Planning Matters
| Rod Evans |
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Tue 15 Aug 2017, 14:59 (last edited on Wed 16 Aug 2017, 10:29) A few years ago I bumped into a former colleague in a pub (where else?). When I told him I was working 'in planning' his reply was 'oh planning's boring.' Well you wouldn't think so from some of the more heated comments on this Forum. Which is why I thought I'd offer my pennyworth on some current issues but on a new thread - and without getting into any arguments over particular sites or proposals. While everyone can make their views known, planning is not a democratic process in the sense of decisions being taken on the nos for and against (no comment on Brexit ok!). It's a statute based method for 'duly appointed' people to make decisions on planning policies and applications. But they have to do so in the light of the law, national and local policies and other 'material considerations'. Frighteningly, last time I looked, the Encyclopedia of Planning Law was up to 7 volumes of approx 1000 pages each. That degree of complexity - and it's forever changing - inevitably means that sometimes mistakes are made. At the risk of sounding like a pompous prat, it's in all our interests for decisions to be made lawfully and rationally, with proper account taken of those 'material considerations' while disregarding immaterial ones. Without commenting at all on the Rushy Bank proposals, WODC conceded on the application for judicial review (which couldn't happen till the permission was issued) - in effect an admission they got something wrong in the way they considered the application. They will now reconsider it and it may or may not be granted again, but hopefully at least this time on the right footing. Interestingly, the Hixet Wood application has been deferred, as I understand it, partly because the committee wanted clarification of the effect of the AONB designation - the same issue on which they conceded in the RB judicial review and on which the HW officer's report (imho) was still wrong! WODC are also to review their policy more generally towards development in the AONB under the new Local Plan (see here: http://www.westoxon.gov.uk/media/1643333/WOLP63-Letter-to-Inspector-3-August-2017.pdf) . Whether you think it a good or a bad thing that they may now take more care when deciding applications in the AONB, dear reader (if you've got this far), I leave to you. Nimbyism etc. Hmm! There is probably an element of 'there may be a need for it but not here' in the opposition to any controversial development. The only way to avoid that is to BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody). But describing all opposition as nimbyism is a lazy way of labelling opponents as only concerned for themselves so no notice need be taken of them. It's an attack on people who may (or yes, may not) have legitimate concerns and is often used as a way for journalists, politicians and developers to deflect attention from the real issues, not least because politicians and journalists rarely understand them and developers would prefer you not to think about them. I always admired Tony Benn, isshoos not people, even when I didn't agree with him. The station car park. There may be a need - or at least, demand - for extra parking spaces but the extent of it has yet to be established. I haven't seen any evidence yet but my guess is that most of the additional demand has and will come from beyond Charlbury itself, partly because of the pressure for new building at other settlements. If you build lots of new homes in places (eg Stonesfield, Milton etc) where people have to commute to their place of employment - it ain't rocket science is it?? Though as Richard points out, loads of people now work from home… And as others point out, people need to live somewhere. That's why planning matters (sorry, it's that p p again), to find the right balance between providing homes and employment and protecting areas we think are important. And whatever else it is and however creaky the system is, it's not boring. Don't know why I gave it up really. What? I haven't?? Damn!! Both the 'offsprings' of the Neighbourhood Forum have a lot on their plates for sure. It takes a long time to put a NP together - but bear in mind WODC have been working on their Local Plan for at least 6 or 7 years. One very important thing is that having finally secured funding, a local Housing Needs Assessment is currently being carried out by experienced independent consultants. They will use the results of the survey last year and a whole range of other information to assess the extent of local needs as opposed to figures randomly imposed by WODC. That should help the community to influence not just the numbers but the types, mix and design of new developments rather more than is possible now. I hope it will also be possible to have 'arm's length' planning assessments of sites put forward for possible development which can then be subject to wider consultation.
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