AN Open Letter from Cllr Nick Way (Crediton Rural, Devon County Council and Mid Devon District Councillor) to Kevin Finan, Chief Executive, Mid Devon District Council:

RE: Replacement of the Lords Meadow Sports Hall in Crediton by enhanced fitness suite and dance studios.

As a member of Crediton Town, Mid Devon District and Devon County Councils, I write to request some details of the above scheme in order that I can report on the matter to the Crediton Town Council meeting of July 31, to allow them to respond adequately to your proposals (in line with the section on consultation in the charter of March, 2011 between MDDC and the towns and parishes within it), by August 2.

MDDC's plan to close the leisure centre sports hall completely means that the town will lack any public facility for competitive indoor sport including: badminton, tae kwon do, basket-ball, volley-ball, archery – all Olympic sports – and others, including five-a-side football, all of them with junior sections that regularly use the hall.

What a fine time for the community to lose the hall if a final decision on the future of the sports hall is taken on August 2, when the Olympics will be in progress!

The many people that regularly use the hall at present, include sportsmen of national and county standard and Age Concern groups.

The sole purpose of the re-organisation is apparently to expand the income raised by the centre (The leader of Mid Devon Council has said that "we have to take a commercial view on this"). As Nick Masson, Chair of Queens Badminton Club has said: "You could put a Mecca Bingo in that sports hall and it would probably make even more money, but I don't believe everything should be about money. When you see young people in that hall enjoying their sport, it is quite inspiring".

The hall is used at present by children from aged four upwards – the proposed new gym facilities will only be available to over 12 year olds.

Most users became aware of the June 8 press notice announcing the scheme by chance or word of mouth; it wasn't displayed prominently in the leisure centre and no copy of it was on display in the notice boards outside the Crediton Town Council offices. Many town and District councillors first knew about it when they received their agendas for their meetings on June 26 and 27.

Under the charter of March, 2011 between Mid Devon District Council and the town and parish councils of Mid Devon (adopted by Crediton on April 8, 2011), Mid Devon undertook "to consult local councils on all issues which are likely to affect their area and to allow five weeks for the local councils to respond to the consultation."

The first evidence to many of the general public that any consultation took place and when any details of the scheme were given, was at the presentation made by Lee Chester, Ms Samantha Bennion and Cllr Bob Deed to Crediton Town Council on Tuesday, June 26.

As this is an issue that affects individuals in almost all the villages within access of the sports centre, surely, if your charter is taken at all seriously by the council, the parish clerks of the surrounding villages should have been fully informed of the development by your officers and given their five weeks to respond to your proposals.

The parishes affected (ie the ones where we know users of the hall live) consequently should be part of the consultation process, these include: Bow; Cheriton Bishop; Chawleigh; Cheriton Fitzpaine; Clannaborough; Colebrooke; Copplestone; Crediton Hamlets; Hittisleigh; Lapford; Newton St Cyres; Poughill; Puddington; Sandford; Shobrooke; Stockleigh English; Stockleigh Pomeroy; Upton Hellions; Zeal Monachorum and perhaps half-a-dozen more. There are also regular users from Exeter and elsewhere.

I am copying this letter to the Parish Clerks of each parish affected (sent by e-mail if possible); to the Mayor and Town Councillors of Crediton; all of the Mid Devon District Councillors; the Devon County Councillors representing the areas that the sports hall serves and to the MP for Central Devon.

There is a public meeting at the Boniface Centre on Monday, July, 9 where, we are told, new details of the plans for the sports hall will be given (District Councillor Bob Wright was refused a request for a copy of the presentation given on June 26 on those grounds).

So the consultation period on the new plans – if MDDC follow the charter between themselves and town and parish councils in Mid Devon issued last year – must be at least, by our reckoning, until August 8.

By your charter, consultation should also take place with the surrounding villages that have adopted the charter, whose inhabitants are clearly also affected by your plans.

To enable me to make a full and up-to-date report on your proposals as one of the ward councillors to Crediton Town Council, I require: 1. immediate notification of the date of the meeting when a final decision on the future of the sports hall will be taken; 2 that consideration be given to holding the MDDC cabinet meeting of August 2 in Crediton; 3 all the figures quoted in the new and old presentations to the Crediton Town Council on June 26 and the public meeting of July 9 so that we might obtain professional advice as to their accuracy and feasibility; 4 details of the original brief on which ALS provided their quote; 5 details of the advice on which it was judged that ALS was the only company capable of delivering your original brief (as Cllr Deed asserted in the meeting of Crediton Town Council of June 26, together with details of any companies rejected because of that advice; 7 full paper plans of the "re-vamped" centre; 8 details of any efforts you have made to consult with the town and villages affected by your plans in accordance with the Mid Devon charter of March 2011; 9 a full list of the 20 meetings that Councillor Deed has asserted have been held with users of the hall together with details of how these had been advertised and the approximate number of attendees.

I am aware that if MDDC reach a decision on this issue without properly attending to what is written above; the matter will be referred to the Local Government Ombudsman by one of my constituents, who has already started the process of complaint.

Cllr Nick Way

Crediton Rural and Mid Devon District Council, Crediton