Message prompted by the recent Local Elections

 

This personal email was sent on 10th June 2006 by Jim to all DCC and ECC Councillors and some Officers known to be involved with the Summerway saga.  It represented the views of its author at the time, and would probably have been phrased somewhat differently if it had been composed now.

It is included on this site because it flags up some significant issues regarding Summerway Tennis which have been brought to the attention of all Councillors.  Ignorance of the Club’s circumstances would not be a valid plea.  This email is also required on this site because of the need to include the response to it by the ECC Head of Leisure & Museums, which was distributed to all the recipients of Jim’s email plus some extra Officers who will need to be kept informed in future.

Please note that the Author of this site is just an ordinary citizen, and is not Party politically motivated.  Jim offers his apologies if anything in this email offends those who are.

 

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Dear Councillor or Other Interested Person,

Please feel free to ignore this personal email if you wish. It requires no reply, but discarding it without considering its message may be unwise on the part of some recipients.

About the Author

This is the first time I have been moved to speak out on a matter of party politics, but whether I like it or not, party politics may be behind the harm which I feel is being done to something about which I care strongly. People whose duty it is to care for the community seem to me to be destroying, by their actions, a facility which has proved itself of considerable value to the community over a long period. I am aware that it is a matter of priorities, but judge for yourself whether serious errors of judgement have been and are being made in this instance.

Party politics have not been my thing in the past, but I have always felt it my public duty to vote. In local elections I vote for the person rather than the party, and my decision is primarily based on the candidates’ concern for the local community. In national elections, I vote for the party which I consider will best govern the country. I would rather be poor and insignificant in a strong, moral and stable country than be rich and prominent in one which is weak, unprincipled and blown about by every wind. As the policies of the three major parties have converged during my lifetime, my degree of choice in national elections nowadays appears to me to be shrinking.

I acknowledge that I am probably in a minority, but not an insignificant one. Witness what has been happening on recent Wednesday evenings at Crealy Great Adventure Park. It is comforting to know that there are thousands like me who endeavour to serve God first, and then to serve others before themselves. If you doubt this, then find out for yourself by attending ‘just10’ at 7.45pm on any Wednesday at Crealy before the end of June.

About Community and Self-Interest

Community is a concept with many shades of meaning, but its backbone is surely the extension of parenting to include others outside the immediate family.

The survival of the species depends not only on the natural instincts of the offspring, but also on the nurturing, protection, education, etc. provided by parents and other adults. Few of us are so gifted that we can provide everything necessary to develop the talents of our own children, so most of us value the help of the education system, clubs and gifted individuals willing to share their expertise. My wife and I could never have given our son, James, the tuition he needed to develop his musical talents, nor could we have given our daughter, Lucy, the coaching and facilities required to adequately promote her natural aptitude for playing tennis. Fortunately, our local community included excellent musicians willing to teach James, and the Summerway Club with its coaches and facilities was there to assist Lucy to significant achievement in junior tennis. We bought the provision for our son, but would not have been able to do the same for our (younger) daughter at commercial rates. As a family of modest means, we were dependent upon Summerway Tennis, an affordable community facility where group coaching is provided free by volunteers and where parents contribute in kind, to give our daughter the opportunities she deserved.

I think it is true to say that the vast majority of the human race is naturally gregarious, but individuals also have an instinct for survival. Thus, most of us have within us both community spirit and self-interest. I, and others like me, have a predominance of the former, while many are more motivated by the latter. Too strong a leaning towards self-interest can cause nuisance or damage to the community. As a simple example, a vandal whose ‘fun’ is to smash up supermarket trolleys and dump them adds a penny or two to the grocery bills of all of us, including the vandal.

If you are a Councillor, and hence a politician, you are no different from the rest of us. In my view, the best Councillors, MPs and MEPs are motivated by integrity and community spirit, and the worst by self-interest. Politicians have discovered that the majority of the electorate vote out of self-interest, but should beware of pandering too much to this. If they encourage self-interest to the extent that community is damaged, the more intelligent of the electorate realise what is happening and vote accordingly. I think this has just been demonstrated by the results of the recent local elections.

The Summerway Junior LTC Situation and Politics

Serious unwelcome changes have occurred to Devon County Council over the last three decades, and it may well be that these were and are party political in origin.

The 28-year Summerway Lease was granted by Devon County Council in 1978. The unusual, and possibly unique, character of this junior tennis club was the result of vivid inspiration on the parts of the tennis personalities and the DCC councillors and officers who were involved in the original agreement. The only problem with that lease was that the term was too short. Had it been longer, the Club would not be experiencing the present difficulties which may well destroy it, nor would it have suffered the damage to its membership that has occurred in recent years. In 1978, I doubt whether anyone could say with absolute certainty whether or not the Club would continue to flourish over the lifetime of the lease, but if those initiators could review the history of the Club, their hearts would swell with pride at the success of their venture. I would like to know more about the foundation of the Club. If anyone can help me on this point, I would be delighted to hear from you. We weren’t in at the beginning as Lucy did not join Summerway until 1981.

