AT A public meeting in Highcliffe on May 6, many residents turned up hoping to hear details of the council’s plans to build overnight huts on the local cliffs.
We were subjected to a council officer stating that he could reveal virtually no information due to the confidential nature of the contract between the council and TV producers. Our local councillor could tell us nothing as it was deemed below the line.
Apparently this means that the financial contract prevented him from informing taxpayers how their money is being spent.
Since that time nothing more has been revealed by the council as to what these huts will be like and now we hear that if they are built they will be hidden by security screens until the TV company has finished filming.
Even worse, it appears that the council has filed its application with Natural England for permission to build these huts in the SSSI on the cliffs.
You may ask were we consulted, did we get the chance to have our views heard at a planning control committee meeting? The answer is no. Will Natural England consult with the public? Apparently not.
The result may well be that these overnight huts will be foisted on us by a small group of star-struck councillors and a handful of council officers meeting in secret.
The public will have zero say in the matter. Where is the transparency in all this?
SUSAN CHITTY
Merley Drive, Highcliffe
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