Recently ECDC approved their own development on the former site of Paradise Pool in Ely, despite local opposition.

There is always a problem when organisations become short of money as they reach for more and more desperate measures to fill that funding gap.

ECDC have become the pure image of desperation as they seek to shore up their projected Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) which is showing major shortfalls in coming years and also to fill the dire finances of their own trading company.

The accounts show an ongoing deficit in the company wholly owned by ECDC. Worse, ECDC lent the company some £4.9m that is due to be repaid on 31 March 2021. It will be repaid now, because the Council granted an additional loan to enable the company to repay the origianl loan!

A company in desperate need, owned by the Council, a Council with a MTFS shortfall and the planning process owned and controlled by the Council.

It is inevitable then that ECDC would ignore the concerns of the Parish Council and ignore the concerns of neighbours and, surprise, surprise, they ignored the concerns of local residents.

Paradise area has been a recreation area since it was acquired by the Council. It was a swimming pool and many people assumed it would be a different recreation facility once the pool was moved outside the City Centre.

In fact, there are currently 3 different groups seeking leisure facilities in the City:

• Splash Pad
• Skate Park
• BMX Track

In fact, it would be ideal for a splash pad with water supplies and waste water already on the site of a former swimming pool.

Instead, the desperation leads to ECDC giving themselves permission to build a residential development completely against the wishes of residents.

Of course, they will argue that it provides much needed affordable housing. In fact, it will provide 4 properties that will be £100k and the problems with those is the subject of a bigger discussion. As was pointed out in the planning meeting, these properties being subsidised by the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Mayoral Authority with Central Government money to provide affordable homes, could have been built anywhere.

Perhaps if the whole development was decent sized income-based affordable homes then this may feel a huge sacrifice to the benefit of our children, instead it feels like selling the family silver.

And let’s not forget the Conservative Councillor showing contempt for Ely in declaring Ely has too many leisure facilities already. Perhaps it is worth a reminder that the Leisure Centre that they are so proud of is a district-wide leisure centre and not an Ely facility.

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