I am also eager to ascertain the political composition of the DCC in 1977/’78, because this may be very relevant. It has been suggested that it may have been a hung Council with the Conservatives as the majority party, but I would like to see some authoritative figures so that I might make a judgement on this issue. We ought to know to whom credit is due.

Summerway and the Community

It is important to realise the true nature of the originators’ inspired brainchild. Summerway Tennis has been a partnership between the DCC which provided and maintained the premises, and the volunteers and membership of the Club which provided tennis services to the community’s children.

My perception of the members of the DCC is that they are volunteers of a sort who are able to claim handsome expenses, the officers of the DCC I believe to be paid officials, and the Club membership I know to consist of children who benefit and also of adult volunteers who are considerably out of pocket for the privilege of providing their services. Please correct me if I am wrong.

As money seems to be the rock upon which the good ship ‘Summerway Tennis’ has foundered, it needs to be pointed out that over the period of the old lease, the DCC side of the partnership has cost the public less than £1,000 per annum in maintenance of the premises, while the services provided free of charge by the Club’s volunteers would have cost the DCC in excess of £10,000 per annum if the Council had to buy those services for the community. If you don’t believe the figures, investigate them for yourselves, remembering that the Club has been open and supervised for part of every day from the beginning of April to the end of September every year, and the youngsters have had the voluntary services of two LTA qualified coaches and a qualified LTA referee in addition.

Thus, the public purse has contributed less than 10p in the £1 for the services being provided to the community by this superb facility. Alas, the current Devon County Council and Exeter City Council do not regard this as a bargain, and wish to reduce or withdraw their contribution to the partnership in order to acquire the site for their own purposes.

DCC Motivation and a Missed Opportunity

It is clear that DCC placed the welfare of children above the desire for money back in 1977/’78. I do not know when the emphasis changed, and suspect that the shift was gradual. What is certain is that by 1999, the DCC had completely lost its vision and was putting the desire for money before the welfare of the children. My authority for asserting this is not based on speculation, but on documentary evidence besides the manifest actions of the County Council.

I am not going into detail about the situation in 1999, as the details are clearly expressed in the letter dated 11 May 1999 addressed to the Devon County Sports Development Officer. This document has been very widely circulated, both at the time and subsequently. However, it is necessary to remind folk that the Club had been bursting at the seams for many years before that document was published, and a resolution was desperately needed to expand the provision for the community.

The reason for the timing of the document was that a marvellous opportunity presented itself for the Club to be developed at very little financial cost to the County. All that was necessary was that the DCC should extend the length of the lease significantly on the same terms, and lease, with the original premises, that part of the old school field required for expansion. Naturally, we would have expected the granting of such a lease to be dependent upon the Club acquiring the necessary planning permission and obtaining adequate funding. At the time, the Club was receiving considerable encouragement for the scheme from ECC Planning and Sport England. Obviously, neither could give a definitive response without a proper application. The only obstacle to the Club making these applications, which would have received wide support including that of the LTA, is that we could not do this without the commitment of DCC to an appropriate conditional lease.

What a marvellous opportunity the DCC missed to have a significant development on their property at virtually no cost to the ratepayers! No land would have passed out of their possession, and I think the community ought to know about this strange decision, which seems to me to be a major error of judgement.

How did Devon County Council respond to the Club’s request for expansion? They buried it!

And for what reason? The answers are clearly stated in the Report of the Director of Education Arts and Libraries that was accepted by the Exeter Committee of the Devon County Council on the 9th December 1999. The conclusion of this report stated, “A relocation of the club …. would be a better option since …. ” --- and guess, what was the very first reason given? The answer is that this would “gain maximum value from the present site”, i.e. money is more important than the contribution made by the Club to the welfare of the children of the community.

It might be added that this officer of the Council engaged in absolutely no consultation with the Club whatsoever. Had he done so, the Club would have pointed out that there are other vital considerations which need to be taken into account as regards a move to another site. Relocation to the proposed new school site and integration with its facilities was never a practical option. This fact is easily established, provided that the doubter is capable of understanding the necessities for a voluntary work of this nature to exist.

Again, it would be helpful to know the political composition of DCC in 1999, when it failed to respond positively to the Club’s cry for help to enable it to expand its provision of affordable junior tennis to the community.

The Proposals for a New Lease on Offer to the Club

The Club has been offered a new, shorter lease on terms considerably more onerous than those of the recently expired lease. I can envisage that the burden being placed upon the Club, and the greatly reduced security being offered by the Councils, bodes ill for the long term future of Summerway Tennis. It seems to me, personally, that the stated position is that, “We applaud the good work being done by the Club, and we want to try to keep this going”, while the proposals clearly indicate the opposite. I cannot bring myself to believe that the originators of these proposals are so unintelligent that they cannot foresee their damaging consequences for the Club.

