Monday, February 07, 2005

Planning for the Planning Committee

The Council conducts much of its business through its committees. The Planning Committee meets about 10 or 11 times a year. The irony is that planning the Planning Meeting has taken the highly-respected Parish Clerk (HRPC) nearly 10 days of phone calls and emails. Why? Well two councillors are away, and that means ALL the others must be present to be quorate. In this case The Councillor has made things difficult by having a business meeting at the other end of the country on the day of the meeting, and must endeavour to get back in time.

Over the weekend a fellow councillor and the HRPC both turned up with huge packs of reading materials. These included the minutes from District Councils, minutes from the Area Committee, minutes on Biodiversity, planning applications and architecural drawings..., and the plan that the un-elected quango of the Deputy PM have decided is right of the region (with no reference to the region's elected bodies)**.

The Councillor studiously worked through all of the documents, making notes and generally preparing for the upcoming meeting. Then he reads in the newspaper that the Government have actually funded a Helpline to aid Travellers in circumventing planning laws. It would seem that it would make as much sense for the various planning authorities to toss a coin.

** The Councillor with have more to say on this at a later date.

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