After The Council Chairman Adam Lowe permitted the NP Chairman to publicly ambush me.
He read out a note at public deputations not very professional he should have made his request via the Clerk and not personally attacked me. I did not stay in the meeting to listen but asked for a copy of his note, he gave me a copy and at the end of the meeting he tried to snatch it back.
Chris Clark unpleasant Tory who has failed to be elected to RCC many times. At a recent presentation he told the Oakham Task and Finish Group the neighbourhood plan has 12 working group that lie is recorded and published on you tube.
At the first and only NP steering group I attended he forgot he had said 12 and said there was about 6. Pure fabrication there is no evidence of any current working groups.
I spent nearly two months asking for access to NP documents and was refused access.
From the outset it was very clear the steering group did not want me.
The very small group of around 6 which should be 15 have achieved very little at a very high cost to Oakham Tax Payers.
Colin who was the Rutland County Council adviser told me they don't listen to his advise.
So it is no surprise nearly three years since the start of the plan there is not even a single draft completed.
My biggest fear is the plan once drawn up by consultants will be rejected by the independent
Inspector, just like Melton's was the first time around due to lack of public involvement.
Former Councillor Michael Haley used to say I was wrong when I raised the excessive amount
spent on the plan. When he resigned from the council the clerk gave us the figure of £11,500 spent
to date. Chris Clark has written to her for a break down. It says a lot when the chairman of a group does not know how money has been spent.
We have approved thousands more for the consultants. after the council failed to apply for grants
early on in the process. We now find out the work the consultants are meant to be doing does not
include all that is required and we will have to approve further spending.
This is why I said I am considering seeking the scrapping of the plan.
Chris Clark claims I sent a barrage of Emails and complained I Copied other group members
Something he did all the time including people not on the steering group
I was going to publish the emails around twenty between us both, but feel they are of no public interest and would only show how incompetent Chris Clerk is especially the ones about contacting a member of public who had expressed an interest in rejoining the group.
In the public domain is a post from a former Oakham Mayor describes the steering group perfectly
Nearly a month ago now I wrote with two questions to the Oakham Neighbourhood Plan committee, through their web site. To date neither the Chairman of the group or the Mayor of Oakham have acknowledged receipt of my questions or made any attempt to contact me. Can I please stress with everybody that if we don't keep on top of these people who are supposed to be "...listening" to us they will ignore us and steer the outcome the way they want it it go.
They advertise that if you want to join the group, then we should contact them. I put in a request to join them and after an unacceptable period I was asked to attend an interview. (I did wonder who interviewed them). I turned up and was interviewed, or interrogated if you like, about my motivations to join the group. For the first 5 minutes the mayor ignored me completely, folded his hands on the desk and looked at the table top without seeing me at all. On two occasion’s he stood up, left the desk and wandered into the office without an excuse my, kiss my elbow or any other part of my anatomy. In many ways I'm glad I turned them down, no doubt they'll say it was the other way round but, (I could see the way they were going with my application so I beat them to it), as they are so full of their own importance it would be very difficult to be heard.
For the record, the last post they gave us, so that we could be kept up to date, was January 15th. I'm not quite sure whether this is arrogance or ignorance. What do think? I suggest a bit of both.
