Yeovil meeting overwhelmed and adjourned
A Yeovil Town Council meeting scheduled for this evening (3 October) had to be adjourned.
With just one item on the agenda, councillors might have been expecting a brief meeting in front of the traditional one person and their dog.
That the meeting was to discuss future funding for the Octagon Theatre project probably made a difference.
Due to start at 7.00pm, by 6.45 there were fifty people trying to get in. Fifty plus were already in the council chamber. Members of the press and Somerset Councillor Adam Dance were also unable to get in.
At ten past seven Cllr Graham Oakes appeared in the car park. Everyone who had been inside was ushered out. It was all a bit messy. Having attended many different council meetings in many different venues, your humble correspondent can confirm having it in a car park was a first.
Standing on a wall to make himself seem and heard, Cllr Oakes explained all. The meeting would be adjourned. Nobody had anticipated the level of interest in the future of the Octagon Theatre. It simply wasn’t possible to accommodate everyone who had turned up.
Cllr Oakes explained:”Tonight’s meeting will not happen. It will be rearranged in the near future. The meeting will effectively be adjourned. Next time we will find a bigger space.”
Town clerk Amanda Card reminded everyone: “no decision would have been given tonight anyway. It was simply a chance to investigate the options for the town council.”
But as Cllr Oakes made clear one of those options would be for Yeovil Town Council to provide funds directly to the Octagon project.
Oh well- until the next time!
Entirely foreseeable that there would be public interest in moves to scale back the much-vaunted Octagon regeneration project. The Lib-Dems have a huge majority on Yeovil Town council so its a bit worrying that they could not even manage to run a council meeting. Yoevil might start to think that it deserves better.