Speaking at the December meeting, Richard Hughes, of Manorbier Community Council, said the council consultation was “deeply flawed and unlawful,” the quoted capacity figures after the fire damaged the original building “null and void,” with a true surplus of some 21 per cent. “The school is clearly thriving under less-than-ideal conditions, your report claims 59 per cent [surplus], it’s misleading and artificial.”
00:00You've got the right to reply up to three minutes. Thank you.
00:05Party members, let me be blessed.
00:08A vote for this proposal is a vote for an unlawful, misleading and legally indefensible process
00:13and every one of you will be accountable for it.
00:17The consultation is built on a lie, a capacity of 86 pupils in a building that is burned down and no longer exists.
00:24You've been asked to make a strategy decision on the basis of information that is factually impossible.
00:30That alone makes the process unlawful.
00:33The pupil declines manufactured by this council, you restricted admissions by delaying reinstatement for many years
00:40and now claim demand is low, that is not evidence, that is engineering.
00:46The financial justification is invalid.
00:48You created the inflated costs by not reinstating the school and keeping them in long-term temporary accommodation.
00:55Presenting these figures as normal is a misrepresentation.
01:00The diocese, your statutory consultee, has objected in the strongest possible terms.
01:05They were misled, kept uninformed and forced to lure information through the media.
01:12Suppressing their statutory response is a direct breach of the school organisational code.
01:17You have breached your duty of care to employees and children who have been left for three years in a temporary classroom after a traumatic fire with no certainty and no plan.
01:30That's not acting in the best interest of lawyers, it is the complete opposite.
01:34Conflicts of interest within a school organisation group have been declared and yet members still took part and that alone invites legal challenge.
01:44And let's be honest, the consultation is like a smokescreen for pre-planned development on the school land.
01:50The community knows it, the diocese knows it, and now you will be seen to vote in on it.
01:56It even uses other schools' data.
02:00Under the well-being of Future Generations Act, you are personally responsible for protecting the long-term viability of rural communities.
02:08Clothing a school destroys that viability.
02:11You will be breaching the act on record.
02:15So understand this.
02:17If you vote to approve this today, you are voting for a process that is unsafe, unlawful, unethical and open to legal challenge.
02:27A decision built on false information is not legally defensible and the responsibility will rest with every councillor who votes for it.
02:35The only lawful, safe and responsible decision is to reject this proposal completely.
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