YOUR councillors voted to sideline plans for a cinema in the town at a behind-closed-doors meeting on Thursday night.
Cabinet members of Bassetlaw Council moved to sever the link between the Tesco store plan and the leisure multiplex, giving Tesco the go-ahead to build while leaving the cinema complex in limbo.
The six-screen cinema, which has been on the cards f
or five years, was originally going to be built in tandem with a new Tesco store, bowling alley and food outlets.
In fact, the supermarket could not open until a completion certificate was issued for the multiplex.
But in line with recommendations in a confidential report, which was leaked to the Guardian before Thursday night's meeting, the council agreed to scrap their original agreement.
This week Bassetlaw MP John Mann spoke of his outrage at the council's proposal, calling it a 'betrayal of the Worksop people'.
Speaking after the meeting, Graham Oxby, the council's opposition leader, criticised the secrecy surrounding the decision and says a 'witch-hunt' is out for whoever leaked the report.
Council officers blamed drainage problems highlighted by the Environment Agency for the need to make changes to the development plans.
David Hunter, Bassetlaw Council chief executive, played down the decision made at Retford Town Hall, and said the council remains committed to getting a cinema.
"I am disappointed with the speculation that there will not be a cinema," he said.
"Someone has leaked this report before it has been discussed by cabinet members and I stand by the reasons of commercial sensitivity that meant it was discussed in private."
"While I cannot comment on the confidential report discussed, I will say that we are 100 per cent committed to bringing a cinema to Worksop at the earliest opportunity."
The Guardian made efforts to contact the council leader and his deputy but they were not available for comment.
Leader of the opposition, Coun Graham Oxby, says the council had shrouded itself in a 'climate of secrecy' over this decision.
"I am bound by confidentiality and it would be improper for me to comment on the copy of the report," he said.
"If I was to reveal the content of that report in the current climate, I would be the subject of a witch-hunt and burnt at the stake for it."
"I am certain that thousands of Worksop residents and Guardian readers will feel that information is being kept from them."
"I feel dismayed by the way it is being handled and would suggest that individual residents write to the council with Freedom of Information Act requests asking for all the relevant information."
Coun Simon Greaves added: "If the council cabinet has voted to back a Tesco store (and bank millions in the process) instead of guaranteeing a cinema for the people of Bassetlaw, then the whole cabinet should resign.
"The Worksop Guardian has done a fantastic job in exposing the council on this issue."
"In my view the council has tried to keep everyone in the dark, and it is quite clear they have been caught out. When will the council have the guts and decency to tell everyone whether it has effectively thrown its plans for a cinema on the scrap-heap?"
