IN REPLY to the letter from Cllr John Eveleigh, not for the first time do I have to expose the fact that he fails to be fully honest with people about the Civic Centre and the future of any town hall in Otley.

It is ludicrous and disingenuous to suggest that this is about “office space”. This issue is about not only the future of the building and where the town Council should spend our Council Tax – on rent to a private landlord or investing in a publicly owned civic building; it is also about whether Otley will ever again have a town hall. He also says something untrue, claiming I haven’t met Venue 21, when I have. The leader of the Town Council really should get his facts straight!

It is revealing how opposed Cllr Eveleigh is to giving Otley people a real say. No wonder, when he and his colleagues took the decision, with no say for Otley residents, to take on a costly ten-year lease in a privately owned shop, when Otley had not one but two listed civic buildings empty and needing a future.

Contrary to the ludicrous spin from Cllr Eveleigh and last year’s failed city council candidate Carl Morris, Leeds City Council have confirmed that the Town Council’s proposals for the Civic Centre simply did not stack up – and of course they did not stack up because the Town Council came up with a plan without the Town Council being part of it! A plan to continue to spend thousands of pounds a year on renting a shop, rather than committing this money to be part of a viable civic centre and theatre.

It is useful to remind people that it was John Eveleigh himself who told this newspaper that he hoped that a deal could be done to close Otley Police station and set up a hugely reduced presence in the Civic Centre, in a desperate bid to make their plans add up without the rent from the Town Council. Thankfully that proposal was killed off.

The facts on the Civic Centre are simple and stark and rather than being misled by John Eveleigh, it is time local people were given the facts and allowed to make a decision. The first is that the current Town council plans, under his leadership, mean no town hall, no civic building in Otley and people have not been asked if they approve this. The second is that without any Town Council involvement, Leeds City Council, who own the Civic Centre, will not spend a penny on refurbishing it, whereas if Otley Town Council intended to move back there, they would have to. In their haste to cover up their own failure to come up with a viable plan for the Civic Centre and the real price of the Core lease and the gap this leaves in any Civic plan, they have also failed to address the concerns of Otley Courthouse about a second arts centre and theatre, that would have to generate all its own income, without having Town Council involvement. That is irresponsible.

John Eveleigh has long promised to “Save the Civic Centre” yet the reality is that he is the person who has ensured that Otley will never again have a town hall. He and his colleagues have ensured the end of Otley Civic Centre, even if it does become a theatre – and it is hard to see where the money will come from without Leeds City council investing in it as the Civic Centre. So no town hall, no publicly owned civic building for Otley. That will be John Eveleigh’s legacy. No wonder he doesn’t want local people to have any say over this issue!

Greg Mulholland MP

12 Holt Park Centre,

Holt Road LS16 7SR