Planning Concerns

The Councillor is concerned. The District Council held a site visit where a set of plans had been submitted to develop a new property in the garden of an existing house. Many letters of objection had been received, the local resident's committee had objected, the Parish Council had objected (though The Councillor had absented himself from that discussion), and the District Councillor had three times rejected it in the past.

The District Council are recommending approving the application. Why?

• Has the character of the area changed? Previous rejections were based on the damage to the "amenity" of the area. Of course it hasn't.
  
• Is the new development unobtrusive? Of course it isn't, and it directly looks across the gardens of 3 or 4 neighbours.
  

This smacks of inconsistency, at least. But more worrying was the comment from the leader of the group on the site visit, who thought it would be a good idea to develop further into the large gardens. This seems perverse.

So, The Councillor has to ask "What is the point of local democracy, if the views of the local community (who will have to live with this development) are ignored?"