Town council to appeal 'flawed' process over Burton Centre
Wednesday, 28th November 2012.
The bidding process to take over the Burton Centre was 'flawed' and 'very reminiscent of the Virgin Rail bid inquiry', according to a town councillor.
Haverhill Town Council last night agreed to appeal against the decision by Suffolk County Council to pass over the Burton Centre to St Nicholas Hospice.
The town council had also bid to take the building over to create youth provision in the town, but lost out.
Members emphasised they totally supported the hospice's aspiration for premises in Haverhill, but felt the process was not acrried out properly.
Town clerk Will Austin had asked why they had lost out because he felt he had let members down in preparing what he had thought was a very strong bid.
Town councillors are desperate to fill the hole in youth provision caused by the county council axing its youth provision in the town, which used to be based at the Burton Centre.
Members said this was the top request of almost every residents they spoke to in their wards because young people now had little or nothing to do in Haverhill.
It had been taken on as one of the two priorities of ONE Haverhill, which made members very surprised to hear that the chairman of ONE Haverhill, Cllr Anne Gower, had not supported their bid.
Mr Austin said the county gave two reasons for their bid failing. One was on the criteria of being financially sustainable. As the town council can precept money at any time whereas the hospice is a charity dependent on donations, he could not understand this.
He was told sustainability, in this case, had been taken to mean not being reliant on the public purse.If they had been told that to begin with, they might not have bid, he said.
But then he discovered the hospice bid was dependent on £500,000 of Government grant which had not been given yet.
The second criteria it failed on was local support. This had amounted to the county asking the three Haverhill county councillors for their views.
Cllr Tim Marks had supported both bids, but Cllr Anne Gower only the hospice one. It emerged later councillors had not been shown the details of the bids anyway.
The third county councillor, Phillip French, is also a town councillor and was present at last night's meeting.
"I supported the bid as a town councillor and I supported it over the phone to the county council and was surprised to see they said there was no response from me," he said.
Cllr Gary Stroud said this looked like 'another stitch-up', with the county council making decisions without knowing the facts and against the wishes of the people of Haverhill.
Cllr Clive Turner said: "This is very reminiscent of the Virgin Rail bid inquiry and i am surprised to find we are suffering from the same thing here in Suffolk.
"There are a larhge number of similarities. It is just a fiasco and they are not applying the proper bidding process."
Clr Maureen Byrne described the process as 'flawed and unprofessional'.
Cllr Gower's decision had since been justified by her as being made in her capacity as a county councillor, not as chairman of ONE Haverhill, members heard.
"ONE Haverhill should confront this person," said Cllr Byrne. "the conflict is tremendous and our delegates to ONE haverhill should take her to task."
Haverhill Town Council last night agreed to appeal against the decision by Suffolk County Council to pass over the Burton Centre to St Nicholas Hospice.
The town council had also bid to take the building over to create youth provision in the town, but lost out.
Members emphasised they totally supported the hospice's aspiration for premises in Haverhill, but felt the process was not acrried out properly.
Town clerk Will Austin had asked why they had lost out because he felt he had let members down in preparing what he had thought was a very strong bid.
Town councillors are desperate to fill the hole in youth provision caused by the county council axing its youth provision in the town, which used to be based at the Burton Centre.
Members said this was the top request of almost every residents they spoke to in their wards because young people now had little or nothing to do in Haverhill.
It had been taken on as one of the two priorities of ONE Haverhill, which made members very surprised to hear that the chairman of ONE Haverhill, Cllr Anne Gower, had not supported their bid.
Mr Austin said the county gave two reasons for their bid failing. One was on the criteria of being financially sustainable. As the town council can precept money at any time whereas the hospice is a charity dependent on donations, he could not understand this.
He was told sustainability, in this case, had been taken to mean not being reliant on the public purse.If they had been told that to begin with, they might not have bid, he said.
But then he discovered the hospice bid was dependent on £500,000 of Government grant which had not been given yet.
The second criteria it failed on was local support. This had amounted to the county asking the three Haverhill county councillors for their views.
Cllr Tim Marks had supported both bids, but Cllr Anne Gower only the hospice one. It emerged later councillors had not been shown the details of the bids anyway.
The third county councillor, Phillip French, is also a town councillor and was present at last night's meeting.
"I supported the bid as a town councillor and I supported it over the phone to the county council and was surprised to see they said there was no response from me," he said.
Cllr Gary Stroud said this looked like 'another stitch-up', with the county council making decisions without knowing the facts and against the wishes of the people of Haverhill.
Cllr Clive Turner said: "This is very reminiscent of the Virgin Rail bid inquiry and i am surprised to find we are suffering from the same thing here in Suffolk.
"There are a larhge number of similarities. It is just a fiasco and they are not applying the proper bidding process."
Clr Maureen Byrne described the process as 'flawed and unprofessional'.
Cllr Gower's decision had since been justified by her as being made in her capacity as a county councillor, not as chairman of ONE Haverhill, members heard.
"ONE Haverhill should confront this person," said Cllr Byrne. "the conflict is tremendous and our delegates to ONE haverhill should take her to task."
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