It was evidently all too much, at last night’s Full Council Meeting at Knowle, when Independent Councillor, Claire Wright, put nine questions to the Leader, Councillor Paul Diviani. Not one was answered with considered courtesy, or thoroughness. To give an example: when Councillor Wright asked for a precise estimate of the associated costs of relocating Council Offices from Knowle to Honiton,  he irritably replied, ” £350, 000″. There was no attempt to show how this figure was arrived at.

Three questions from the public were treated with equal disdain.

The first was a serious challenge, with evidence provided, of the underestimate of job losses in Sidmouth which would be incurred with any relocation of EDDC HQ. (Errors in their figures have of course already been admitted by the Council, thereby obliging them to revise their Outline Planning Application(OPA)  for Knowle for an astonishing third time! ) This questioner found further flaws in the calculations.

The second question pointed to unsoundness of the Risk Assessment in the OPA, a matter of deep concern to all East Devon taxpayers.

The third member of the public spoke in support of a motion (now deferred) by Sidmouth Councillors Stuart Hughes and Graham Troman, to put on hold any decision on Knowle, as Local Government may well be reorganised  following Lord  Heseltine’s recommendations. (More details of the No Stone Unturned report , at http://sidmouthindependentnews.wordpress.com  6 Dec,  Paul Diviani insults Tory grandee . Related topic also on SIN blog, 17 Nov Relocation in Deep Trouble )

Public question time will be interesting. As will the answers to questions from various Councillors (some examples at  http://sidmouthindependentnews.wordpress.com 3 Dec post)