Councillor Sue Cook has claimed civic chiefs could have moved Wednesday’s chaotic Cabinet meeting to a larger room, but said they instead opted to ignore her pleas to press ahead with the disposal of River Park Leisure Centre.

The Conservative councillor for Colden Common and Twyford is now calling for an investigation into how the decision was handled by the Liberal Democrat authority.

The fate of the site was sealed yesterday during a meeting at the Guildhall which was marred by protests after council officers refused entry to some 40 residents.

Chants of “shame on you” came from both within and outside the Walton room as Councillor Lucille Thompson tried to start the meeting, which was delayed by almost an hour.

Police were called to deal with the disturbance after council representatives claimed a worker was barged into by one of the protestors.

The Cabinet had been due to start the meeting at 9.30am but too many people wanted to attend, with the council allowing space for ‘20 people'.

A spokesperson for the city council said they provided seating for everyone who had registered their interest to give representation three days in advance, as per policy, with extra provisions also made.

However, angered residents said those who hadn't booked were admitted into the room, and the council had deliberately provided limited seating to hold the meeting in "stealth".

Calls to transfer the meeting to a larger room were also soft-pedalled by council officers, with people instead encouraged to watch the meeting via live link from two ‘overflow rooms’.

Councillor Cook received applause from the room after she stood and demanded the meeting was adjourned, and she’s since claimed Bapsy Hall would have been available should the council have wanted to transfer to meeting to a larger space.

She said: “Today’s Cabinet Meeting will go down in the archive books as a day that democracy was sadly not adhered to in any shape or form. Or in fact order in the Cabinet council meeting.

READ MORE HERE: Councillors agree to sell leisure centre despite dozens of protesters calling for adjournment at Winchester Guildhall

“The reason I stood up and made my way to the microphone was to ask the leader of the Winchester City Council to adjourn the Cabinet meeting and either to remove the River Park papers from the meeting and continue with the rest of the agenda or alternatively to adjourn the meeting so it could be relocated into a larger room.

“The courts were not using the Bapsy Hall and that would have allowed the members of the general public to at least have had the opportunity to see and hear the presentations, questions, debate and then finally the decision.

“I initially approached others in the room to plead for this action to be taken, but after speaking to the leader before it was decided the meeting would begin it was blatantly obvious, they were not listening.

“I was left with no choice but to take the action that I did and despite my attempt to ask for an alternative option, my requests were not allowed.

“I must ask myself is this really how we should be behaving in a position of trust. We have been elected by the people so the people of Winchester should be consulted. I referred in my speech to Cabinet that community engagement is paramount and vital at all stages.

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“This is a journey, and you need to take your passengers with you and in this case, I am referring to residents (members of the general public) far and wide that should have been consulted, not just part of another general consultation, but specific to that particular project.

“The events which took place could have been so different but sadly they were not prepared to listen or reason.

“I’ve no doubt a judicial review will be making its way to the door of the city council in due course, unless a miracle can happen, and the handling of this disposal is investigated.”

“It’s a sad day for the Winchester City Council administration to have to involve Hampshire Constabulary in crowd control when it could have gone so differently.”

A spokesperson for Winchester City Council at the meeting said the room had been set up to adhere to Covid protocols and overflow facilities had been provided for those who hadn’t registered to attend.

The Chronicle has approached the council for confirmation on whether Bapsy Hall was available, but it is yet to respond.

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