Dear Editor,
I was very surprised that the Leader of the Great Aycliffe Town Council writing in last week’s Newton News said that when he attended the presentation given by the owners of Woodham golf club about their plans for the course, he spoke to numerous Woodham residents and golf club members and the vast majority were in favour of building houses and a hotel on the golf course.
I attended the very same presentation and I have to say that, with the exception of the representatives of Washington Developments, it was a very different story. Everyone I spoke to at that time, both residents and members of the club, were completely opposed. Perhaps Mr. Fleming spoke to the wrong people or the owners made sure that he did!
The lesson here for our Town Council is that taking a straw poll of people in a confined area is a dangerously flawed approach to gauging opinions. The Town Council should find a rather more scientific method of canvassing views.
The other point that concerns me smacks of passing the buck. He states that it is “not a planning matter” to ensure that funding is in place for a development. Well, I can understand that it may not be necessary or relevant to check if a householder has funds to build a new conservatory on his home. Surely however, with a project such as this one was, requiring £32million of investment to complete (company’s own figure) and which would have had such a huge impact on our local environment, the commonsense approach would be to check out the applicant.
I would urge our Councillors to change their procedures and in future, for major proposals, look carefully at the financials of any organisations promising the earth, as Washington Developments did, before supporting their projects. It could save embarrassment in the long run. I do hope that the members of Woodham golf club will find a way to buy the course and it will not have to close.
Mrs V Crichton
