Lewes Accidentally Holds Meeting Without Forming A Committee First

By Derek Pebbles, Sussex Correspondent

LEWES — Residents in Lewes have demanded an immediate investigation after a local meeting accidentally resulted in an actual decision being made.

The unprecedented incident occurred on Tuesday when a small group gathered to discuss whether an additional bench would be useful in a communal area.

Witnesses expected the meeting to follow established procedure.

This would normally involve discussing the proposal, raising several concerns, establishing a working group and revisiting the matter sometime next spring.

Instead, somebody said:

"Yeah, that sounds sensible."

Several people agreed.

A bench was ordered.

The entire process took 26 minutes.

Residents are furious.

Nobody Formed A Subcommittee

Concerns were first raised when attendees realised nobody had proposed establishing a subcommittee.

There were no terms of reference.

No feasibility study was commissioned.

Nobody requested an impact assessment.

Most alarmingly, the words "stakeholder engagement exercise" were not spoken once.

"I knew something wasn't right," said resident Graham Collins.

"Someone suggested the bench."

"Someone else asked where it should go."

"Then they just decided."

He shook his head.

"You can't run things like that."

Decision Reached Before Tea

The speed of the process reportedly caught organisers completely off guard.

Refreshments had been provided for a meeting expected to last at least three hours.

Instead, agreement was reached before anybody opened the biscuits.

One attendee attempted to slow proceedings by asking whether alternative seating options had been considered.

A folding chair was briefly discussed.

The bench remained preferable.

Decision made.

Another resident suggested consulting the wider community.

Someone replied:

"It's only a bench."

Witnesses described the atmosphere afterwards as "deeply uncomfortable."

Paperwork Completely Absent

Perhaps most concerningly, investigators have discovered there was no 74-page supporting document.

The proposal existed on a single sheet of A4 paper.

Most of that was a photograph of the bench.

Experts initially believed several pages must have gone missing.

A search of the building found nothing.

"There wasn't even an executive summary," said one concerned resident.

"How are people supposed to know what the document says without an executive summary telling them what the document says?"

Council Watch Alerted

News of the incident quickly spread across Sussex.

Several public-sector organisations reportedly contacted the group to ask how a decision had been reached so quickly.

Organisers admitted they weren't entirely sure.

"We talked about it."

"Everybody seemed happy."

"So we did it."

There was reportedly a lengthy silence on the telephone.

Consultation Demanded Retrospectively

Opponents are now demanding a full public consultation into whether residents should have been consulted before the decision not to consult them.

An online petition has already attracted seven signatures.

Three belong to the same household.

One resident has also demanded an independent review into whether the bench represents "the character and heritage of Lewes."

The bench is brown.

This has not settled the matter.

Working Group Finally Established

In an attempt to restore confidence, residents have now created the Bench Decision Process Scrutiny Working Group.

Its role will be to investigate how the original meeting managed to achieve something.

The group will meet monthly.

Its first task will be drafting terms of reference.

A steering committee may then be created to oversee the working group.

Officials expect preliminary findings within eighteen months.

Bench Already Arrived

Unfortunately, while the investigation was being organised, the bench was delivered.

Two residents installed it.

People are already sitting on it.

This has complicated attempts to reverse the decision.

One woman using the bench on Tuesday afternoon said:

"It's quite nice."

Investigators have recorded her comments.

At the time of publication, the working group was preparing for its first meeting.

The meeting has been postponed.

Nobody could agree on a date.