Bertie Park at Cabinet, and why we’re fighting on …

It’s taken a while to upload this as the council didn’t record the first part. We had to re-record. This is Michael giving the campaign speech:

Cllr Linda Smith outlined the council’s position. She recommended that the cabinet note our objections, but appropriate the park:

Councillor Hollingsworth said it would be unreasonable not to appropriate the park.

FACT CHECK: To appropriate Bertie Park, OCC have to show that the new Multi Use Games Area will meet the need for free play. This is barking mad. The new MUGA is way smaller than our green space. And if the MUGA is being used for football, there’ll be no space for free play at all. This is what we said was Wednesbury unreasonable.

Cabinet voted to appropriate the park, then members of the public were asked to leave:

Fact check: If you want to appropriate land you have to meet the requirements of the 1972 Local Government Act s122. This says the land should be “no longer required for its present purpose.” Cabinet did not even mention this.

And so, BOTH the campaign AND the council will have to go to the unnecessary expense of judicial review, partly because OCC did not allow for proper exchange and dialogue, partly because they want to build on Bertie Park no matter what the law says. If the council’s plans really are legal, if they really fit with government policy, why doesn’t the council engage with what we say? Why don’t they try to convince us that we are wrong?