ACTIVISTS have gathered more than 350 signatures for a petition urging top Government officials to intervene on the controversial sale of County Hall in Chester.
Although the sale of the building to the University of Chester has already taken place, angry residents hope to rewind the move with the belated interference of Members of Parliament.
At a gathering in Greenway Street, Handbridge, campaigners handed the petition over to city MP Christine Russell after stating they were upset the local authority did not hold any public consultation before the exchange took place.
They hope to show MPs that Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) officials violated a series of legislative requirements and policies both in the UK and EU by not holding any public consultation.
Mrs Russell told the gathering she would present the petition and her constituents’ concerns to Parliament.
She said: “There are two concerns that people have expressed to me with the primary concern being lack of public consultation on behalf of Cheshire West and Chester over the decision to sell County Hall. Secondly, people feel that their questions have not been answered regarding the move to the new HQ building.”
Handbridge resident Reg Barritt, who has been involved with the issue for some time since the announcement of the move, said: “There has been a clear lack of consultation with the public about the decision and the sale of the building. CWaC had a duty to consult about the matter and they did not do so in the manner required.”
Meanwhile, CWaC staff are due to move into the newly completed HQ building by June 2010. The university hopes to move into County Hall by late summer next year.
CWaC leader Mike Jones said the local authority was under no obligation to consult over the sale of County Hall because it was designated as an administrative building.
He said: “Previous councils have disposed administrative buildings in the past without consulting because there is no requirement to.
“I think the important thing is that we’re looking at is the prosperity of Chester. We just had the announcement of a hundred jobs being created at the new ABode hotel. I am sure there are more to come.
“And between the council and the university there is something like £10 million being invested for the refurbishment of County Hall. That is creating employment for people at these very difficult times. And I am quite sure the businesses in the local area and around Handbridge will see the benefits of the decision of the council.”
He added the building had been designated as an administration building by the government during the process of Local Government Review.
“At the end of the day, we would have had to buy half of it from Cheshire East, or do we make the bold move of making a real change of creating a council that is going to create its own way of doing things, because we are absolutely determined to give value for money to taxpayers,” he said.
The petition states the sale excluded the local community from any “meaningful consultation”, and also denied the public essential information prior to the completion of the scheme.
The failure to consult the people was, it says, “in conflict with guidance issued by Parliament in the form of, for example, the publication ‘Communities in Control - real people, real power’, and the ‘Action for Empowerment’ and ‘Duty to Involve’ white papers, stating a statutory duty for all councils to engage fully and from an early stage with the public over such matters”.
It also adds that CWaC is “at odds with its own policy as stated in its ‘Statement of Community Involvement’ and its ‘Sustainable Community Strategy’ document”.
In addition, CWaC’s proposals are claimed to breach the European Union by not allowing public participation in decision-making.