Yesterday, 12 December, Kent County Council Scrutiny Committee unanimously agreed that they would write to the Defra Minister in support of retaining the National Fruit Collections at Brogdale. They also agreed to refer the matter back to KCC Cabinet as a matter of urgency in the hope that Cabinet would also support the retention of the Collections at Brogdale.
This situation arose because, back in early May, KCC wrote to Defra recommending that the best option for the future management of the National Fruit Collections was the bid from Brogdale Horticultural Trust and East Malling Research and relocation of the Collections to East Malling (no mention of the Imperial at Wye partner). The letter was written by KCC Cabinet member, Roger Gough, who claimed that he was only aware of one bid and he appeared to have taken this view without discussing it with other cabinet members and councillors. His opinion has remained unaltered, despite the fact that Swale Borough Council support the Collections remaining at Brogdale and there has been widespread opposition to the idea of their relocation.
Friends of the National Fruit Collections at Brogdale succeeded in bringing this issue to the attention of Councillor Trudy Dean, a member of the KCC Scrutiny Committee and councillor for East Malling, who brought it to yesterday’s meeting. Friends presented the case for keeping the Collections at Brogdale through a written and oral statement and we were present during the discussion.
It was revealed by Mr Gough under questioning that he had received his information on the Trust and East Malling’s bid in mid-March through trustees of the Brogdale Trust. He admitted that he had taken the decision to write his letter of support in favour of relocation of the Collections under the name of KCC without referring it to other members of the KCC Cabinet. But the Scrutiny Committee was not happy with the way in which the matter had been dealt with, believing that all councillors should have been involved. The Scrutiny Committee has now reversed the situation and are writing to Defra in support of keeping the Collections at Brogdale. We understand that this decision supersedes the decision made by Roger Gough and we hope the KCC cabinet will also agree to support retaining this unique British asset in its established home at Brogdale.
Simon Brice, Heather Hooper, Joan Morgan
For an account of the meeting see also http://www.kent.libdems.org.uk/news/000199/lib_dems_force_kcc_u_turn_on_brogdale.html
The letter written to Defra by Roger Gough in May 2007 is published in the Cabinet Scrutiny agenda for their meeting last week – see
www.kent.gov.uk/committees/cabinet-scrutiny/12-december-2007-1/itemd3nationalfruit.pdf
Tomorrow, 17 December 2007 KCC Cabinet will consider the matter.
It is remarkable to learn that one person can write to government in the name of Kent County Council and by implication all the people of Kent without any democratic input. It certainly gives a whole new meaning to representative government. The people of Kent will have their own views about the action taken by Mr. Gough, but the Scrutiny Committee has clearly given its view.
The disclosures at the Scrutiny Committee also throw light on the activities of Brogdale Horticultural Trust. At the Friends’ Special General Meeting on 28 April the Trust told Friends that it could not disclose its intentions for the National Fruit Collections. Yet in March trustees had informed Mr. Gough of their plans, no doubt urging him to write to Defra in the name of Kent County Council supporting their proposed move of the Collections from Brogdale to East Malling.
Trustees were clearly talking to people about their plans but kept the Friends in the dark. Is it any wonder that people have withdrawn their support from the Trust and that the Trust lost the vote of confidence at the Friends’ SGM. One wonders whether there are other incidents of the Trust saying one thing and doing another.
No doubt sooner or later information about the Trust’s activities, like those above, will become public and more judgements will be made.