Keep a close eye on Gonzo as the Wootton Fields Library closure proposal moves, inexorably, towards a conclusion. Countdown’s Nick Hewer has been called on to stop the plan and a protest group is busily engaged online and off trying to stop its relocation to a new temporary home ahead of a permanent build somewhere in the parish within three years or so.
It’s widely known the great man is a keen advocate of a new community centre in nearby Simpson Manor – where he lives – some nine years after Wootton and East Hunsbury Parish Council (WEHPC) had plans drawn up for a building similiar in size to Wootton Community Centre. The project would have cost £650K back in 2005, even though almost all Simpson Manor’s residents wanted open space and play equipment over another community centre. (Indeed it’s possible Wootton is better served per head of of population than anywhere in the UK with at least eight community rooms for hire, ranging from the Yeoman of England pub to the Memorial Hall).
In the consultation on the library closure (expired May 25), this paragraph stands out: “Long term (est 2-3 years) the provision of a library combined with community facilities and developed by WEHPC is being discussed”. Now these discussions are allegedly going on, not between Gonzo and WEHP, but between Gonzo and his well-heeled friends at County Hall. Indeed, so advanced are they that the 2005 estimate has now risen by a further £100,000.
So while the Friends of Wootton Library are against it and there’s no support for a library/centre in Simpson Manor, don’t rule it out by any means. The opportunity for Gonzo to oil a few wheels and use the library closure as a conduit to creating yet another community centre is allegedly very much a possibility. As we say, watch this space: Gonzo may keep his cards close to his chest on many things, but Aufona would be positively giddy with excitement if, just a few short years from now, we were witnessed the opening of the Gonzalez de Savage Community Centre. And please, please, don’t ever calls his a vanity project.
Football nut Chris Heaton Harris put work before pleasure to hear the Home Secretary’s plans for a major overhaul of family migration to the UK, a subject “so important I’m here (at 4.55pm on Monday) to ask a question about it rather than watching England-France”. This dedication to duty followed H-H’s publication of his eating engagements between March to May, including “Sunday lunch (with wife & family) at The Griffin Pub, Pitsford” (albeit with Daventry District Council’s Conservative Group), Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy post-conference buffet at the Barcelo Hotel, Daventry, APPG Football Annual Dinner in the Lords, sponsored by the BBC, breakfast in the Commons with Conservative Friends of China and lunch with Lord Rees Mogg in the Lords. Best of all: Lunch with Aufona’s Most Valued Player, Robin Brown, at the County Club. Did Robin pay for lunch or is it “on us”? We await his declarations with interest...