YOUR article, ?We need help, says mayor? (October 17) described an inevitable outcome that had been foretold.
The Okehampton locality group has disbanded, having lost its momentum, but we can take heart because ?no one is to blame?.
From the outset, the locality group did not open wide its doors to the community, eschewed offers of help and held endless meetings, often in secret. Now it has kindly got up and walked away.
The community consultation day, which has yet to be made sense of, is both dated and unrepresentative; many have since moved into the town. Did the group naively think that some good community projects that are commercially sensitive were going to be put on post-it notes for anyone to turn into their own business ventures?
But wait, our champion has a solution to this problem. All we need is a town manager we can call My Hero and all will be well. Never mind whether the community has come to own the process or even understand it.
I, also, encountered good practice in Market and Coastal Town Initiative whilst working in Dorset. The one outstanding feature is the existence of the community regeneration group. It only excludes those who want to make their name, or enhance their social standing whilst controlling the opinionated, argumentative and dictatorial.
Teamwork is their aim with one common goal in mind, namely, to help their community to help itself. No town manager, regeneration company or consultants, of whom there have been many in past years, even of the calibre of Charles Coffin, will make the slightest difference.
Okehampton people with relevant experience and ability must first be given the opportunity to manage their own initiative in accordance with the guidelines set out by the Countryside Agency.
The Rev Barrie Duke
Inwardleigh