Is Your Money Being Used to Provide Facilities for Yeovil?
People have been saying it for years, our money is being taken from our area to provide facilities for Yeovil and I am sorry to say yes, it's true, and we need to stop it. One of the main ways they do it to us is through something called Section 106 agreements which are legal agreements entered into between the developer of a building site and the council. It is supposed to provide enhanced leisure and sports facilities for the enlarged population to use, all fine so far, now comes the not-so-fine bit.
The s106 agreements have been written without the knowledge or consent of the elected members, written behind closed doors with large sums of our monies going to fund grandiose council projects in Yeovil.
Below I will give an example of a draft s106 agreement written for the site behind Verrington Hospital (which was turned down by members a few months ago) but now subject to an appeal.
"Swimming pools - contribution towards the provision of a learner pool at Wincanton Sports Centre (Policy SP5) - £9,300
"Artificial Grass Pitches - contribution towards enhancing the AGP provision in Wincanton (Policy AGP6) - the existing third generation pitch at Wincanton Sports Ground does not meet the minimum size requirements - £4,400
"Sports hall provision - contribution towards the development of a centrally based 8 court district wide competition sports hall in Yeovil (Policy SH2) - the existing quantitative shortfall for Wincanton Sports Centre sports hall is minimal and the development of a new centre in Yeovil will alleviate any pressure on Wincanton Sports Centre. There is no proposal in our current assessment to expand the sports hall at Wincanton Sports Centre - £33,400
"Theatres and Arts Centres - contribution towards expanding and enhancing the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil - this is the only priority for the Council at present - £17,200
"Indoor Tennis Centre - contribution towards the provision of a new indoor tennis centre in Yeovil, likely to be within Yeovil Sports Zone (Policy ITC1) - there is no indoor tennis provision in the district at present, and the location of any new facility (which there is a proven need for) is in Yeovil - £13,000.
"This is the strategy that is included in any planning application for Wincanton, or any of the villages that are nearby, and is based on the recommendations and priorities from our facility assessments. As you will see there is a combination of money for strategic facilities in Wincanton and Yeovil."
This s106 was written without the knowledge or consent of the ward members for Wincanton, Colin Winder and myself, even though the s106 monies raised by the development of houses in Wincanton are supposed to be to provide leisure and sports facilities for the increased population of the area.
As you can see the value of this s106 agreement comes to £77,300 with a meager £13,700 going to Wincanton and a massive £63,600 going to Yeovil. This has to be stopped; the document contains inaccuracies (lies) like:
"The development of a new centre in Yeovil will alleviate any pressure on Wincanton Sports Centre."
What complete and utter nonsense, Wincanton Sports Centre needs all the help and support it can get. One of the most important things for our communities is for a learner pool. It is vitally important for all children to be taught to swim at the earliest possible age but only £9,300 is allocated for that purpose whilst £63,600 is proposed to be removed from the area that raised the money and spent in Yeovil.
The District Council is supposed to promote carbon-friendly policies but are they seriously suggesting you should get in you car and drive up to a 45 mile round trip for a game of tennis, badminton, or a trip to the theatre. A few people might, but the vast majority won't because of time and cost. If the council was in any way serious about carbon saving they would use our money to provide services we want to use in our own communities for the benefit of the people who live here. Instead they build grander and grander facilities for Yeovil.
So how can we stop this legalized theft of our money? Well this s106 agreement has not been signed yet, so I have asked for a meeting of all relevant parties to let them know we are not going to put up with it any more and we will demand that this agreement is rewritten incase the appeal is successful and that any future ones are written to benefit the peoples in the area the money is raised. There is no excuse for it being taken elsewhere.
You can now see why the Liberal Democrat-run council likes to keep these things behind closed doors, but when I stood for election part of what I said I wanted was open and transparent government and that is what I intend to try and bring about. I know certain people in the District Council will be upset with me for informing you in detail as to how you are being treated by them. Well that's tough because I was elected to look after the interests of the people of Wincanton and that is what I intend to do.
What can you do to help? Well you could all email the people responsible, the portfolio-holder for Leisure and Culture, Sylvia Seal (Lib/Dem), at and copy Steve Joel, the Assistant Director (Health and Well-Being) at to let them know your thoughts on what proportion of Wincanton's, Castle Cary's, Bruton's and surrounding areas money should be spent in Yeovil.
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