LETTER: Standing up for town residents

Until recently many of us haven’t taken enough interest in what our council gets up to, even though many of us don’t trust politicians to use our money wisely. Cllr Dawe needs to quit as leader and maybe some of his cronies should go with him.

And some of the non-cabinet Tories need to stiffen their backbones and fight to recover Horsham. There needs to be a drive for a clearout or a dramatic change of culture, to bring this council back to the morality expressed in the councillors’ Code of Conduct. What moral values does the present Tory group stand for?

In your article ‘Vote against homes plan ‘not an option’” (10 April.14, p45) you quote from the Conservative Group meeting minutes from 24 June 2013,

‘The Conservative group were presented with two possible housing strategies - with the current ‘Preferred’ strategy the ‘second scenario’. The alternative strategy was voted down but why did this meeting have to decide on a single option to put forward? Why not put both out for public consultation?

In the past on planning issues two scenarios have been put out for consultation. In Districts up and down the land going through the same process of framing a Local Plan, this is the norm.

So why was only one option put out for consultation in Horsham? This was the hurriedly put together plan by Cllrs Dawe, Vickers, Croft and Rae, shifting the bulk of housing numbers away from the wards in the south to North Horsham.

Why was there not full consultation on the other option, prepared by Cllr Ian Howard before he had to go? Or did he have to go in the same way that vice-chairman Cllr Christian Mitchell was deposed - for asking too many awkward questions and standing up for the residents of our town?

R. FULLER

Primrose Copse, Horsham