Wantage Conservatives today called for the Vale of White Horse District Council to re-consider its decision to hold the meeting that will determine the future of the former Wantage school St Mary’s in Abingdon.Developer Berkeley Homes who own the site have now applied for planning permission to build 229 homes on the site, meaning there will be almost no other facilities on the site.Campaigners in Wantage, supported by the local MP Ed Vaizey have been asking for the music building to be kept as an Arts Centre, for use by the towns people. A petition with 2,500 signatures has already been submitted to the Council calling for the building to be retained.In addition a further campaign is being run by District Councillor Bill Melotti to improve access to the Church Primary School in Newbury St. He is working with Governors and parents to establish a footpath through the development to open up a new entrance to the school, thereby easing its travel problems.However when a request was made by Bill for the public planning meeting to be held in Wantage as this is clearly of such importance to the town he was told there were no special reasons to do so.MP Ed Vaizey said “This really is an outrageous decision. The Arts Centre campaign has been very much in the public eye because of the support of many people in the town. Only a couple of months ago I personally delivered a large petition to the Council in support of it. I just despair if they cannot see the special reasons to hold this decision making meeting locally.”District Councillor Bill Melotti said “The loss of St Mary’s to the town is a big blow and it is not just the size of this development, just under a 6% housing increase in one stroke, but the other aspects that have caused such interest, such as the Arts Centre and footpath.”He added “I suspect the real reason behind this decision is the cost of holding it in Wantage and the dire state of Vale finances. We have been encouraging the ruling Liberal group for years to keep most meetings in one place to save money, but they’ve left it so late to take our advice, it appears they can no longer afford to do anything else. What price do we put on democracy?”