HAVING stood down from Tavistock Town Council at the last election, I am reluctant to snipe from the sidelines, but I cannot understand why Tavistock Forward is being given so much grief over its attempt to find a sustainable and credible community use for the Guildhall.
The previous council put money into this year's budget specifically to provide 'matched-funding' with exactly this sort of project in mind.
The town council's October meeting entirely failed to grasp this point. It also seemed unaware that funding for projects of the kind and on the scale that Tavistock Forward have brought to its table (without public funding of any substance) is simply not available without a feasibility study of exactly the level of credibility that Tavistock Forward has proposed. That was precisely why we of the 99-03 council voted this budget head.
As a (former) town and (current) borough councillor of some 16 years' standing, I've had to sit in judgement on any number of schemes, ranging from the crackpot to the unimpeachable. This one stands out as professionally worked up and presented.
Tavistock Forward has a track record of mounting schemes that are properly scoped, well managed and delivered on time and on budget. The town council has money in budget for exactly what it is proposing, aligned exactly with the town council's declared objectives for the Guildhall.
What on earth is the problem? Please stop faffing about, town council. Please put our money voted by your predecessors for exactly this purpose, where your mouths still seem to think that they are.
Roger Mathew
Borough and former town councillor