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As a Cholsey resident, I am extremely disappointed that Cholsey Parish Council has seen fit to reject the offer of theatre facilities at the Fairmile site in order to pursue their own expensive project.

Perhaps this is symptomatic of the problem of Cholsey Parish Council having too much money due to the inequitable parish boundaries. Whilst Wallingford struggles to pay for facilities, Cholsey can afford to turn down free offers.

It is high time the boundaries were re-drawn more sensibly. It is no defence to say that the boundaries are historic, so are slavery and rotten boroughs, but that does not make them desirable.

Cholsey residents all use Wallingford facilities, Winterbrook residents surely rarely use Cholsey facilities.

It may be argued by the parish council that the parish plan shows a majority of the village favoured a more central site for the new facility, but this argument would be negated by the fact that the people also objected to an increase in council tax to fund such a facility.

There were so many other facilities which we, as a village, said we wanted, that it seems insane to reject the offer of the main one free, when it could have enabled the parish council to use whatever funds it has to focus on the next priority.

I hope the open consultation with the village which has characterised the negotiations so far regarding the Fairmile site can get back on track. The parish council does not have a mandate to reject facilities which have been offered as a result of extensive consultation and engagement with the community.

David Bosley Kennedy Crescent Cholsey

8:17am Thursday 24th April 2008

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