Saturday, July 22, 2006
Tory U-turn saves Whiteley!
The first concerned the County Council's proposal to build a new Primary School on the playing fields next to the Meadowside Recreation Centre in Whiteley. The previous Lib Dem administration had refused to release this land because:
- It would have involved building on the "green centre" of Whiteley
- It would have destroyed a major community facility
- It would have completely removed any opportunities to expand the Meadowside Centre
- There was other land available for the school a few hundred meters away
The new Tory Cabinet initially caved in to their County Council colleagues and agreed to release the land. After a wave of protests and local opposition they performed a last minute U-turn and returned to the Lib Dem position. The City Council supported this on Wednesday evening and the Meadowside land is saved. But I understand that certain members of the County Council are "spitting blood"!
The second item was the funding for the new Outdoor Sports Centre at Bar End. I wrote about this in a previous blog entry. In the event, the Tories gave all sorts of assurances that funding for other sports developments in the City would not be adversely affected and we therefore decided to tolerate the financial model proposed. The meeting then gave the green light to what will be a hugely important new sports stadium for Winchester and the surrounding district.
