Dear Sir,
A number of weeks ago I contacted Livin in response to the question ‘’were empty garages being deliberately withheld from residents who had applied to rent them’’. My initial contact received a prompt reply explaining they weren’t the person responsible for dealing with this matter; however, they had forwarded my email to the relevant officer for their attention.
At the time of this editorial I am still awaiting a reply from the officer concerned, this is in spite of two follow up emails and a request to a county councillor to follow it up to see if they could shed some light on the situation. They did and were able to inform me my enquiry had been forwarded to the appropriate department as there were set procedures to be followed.
The question has still to be answered. Why are garages standing empty when residents want to rent them, and why some garages, in a shocking state of disrepair, have been allowed to become little more than a vermin infested dumping ground. There may be genuine reasons for this current state of affairs or there may be a long term development strategy for the garages, but silence simply creates an atmosphere of uncertainty and confusion and people form their own conclusions which do nothing to help the situation.
There are already serious congestion issues in the town, with the limited parking available, so the withholding of garages, for whatever reason, is going to have a knock on effect. If there are answers to these questions then we need to hear them, if not we need to see damaged garages repaired and maintained, and, where possible, empty garages let to the residents who are waiting to rent them, sooner rather than later.
Cllr Phillip Hawkins