£4.5 million black hole revealed at Goldhawk Block Inquiry

Dramatic scenes at this independent Inquiry into the Council's decision to award one of our industrial areas to developers in the teeth of local residents opposition and already at the cost of 200 jobs with the announcement of local employer Innocent Drinks that it was off due to all of the uncertainty.

Our Council has form in awarding developers permission to develop even if local people are dead set against, and this is likely to have played a decisive role in denying Tory challenger Shaun Bailey a place in parliament.

But this weeks Inquiry, which was announced by the last Government shortly before the election has, it would seem, found a rather large gap in the Council's sums. £4.5 million is a rather large number.

Here's what our local Che Guevara Rosemary Petit, the marmalade making rebel who chairs the Brackenbury Residents Association has to say:

Third and final week of Goldhawk Estate inquiry

We hear evidence from Alan Simmonds, planning consultant of DP9 (for the applicant, Londonewcastle) and from Robert Jaffe-Pearce (resident) on traffic and parking in the area, including surveys and counts, on Monday, 7 June, and Tuesday, 8 June.

Other witnesses will include David Pearson, architect of Dalling Road, and Andy Slaughter MP as an independent witness. The inquiry will be held in the Assembly Room of the Town Hall, starting at 10am.

The final day of the inquiry has been moved from 14 June to this coming Thursday, 10 June.

The two days of the inquiry this last week concerned viability, valuations and affordable housing - all very necessary to examine, quite technical and detailed stuff - and not without drama.

Richard Turney, our barrister, uncovered a missing £4.5 million; I call that quite interesting.

So do I.