A SURE way to destroy your credibility is to comment
extensively on a meeting which you didn't attend and in
this regard Mr Haydn Gear excelled himself in Postbag last
week.
His non-attendance at the Bryn-y-Cwm Forum meeting
can be inferred partly because his letter contains so many
errors and misrepresentations but chiefly because no one
voted for either of the offered designs and Mr Gear would
surely have voted for one of them since the whole meeting
would have been dismissed by him as "nit picking
criticisms."
I'll correct only those errors pertained to the talk which I
gave at the meeting on behalf of Friends of the Earth.
Mr Gear takes me to task for saying that the planning
committee had rejected Boot's previous scheme on the
grounds that it would damage the local economy.
If Mr Gear had been present he would have heard me say
that the planning committee gave five separate reasons
for rejecting the Boot scheme, number three of which I
quoted verbatim at the meeting as follows, "The proposed
30 percent of net retail floor space devoted to non-food
sales in the superstore will damage the viability of
Abergavenny Town Centre contrary to policy S1 of the
Monmouthshire Unitary Development Plan." Remember
that was the opinion of the Conservative dominated
planning committee. Does Mr Gear think it's just a "nit
picking criticism?" Another planning committee rejection
reason was the unresolved traffic impose and another was
lack of respect for the conservation area, all three of
which reasons have not been addressed by the new
schemes and remain as valid today, as several people at
the meeting noted.
Mr Gear then refers to "our FOE warrior's obtuse
comments" in the context of FOE being against a
supermarket whilst everyone else was in favour. Speaking
as the aforementioned FOE warrior, I would say once
again that if Mr Gear had been present he would have
heard me tell the meeting that Friends of the Earth has
always supported what independent retail consultants
called for many years ago - an "anchor food store" in the
town centre. Friends of the Earth has never supported an
over large general merchandise superstore well away from
the main shopping area which is what the Boot scheme
contains. This has always been the position of
organisations in the SAUCE alliance, including Friends of
the Earth, which I have explained before to Mr Gear
through the columns of Postbag, so readers must judge
who is being obtuse.
Mr Gear's letter is characteristically dismissive of opinions
he dislikes without in any way engaging with their
evidence and arguments. "Nit picking criticism" he calls
them.
Nothing more clearly demonstrates Mr Gear's lack of
grasp of the issues than a comment like that, which those
who were at the meeting might even think deserves the
term "obtuse." The meeting heard a wealth of facts and
cogent arguments from a variety of speakers and it's a
shame Mr Gear wasn't there to knock them all down with
his superior evidence and arguments. Perhaps he's trying
to spare our blushes. Or perhaps there's another reason.