Apparently residents who petitioned in November 2007 actually got a response from Somer Housing, Cllr Pritchard and Cllr Hanney in a public meeting which took place in January 2008. But what a response...
Not without surprise, the well-attended public meeting of January was unanimous (minus one) in its condemnation of Somer proposed scheme. Despite general opposition and many valid points raised, Cllr Pritchard, one of the main proponents of this scheme rounded up the meeting by saying, "we have heard many opinions here, most of which we can dismiss..." For further details, please follow the link.
People will recall that as a result a large proportion of the public walked out, in disgust.
Today despite continued opposition from the local community, Somer Housing is still planning to go ahead with their plans for Caroline House/3&4 Longacre (with submission for planning consent before August 2008 - see below correspondence to Amy). This is in clear contradiction with Somer Housing saying they will continue to listen to local opinion.
This lack of genuine consultation is evidenced in many aspects. One example in particular is that the meeting of January took place only at the initiative of the local residents' association, the
This situation only serves to confirm residents' worst suspicions of the purpose of this pseudo consultation and clearly shows that the plans are already a "done deal" between Somer Housing and B&NES whatever the local community is saying. Let's hope this blog will help to change this...
Thank you to all readers who drew attention to this.
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