Letter: Secrecy in council is nothing new after Gay Meadow fiasco

I sat back and waited for the reaction, but there has been none. I'm staggered – but then again, I'm not. Most of us have become so inured to the attitude of our councillors that we just let their machinations wash over us.

Read again - Star comment: What have they got to hide?

This matter of secrecy isn't new. Do you remember the covenant that the people of Shrewsbury enjoyed for the protection of that cherished piece of land called The Gay Meadow?

The land was left to us collectively to be used for leisure purposes, in perpetuity. When push came to shove, a secret cabal called 'The Cabinet', wrote the covenant off. It was one of the most cynical, politically motivated decisions we have ever had to endure, and we still don't know the identities of those who sold us down the river.

To add insult to undoubted injury, we were told that in recompense, a covenant had been created on an area of land somewhere in the area of The New Meadow, in Oetley Road.

What a scornful poke in the eye that was, and it remains so. Our councillors appear to have sold a prime piece of ground by the river that wasn't theirs to sell, (where, incidentally, the theatre would have sat beautifully, rather than being stuffed into an unsuitable corner of Frankwell, and given us in its place a piece of useless land at the back of nowhere).

Secrecy? The whole business stinks, and things have gone downhill ever since.

To watch the local political machine operate is frightening. I have seen huddles of party members and their councillors on street corners and in out-of-town pubs, and we have all seen decisions taken on local matters that should have been decided on merit, being voted for by parties, en bloc.

These people aren't interested primarily in the matter in hand – they are much more concerned about their party. I'd be ashamed to vote against something that I believed in, just because the party says I should do so, but anyone who stands as an independent has got little chance, should they get in.

Paul Wagner, Shrewsbury