In article , Tony Bryer
writes
In article ,
Peter Crosland wrote:
Noted. I would certainly not think the planning system is perfect
but it does seem better than some others I have seen. What does
make a mockery of it is when the inspectors decision is then
overidden by the Minister for purely political reasons. Hopefully
a complete overhaul will happen after the election.
http://www.house-builder.co.uk/artic...em.php?id=1390
"... If the shadow ministers speech represents the Conservative
Partys €śnew vision€?, then housebuilders can only hope Blair or Brown
occupies No.10 Downing Street after the next election.
But should the Conservatives manage to oust Labour, we will have to
rely on civil servants at the Treasury and the new housing and
planning ministry telling the new Tory ministers their policies are
hopelessly incomplete, contradictory and would have disastrous
consequences for the economy, the housing market and the British
peoples aspirations to home ownership"
The harsh reality is that if you left planning policies to local
councils then the NIMBY brigade would dominate. What happens here
time and again is that a massive protest is mounted against something
which is allowed on appeal and afterwards you wonder what the fuss
was about - life as we know it has not ended and the car park of the
Sainsburys/Tesco/Wickes etc that 'no one' wanted is strangely full.
But aren't local people/councils the best to judge what is right or
wrong for an area as long as the reasons cited are sound planning
reasons and not NIMBYism, in one particular case we were outwitted by a
sharp planning consultant who acted on behalf of the developer and swung
the case as far as the inspector was concerned, the decision was
effectively 'bought'.
--
David