Posts Tagged ‘Planning’
South Downs National Park
Posted by: Gav in Gavin Ayling's blog on April 1st, 2009
I support the South Downs National Park.
But some Conservatives have adopted an odd position on the issue. They are against the Park because they believe that local Councils should be allowed to maintain planning controls over their local areas without the interference of the government and/or those who run the Park.
This is befuddling because of two issues:
1. The public clearly support the South Downs being a National Park and so, against the run of play, they are putting political opinion above vote-buying. I’d be impressed except that the Conservatives against the Park are wrong:
2. Local Councils do not have planning controls.
Let me explain (2).
First, people think it is a good thing that elected people help make planning decisions. I think not, actually, given the current framework. The grounds for granting or denying permission are very specific. There is little lee-way within the rules to refuse an application that the public are strongly and demonstrably against. If a Council has the audacity to deny an application on non-planning grounds then after a potentially expensive appeal the decision will likely go the way of the applicant. And to hell with the opinions of the people or the people they have elected to represent them.
Second, I am not convinced that Joe Public vote for politicians; they pathetically vote for the colour of the rosette in an almost tribal fashion. I am convinced that in the vast majority of so-called ‘safe’ seats, a homophobic, racist, misogynist could get elected for any of the three major parties in local government. In fact, looking at many Councillors, the public clearly have no idea what they’re voting for.
How can the public trust local Councils to protect the South Downs when it is run by illogical people with too much spare time who, in any case, do not have the power that they would need.
Any Councillor who, if they read this, thinks I am talking about them can safely assume I am — but know that I am not talking about all or even the majority of Councillors in any particular area. And those who do not fit this description also know who they are.
A National Park is the only way to protect the South Downs from SEEDA and from impossible decisions foisted upon local Councils.
I will leave you with a final thought. Wealden District Council denied planning permission for a disabled soldier’s bungalow application. Do you think the Councillors when making that decision thought to themselves “Sod him, he fought for Queen and country, but rules are rules” or do you think that, hamstrung by rules from outside, they made the only decision they could? So much for democratic accountability.
When the public care
Posted by: Gav in Gavin Ayling's blog on March 3rd, 2009
I’ve said before (I didn’t check to add a link but feel free to have a look using the search box) that the public do not seem to care about anything District/Borough Councils do unless they live in a Council house except, that is, for planning.
Last night’s planning (‘Development Control’) meeting was typically busy (in the gallery) and today I received five letters from members of the public on another planning application. Normally I will receive an average of one per week on any other topic, but today I received five week’s worth of normal post on one planning application. The application can be found here Adur Council planning reference: ADC/0023/09.
The separate documents, if you struggle with the above site, are here (These links will likely go out of date so do use the above link if you want the current information):
When I was first elected to the Council I was told that I should not discuss a planning application before a meeting. And at the time I thought that was a little draconian. But as time has passed, I have seen why. Despite thorough research, reading the application, viewing the drawings and visiting the site there is always something said at a meeting in the committee that affects your opinion. I never cease to be amazed that my opinion on an application can be so swiftly affected by what people say at these meetings.
If a debate is held outside of the meeting then a decision may be made for perfectly good reasons but the lack of public conversation of the matter would be anti-democratic and frustrating for the general public. It is for this reason, and not because of the law, that I will not discuss this application or give any hint to my (initial) opinion on it.
But wouldn’t it be great if the public were motivated to care about more that the Council does? I think there are a few reasons why they are not:
- Central government in England (the UK Parliament) tells us mostly what we can and cannot do and so there is little to get animated about — whatever we do is because it is the only thing allowed within the London framework we are given.
- People don’t like some of what we do but because of (1) see no point in telling us.
- They don’t understand the democratic process and doubt that we will change our minds.
This last one is the most poisonous. Cllr. Searle and I attended a public meeting about a proposed development last year and it resulted in the land that was proposed to be developed being given village green status (Adur Press Release) — the arguments were cogent. But if you were at the meeting you would think we had already made a decision — the public were angry, aggressive (in a few cases) and dismissive.
Cynicism has destroyed civic spirit and I don’t know how to resolve that.
Development Control Committee (Planning)
Posted by: Gav in Gavin Ayling's blog on February 2nd, 2009
The Development Control Committee (known as the Planning Committee by most) has been cancelled tonight because of the weather. Please don’t try and make the journey!
And if you’ve read the Have Your Say on the BBC today with hundreds of people whining that Sweden can cope with this weather, please ignore them and enjoy the snow — this weather is entirely unsuitable for walking in, let alone driving in!
Marks & Spencer plans
Posted by: Gav in Gavin Ayling's blog on January 20th, 2008
M&S’s architects had some displays in the lobby of the Holmbush centre on Friday evening and during the day Saturday to get the thoughts of local people on their plans to extend the existing building and to improve the internal layout.
As I am on the planning committee, and because I received a written invitation, I took a trip along there and I must say the plans look very interesting. We must wait, now, and see how the application that is finally submitted responds to the public’s comments.
