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Letter sent to Eric Pickles by Audrey Bryant
Dear Mr Pickles
The Integrity of an Elected Council Officer
I write in regard to the enclosed copy of a letter to you dated 7th April from Mr Alec Robertson, Leader of Cornwall County Council. This letter has only yesterday come to my attention with the accompanying email. The subject is the duplicity of our Council Leader regarding the incinerator proposed to be built at St Dennis in the china clay area of Cornwall.
Mr Robertson’s letter was sent to you unilaterally and without consultation with the people of St Dennis and surrounding area through their representatives and elected councillors in direct contradiction of Mr Roberson’s publicly stated position at the Planning Inquiry held on March 26th, 2010, when the County Council refused the Application to build the incinerator by 20 votes to one – Mr Robertson’s vote was with the majority.
The residents of the area which will be affected by the proposed incinerator have a legal right for the elected Leader of the Council to keep his word, to accept the outcome of the Inquiry and to do as he proclaimed – which was to stand against the incinerator in favour of a more environmentally friendly alternative for the county’s waste disposal.
I understand that his quoted figure of about £30 million in fines and compensation should the Application be refused is drawn out of the air and, if the incinerator is built, costs would be much higher in the long term.
His letter was kept secret until May 18th when rumours of its existence forced him to disclose the contents. How can we be sure that he will not deceive us, and you, again?
Surely, Minister, approval built on such a deception is not in the interests of the government’s reputation – or to the credit of any Cornwall Council Cabinet members who may have encouraged him to write the letter to you. His plea of a financial priority is to mistake money for the real things that an abstract financial evaluation seeks to represent: social responsibility, environmental resources, security for the future (including a clamp down on carbon emissions), priceless natural amenities for the next generation, honest accounting and integrity in negotiations with the electorate.
This letter is copied to the officers of the Tenants Forum and the County Council and to the press.
Yours sincerely,
Audrey T Bryant, Tenant Representative. Government Project Manager and Bishop’s Council
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