Plenty at yesterday's town council meeting about the velodrome. There was some disgruntlement about the way in which the public had picked this up and were already voicing some negativity. The mayor Cllr Gavin Harris said in the absence of any ambition being shown by Denbighshire County Council, the town council had been proactive. The Town Council had a choice: it could either 'go back into its little hole' and deal with hanging baskets and bins. Or it could be more ambitious. Projects such as the velodrome 'were ours to lose', said Harris.
It didn't help, the mayor said, that people saw a headline in last week's Free Press and jumped to conclusions, though the press article wasn't contentious. And neither was a small piece in Town and Around, which reiterated the facts as stated at the February 2021 Town Council. At that meeting, the Town Council was being open but Harris conceded it may have been better to discuss behind the barrier of Part II (sessions in camera at which the public are not permitted to attend). Doing that just fosters concern that things are going on democratically.
The town council has in recent years done remarkably well in going beyond its scope and objectives. They've delivered the Old Courthouse project. They are proponents of the Market Town of the Future. And they're sponsoring the velodrome project. It was an achievement in itself that a modestly-sized town council should have gotten thus far with something of this size (the project is estimated at about £1.8m).
From March 2021's Town and Around. A source of criticism?
Harris was wise in admitting that he did not have the personal expertise to drive the project forward. He said that he risked being 'exposed to more risk and criticism'. Note the word 'more'.
One concern from those living near Brynhyfryd was addressed by Harris when he said that the structure wouldn't 'won't fly into outer space', which we thought was a good turn of phrase. It's at hedge level, apparently, although the floodlighting will be much, much higher and intrusive.
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