Kit Chapman challenges Cllr John Williams to public debate

Hotelier Kit Chapman, one of the group of business people and politicians behind the move, gives his reasons for urging others to sign the petition...

LAST week, with the approach of the local elections in May, Taunton People for Change, a group headed by top business figures, launched a petition demanding fresh leadership at the helm of the newly created Somerset West and Taunton Council.

These business figures include highly respected bosses like Jonathan Langdon and Stuart Berry, and the town centre’s admirable Simon Willetts, owner of Combers Hair Salon. There are others, including several businesswomen, who have declared their support.

The petition went online with change.org (click here bit.ly/2Fq4NrQ ) and it has already attracted hundreds of signatures.

Our small group is just the tip of the iceberg – Tauntonians across the wider community are expressing their firm belief that Taunton has lost its way. What we want is a county town worthy of the name.

Very evidently, the council is rattled. So much so that the leader, Cllr John Williams, says the petition is “perplexing” to him.

He does not understand why we’ve done this. He thinks we should leave things to the May elections when “the electorate will decide the future make-up of that council”.

Cllr Williams goes on to insist that we are motivated by all kinds of malign reasons, “not for the good of the new council”.

This, of course, is an outrageous and extraordinarily arrogant statement to make.

The electorate will not be voting for the good of the new council. The electorate will be voting for the greater good of Taunton itself. That is what should lie at the heart of any council’s decision making.

The whole point of a petition is for voters and the general public to express their point of view on a burning topic of the day. That’s democracy at work.

We shall not countenance any politician’s attempt to deny perfectly normal democratic expression. Mercifully, we do not live in a police state.

Nevertheless, Cllr Williams resents our intervention. Indeed, there is plenty of evidence to show that he resents any intervention that does not coincide with his agenda.

So let’s go properly public. Taunton People for Change challenges the leadership of the council to an open debate.

Let a public forum hear the defence of the present administration’s record. And allow us to present our case.

Regrettably, we see a council chamber toxic in atmosphere and a leadership which dislikes a more collaborative approach to decision making - a leadership that will even disregard its own consultation processes if the outcomes run contrary to its own plans.

It is also a leadership which takes no notice of other important bodies which have been established to advise and support the administration.

In short, Taunton People for Change is tired of the old rhetoric. We want to see our county town, this great garden town, capture a new and vibrant identity.

We want to see a masterplan overseen by a new, imaginative and dynamic leadership who will transform Taunton, making it more commercially successful and more culturally and socially attractive for its long-suffering inhabitants.

Please read and sign our petition.

THE County Gazette contacted Cllr Williams for a response this week and has offered him the opportunity to write an opinion piece in next week’s edition.

He said: “I have already responded on this matter.

“Over the course of the next few months, ahead of the elections, I look forward to speaking with as many people as I can about my record and my hopes for the future of Taunton.”