Campaign News

Knights rejoice as enemy hove into view

Who are the English Historical Towns Forum?

"Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" Matthew 3 v 2

Joyously was the news received that Centros Miller had reappeared in the town of St Edmund. Had the prodigal returned? Unfortunately Centros Miller did not return as weeping penitents seeking mercy and forgiveness from the blessed Martyr and good folk of his town. Alas, there was no remorse, no apology and no contrition on their part, only blasphemous vanity and a sinful conceit that has hardened their hearts and led them from the ways of righteousness. However, their arrogant contempt of St Edmund at the spiritual equivalent of ground zero has been noted with sadness by the Knights of St Edmund.

"He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it" Ecclesiastes 10 v 8

Just as at Bury St Edmunds, Centros Miller aim to build a shopping market at the former cattle-market in Lancaster. As in Bury St Edmunds there are 'Champions' on the Council and again Johnston Press PLC own the local media to dish out propaganda to the local population and 'manage the narrative'.

However, due to the heroic stand taken by the Knights of St Edmund and their supporters at Bury St Edmunds, the people of Lancaster had been forewarned about Centros Miller and Johnston Press PLC, the 'Champions' amongst unelected council officers and how representative Mr Bryson's opinion polls really are when compared with votes in elections properly organised by independent third parties.

Read more about the Lancaster prl=ject and protest on the "it's our city" website.

As a result, a democratic ballot in Lancaster unanimously rejected the development at a public meeting called to discuss Centros Miller's plans. Despite this ballot, Councillors have agreed to the scheme. So, once again, local democracy goes hang in favour of secret deals stitched up between 'Champions' on the Council and Centros Miller. However, like those of Bury St Edmunds, the good folk of the famous city of Lancaster are not daft and are made of sterner stuff; they are not going to be schmoozed or bullied by a bunch of City wide-boys with fake tans, cheap bubbly and a tray of M & S canapés.

"As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly" Proverbs 26 v 11

Mr Bryson, Centros Miller's very own PR guru, was seriously piqued by the e-mail sent in reply to an enquiry to the Knights by a member of a group in Lancaster. Reports from Cheltenham inform us Mr Bryson had an absolute fit in his luxury Cotswold cottage and has sworn terrible revenge in front of his bemused Labrador. Perhaps the full horrific nature of the curse of St Edmund is only now dawning on him? How Mr Bryson acquired this e-mail is anyone's guess, but it is funny how much correspondence not addressed to Mr Bryson ends up in his hands.

Mr Bryson has also been telling shocking fibs about the Knight's of St Edmund, recently claiming to an audience in Lancaster that the Knight's of St Edmund were like the KKK. Smearing people with allegations of racism shows precisely why Centros Miller employs Mr Bryson, to silence and discredit opposition to their plans. It just shows how dirty Centros Miller and developers are prepared to get with anyone who simply disagrees with them, let alone dares to hold a prayer meeting according to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

In a desperate attempt to win back the initiative, Centros Miller and St Edmundsbury Council have jointly organised two junkets, or rather thinly disguised pro-Cattle Market Development rallies, at the recently restored Athenaeum this autumn. Note that the Borough Council had the money to refurbish the Athenaeum as a conference venue, but did not have the money to save the Manor House museum. Then ask yourself which facility do Council Officers want and which one does the public use?

The first bun-fight was on the 14th - 15th September 2006 when the national conference of estate agents and property developers was held in Bury. They stayed at the Angel Hotel in the town centre and, despite being in the biggest food producing region of the UK, will be eating their conference dinner at that traditionally Suffolk eatery, a Greek restaurant. Nothing wrong with the restaurant, or Greeks, but do you think a national conference of Greek estate agents would go to an English restaurant?

The list of guest speakers was headed by John Laker, managing director of Centros Miller and infamous for the admission that:

"The majority of local authorities don't have any experience of a scheme of our size. They're naturally cautious," he says. "If a scheme is going to happen then you need a champion in the council - and that can be either a councillor or an officer - but the problem is until you get involved with a scheme you don't know whether there's anyone there able to take on that role".

Another lead speaker was Cllr. John Griffths, the son of the town's former Tory MP Sir Eldon Griffiths, unelected Councillor for Ixworth and Conservative leader of St Edmundsbury Borough Council. Apparently medieval style patronage is not the sole preserve of the Knights of St Edmund.

