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Under the heading: Council ‘desecrates’ a much-loved green area, claim residents  –  Express & Echo, 18th February 2009, page 4  –  there is a report accompanied by two photographs.  The first shows Norman Smith, John Holman (a former Exeter mayor) and Pamela Holman, with the cleared site pictured in the second.

According to the report by John Fletcher:

Residents living near Well Oak Park in Wonford are angry, claiming that a green area has been “desecrated” by city council workmen who have hacked shrubbery, which was formerly a haven for wildlife, to ground level.

Mr Holman said that he and a lot of other local people feel the action was unjustified on account of the wildlife and the birds which nested in the green area.

The former mayor is quoted as saying, “... the workmen have hacked it down without any consultation with local residents.  I am not aware that local ward councillors were told this was taking place.” Local ward councillors Greg Sheldon and Marcel Choules confirmed that they were unaware that the area was to be cleared.

ECC’s head of contracts and direct services, Paul McCormick, explained the circumstances surrounding the action carried out by parks staff, which was reported in the article.

COMMENT

This article reinforces a fact which is constantly being heavily impressed upon us, viz. Exeter City Council is not run by the Councillors who essentially rubber stamp, but by the officers. Democracy in Exeter has been usurped by bureaucracy, not in theory but certainly in practice. We saw this clearly in the case of Summerway Tennis. Officers seem to view themselves as infallible, but remote decisions have resulted in failure and huge loss to the community they are supposed to serve.

The article did not say who purposely arranged the action, but it obviously wasn’t the ward Councillors.

There could be a similar situation regarding the planting of the trees near the Summerway courts.  Hopefully, our own ward Councillors were not responsible for this Council action.