After months of questions, FOI requests, and residents asking what on earth is actually happening, Kempsey Parish Council has at last released a press update on the long-discussed Community Café.
The document itself doesn’t announce anything particularly new. Instead, it largely confirms what many in the village already suspected: that this project remains very much a work in progress, with more process than progress.
The café, proposed for the Pavilion at Plovers Rise, is again framed as a community-led initiative designed to bring people together. On paper, it all sounds warm and wholesome. In practice, however, the update raises more questions than it answers – particularly around cost, value, and actual demand.
Lots of Words, Little Detail
The press release outlines aspirations, consultations, and intentions, but remains noticeably light on hard numbers. There’s no clear breakdown of:
- total spend to date,
- ongoing operating costs,
- or how a café opening for a limited number of hours a week is expected to become sustainable.
This is particularly relevant given the acknowledged need for refurbishment works and specialist equipment. Residents are once again left trying to piece together the financial picture themselves.
Consultation Fatigue
The update places heavy emphasis on consultation and engagement. While engagement is important, Kempsey residents may reasonably feel they’ve been consulted to death over the last few years – with very little to show for it.
At some point, consultation stops being community-building and starts feeling like a holding pattern.
A Familiar Pattern
For many, this press release feels less like a milestone and more like another administrative box being ticked:
- acknowledge the questions,
- publish an update,
- promise future clarity.
We’ve seen this cycle before with other projects in the village. Release a statement, reassure residents, move on without delivering anything tangible in the short term.
Transparency Still Matters
If this café is genuinely intended to serve the whole community, then clear, upfront transparency is essential. That means:
- publishing full costs,
- explaining decision-making,
- and being honest about risks as well as benefits.
Residents aren’t asking for perfection – just straightforward answers and accountability for how public money is being used.
In Summary
The release of this press statement is welcome, but it doesn’t move the project forward in any meaningful way. Until there is a clear plan, a clear budget, and a clear explanation of how this café will operate successfully, it will continue to feel like yet another exercise in process over delivery.
Kempsey deserves more than good intentions and PDFs.
