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13
Dec 2024
‘Cowardice’ row intensifies in Ripon amid fresh claims
The spokesperson for the Cathedral Support Group has said she does not regret describing Ripon city councillors as cowards this week.
The council voted 7-1 to reject the cathedral’s latest plans to build an annexe at an estimated cost of £8 million in Minster Gardens at a packed meeting on Monday night.
After an hour-long public debate, the councillors quickly agreed to support a motion rejecting the plans, with most of them not telling the audience why they had done so.
Speaking on behalf of the group after the meeting, Cathedral Support Group spokesperson Meg Munn described their lack of explanation as “a display of cowardice, not worthy of those in elected office”.
Her comments provoked anger from some members of the council, two of whom served in the military.
Cllr Peter Horton, who put forward the motion and served in the Royal Engineers, said he resented the allegation and council leader Andrew Williams described the remarks as “deeply saddening, very unchristian and wholly inappropriate for the season we are supposed to be in”.
'I do not regret using the word'
Asked by the Stray Ferret if she stood by her comments, Ms Munn said today she did and criticised Cllr Williams’ use of the term ‘unchristian’. She said:
I do not regret using the word ‘cowardice’ to describe the councillors’ failure to respond to the public.
It was inappropriate to describe this as “unchristian”. The Cathedral Support Group is not a Christian group. It has members who are agnostic and atheists as well as those with a faith.
Over 30 people spoke, both for and against the development, and many more attended to hear from their elected representatives. It was astonishing that only one councillor responded on an issue of such importance to Ripon. The rest sat in silence until one councillor, who had taken no notes during the meeting, produced a pre-prepared motion which seven councillors voted for.
It was disrespectful to everyone who had taken the time to prepare and make speeches and to everyone who attended the meeting.
We expect that the North Yorkshire Council planning committee will give full consideration to this important and complex issue. Ripon city councillors had the opportunity to set out detailed views on the different aspects of the application. They failed to do so.
Dean John
Dean John comments
The Cathedral Support Group claims to be independent of the cathedral.
We asked the cathedral whether it endorsed the group’s ‘cowardice’ claim. We have not received a response but Dean John Dobson has written about the outcome of Monday’s meeting in more measured terms on the cathedral website.
After praising “courageous” Cllr Pauline McHardy, who spoke in favour of the annexe, for “highlighting some of the shortcomings and errors in points made by opponents”, he added:
The rest, however, voted in favour of a pre-prepared motion which, while strongly accepting the cathedral’s needs and supporting its aspirations to meet those needs, asked the cathedral to think again about the proposed building, not least its location.
Councillors, of course, will have given much thought to how they voted, but were not in the end moved by the many eloquent and powerful speeches explaining the need for the scale of the building and the obvious need for it to be as close as possible to the cathedral.
Our architect, advisors and regulators have all made it perfectly clear that our proposed building is appropriate for the context and needs to be as close as possible to the cathedral.
Dean John added it “now becomes more important than ever that those who do support our amended plans write to the North Yorkshire planners, via their portal, to register that support”.
‘Abusive threats’
Cllr Tony Duncan, one of the seven councillors who rejected the latest plans, described the Cathedral Support Group’s allegations that councillors were cowards, unfit for office and hadn’t listened the public as “abusive threats”.
He also denied his response to Cllr Horton’s motion was pre-prepared. Some members of the audience shouted the abrupt outcome after so few councillors spoke was a “stitch-up”.
Cllr Duncan said:
I have read many papers and emails relating to this application. I have met and talked to residents, both supporters and non-supporters on many occasions. I attended Monday’s meeting to listen to the residents of Ripon and I can assure you all that I did just that.
I didn't attend Monday’s meeting to have a public debate. I came to listen to as many people as possible with Ripon City Council giving just two minutes to each speaker, meaning a maximum of 30 speakers.
I certainly had not spoken with or agreed any pre-prepared words or motions or anything else with other councillors prior to the meeting.
I believe Cllr Horton spoke directly after Cllr McHardy and for me after asking for a repeat of his proposed motion and it had been seconded - then I was minded to vote in its favour.
So in my humble opinion moving forwards and acknowledging the cathedral’s 'needs' in the immediate future then the annexe development could be and should be located in the stonemasons yard, with an extension of the public toilet facilities towards the cathedral making it even more inclusive for all.
Ripon Cathedral
The Stray Ferret , which reported live from Monday night's meeting, wrote to all seven councillors who voted to reject the plans, plus council leader Andrew Williams, to ask if they wished to respond to the allegation.
We previously reported Cllrs Horton and Williams’ response and have subsequently had a response from Cllr Tony Duncan.
North Yorkshire Council will determine whether to accept the planning application, probably in spring next year.
Its planning portal has so far received 208 expressions of support for the scheme and 195 objections. Almost 3,000 people have signed a petition opposing it, and calling for the trees to be saved in Minster Gardens.
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