General Discussion
Being heard in the High Courts of Justice in London this week.
Verdict in a couple of weeks time so I understand.
If anyone has any more info about this please post it here.
Ta.
This is all I can find at the moment (scroll down the page)
http://gordonhook.mycouncillor.org.uk/2014/07/30/teignbridge-local-plan-legal-challenge-mounted/
Tedah! Just found thishttp://www.middevonadvertiser.co.uk/news.cfm?id=16407&headline=Court%20ruling%20could%20leave%2020-year%20plan%20in%20tatters
Nobody can stop TDC every body knows we need houses, the developers are not interested in starter homes:, so they will make bumper profits, TDC will get loads of money to waste, the land owners will get rich selling the land and then probably buy some of the houses to rent out at an enhanced rent and make yet more profit.
Wildlife is going to suffer tremendously and TDC do not care, the land owners do not care, the builders do not care. At the end of all of this who will loose, us.
My opinion is that TDC officers and some councillors are in it for what they can get and they are getting lots.
@roberta it does not matter which party controls the council at the end of the day it is the officers of the council that guide and make the decisions and they are in it only to protect thier jobs. Look at what has happend with some of the decisions made by the officers of the council, 70 acres of farmland given over to a solar panel farm in an area of outstanding landscape value. Then planning application in Chudleigh that in the Local plan was for 230 houses and no commercial dev. suddenly becomes 320 houses plus commercial use because that is what the developer wants. The councillors have to agree with what they are told by the officers or TDC will face a legal challenge. All of this despite TDC having an agreed local plan that said 230 houses , so who drew up the local plan, the officers of the council
Now what is happening in Dawlish iis that TDC is running scared of standing up to the landowners because they could blow the local plan by withdrawing their land. So they pick on the landowner that is not part of the local plan.
It is not the councillors they are just the fall guys for the officers of the council.
@ken - to be fair to the council officers, in this case planners, what they recommend is based on planning legislation which has emanated from Westminster and Brussels. Politicians make the policies, civil servants and council officers enact them.
Then there will be the local policies that have been dictated by that European and UK national legislation So.......are the council officers doing their job? Yes. Do we like what the planning legislation and policies tell them they should recommend? Not a lot of the time, no.
And it is because of the dicatates of planning legislation originating in Westminster and Brussels that I find the concept of localism one big hoot. Or it would be a hoot if it didn't have such tragic consequences when applied to local situations. The argument that there is a need for a SANGS at Warren Farm being but one example.
Oh and on the question of rental housing don't forget that if the tenant is needing to claim housing benefit in order to pay the rent then we, the taxpayers, pay that housing benefit and in doing so we just help make those landlords richer and richer. Aren't we a kind and generous lot?
Okay here is an example of how the planners (and planning committee councillors) hands are tied.
This government passed new planning legislation back in 2012 I think it was. Within this new planning legislation was a requirement that all local authorites had to formulate a Local Plan. If no Local Plan, and again this is stated within this 2012 Westminster legislation, then there would be a "presumption in favour of development". So, no Local Plan and developers would have a field day (sorry, terrible pun) as there would be little to stop them putting in planning application after planning application and the officers (planners) would have to recommend to the planning committee councillors that these planning applications should be approved as, in the absence of a local plan, the "presumption in favour of development" clause would come into effect thereby meaning that there would be no good planning reason why all these planning applications should be refused.
So, central government policy determining what a local planning authority can and can not do planning wise.
Nowt to do with council officers or councillors. Everything to do with central government policy making ie MPs.
Localism eh?
Gordon Hook has just posted that the challenge by Abbotskerswell & Wolbourgh has been thrown out!
http://gordonhook.mycouncillor.org.uk/2014/11/28/local-plan-court-challenge-fails/#page-content