Goldwater Lodge: Local petition forces action

Thanks to your overwhelming response to the Goldwater Lodge petition, Councillor Denzil Coulson and the Lib Dems successfully forced the Tories to make a decision regarding the future of Goldwater Lodge. They agreed to fund the £915,000 shortfall needed to cover the repair costs not covered by the building's insurers.

However the Tories rejected the detailed plans put forward by Council officers because they did not want to spend an extra £700,000 for certain aspects of the development. Lib Dems argued that this would cause further delay and leave a derelict building standing in the heart of Goldsworth Park potentially for another year while Tories haggle over minute details.

Denzil says "Thanks to your responses to our petition, the Tories were forced to act and allocate the money needed to repair the building in the Council's Investment Programme. Taking a year to get to this point is totally unacceptable.

"Unfortunately the Tory rejection of the detailed proposal put forward by Council officers could mean that building work may only start in 2015 with completion in 2016. Residents should not have to wait for up to three years for these repairs to be completed. The building is clearly falling into rack and ruin and I fear that it will become a magnet for vandals placing the neighbouring Sea Cadets building under threat."