THE treatment of the Steering Group set up to advise on the Redditch Eastern Gateway development has been branded as ‘frankly disgusting’ by a top county councillor.
The steering group, made up of residents and councillors, was formed by Stratford District Council and had a remit to oversee the development and lessen its impact on surrounding areas, but many who sat on it since its inception quickly saw it as a sop paying lip to the idea of ‘consultation’.
Coun Clive Rickhards (Lib Dem, Studley) said in the 18 months since he’d been invited to join it, the group hadn’t met.
“This is despite the fact that in the terms of reference it says the group should be consulted on the development,” he said.
“The other thing was the use of emails to take the place of meetings.
“Several times I have protested that there have not been any meetings and been told ‘it was perfectly fine to use emails’ but that’s not the same as having a debate and a discussion around a table.”
The steering group was mired in controversy from the start; there was anger that its chairman, Dr Ken Pollock, who was appointed by Stratford District Council, was a Worcestershire County Councillor who also chaired the board looking to facilitate the Eastern Gateway by developers Stoford.
The open secret of US online distribution giant Amazon as the tenant of the northern half of the Gateway site was finally confirmed last week.
