Conservative-run West Dorset District Council says it has consulted everyone about plans to build itself new Council offices.
Strange then that the public meeting organised by Dr Sue Farrant, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, was packed out with hundreds of people wanting to know more and to have their say.
The Council also says that it has public support for their multi-million pound scheme. Their plan is to move out of historic Stratton House in Dorchester and into specially-built offices off Charles Street. A senior Council officer recently said the cost could be £15 million although the Council’s official figure is £10.5 million.
The meeting on 24 March heard the WDDC’s financial case for the move pulled apart by a series of speakers. They included a previous WDDC architect who told the meeting that it was perfectly possible and a great deal cheaper to adapt Stratton House to meet the Council’s needs.
In final show of hands, not a single person there agreed with the Council’s plans.
The prime movers of the scheme, Councillor Robert Gould, the Council’s Leader, and the Chief Executive, had refused to come to the meeting to answer people’s questions, despite repeated invitations from Sue Farrant.
Sue Farrant has now written to Cllr Gould telling him that he does not have public support for building new Council offices at public expense. She has called on him to abandon it now rather than waste even more public money on trying to push the scheme through.
