ELVASTON CASTLE

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A public consultation was held by Lanarca in the grounds of the castle. Do the people of Derbyshire really think that the county council has had a change of heart over plans to spend £10m on restoring Elvaston Castle gardens. It might well be that visitors to the estate liked what they saw, or was it a case of they like what they have been shown and told? Did any of you ask about the Old English Garden? What are the proposals? Why has this not been included?

In the days of the original garden, this was lined with greenhouses. You can still see the marks on the walls. And the proposals mean getting rid of the familiar parterre garden, which is the only way that any of us remember the castle. Reconstructing the maze or so-called "Mon Plaisir" garden on this site is made difficult by soil poisoned by years of hedge clippings and toxins from yew hedging. But where is the fencing on the plans? No-one is going to allow £10m to be forked out and allow children to play hide and seek, picnic or throw a ball anywhere near the precious reconstruction.

No, you have not been told. I do not trust a council which one year ago published literature saying that it was taking on a "partner" and has now published a disposal notice. The results of the questionnaire are going to be the results that Derbyshire County Council wants to gather, and who is telling me or you that this is not going to support a commercial enterprise? If Derbyshire County Council is interested in the views of the public, then it must now take into account the petition signed by 66,500 people against commercial enterprise. Sally Shenton

Safety checks on parts of Elvaston Castle were brought forward after part of a tower crumbled away. A Derbyshire County Council spokeswoman said that an in-depth study was being carried out on the masonry of the Grade II-listed building "primarily from a safety perspective but also for future maintenance works".

Graham Mansey, secretary of the Friends of Elvaston, said, "For some time now, the friends group has complained about lack of maintenance to the buildings on the estate. If the Heritage Lottery Funding bid is submitted, it won't be until December, with the result not announced until July 2006. This means that, for yet another year at least, the fabric of the buildings at Elvaston Castle will be deteriorating further, with all the possible consequences that this could bring, the foremost worry of which is public safety."

But the council spokeswoman said that the authority had not neglected the estate, spending £618,436 on it in the past year. She said, "The council is maintaining the castle buildings in at least a wind and watertight condition in accordance with English Heritage guidance and we'll continue to do this until there's an operational lease/development agreement."

Derby historian Maxwell Craven said, "If buildings are neglected for long enough, they'll start to fall down. If a piece of parapet had fallen on someone's head, the county council would have been liable. For a building in local authority ownership, it's not acceptable." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph)

Lanarca Ltd's website on the Elvaston Castle gardens consultation is confusing and contradictory. It states that it is time for the gardens to be updated with a conservation management plan. If this has not already happened, it makes a public consultation somewhat premature to say the least. It is surely a pointless exercise to ask the public for their priorities on the project before finding out what is actually needed, or is it yet another case where taxpayers' money is just a renewable resource? There are other contradictions, too, none of which clarifies the confusion.

On the questions and answers page is a topic dear to the hearts of many people, the nature reserve. The question asks: "What about the nature reserve? Is this included in the consultation process?" The answer is "no", because this area is not part of the core gardens. However, on a map entitled the Elvaston Castle Gardens Consultation Area, on the same website, the showground, the Fox Covert car park and the kitchen (walled) gardens are included, even though none of these areas falls within the core gardens either. One can only guess at the reason for these anomalies.

How can anyone mistake this as anything other than window-dressing to aid Derbyshire County Council's handover of the estate to Highgate Sanctuary by the back door? It surely cannot be considered as a genuine consultation as it does not even ask the most basic and fundamental question of all, which is: Do you believe that Derbyshire County Council should dispose of the Elvaston Castle estate on a 99-year lease to a real estate development company? The council asked the public once before about disposal and managed to transpose a figure of almost 80% who strongly disagreed with such a move to 70% in favour!

Perhaps, as the council and Highgate Sanctuary already know what the answer would be if it were to be repeated, that is why the question is not asked. The futility of the "consultation" is shown by another Lanarca statement: "The plan shows the area Lanarca will be consulting on although the actual area for the lottery bid may change, depending on the outcomes from the consultation process." Graham Mansey, Secretary of the Friends of Elvaston

Derbyshire County Council's cabinet considered 51 objections submitted in response to a public notice detailing proposals for future uses of Elvaston. These included a petition of 111 signatures and another which referred to an earlier petition of 60,000 signatures. But the working party found that "the responses to the statutory notice have not raised any issues that were not considered by full council and do not materially affect the decision". Tanya Spilsbury, who runs Highgate Sanctuary, said, "It's encouraging when it goes through the working parties and cabinet because you feel that the whole council is behind you. The council is keeping the building wind and watertight which is crucial, but the key thing is to get this process completed as soon as possible so we can start work."

It is likely that the details and terms of the lease will be agreed behind closed doors, which campaigners fighting to keep the estate out of private hands are angry about. Graham Mansey, secretary of the Friends of Elvaston action group, said, "It must now be clear to everyone that the council does not intend to change its plans to abandon Elvaston Castle Country Park to a private company. Furthermore, it refuses to let something as basic and fundamental as democracy stand in its way. Such betrayal will deprive people of their birthright. We will continue to oppose this disgraceful act every step of the way." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph)

Derbyshire County Council resolutely refuses to acknowledge peoples concerns regarding Elvaston Castle and appears to be determined to dispose of this community asset regardless. While I appreciate that concerned members of the public cannot all be accommodated at county council decision-making meetings, it would be unacceptable and inexcusable if reporters from local newspapers were excluded from these meetings. Local government is charged with being open and accountable to people and they must accept the huge public interest in this matter.

One can appreciate the need for secrecy in matters of protection of the people, but I do not believe that the disposal of public open space falls into this category. There is a very fundamental issue in how the county council has conducted its business in respect of the disposal of the Elvaston Castle estate, with much wider ramifications. We, as a nation, enjoy something called democracy and the freedom of the press. No elected body must be allowed to erode our right to a free press under the guise of business confidentiality or for any other reason. Alexander Devlin