would be paid. Any business plan contains contingencies to absorb time should unforeseen circumstances arise. For example, it's pretty certain that you will get bad weather in the autumn/winter and therefore this is allowed for. Why then does Simon Chalk now, at the 11th hour, require an extension for an indeterminate period of time? Did he not know much earlier that his timescales would slip? If the original business plan was flawed by not including such things as weather contingencies, business rates, health and safety requirements, high rents etc. then it demonstrates the seeming lack of business acumen of Mr Chalk's organisation and the ineptness of the councillors for accepting it without revision. It is therefore now mandatory for the councillors to fully review Mr. Chalk's new plans. They must assure themselves (and the public) that the reasons for the failure of the original plan are valid and their belief in the revised timescales is without a shred of doubt. This should be published. Weasel words such as 'bad weather' should not appear in the argument. If this 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.
