Don’t be swayed by town poll plea
THE number of ‘no’ votes in Honiton’s recent town poll was “considerably mitigated by the very low turnout”.
That is the view of a former councillor and longstanding supportor of plans for Honiton Community Centre, Christine Tootill.
She is urging Honiton Town Council “not to be swayed” by the result, which she describes as “insignificant”.
“Not only is the town council not legally obliged to be bound by the poll result, but the vote itself, from a total of 919 voters, cannot be seen as a mandate either way,” Mrs Tootill told the Midweek Herald.
“There are times, and this is one of them, when politicians must lead, not follow.
Surely, this is true, in particular, when the people who would like to influence the politicians represent just a small and specific sector of the population.”
Mrs Tootill says years of hard work have been put into the project “by many people, who see the community centre as the best way forward for the town”.
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She added: “The town council has a moral and practical obligation to continue to do all it can to make the town a better place for its future population, and this includes the bold move of providing the community centre which, after all the effort, is now within its grasp.
“This is not a time for turning back, but for moving forward decisively.”
