Vitriol ‘unfair’ as councillor was only doing her job
10:26am Wednesday 15th August 2012 in Letters
AS the owner of a business in Arwenack Street, I would like to comment on the article about Fuel.
I don’t believe anyone in Falmouth has objection to their restaurant, which looks very smart and appears to be well run. What did upset people was the decking covering the pavement and forcing pedestrians to walk in the road. I had many people coming into my shop complaining about this.
I asked the men installing the decking several times if they had planning permission and was told they didn’t need it as they ‘owned the pavement’. I couldn’t believe this was right, especially as this is a conservation area and I telephoned Councillor Merrett to ask for her advice. I also telephoned the Packet; it wasn’t Cllr Merrett as the owners of Fuel are stating, she only responded when the reporter phoned her.
I think all this vitriol being directed towards Cllr Merrett is very unfair as she was only doing the job she was elected to do, looking after the interests of the people of Falmouth and trying to uphold planning law. As such she deserves a bit of respect and the support of Councillor Eva who was, presumably, elected to do the same thing.
I understand the owners of Fuel have now accepted that they do need planning permission. If they had contacted the council before they started these works they could have saved themselves all this aggravation.
Mrs E Robbins, Arwenack Street
