Drill Hall: Common sense is needed

I’m sure our councils employ departments of people covering all their major responsibilities who presumably could be said to have considerable expertise in their chosen fields.

Yet as soon as a major question comes up, such as the future of the Drill Hall, our councillors immediately reach for the cheque book and spend large amounts of our council tax on highly paid consultants with next to no knowledge of the local area and its needs and wants.

Drill Hall latest - independent review of historic Horsham building’s future welcomed

Why do they not commission these studies and reports from their own staff who have both the expertise and local knowledge?

The cynic in me, based on past experience in my own career, says ‘because consultants will give you the answer you want in order to earn their fees, and in the hope of repeat business’.

It is blindingly obvious to Horsham residents that using the promised Highwood community facilities (which are surely already needed to serve the new Highwood and Wickhurst communities?) are a ridiculous option to replace a major town centre facility.

However I have very little faith in either the councillors responsible or their chosen consultants coming to this conclusion and given the well documented issue of most elected representatives of the town being excluded from major decisions there will be no chance of common sense prevailing.