A group of residents living in Wilmslow East have registered an objection with Wilmslow Town Council over the consultation process around the Draft Wilmslow Vision and called for the document to be withdrawn.
David Lewis, along with two other people, attended the town council meeting on Monday, 16th April, to represent a group of residents who "have a real concern that the process has a predetermined outcome and is not a proper consultation".
He said "It is still not widely known that there is a draft plan and insufficient copies were printed. Unlike towns in the south of East Cheshire households in Wilmslow were not leafleted about the consultation."
Speaking about the document, Mr Lewis said "It is largely based on the views of a very small stakeholder group derived from a series of four workshops. The stakeholder group is not representative of residents as a whole but is projected as being so.
"It is vague, ambiguous and contains estimates and assumptions that are presented as facts. It confuses objectives with aims and each aim/objective addresses multiple unrelated topics."
He added "It takes no account of development/plan in nearby areas some of which are outside East Cheshire."
Mr Lewis criticised the questionnaire for being "badly constructed" with "biased, unclear and/or ambiguous" questions and told councillors "any analysis of the Consultation will be invalid and cannot provide any meaningful input to the final plan. Critics will be able to say with some justification that East Cheshire and Wilmslow councils have failed in their duty to consult. This leaves them open to maladministration and judicial review."
He added "We would like the Town Council to fight for Wilmslow. We therefore call for the present documents to be withdrawn and a proper consultation process set in train in accordance with Government guidelines.
"The Government code of practice on consultation calls for consultations to last for a minimum of 12 weeks."
Stuart Redgard, of Park Road, also spoke at the Town Council meeting. He said "I have been a member of the Wilmslow community for 17 years and this document scares me because of its vagueness, inaccuracies and contradictions."
Matthew Jackson, Clerk of Wilmslow Town Council confirmed "There is an issue with the printing of the brochures. Over 1000 copies have been collected from the leisure centre or library, another 150 copies were delivered last week and we have run out again. We are reprinting and expecting more copies this week."
Readers can download the draft Wilmslow Vision document which is attached here, along with a copy of frequently asked questions and the questionnaire.
Responses are to be returned by Monday, April 30th.
Click on the 'Wilmslow Vision' tag below for previous articles on this subject.
Photo: (l-r) Cllr Rod Menlove Cabinet member with responsibility for environmental services, Cllr Jim Crockatt Chairman of Wilmslow Town Council, Cllr Ruth McNulty, Vice-Chairman of Wilmslow Town Council and Cllr Gary Barton.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
The questions raised by the Vision document and the very slanted questions asked of us, requires not only a strong and unified response from the people of Wilmslow as a whole, but also from residents of the individual areas targeted in the Vision document, including the centre of our town.
We concerned residents of Fulshaw Park feel it is imperative to garner a strong support from homeowners.Whether, as David Lewis asserts or not, the whole concept in its present form is contrary to government guidlines and if this 'consultation' is shown to be so, the issues raised will come back in a different format sooner rather than later.
Wilmslow needs to be prepared and we in Fulshaw Park will be doing our best to save the town from the property nightmare envisaged.
With most grateful thanks to Lindow C.C. for allowing us the use of its pavillion on Thursday evening.