Lewes District Council deceive the people - Episode 94

[eastlondonseagull]

I woke up too early this morning, and decided to write another letter to ALL councillors in Lewes. I never get much of a response from these letters, and I'm never totally sure whether they do much good. But it's the only way I know to vent my frustration....

Dear X,

Falmer – the deception continues!

Well, it’s about a couple of months since my last letter. “I just wish it were your last letter” I hear you cry! And believe me, so do I. Unfortunately, Lewes District Council’s desire to deceive all and sundry over the Falmer issue means that people like myself who believe in local democracy cannot just sit back and ignore what is going on.

In my last letter I concentrated on the steps which LDC was taking to mislead councilors and council tax payers regarding the financial risks LDC was taking in seeking a Judicial Review. The fact that the Judicial Review did not take place in no way justified this deception, although I did receive a rather bizarre letter from the Chairman’s secretary effectively claiming this to be the case!

I am sure that you will be aware that in the last couple of days further evidence has come to light of Lewes District Council’s attempts to mislead the public. The issue relates to a lengthy article in the spring edition of the Council’s newsletter, “districtlink”, covering the Council’s decision to seek a judicial review of the Falmer Stadium decision. Unfortunately, two illustrations in the piece appear to have been either doctored, or used, to give a mis-leading impression of the Falmer site.

In the main illustration, the image of two walkers has been super-imposed, obscuring the university buildings in the background. This (a) erroneously implies that the Stadium site is used by walkers; and (b) gives a false impression of the countryside surrounding the Stadium site.

Page 8 of the newsletter is headed “the proposed site”, and contains a photo towards the foot of the page which was actually taken at Ditchling Beacon! Most casual readers of the article would assume (and who could blame them) that the photograph actually depicted the Stadium site. This impression is probably enhanced by the wording immediately above the picture, which states “Illustration of the proposed site”. This wording is no doubt intended to refer to the aerial photograph of the site which is above the wording. However, it is interesting to note that no other illustration in the newsletter is treated in the same way….in all other cases where a description of an image is provided, the wording clearly indicates it’s relationship to the image.

I have written to the Chief Executive of the Council asking whether an investigation will be undertaken into who was responsible for this very obvious attempt to deceive the residents of Lewes. It is, indeed, attempted deception on a very large scale – as the newsletter states, it is distributed to 42,000 properties throughout the district.

I am sure that you will agree with me that the mis-representation is, at best, unfortunate, and at worst extremely concerning. The Stadium site at Falmer is clearly an issue of vital importance to many thousands of people in Brighton & Hove, Lewes, and beyond. The fact that a district council has seen fit to doctor a photograph relating to such a high-profile issue is, to my simple mind, incredible.

Fortunately for all of us, there seems to be some end in sight to this long-running, extremely wasteful saga. Ultimately we all know, thanks to the exhaustive Public Inquiry process, that Falmer is the only suitable site for the stadium. Most importantly it is by far the most sustainable site on many counts – in particular public transport accessibility. I am very hopeful that the government’s reworded decision will address all the issues raised by Lewes District Council. If this is the case, then the only grounds for appeal against the decision will be that it is irrational. And, as the House of Lords has recently proclaimed: “If there is one principle of planning law more firmly settled than any other it is that matters of planning judgment are within the exclusive province of the ... Secretary of State”.

In the mean time I would urge you to join with me and others in deploring the actions of those responsible for the misleading photographs in “districtlink”. The public’s confidence in local democracy relies to a great degree on the acts of local councilors and their officers. Hopefully in future the residents of Lewes District will be able to read LDC’s publications without wondering whether photographs have been doctored, or otherwise presented in a way to distort reality.

Yours sincerely...

Superb letter, Surrey Jim. Shame about their lazy, dismissive reply.