P-04-539 Save the Coal Exchange - Correspondence from the Petitioner to the Committee, 17.05.17

Dear Petitions Committee

Thank you for persevering with my petition, which I remain committed to.  Primarily I seek to have the facts surrounding the handling of the building by Cardiff Council investigated openly and transparently with proper public scrutiny.   The justifications for this seem to be compelling and wide ranging, and I sincerely hope that we can achieve this reasonable objective.

In many respects it is superficially good to see repairs being carried out, but surprising and somewhat suspicious that all this seems to be progressing with little apparent conservation focused control or monitoring.

The listed building application appears to have been pushed through without any recognition of serious concerns raised by the likes of the Victorian Society (see attached letter).

With Cardiff council having a significant financial interest in the building, and being closely embedded with the developer through their procurement of them (without any publicly advertised tender/procurement…. Apparently in breach of WG procurement rules??), it has to be questioned where the necessary independence existed in the process, and why the likes of the Victorian Society were apparently ignored?

………. Although this simply demonstrates the ongoing concerns that require scrutiny of the whole process to occur.

Regards

Jon Avent