AS a former councillor I thought nothing would ever surprise me again, having heard the verbal abuse that some members give out at meetings, but sitting in the public gallery during Wednesday's meeting of the Econ Dev committee, during the debate on Bubbles Cllr Yates' behaviour as chairman was disgraceful.

May I remind you Cllr Yates that we still live in a democracy, the people of Morecambe are very concerned about the future of the Bubbles complex, the Independent group were voicing concerns and your attempt to stop them was totally out of order. They are councillors elected by the people of Morecambe doing what they were elected to do.

A lesson for you, it is the duty of the chairman to ensure all committee members are fairly treated and that everyone who wishes to put views are given the opportunity, the chairman's views should not influence the way the meeting is conducted and should act impartially.

Since the meeting I have read Cllr Yates' statement in the Citizen, that companies interested in Morecambe are Stakis Hotels looking at the Midland, Apollo at the Winter Gardens and Rank has taken up a lease on part of the Empire complex.

Should this information not have been given to councillors at Wednesday's meeting as I believe none of them were aware of this.

You are making it blatantly obviously Cllr Yates that senior members of the council do not keep the members of their own group informed, let alone other groups, and yet when something goes wrong, as with the Blobby fiasco, they are expected to take their share of the blame.

Evelyn Archer,

South Grove,

Morecambe.

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