On 28 June 2014, while I was away on holiday, Doric/Mace sent out a letter to ‘stakeholders’. In it they made quite a few claims, but two in particular caught my attention as being misleading or just not true:

• They said they’d had a lengthy meeting with Doric’s design team, Vale of White Horse Planning Officers, North Hinksey and Wytham ward councillors and members of North Hinksey Parish Council.
• They said, ‘Along with local ward member Councillor Hallett, we agree that the panel process was impressive…’ and then continued with their spin on what the panel had said, making it all sound very positive.

On the first item. Yes, there was an all-day session with the Design Panel, who asked probing questions and critically commented on the design. However, I was not a participant. I was invited there to observe. Members of North Hinksey Parish Council weren’t even at the table — they were also strictly observers. Doric make it sound like we were all discussing their design! Not the case; misleading the audience.

On the second item. As far as what I thought was ‘impressive’, here is what I wrote about it (see the whole blog post here).

…Stuart Walker… asked me what I thought of the process so far. I said I was very impressed with how the panel members seemed to understand the key issues; they were very sharp. They are experienced enough to know when they are getting hype instead of facts too.

Doric made it sound like we were in agreement! Not the case; just not true.

I first replied to Ellis Cresswell, who had emailed me the letter. We’ve never met or spoken. I’ve had no reply.

I strongly object to your using my name to imply that I support your proposals in any way. I am completely against your plans. I’ve no idea what you think I may have said but I did not in any way agree with you. You imply I participated in this, and I did not; I was there strictly as an observer and not allowed to participate. Please retract the part of this statement that refers to me.

I then wrote to Simon Hillcox of Doric, who did reply, and we exchanged a few emails:

I’m not sure who this Ellis person is; we’ve not met that I recall. He certainly didn’t speak to me about using my name in your propaganda. Closer inspection of this letter shows it has your authorisation. My previous email demanded a retraction. I now want to be clearer. If I don’t see a public retraction of what you’ve said about me in this email within the next 6 hours, I’ll take further steps. I’m currently seeking advice.

I’m appalled that you would use my name to try to garner wider support for your scheme. In no way do I agree with you, nor with your plans for my community, nor with your assertion that the Design Panel thought yours was a good design. Your letter makes it sound as if I was part of the panel that you say thought you had a good design. That’s absolutely not true.

Your letter also implies that the North Hinksey Parish Council members were participating in this review. Also not true.

We were invited as observers. We did not participate.

In anticipation of your prompt reply and action.

Mr Hillcox, founder of Doric, would not retract. I told him the most upsetting thing was that I couldn’t tell who he had sent this letter of lies to, so I had no way to contact the same people to correct what had been said about me. I felt he had sullied my reputation, especially considering all the work I have done in this community to fight this Doric deal.

The action I decided to take was to publish all this. Half truths intended to mislead, and outright lies if there is little danger of libel suits. Total lack of integrity. Complete self interest. And not a word of apology or correction.