At Teignbridge DC on Tuesday 12th December, the decision made by the LibDem controlled council to not proceed with the major part of Newton Abbot town centre investment was assessed as being made without the appropriate advice and was not made in accordance with the council constitution in that this decision should have been considered by the full council and not made by the LibDem group alone.

Whilst the constant delays and procrastination over the last 4 years as the decision to invest in the future of Newton Abbot was not addressed by the LibDem controlling group (who constantly altered plans, challenged expert professional and legal advice and flip flopped between alternatives without delivering anything) the funds supplied by the government (£9.2 million) cannot be invested in the allocated timeframe so a significant amount (over half) will have to be returned to the government.

The implications are clear and bad for Newton Abbot.

We lose our cinema, the required improvements to the market hall are in jeopardy, over 30 jobs are lost and local businesses will not benefit from over £10million that the investment would have generated (£1 million per year) and if the group looking at repurposing the old Alex cannot produce a viable business plan that enables TDC to fund any changes we will lose that as well.

Every party other than the LibDems want to see investment to support our town but as control rests with the LibDems failure to deliver is at their door. The consequences for local residents is obviously not their concern, but it is mine.

Phil Bullivant