Forward Plan Version 4

At the next  meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Committee of St Neots Town Council there is a look at the Forward Plan for the Town Council 2010 - 2015. Though by the time it is approved it should be 2011 to 2015.

The one major change is over how the Town Council deals with Shady Walk. In version 3 it says:

In version 4 this is now changed to:

Notice the change from PROTECT to ENHANCE. By changing this wording the Town Council can sell off land at Shady Walk as they will argue they can enhance the play area/open space with any money obtained.

I suppose this small change could let the Town Council off the hook for not protecting this open space.

Another bit of jiggling is over the Eynesbury Community Centre. The idea is for Eynesbury residents to use the Community Centre over in the new development. Now I'm not for the building of a Community Centre in Eynesbury. I feel such a proposal would be a waste of money. Instead of just admitting that a Community Centre for Eynesbury is infeasible the Town Council feels that a Community Centre on the new development means it has satisfied this aspiration.

Even by any stretch of the imagination how can this facility be over the other side of the railway line and far away from the main body of Eynesbury residents satisfy this Town Council aspiration. This is Stupid!


What is missing from this version of the Forward Plan is how the previous plans have worked. Version 1 was in tatters in a matter of months. Version 2 didn't make it. Version 3 was full of what little had been achieved. Version 4 just cuts out the rhetoric and is basically a standstill plan.


The Medium Term Planning page is currently empty. This is probably a good idea for what the rest of the document is empty of anything forward. Not so much a Forward Plan but a Plan that shows the Town Council has little idea of how to take St Neots forwards.