I ATTENDED the TVBC Northern Area Planning Committee meeting that was considering the application to demolish and replace the sport/leisure centre.

There were perhaps about 150 members of the public in attendance.

The discussion between the planning committee members and the TVBC officers extended to things like the numbers of bike racks, the shape of the roof and the colour of the external cladding, not what we in the audience wanted to hear.

What is important is what is inside the building and we wanted to know what the planning committee was going to do about all the objections to this ill-conceived plan, but this never happened.

Then we came to the point where the public could speak; only by prior arrangement and not to ask questions.

Also, only three minutes was allowed for all speakers and since there were three, then that gave a whole one minute each. These three minutes were the highlight of the meeting.

Mrs Long of Andover Town Council really raised the stakes by listing the specific shortcomings of the facilities of the proposed new centre, followed by Hampshire County Councillor Tony Hooke who lambasted the council for their disastrous plan which did not have the support of the electorate and who had not even been consulted.

This caused an outburst of applause and cheering from the public and set the tone for the rest of the meeting, with the public grumbling and noisily interrupting the rather lame discussion that continued between the committee and the officers.

Needless to say the application was voted through with cries of ‘shame’ from the audience.

The committee chairman did explain that the committee’s remit was to consider the planning application according to prescribed criteria and could not comment on things like the size of the swimming pool, number of studios, etc.

This effectively lets them off the hook, but I think the chairman was left in no doubt what the public thought of the outcome.

So who is responsible for this shambles and more importantly who is it that has the power to do something about it?

Spending £15 million of our money on a project that has drawn so much criticism from those who use the facility demands an answer.

E Treadwell, Coley Lane, Stockbridge