THE chair of the committee responsible for botched repairs to the Falmouth pump track has said any criticism of its actions should be directed at her.

In a letter to the Packet, Cllr Jude Robonson said a recent meeting of the Trescobeas Working Party agreed to hold a full consultation with local people, to consider all options and come back with a plan that reflects the facilities that the public and young people want.

Local schools, residents and community groups will be contacted with the council’s survey and it is hoped will feed back on all aspects of the track and the area around it. She said Cllr David Saunby’s Facebook page was not the town council’s consultation on the track.

Cllr Robinson was responding to a post on Cllr Saunby's Facebook page asking if people would support the track being reinstated by a professional track builder who would maintain it. If the support was there he would ask the town council to back it.

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"As has been said on several occasions, when Cllr [Dave] Saunby asked for renovations to the track," Cllr Roboinson says in the letter.

"It was the decision of the Finance & General Purposes Committee to ask our grounds staff to repair it.

"As chair of that committee, I take responsibility for that. If Cllr Saunby or anyone else wants to complain, it should be aimed at me and at councillors in a formal meeting, not at our staff via the press."

She said the council's staff were "brilliant", who kept Falmouth looking clean and it green spaces and flowers "well tended and stunningly lovely".

"They work hard and always go the extra mile, using their initiative to save taxpayers’ money and improve our environment. It is unfair to keep harping on about this one issue, which they have already put right with a lot of hard work.

"A full renovation of the track would cost about £55,000. I don’t believe we should ask local taxpayers to stump up this money without being sure that it is what they want. Surely this is a reasonable approach to a significant outlay?

"We have not yet even established how many young people actually use the track or whether they would prefer something else."

She said it was budget setting time and finances were tight

"We have to be sure that every penny is well spent and our priorities reflect those of the people who pay the bills," she said. "Most of us want to keep those bills as low as possible.

"I hope many people, especially youngsters, respond to the Town Council’s survey when it is launched later this month."