I DO not write this as a political activist, but as a member of a council tax paying family and a first-time voter.

The long-running West Dorset District Council plans to spend £11 million on new offices in Dorchester without public engagement have been met with consistent and growing opposition from local residents and tax-payers. While councillors from the South West with previous experience of similar spending plans, such as Paul Sample JP, have suggested the final cost could be as high as £20 million.

Time and time again, Council Leader Robert Gould resisted calls for a full public consultation, recently becoming so irritated at the idea of being held to account that he tried to accuse a West Dorset Parliamentary candidate of using the issue as a political football. If Mr Gould (who campaigned on a party-political platform!!) isn’t responsible for ensuring local people are capable of holding their District Council to account for public spending, then who is?

West Dorset residents have been searching for the answer to this question with hundreds turning out at public meetings organized to protest the lack of engagement regarding the development, and it is embarrassing that he has brushed aside this community action and engagement as “playing politics ahead of an election”.

I am aware that you were largely responsible for constructing the Conservative Party manifesto, which had a heavy focus on social responsibility and community action, with an inspirational central point of inviting the British people to be part of the process to govern this country. I’m assuming this meant at the local level as well?

I appreciate that you are an insanely busy individual, so perhaps you forgot to email advance copies of the manifesto to Conservative councillors in West Dorset. Either that or Robert Gould simply doesn’t agree that engagement, fairness, accountability and democracy must be at the heart of our ELECTED District Council. Should this be the case then I hope you would join me in calling for Mr Gould’s resignation. 

Such regressive behavior is one of the prime reasons my generation are disillusioned from the governing process and local/national politics as a whole.

If senior elected politicians from West Dorset, such as yourself, continue to display a deafening silence on this ridiculous lack of engagement, I will launch a non-partisan campaign to galvanize young voters in the constituency to defeat current members of the Council who are incapable of serving the public. Unfortunately, this would appear to be the majority of the Conservative delegation.

Kasch Wilder, 19, Sherborne, West Dorset

Editor’s Note: Kasch Wilder is known in West Dorset as a Liberal Democrat activist, but as he states above, he has written this letter as a first-time voter and local council tax payer.

Meetings about West Dorset District Council’s plans for a new HQ in Dorchester have been held in Dorchester and Bridport. The meeting in Bridport earlier this week was attended by about 80 people opposed to the district council’s plans. The council’s Conservative leader Robert Gould did not attend.

Earlier today, Dr Sue Farrant, the Liberal Democrats’ parliamentary candidate for West Dorset, wrote to Robert Gould thus: “As at the Dorchester meeting, there was considerable anger in Bridport about your refusal to attend, made worse by your refusal to allow WDDC officers to come either.

“The feeling of the meeting was that you should be willing to face Council Tax payers and justify the case for the new offices and to do otherwise is both undemocratic and arrogant.”

Responses will be sought from Oliver Letwin and Robert Gould tomorrow (April 21), though Coun Gould warns on his blog there are strict rules about “official council publicity” during election campaigns.