Planning for Plan B

I went to Booths Bookshop last night to join in with a meeting of people who had put their names forward to do things to help with the campaign.
In fact, there were four meetings going on at the same time. I was with the Publicity group, upstairs at the front of the shop in the comfy chairs. Elsewhere were groups discussing Planning regulations, Fundraising, and Legal matters.
There were a dozen people in the Publicity group, and about ten others couldn't make it on that night. None of them were born in Hay, but several had been around for twenty years, and at least one family had put their kids through Hay School, so there's a lot of commitment to the area there. There is a perception that it could become an 'Incomers' vs. 'Locals' issue, though obviously it isn't that clear cut, and as one person there said, anyone who lives in Hay should be listened to, even if they are newly arrived. There were also people there who live in Clifford, Clyro and the Golden Valley - but they use Hay as a shopping centre too, so they deserve to have a say in the future of the town.
As yet, there is little that the Publicity group can do - there are no firm plans in place yet from the County Council, and they also have to wait for the other Plan B groups to discuss the issues before they have anything to publicise.
One positive idea to come out of the meeting, though was that the people of Hay shouldn't have to wait for the County Council to act - why can't we build our own school? This is the same thought that the Transition Towns meeting came to, so I'm hoping that there will be some pooling of resources there.
Later, Johnny Kramer came to speak to us. He's the Town Councillor who called the extraordinary meeting on Monday night, just to ask why there can't be a delay in order to have an impact assessment on the town carried out. Everyone who had been to the meeting agreed that it was a very angry and bitter meeting, with Johnny and Karl Showler on one side, and all the other councillors in favour of the County Council's scheme.
He also mentioned other town council business. The town clock faces have been dark at night since August, because a bulb needs mending. In fact, according to the man who winds the clock, all that is needed is a new starter motor - but nothing has been done about it yet. It is a bit worrying - if they can't manage to sort out a little problem like that, how can the people of Hay trust them to make any big decisions about the future of the town, especially when there is such strong local feeling on both sides?