09/03/2009

Call for Full Public Consultation on New Town Centre Plans


Plaid Cymru County Councillor Alun Williams has called for a new full public consultation before any further decisions are made regarding the old sorting office site between Great Darkgate Street and Chalybeate Street in Aberystwyth.

“The six-week public consultation on plans for this part of town only ended on December 15th, just one month before the new plans - two and a half times the size - were made known to councillors. Although the original plans to develop the former sorting office yard were apparently favourably received by the public during the Masterplan consultation, these plans bore no relation to the massively expanded scheme we see now that was launched just one month later. It would be, frankly, dishonest to pretend that public support for the original plan automatically amounts to support for this new one. If the Council, quite rightly, felt the original, relatively modest, plan was important enough for public consultation, then this radical expansion, which was not asked for by the public, should be consulted upon in exactly the same way.”