Friday 1 June 2007

A Council Divided

It would seem that the council is not as fully behind the arena development as they would like to have us believe.

My thanks to Councillor Russell Jackson, who sent me this email today (and has given me permission to post it in full on this site).

It is refreshing to see that there are councillors with the cajones to publicly state their opposition to the arena.

It seems that Arrowcroft have made a tactical error in offering a "freebie" trip to Hamburg. As Councillor Jackson notes, the offer is "highly questionable".

Why does council leader Fisher not seem to be able to grasp that point?

The question is, who else did they ask and have they accepted or refused the offer?

"Mr Frost,

I have been directed to your blog regarding your opposition to the proposed Croydon Gateway Arena.

I wanted to let you know that I was another councillor that was invited by Arrowcroft to go to Hamburg. I will not be responding to Arrowcroft because I am not interested in their offer and more than this I have found their offer highly questionable. That I should need to be shown an arena in another country to understand how one would work in my own area of Croydon and Addiscombe I feel personally is slightly patronising.

I remain very concerned about the arena proposed by Arrowcroft and alongside both Councillors Price and Garcia I have been debating the plans with council officers. I am highly dubious about the plans as they are currently laid out and I will be continuing to raise my concerns during the coming months.

I hope that you find this information useful and if you have any further concerns please do get back in touch.

Kind regards

Councillor Russell Jackson

Councillor Russell Jackson
Addiscombe Ward
c/o Town Hall
Katharine Street
Croydon, CR0 1NX
"

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