Open Letter to DCC & ECC Councillors
It is a sad reflection on the current state of Local Government that an email such as this has been made necessary. Ideally, an issue regarding the Club and locality would have been settled without involving the whole of both Local Authorities, but deaf Councils with their own inner workings which don’t cut the mustard need to be challenged.
This open letter, composed by Jim, was dispatched by means of email on 31st January 2007. It was addressed To: All DCC and ECC Councillors, with Cc: copies to interested Officers, Exeter’s MP and the Express & Echo (View Details). Also, Bcc: copies were sent to the Summerway Committee, Families, Supporters and Watchers. Copies of the letter were sent by first class post to the three ECC Councillors for whom an email address was unavailable.
Dear Councillor,
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE COUNCILLORS
OF DEVON COUNTY AND EXETER CITY
I am writing as a citizen of Devon County and Exeter City to register the strongest of protests against the CONSTRUCTIVE EVICTION of the Exeter (Summerway) Junior Lawn Tennis Club (the Club) from the premises in Whipton which it has licensed and leased from the Exeter City Council (ECC) and Devon County Council (DCC) respectively for more than three decades.
I am aware that "constructive eviction" is not a legal term, but it bears more than a passing resemblance to "constructive dismissal", which is. Constructive dismissal is defined in the Concise Oxford Dictionary (11th Edition) as "the changing of an employee's job or working conditions with the aim of forcing their resignation." By rough analogy, constructive eviction is the changing of the terms of a tenant's lease so that the tenant is effectively forced to vacate the premises.
This is exactly what Local Government (DCC and/or ECC) has inflicted upon one of
the top Junior Tennis Clubs in the UK, and one which I have supported as a volunteer
for the last twenty-
Convinced that this is not a matter to be glossed over, I wish the full circumstances relating to the premises to be fully examined, revealed and explained. I suspect that the systems used by Local Government have failed miserably in this case, and may need considerable amendment to rectify them. Local Government can present all its obligations, policy statements and justifications for acting as it has, but what reasonable person who is aware of all the circumstances can possibly agree with the outcome? The fine detail needs the closest scrutiny, starting with the failure of the Exeter Committee of DCC to support the expansion of the Club on 9th December 1999 in particular.
DCC and ECC have both been involved in the dreadful events which have resulted in the Club being made homeless. A mere citizen like me is unable to determine the proportion of blame that is properly attributable to each local authority, but what is probable and totally unacceptable is that each tries to blame the other. Clearly, both have failed to resolve this matter properly and sensibly. Neither can a mere citizen determine how the blame should be shared between Councillors and Officers. The Officers seem to be responsible for the disaster, and to have failed to understand the Club's relationship with Local Government and the community at large, but to what degree were they working under the direction of the Councillors?
I wish to make it quite clear that I want no person's head on a platter, nor retribution. What I am seeking is a full examination into the circumstances of the loss of the Summerway premises to the Club, and a revision of the systems used by Local Government so that something of this nature never happens again. As far as I am concerned, there has been a long series of events illustrating ignorance, poor judgement, flawed decisions and inaction on the part of Local Government which needs to be addressed. Local Government also needs to determine how it can adequately compensate a seriously injured children's tennis club in order to restore it to full health and strength.
I have a number of serious concerns regarding Local Government. Brief indications of some of these are:
1. Why has Local Government procrastinated about the lease of the premises for over seven years?
2. Why did DCC withhold a conditional lease from the Club in 1999? Had this been granted, DCC would almost certainly have had a £120,000 development of the site mainly funded by Sport England. Have the taxpayers been deprived?
3. Why is Local Government undermining National Government policy by withdrawing support from a registered CASC to the detriment of the health and wellbeing of children? This is especially puzzling as National Government and ECC are supposedly of the same party political persuasion.
4. Why isn't Local Government consulting with the Club? All that has happened is that the Club has been presented with Local Government's intentions which seem to be set in stone.
5. Why is Local Government discriminating against the less affluent and the poor of the community? Grants such as those to the Northcott Theatre by DCC and the Tennis Centre at the University by ECC need to be examined in the light of Local Government's niggardly attitude towards a facility available to everyone in the community.