My thoughts focussed on accessibility for pedestrians but it appears M&S have some draconian ideas about how to free up parking spaces currently used by employees of M&S. I shall be attempting to help M&S employees not to be forced into parking in surrounding areas or, worse, into using public transport which is woeful in Shoreham.
Infrastructure and Work for Benefits
Posted by: Gav in Gavin Ayling's blog on January 8th, 2008
Yesterday I missed the January planning meeting because of traffic on the A23 — a crash near Pyecombe which, according to Southern Counties Radio this morning, involved five cars. Hopefully everyone will be okay.
Apologies, then, to anyone who missed me or who might have relied upon my vote!
Surely this is an indication of the dire state of the transport infrastructure around Brighton. Sort it out please Government.
But the thing that has motivated me to post in this era of non-committed parties with illiberal policies where they should be liberal and liberal policies where they should be conservative, is this from the BBC: Tories plan ‘work for benefits’ .
As the person who sent me an email pointing out the story said “Finally, a Tory party we can be proud of?”
Bearing in mind that my comments here are before reading the full proposal, but it gave me goosebumps!
Update BBC’s Have Your Say is suffering from traffic. This could be for one of two reasons: People are angry and want to disagree; People are delighted and want to show their support for common sense at last.
You know what I think.
Planning? It’s VERY hard
Posted by: Gav in Uncategorized on June 29th, 2007
I visited a constituent tonight who is disappointed with the result of a planning application. No formal objections were submitted but now that the building is going up the scale and impact on the property are becoming clear.
A few months ago another application was made in a different part of Shoreham and I considered that the proposal would be detrimental from a particular aspect (being deliberately vague here, I hope you understand why). Once it was finished, it turned out to blend in nicely and to have virtually no impact.
Conversely, looking at the plans for the constituent’s neighbour you’d think that there is no impact and there really is….
As I said to the lady today, if having sat on eleven Planning Committees since my election last year, I cannot predict accurately the impact of an application, what hope have the general public got? Worse, if we cannot accurately predict the impact of an application (and if Officers reassure incorrectly too), who should the general public rely upon for clear advice on whether a Planning Application will effect them?
I am learning more and more that nothing’s as black and white as I’d like.
2007′s Committees
Posted by: Gav in Gavin Ayling's blog on May 15th, 2007
At this evening’s Council meeting we confirmed the make-up of the Committees for this year.
This year will likely be one of major change with the results of a consultant’s report into the sharing of services (and the associated costs) with the neighbouring Borough of Worthing. If that was to go ahead it seems almost inevitable that we will change to a cabinet and leader system in place of our, much-loved, committee system.
This evening’s agreement has not yet been updated on the Adur site (well, let’s give them a chance!) but when it is will appear here: Councillor’s by Committee.
I am pleased that I am now going to be a member of the Policy and Strategy Committee (PSC) and will now be Vice-Chair of Housing and Central Services (HCSC). I have been a member of HCSC since the election last May so it will be fascinating to see how the chairmanship works and I am genuinely excited about this.
I have not attended a Policy and Strategy Committee meeting before, so that will be entirely uncharted territory. I hope you will join me as I learn about this and report what I learn here.
Of course, if you live in Adur (or even if you don’t, actually) it would be really great if you could come along to a meeting and see your local democracy in action. It is always depressing to hear “I voted for the Tories because I don’t like John Prescott” or similar. If you come along, you can see what your voting for and, at the same time, understand why decisions are made (hopefully).
Brown’s Eco-towns
Posted by: Gav in Gavin Ayling's blog on May 14th, 2007
It has been suggested that a Scottish Prime Minister with no mandate from the English people should have no say in Housing policy. Unusually for me, I am going to come to his defence.
First, I know immigration is often blamed for the housing shortage, but do we really want to get to a point where Vodafone cannot employ people they need from abroad where the position cannot be filled domestically? Immigration cannot be blanket-stopped in a First World economy.
Also one should note that the first cause of the housing shortage — the one that makes most difference to house prices and the number needed — is the number of smaller households. Single people and older people are living alone more than was historically the case and the number of divorces is also having an impact.
Finally, the people deciding housing policy in England are currently the unelected Regional Assemblies. Quite honestly I would rather Her Majesty’s Government, with the mandate of all Britain (including a majority of English MPs), was the one to decide where we have the new homes we need than Regional Assemblies.
We have a stark choice between having a European-style system of home ownership where only the rich can afford to buy and the majority rent, a country full of high-rise soul-less buildings or one of a few fewer fields. I know that the answer is no single one of those, but compromise must be sought in my humble opinion.
Planning Committee
Posted by: Gav in Uncategorized on April 26th, 2007
On Monday Adur District Council’s Planning and Regulatory Committee is meeting over a mammoth agenda of no fewer than twelve applications.
The planning agendas and minutes can be found on the Adur website here: Adur Planning Committee Agendas and Minutes
In order to help me understand the impact of applications on neighbours and the neighbourhood I use the excellent Live Local to view each of the applications using an aerial view. I also save these views as a ‘collection’ for each meeting. I haven’t finished looking at all the sites yet, just those where interested parties have written or emailed, but the collection for Monday’s meeting can be found here: Local Live Planning Collection for 30 April 2007.
Comments can be seen here: Comments
