A meeting of a task group set up to work out a plan for the future of the land previously earmarked for Friarsgate was attended by just two councillors, it has been revealed.
A report to a meeting of the economic growth, environment and development overview and scrutiny committee at Lichfield District Council last night (22nd January) outlined what was discussed at a session of the Birmingham Road Site task group on 10th December.
It shows that only the chairman Cllr Tom Marshall and Cllr Jon O’Hagan showed up – with apologies being received from three other councillors:
- Cllr Colin Ball (Labour)
- Cllr Paul Ray (Lib Dem)
- Cllr Andrew Smith (Conservative)
Three others were listed as “not attending”:
- Cllr Gwynth Boyle (Conservative)
- Cllr Mark Warfield (Conservative)
- Cllr Robert Strachan (Conservative)
The minutes from the meeting revealed that the results of a SWOT analysis for development in Lichfield city centre were discussed – but that the poor turnout meant little progress could be made.
The report said: “Due to the low attendance at the meeting, the chairman felt it was not possible to undertake a full appraisal of the information needed to inform the next stage of the process, that of defining a brief for a master planning exercise.
“It was agreed that a meeting of the task group would be called for the New Year to address the issues that had emerged from the SWOT analysis and to develop a masterplanning brief based on the city’s requirements.
“The task group’s ideas and thoughts would then be shared with stakeholder groups.”