6. Why has Local Government turned a deaf ear towards the Club? The Club has been shouting loudly enough on behalf of the community and the children it serves. Maybe there are none so deaf as those that will not hear.
8. Why does Local Government deem it necessary to destroy such a long established, proven and successful partnership by its withdrawal from it?
9. Why the seeming obsession with money which obscures the importance of people, and especially the young? The almost universal cry from Councillors and Officers to put up the fees makes no sense in this situation. Such action would only exclude the less affluent, and none of the Club’s volunteers would wish to see that happen. Exeter already has adequate provision for those who can afford to buy their tennis.
10. Is Local Government aware of the damage it is doing to the spirit of community in the locality?
11. Does Local Government have a hidden agenda? There is firm evidence that it had in the past. With words and actions currently in direct contradiction with one another, it seems extremely probable that such an agenda still exists.
12. Why is Local Government so shy of commitment? If it is so determined to have total control of everything with the result that it cannot meet the reasonable requirements of partners, the whole burden of Local Government falls upon it, and this segment of the Voluntary Sector might just as well pack up its bags and leave.
There is also another matter about which we ought to be concerned. As a schoolboy,
I read the book “Nineteen Eighty-
If you were a Councillor this time last year, you may remember receiving last January a letter or two emails regarding the Club. If you were elected to DCC or ECC since then, you will probably need to read this archive material in order to make full sense of this current letter/email.
There is no way that I can state my protest and expound my concerns adequately without running this letter to inordinate length, so very recently I have been preparing a website. Through this, I will be enabled to make my case available to everyone with an interest in Summerway Tennis and the treatment it has received of late from Local Government which was formerly so supportive of the Club. So far, I have posted a few items on it which flesh out some of the points I have made, but I am very conscious of the site's shortcomings. The address of the website, which you can enter into your browser entirely in lower case, is:
www.LocalGovernmentFailure.co.uk
In due course, I will need to address such issues as search engine criteria, site structure, impact, plain English, regulating repetition, provision of a timeline, promotion of the site, smart indexing, etc. In the meanwhile, I will concentrate on expanding the information base to establish my thesis.
I must also bring to your attention the human cost to the volunteers who have given so much. My own life is so full and interesting that, much as I would be saddened by the total demise of the Club, its passing would only allow me the freedom to follow my other activities more fully, and perhaps even permit one or two new ones. However, I would miss the company of the friends and families with whom I have shared the Summerway experience. My sense of discipline will ensure that I devote a fair proportion of my committed Summerway time to developing the new website but, given the choice, I would much rather be organizing the fun and tennis related games for the children down at the Club than to be seated in front of a computer screen. I believe in the concept of Summerway, and intend to continue to promote it to the best of my ability. And then there is the effect this debacle has had on the most important person in the Club. I think it is fair to say that we have one very dispirited and discouraged Tennis coach, who has served the Club so brilliantly for more years than I have been there. Many hundreds of children learned their tennis from John, ably supported by Linda, Phil, Nick and others on many occasions. What a pity that his expertise will in all probability be lost to youngsters in the future on account of Local Government's failure to maintain its partnership with the Club. John also believes in the concept of Summerway, unless I am much mistaken.
Finally, I would like to point out how illuminating it has been to email all DCC and ECC Councillors, even though it shouldn't have been made necessary. The Club did so last January in desperation, and requested an acknowledgement and a response. Those who did show the Club the courtesy of an acknowledgement is now a matter of record. I requested neither acknowledgement nor response to either my January 2006 or June 2006 emails, but I received some nevertheless. The adults at Summerway and I put in a lot of work on behalf of those we serve, and it is pleasant to receive an acknowledgement from those with whom we communicate. One thing is clear. Councillors are not only of different political persuasions, but they also differ widely in personality and motive. Folks like me accept that people are very different, and smile at and enjoy the diversity. I feel no animosity towards anyone, and would not wish to impinge on any person’s individuality or independence. Some Councillors were very gracious on receiving last year's emails, and clearly feel the same way as I do regarding service to the community. I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation, and also my wishes that there were more like you. Were you in a majority from 1999 onwards, the Club and the locality would have been thriving.
Yours sincerely,
Jim Harle.