Chairman’s crowd fears were driven by safety (From Echo)

Chairman’s crowd fears were driven by safety

11:12am Thursday 26th August 2010 in

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I am writing about the Basildon Council meeting over the sale of land to finance the sporting village, where chairman Mo Larkin adjourned proceedings (Aug 17).

I have known her for a year and have represented people in Pitsea, officially and unofficially, for five, and she is the one councillor who is solidly behind residents and their rights.

I am shocked at how people use a mob mentality, thinking it will get them heard. Residents have many independent representatives who could engage in talks with officials.

This would be a lot more fruitful.

I am sure Mrs Larkin will try to see to it that residents’ concerns are heard in the right arena. She did not deserve this hostile name-calling approach.

I am most shocked at the residents from Felmores, where fire is very close to people’s hearts, who refused to see the councillor’s point that it was not safe to have so many people crammed into the meetting room.

This lady is a the real deal and her concerns were safety-driven.

Jo Cunningham
Malyons
Pitsea

...I was outraged by the article and letters concerning the extraordinary council meeting. The criticism of chairman Larkin was unfair and damaging, not only to the democratic process but to the reputation of the chairman.

Mrs Larkin is a wellrespected magistrate of long standing and the events which unfolded that night tried all her expertise in law.

The meeting did not allow the public a voice as it was an extraordinary meeting and councillor Larkin warned the barracking crowd three times that their desire to speak was against council rules.

The number present was also an issue, as the law only allows 120 people to be in the council chamber at one time, and on this night the number was exceeded.

The chairman, knowing that in these circumstances insurance would not cover any accidents, had a vote to adjourn the meeting, and when the crowd was not going to dismiss easily, would have called the police to empty the building before anything got out of control. Can you see the headlines if a child had been killed? No insurance cover and presided over by a magistrate? I am sure you see the impossible position this put the chairman in.

I am sure she was very insulted, after trying to bring some order to the event, then being likened to Adolf Hitler.

There are democratic ways for the public to have their say, but councillor Phil Rackley, who called the extraordinary meeting, would know the public were not allowed to speak, so was responsible for these events as he should have told his public supporters that fact.

Would they have turned up if they had known that?

Did anyone know councillor Larkin’s or the other councillors’ views on this strategic matter? No, as the meeting was adjourned. It wrecked the point of the meeting.

Dr John Handley
Eastern Esplanade
Southend

...Who runs Basildon Council? At the shambolic meeting about the sell-off of playing fields, where all those who wanted to make a point could not be accommodated, chairman Mo Larkin postured as if she was in charge.

The blame has now been shifted to chief executive Bala Mahendran and his officers with the explanation “it was up to officers to decide how many people were accommodated”.

Should our councillors and officers be sent on a health and safety course?

The fact remains that Mo Larkin was in the chair and theoretically in charge.

Travellers got shown more respect than the ratepaying public did on this occasion.

The council has been shy of sending in the police to resolve a now long-standing problem, but is quick off the mark to deal with genuine protesters.

In the interest of all concerned, the council should arrange one meeting where all parties can meet at one venue. If the conspiracy theory is to be allayed, let’s see an open forum.

I fear the PR exercise is but a formal waste of time, but it must be played out and exposed for the farce it is. The combined strength of the Labour and Liberal group is a forlorn hope against the Conservative stronghold.

Max Aitkins
Roosevelt Road
Laindon