MEETING..... REGENERATION

Last nights meeting, in my opinion, was full of what I call “Managerial spiel”; they talked a lot but in essence said very little.
The Centre for Sporting Excellence was glorified and hailed as the best thing since sliced bread but everything else was glossed over and any difficult questions such as “Ultimate plans for Douglas Road” were responded to with “Refer to the Master plan”. This was the first I’d heard of a “Master plan” (outside of spoof spy film), apparently the Council will be employing a firm of Consultants, costing around £100,000, who will draw up this “Master plan”. Why, after all this time, are we only now employing consultants? I’m not against spending £100,000 if they are successful in bringing home the bacon but it seems a little late in the day to be calling them in, they should have been employed at the very beginning instead of amateurish hopefulness.
I asked about plans for a multi-storey car park in Ivy Street the answer was “As of today, there are no plans for that” I pursued it further “ Are there plans for a multi-storey car park anywhere in Colwyn Bay” the answer again was “As of today, no”. As of today could mean a multitude of things, we may change our minds as of tomorrow or we were but only up until yesterday!.
There is a Quality Assurance Team (QAT) set-up (full of County Councillors or Council employees) to oversee the regeneration and I groaned inwardly when Councillor Chris Hughes piped-up and informed us, gleefully, that he had been voted Chairman of the team, if it’s anything like his chairmanship of the Pier Society or his vice-chair of the Daniel Cleverly Trust (Dan’s den) then we are doomed to disaster.
Arguments followed the meeting and I received a phone call or two from other worried Councillors, one, who’s name I wont mention, said that they felt it was time to call it a day; he/she is sick of the back-biting and name-calling and feels that we are banging our heads against a brick wall and has had enough of it, despite my call for a cooling-off I think he/she may carry out the threat of resigning and I cannot blame them really; if you are not used to threats and intimidation it can be very disheartening and I will admit to having, fleetly, considered it myself.
Good intentions are all very well but I believe Samuel Johnson once said “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” I only hope this time he is proved wrong.