Hadleigh Town Council Mayor Gordon McLeod last night chaired the extraordinary meeting he had called to consider tenders for a new pavilion at Layham Road and a loan from the Public Works Loan Board to fund it. 

The pavilion design is controversial. Although the artificial pitch was recently canceled from the Layham Road Sports Ground Project, the pavilion specification remains unchanged. This is despite councillors previously saying the high specification was needed to support the expected additional demand related to the artificial pitch.

The pavilion is estimated to cost around £850,000. 

There were no microphones so it was difficult to hear what councillors were saying, especially for those who were watching the meeting via the council's video link.

The council laptop camera was facing the council as usual. The mayor, however, appeared to be filming the public. 

There were apologies from a couple of councillors and declarations of interest from Cllr Beggerow (treasurer of Hadleigh United Football Club) and Cllr Taylor (on the Hadleigh Rugby Club committee). 

In the public forum, residents raised concerns about the council's finances and asked questions about the cost and funding for the pavilion.

One resident asked about the expected funding from the Football Foundation. The council's business case for the pavilion estimates a Football Foundation grant of approximately £250,000. However, the council's Projects Officer has also reported that without the artificial pitch the Football Foundation would only provide to £25,000. 

The mayor was unable to clarify. 

The resident also asked why the council was not reviewing the pavilion design. Councillors had previously argued that the high specification was needed because of the anticipated extra demand associated with the adjacent artificial pitch, now not going ahead at LRSG.

The resident said: "From the council's own justification for the pavilion design, the removal of the 3G pitch makes the current design more than is actually needed." 

The mayor responded that the matter 'was not a done deal' and that the council was about to discuss this.

However, the meeting agenda did not include an item to review the design of the pavilion. In any case, such a review would normally be expected to be conducted in public session if it were to take place.  

The council voted to consider all the agenda items in confidential session, and the public was asked to leave. Cllrs Beggerow and Taylor remained in the room.