Concerns over TIF debate

28/11/2008

I AM writing about attending the Old Trafford event yesterday evening that the council organised about the TIF funding and congestion charge.

I am grateful for Trafford Council putting on this event, as it is really helpful to be able to have a say on such an important issue and to get clear information.

However, on the evening there were a number of serious problems.

The first was a practical one in that only one hour was given to the meeting.

At other such debates people do not want an event to go on longer than an hour, but this was clearly an exceptional meeting – as the attendance of more than 80 people proved.

Surely this could have been predicted – given the content of the event, more time was crucial.

The failure to allow this seriously affected the quality of the evening for myself and, I am sure, many others.

The worst thing was the fact that, only just before the final presentations were made, it announced that no representative of the Yes campaign was present.

I do appreciate that the ultimate responsibility of this lies with the Yes campaign, but this is no excuse to then allow the No campaign the whole of the time given to this section of the meeting with virtually no time for questions.

This was so blatantly one sided as to make meaningless the vote exercise at the end.

At the very least the No campaign should have been only allowed half the time and the rest given over to questions.

Also, it should have been made clear that there was not a Yes campaign representative present at the start of the whole meeting, as I am sure someone might have made some positive representation on the issue even at short notice.

I am left feeling very frustrated and not at all convinced of the council’s desire to seriously engage with the local population.

I have written to the council for their side of the story on the events, and to the Yes campaign to express my concern.

Ben Gilchrist, Ayres Road, Old Trafford