It is plain that I ought not to give my specific reasons why I consider the proposals to be so hostile, as the new terms being offered are a matter for negotiation, and it is not for me to second-guess those negotiations or the outcome.

However, when words and actions differ so markedly, it is not surprising that I am feeling that the Councils involved are being extremely duplicitous. After all, there is a common saying that actions speak louder than words.

Exeter City Council Involvement

It is important to draw a distinction between the attitudes of the Council and its officers, and its Sports Development department. Over the years, the ECC Sports Development personnel and the Club have worked closely together, particularly in bringing a significant number of tennis families to Exeter for the week of the Club’s prestigious, annual, LTA officially sanctioned, Open Junior Tournament held each autumn half-term holiday. Nothing adversely critical of this partnership between the Summerway Club and this ECC department could possibly exist. In this respect, the ECC cannot be faulted.

The same cannot be said of the Council and its Officers responsible for the terms of the new lease being offered to the Club, which seem to me to be full of misapprehensions and impracticalities. Because of the secretive nature of the collaboration between DCC and ECC, those of us associated with the Club are unaware when this began with regard to the old school playing field. What is certain is that the ECC has been exercising influence over the terms of the new lease to the Club’s disadvantage. It has been pointed out to us verbally by both DCC and ECC officers that the terms of a new lease need to be onerous to the Club in order for the ECC to be willing to take over as the Club’s landlord.

This shows a complete lack of awareness on the part of ECC regarding provision for certain voluntary sector facilities. It is manifest that the ECC is either oblivious to the requirements of volunteers, or there is hostile intent towards the Club. The Councils have offered terms that treat the volunteers as if they were part of a private Club or a commercial entity. This is totally inappropriate as the Club is a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC), and as a community facility, the Councils do have a moral obligation to treat it fairly.

Consider the terms offered for a new lease. Why should the public have access to the courts and the Club be responsible for their maintenance? The Club, being fully supervised, isn’t going to cause damage to the playing surface, but the same cannot be said for an unsupervised public. Why should the public have free access to the courts, but the community’s children have to pay for the privilege? Why should the Club spend money put aside for expansion to protect itself from a problem not of its making? Is that reasonable considering that the courts have existed for over fifty years in a largely protected environment? Do I detect councillor and/or officer greed with respect to the Club’s financial resources? The problem of vandalism has increased significantly since the field has been accessible from the Summerway side, but this is chiefly due to the proposed change of use of the field that has been allowed to proceed before essential provision has been made for that change of use.

DCC and ECC are asking the Summerway volunteers to carry a greater burden than over the 28 year term of the recently expired lease. As volunteers give of their substance, and receive only the satisfaction of giving, do you think it wise to load community volunteers in a way that is principally suited to private and commercial concerns? The huge message being transmitted by the Councils, by their proposals, is that volunteers are not valued, and are there to be milked so that politicians and council officers might inflate their reputations.

In Conclusion

There is much more that I would like to say on these issues, but must restrict myself in order that this email may be kept to a length that is not prohibitive. I know that intelligent and concerned recipients will carefully consider the points I have made.

VOLUNTEERS NEED SUPPORT AND SECURITY TO FUNCTION EFFECTIVELY. Who wants to give to a cause that is insecure and is likely to cease to exist in a few years? That is certainly not my wish.

Government, both local and national, seems to have lost its common sense when dealing with volunteers. Don’t you think it odd that the national government should invent CASCs, and the ECC, which is largely of the same political persuasion, should be withholding local government support from this one? It is no wonder that some among the electorate are losing confidence in government.

I am a volunteer. Why should I give my time, money and energy to a cause from which the local community leaders are withdrawing their support? In addition, why should the Club coach, who gives group coaching free of charge to the community’s children, persevere if he has to endure significant discouragement? He has said on more than one occasion that if coaching becomes too much of a hassle because of off court interference, he will just walk. I am having to ask myself the same question. My daughter received her benefit from the Club from 1981-1990. Since then, I have been giving to the children and parents of the Club in recognition of the inspirational creation of Summerway Tennis, which has proved so magnificently successful over the years. Hardly a selfish motivation on my part!

I wish to stress the point that I feel no hostility or aggression towards anyone regarding the future of the Club or its destruction. If the Councils succeed in demolishing the partnership between local government and the Club, I will be released at last to attend to other matters at home, which have been put on hold so that I could devote personal resources to Summerway Tennis.

Summerway Tennis has a long and distinguished history. If this is brought to an end, it will be unfair to say that it was because the Summerway Committee were unable to agree terms with the Councils. It is clearly a matter of the Councils reneging on the established partnership between Local Government and the Club.

Thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Harle.

(Bcc: Summerway Members & Supporters)

 

Read the Response of the City Council’s Head of Leisure & Museums to this email