THOSE of us who paid the £8.50 entrance fee at the Winnington Social Club last Monday to hear a Cheshire West and Chester Council presentation about Barons Quay were somewhat underwhelmed at what we heard.

The tone was set at the beginning when Barons Quay was included in a list of council successes and it went on from there.

The future will all be about ‘click and collect’ apparently.

The most ridiculous aspect of this story is that unless you have £8.50 to spare and the time to spare on a Monday afternoon in Winnington, you will never have the benefit of hearing directly from the council about their justification for spending £60 million plus of our money on a struggling shopping precinct or given the opportunity to the ask relevant questions.

That is because the leaders in CWAC, elected councillors and executive officers, decline to put themselves in front of the people who are paying for the whole thing including their wages.

‘Never explain, never apologise’ is obviously their credo.

The strong rumour emanating from Chester is that the council will soon be announcing that it is going to whack Northwich with parking charges.

Any bets on whether the leader of the council will favour us with addressing a (free entrance) public meeting in the Memorial Court to tell us what the plans are to rescue Barons Quay, where the money will come from and how the imposition of parking charges can possibly help?

Roll on, the next CWAC elections.

Liam Byrne Little Leigh