"Remove not the ancient landmark; which thy fathers have set." Proverbs 22 v 28

A second junket is planned for October 19th & 20th by English Historic Towns Forum, which, needless to say the 50% Scottish-owned Centros Miller is a corporate member. This the same Centros Miller who managed to build a brand new DLR station to a design that required the demolition of listed buildings within a world heritage site, which required them to overturn a design that required the destruction of no listed buildings that had already been accepted by Greenwich Borough Council. The difference in Centros Miller's design is that it came with an attached shopping arcade, which required the bulldozing of Grade II listed buildings within sight of the Cutty Sark.

According to its 2003 Constitution the stated objective of the EHTF is to "Promote and reconcile prosperity and conservation in historic towns." However, the sub-context is clearly that heritage, archaeology and historic buildings must not stand in the way of private companies' desire to redevelop historic towns up and down England around their shopping schemes. It should be noted the words, 'democracy' nor 'democratic' appears anywhere in the constitution of this organisation. This is not a government quango but a privately run front organisation for local authorities and developers. It is run by a Chris Winter from an anonymous PO Box in Bristol.

The English Historic Towns Forum's membership consists of 28 affiliated county councils, 72 local authorities, 51 corporate members and 19 civic trusts, but only 31 individual members. Most of the individual members are generally retired 'the great and the good'-types such as our own Air Marshal Sir Reginald 'SDP' Harland. Therefore, the evidence shows that EHTF is dominated by the development industry, unelected government officers and local politicians rather than the organisation's far smaller, limited and rather elderly individual membership.

Furthermore, of the last published accounts some £14 000 came from membership subscriptions, whereas £37 000 came from corporate sponsorship. Sponsors include Land Securities PLC, the very same Land Securities PLC that in 2004 entered into a close business relationship with Delancey Estates, which just happens to own 50% of Centros Miller. It is a very small world among big developers!

http://www.delancey.com/news/releases/

The forum part of the EHTF's title is a bit of a joke, as ordinary people are excluded by the cost of the conference at £400 for a non-member. How many people in Bury St Edmunds, or any other provincial English town, can afford four hundred quid to attend a conference to discuss the future of their heritage and the planning of their town?

There is no place for the public or open public debate in this Forum, which is designed for the elite to call the shots and set the agenda. The EHTF road show was planned over a year ago for Bury. It was deemed necessary even then to make sure that big business and local council officers determine the historic, planning and cultural agenda of Bury St Edmunds rather than local people. It also means Centros Miller and the Borough are desperate and it is a tacit admission they have yet to convince the people of Bury St Edmunds, who have voted three times in independent polls against the Cattle-market development.

Yet, despite that, the Borough Council and it officers are still colluding with Centros Miller and other outside interests to determine the heritage and future development policy of our town, under a secret deal to which not a single elected politician has ever been privy.

Our case is simple and just: the majority of people living in Bury St Edmunds do not want to have their town, which is now approaching its one thousand year anniversary as a planned town built by Abbot Baldwin between 1066 and1086, spoilt by an ugly and wholly out of character shopping scheme. No architect would be allowed to stick a 21st century extension on a thousand year old building, so why allow one to build an eleven and half acre extension of stripped pine onto the central core of a thousand year old town made of oak?

Perhaps we can ask the chairman of the executive committee of the EHTF, Ian Poole; who just happens to works for St Edmundsbury Council as a planning officer. So, is it purely chance that the conference is happening in Bury? One wonders who Mr Poole is really working for, the Council Tax Payers of Bury St Edmunds, or a private, industry-run, lobby firm? Potential conflict of interest - not half!

It should be noted that this is the same Ian Poole about whom it was recently claimed:

"He was the project manager for the successful Bury St Edmunds Historic Core Project, and EHTF initiative that demonstrated that it was possible to sympathetically manage the motor vehicle in a historic environment without the clutter of signs and lines."

This is a joke, the fact is that central Bury St Edmunds is now bumper to bumper in a grid- lock on Saturdays and every week day morning because the Borough Council has spent years giving permission to developers to build extra houses in the town instead of the roads and infra-structure to support the additional population. Mr Poole's removal of signage at least gives us something er..not to look at while we are stuck in the Bury Jam.

The fact that Mr Poole is employed to sort out signage, rather than sort out the traffic grid-lock, demonstrates what the Borough's Planning department's priorities really are: running junkets to support property developer's business aspirations, rather than maintaining the road system or built heritage of the town?

Again the guest speaker is none-other then John Laker, managing director of Centros Miller.