Southend U3A

Writing for Fun

April 2019

Chain Of Events/It's A Crime - Diane Silverston

‘It’s a crime, an absolute crime.’

The voice broke through the general murmuring in the hall. People turned to look for the person who had said it.

‘I don’t know how they have the audacity to do it,’ the voice continued, ‘Do they think they are above the law?’

‘You’re right.’

‘You tell them girl.’

‘Go on, give it to them.’

A ripple of applause accompanied these comments.

‘Perhaps you’d like to come to the front and give your point of view,’ the Chairman of the panel on the stage remarked, not totally sure who he was talking to.

‘I will,’ replied the lady, who strode up the aisle, purposefully, towards the stage, past other people who were clapping and encouraging her.

Once on the stage, she turned to the panel.

‘You know what you are doing is wrong.’

‘Everything we have done is within the law.’ The Chairman said, ‘We have done nothing illegal.’

‘To the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law,’ she replied. ‘Firstly, you let a well-loved community building remain empty, because unsafe due to the lack of repairs by you, for years. When it becomes derelict and beyond repairs you sell it to a builder for a peppercorn price.’

‘Yes you set certain restrictions and conditions on what could be built,’ she continued, ‘but with a time limit. You made it appear that you had the community’s welfare and views at heart.’

‘We had a public meeting,’ the Chairman argued.

‘But what happened there was fixed, wasn’t it? People in the audience paid to say what you wanted to hear.’

‘Have you proof of that?’

‘I can give details if you insist but it will only make things worse for you.’

By now the hall was silent, everyone watching the stage, everyone intent on hearing everything.

‘Secondly, the builders did nothing except clear the site, knocking down the listed building. They implied that plans were being sent to the Council but was that the truth?’

Here the builder, also on the stage broke in. ‘We did send our plans in but parts were rejected, so we had to redo them.’

‘So after six months nothing had changed,’ the lady continued, ‘questions were being asked. We were informed there was a problem with pipes etc. so more delays.’

‘Not our fault,’ the Chairman put forward.

‘Possibly not, but what were your officers doing? They weren’t inspecting the site?’

‘Have you proof of that?’

‘I have details if you insist!’

‘Thirdly, after nearly three years, there are signs of foundations being dug. Slowly the shell of the building emerges. Flats of course! Luxury ones, not for many of the community. When finished they didn’t fit the style of the area. They do have off street parking but not enough. More flats were built than on the original plan. But what did we expect?’

People in the hall clapped and murmurings of ‘dreadful’, ‘not right’ were heard.

‘Yes some of the restrictions and conditions had been fulfilled but one major one had been ignored. Where was the community hall that was meant to be incorporated?’

‘There was no need for one, the community already had one.’

A voice from the stage came through. ‘Shame on you!’

‘How dare they?’

These comments were heard from the centre of the hall.

‘How did they get away with it?’ one man shouted, ‘If that was in the conditions.’

‘The builders had waited so long to start,’ the lady replied, ‘the time limit on it had lapsed, so they didn’t feel obliged.’

‘But the building they had demolished had been left to the community by a benefactor,’ continued the man.

‘Exactly,’ she responded. ‘A chain of events to benefit the builder and I’m sure the Council rather than the community.’

Loud clapping ensued and cries of encouragement from the audience. The panel on the stage, sat there in silence, possibly slightly stunned.

‘As I said at the start, a crime. An absolute crime committed not only by the builder but what is worse, by people we trusted and voted in to protect our community. You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves.’

‘But we have done nothing illegal,’ the Chairman insisted.

‘Have you proof of that?’ the lady commented as she left the stage, to loud applause and shouts from the audience.