The minutes of the Shepway full council meeting on 24th February are finally available.
David Monk said:
“The Cabinet had therefore agreed to revert to using the Princes Parade site as the preferred locations for the complex. This site had the advantage of being able to deliver a new facility at least three years ahead of any development on the alternative location – Nickolls Quarry.”
“The Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Mary Lawes, replied by asking what the difference would be in cost between a leisure centre being built on Princes Parade compared with the Nickolls Quarry site.
The Leader of the Council replied by advising that there was no difference in cost.”
As we’ve already said below the statement about costs can’t be true but David Monk has declined to make any further comment.
The statement about PP being able to deliver the leisure centre at least 3 years ahead of NQ sounds unlikely. We asked Susan Priest to share the timeline for PP with us but she replied “We will be reporting on Princes Parade in due course to Cabinet. In the meantime we are progressing work in line with decisions of Council already made.