Response to 'Disgusted of Holmfirth'

What time do you call this?

I got a bit of stick from a Tesco loving chap in Today's Huddersfield Examiner. Below is his letter and my response


Turn up on time

ON Thursday, for the first time in my 70 years, I went to a planning meeting at Huddersfield Town Hall to discuss the proposed Tesco’s new store and I declare I am in favour.

The meeting started on time with people address the meeting both for and against. At 11am – one whole hour after the meeting started – in storms Clr Andrew Cooper waving his papers to attract the chairwoman’s attention. After the person that was speaking had finished he was allowed to make his speech to the council.

He was against the proposal. The meeting continued with councilors given their views and raising points. This was done with caustic comments by Clr Cooper who had to be told by the chairwoman to desist on at least three occasions.

My comment to this councillor if you feel so strongly about something being discussed by the council have the decency to turn up on time and listen to all the points raised both for and against.

George Senior

Holmfirth

And here's my response..........

Mr George Senior ( Examiner letters 26/2/11) criticises me for turning up late to the Planning meeting which agreed the Tesco development. What Mr Senior may not know is that the meeting was originally advertised as being at 1.00pm but was brought forward to 10.00am. This clashed with a work meeting I had pre arranged but I still managed to get time off work to attend the meeting at 11.00am.

Mr Senior goes on to criticise my 'caustic comments' and that the Chairwoman had to tell me to 'desist on at least three occasions'. Well I counted two occasions but the real point is that this was perhaps one of the most frustrating Planning meetings I have attended. Councillors were placing 'conditions' on Tesco with absolutely no guarantee that Tesco will take any notice of them whatsoever. If Mr Senior really expects me to sit meekly by and watch this disastarous decision for our town to be taken without comment then I'm afraid he's got the wrong man.

The Planning Meetings should really be webcast like Full Council meetings so then people could see how Councillors perform in these meetings. I wonder why they are not?

Perhaps Mr Senior ought to be criticising all those Councillors who were not members of the Planning Committee for failing to turn up to express any opinion whatsoever. At least as a Green Party Councillor I made the effort to turn up to express a view. No other Party fielded anybody to represent their views to the Committee. That is the real scandal here.


Councillor Andrew Cooper