A not very public hearing

Something was wrong with the public address system and, despite various attempts to put it right, the voices of the litigants, the professionals who appeared for the appellant and the amateurs who mounted a spirited attack upon this dreadful and ridiculous proposal could not be properly heard.

So the public, who had turned up in large numbers for this vitally important inquiry, gradually disappeared until by the end of the morning an almost full Assembly Hall was an almost empty one, and since I could make little or nothing of what was being said I left myself.

In my opinion the inspector should have adjourned the proceedings until the public address system had been repaired and was working normally.

I was later told that towards the end of the afternoon the one person who understood this address system turned up to deal with it and things were rather better, but that it is still not working properly. However if you sit near the front of the Assembly Hall the speakers are now audible.

A public inquiry that is not plainly audible to the public is not a public inquiry. Coventry Gateway is opposed by two teams of people who have worked for months to prepare proofs of evidence, evidence that in their view, and mine, will knock holes in this absurd case. They must be heard, not just by the inspector and the professional barristers, but the public at large.

The microphone has been with us for the best part of a century. So the failure of Warwick District Council to provide a fully functioning public address system is outrageous.

Nicholas Butler, East Street, Long Compton