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THE grand unveiling of the Rossington Eco-town, Mk II, was rather spoiled by its spectacular turn-out of capitalists...
But for that, one could have been forgiven for believing this show trial of a "public launch party" had been put together by old Joe Stalin himself.
When it began, the only thing missing from this "public consultation" was – THE PUBLIC!
Or, at least, anyone not committed – doctrinally or financially – to actually having an Eco-town in Rossington.
For most of you, who missed it, junior Housing Minister Iain Wright had been invited to join Doncaster Mayor Martin Winter to "judge local reaction" to the plan.
Mr Wright will make the decision on this project, as Caroline Flint has a declared interest.
Yet – in what can only be termed a shabby fiasco – Doncaster Council's press office announced his visit at 9.56am on Wednesday, July 23... less than SIX HOURS before the 3.45pm event.
That timing meant that even our daily, sister paper the Sheffield Star could not have made you aware of it in advance – let alone the Doncaster Free Press or this Newsletter.
This, despite a press release that trumpeted: "Mayor Winter will show the Minister the potential Eco-town site, discuss the proposed Rossington Eco-town with the community, and finish by visiting a local family in need of affordable housing".
When the Minister arrived, he was duly greeted ONLY by the usual pro Eco-town suspects, who clearly were aware of the visit...
Even a visiting Government aide showed astonishment at the Eco-town "turn-out", telling us: "When we went to York, there was a mass protest – but everyone here is for it!"
A couple of Newsletter phone calls, however, alerted oblivious opposers of the plan – many of them elected members of Rossington Parish
Council – who trooped into Rossington Welfare to present a truer picture.
But for the Newsletter, the Minister would NOT have been aware of any opposition in Rossington.
But for the Newsletter, he would NOT have been aware that you had already voted 90 per cent AGAINST an Eco-town, in a Newsletter poll – or that within 24 hours of his visit, a Parish Poll would be held on the issue that has delivered an even more decisive, 96.66 per cent thumbs-down to further development!
And this is NOT the first small piece of democracy that we have delivered on Rossington Eco-town.
It is a direct result of the Newsletter's continued reporting of this project – latterly followed up by national newspapers, to whom villagers have sent our cuttings – that the Government has been forced to ditch ALL plans to build Eco-towns on Green Belt land... including the 10,000 houses on YOUR Green Belt, that it had seemingly initially
passed as acceptable.
But it ought to be the last time we have to deliver democracy. It's now about time that certain elected representatives got their act together... or got out.
Before the meeting, the Minister had said: "No houses will be built on the Green Belt. We do not want to damage the Green Belt.
But he was at a loss to explain to us why his department had shortlisted the Rossington bid from a total of 57 varieties of Eco-town – in the knowledge that TWO-THIRDS of it was planned for Green Belt land.
In the meeting he asked the villagers: "To what extent has the public been involved in this (the Eco-town) and was told "not at all".
Dianne Field told him: "I'm a parish councillor and I knew nothing about this meeting until 3.40 this afternoon when a source rang me".
UK Coal and Spawforths are now driving this bid – and they know they need your support. Desperate to start afresh, UK Coal's Chief Executive Jon Lloyd told the villagers: "We want to bring you along with us. We want to keep you informed".
Given this disgraceful piece of PR, that sounded like the fox asking the rabbit out for a bit of dinner...
What is clear is that if UK Coal wants the village's support for what looks like a much better proposal, it will have to earn it.
It might start by booting the hangers-on who are clinging to the coat-tails of this bid... then running it properly, professionally and OPENLY.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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