I thought the scandal associated with the Kensingtongate saga had been brought to an end following the donations verdicts from the Standards Board for England. But it rumbles on.
Following the approval by the Conservative-biased council, the plans have now been submitted to the north west regional assembly who will according to Peter Callow have to come up with a “very good reason” to overturn the approval.
However, Joe Robinson at the Gasjet has today revealed that the minutes of the infamous Marton Moss meeting a fortnight or so ago have been doctored before being sent to Government Office North West for review. Despite there being at least 13 minutes of argument against the scheme from two different speakers, all record of this has been erased. The minutes contain only the views of planning officer Tim Brown.
Save Our Moss spokesperson Angela Hinds has slapped the council for what appears to be an attempt to make the argument appear more clear cut than it is. She said;
“I’m afraid this can only lead me to assume they have been compiled in such a way as to allow the departing head of planning, to convey his views, and only his, to Government Office North West, to who they will have been forwarded.”
I think this is deplorable behaviour from Steve Weaver’s council, and if there was any remaining doubt of there being an underlying agenda behind all of these planning decisions, let that doubt be gone.
The question is first whether any brown envelopes are involved, and second will anyone be held responsible?
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Cheers Phil,this is very serious stuff, thanks for posting.
On a similar theme of council behaviour, Thornton Action Groups Howard Philips castigated WBC for the present traffic chaos ,this was in Thornton Community News, a free magazine.I have never seen him as millitant.I suspect John is in Wyre and he will be interested as well.
once again cheers.
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One thing that still bugs me though is where on the Moss is this development supposed to be? I live not far from Moss House Road and there doesn’t seem room for hundreds of houses. But the Gasjet has never actually shown where the development is supposed to be. ‘The Moss’ covers a very expansive area.
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Well, the area from Bennetts’ Lane down to Progress Way is, according to Google Maps, a bit bigger than Cypress Point and I believe there are about 700 houses on there.
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Oh right, thanks Phil, the Gasjet just never made it clear but then again what’s new there?
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Land Between Yeadon Way and Progress Way
These lands would be allocated for development within the Core Strategy with a reduction in
housing numbers from the approximately 2,000 originally envisaged to approximately 1,500. Approximately 500 homes could be developed on the Moss House Road site with 1,000 on
the land to the east of Midgeland Road. This would enable the provision of substantial green
areas within and between new development areas.
Land Between Progress Way and School Road
These lands would be allocated for development within the Core Strategy for approximately
1,200 new homes at much lower densities than originally envisaged.
Land Between School Road, Midgeland Road and Division Lane
These lands would be safeguarded from development with their existing character maintained
From http://www.blackpool.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/6E82D146-71FF-4F88-86AD-9E4181F0CC4A/0/2_MartonMossMainReport300609.pdf
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If there are errors in the procedure it is open to the protest groups to have the issue examined and win a judicial review.
Trouble is access to the justice system is expensive and only really available to the political elite.
Now you know why they get paid so much.
Brown envelopes and the so called directorships were being exchanged between Government ministers and BAA representatives hence the approval in the face of overwhelming evidence as to it should not happen of runway three at Heathrow Airport!
The local protest group took the issue to the High court and the Government were told to re-examine the proposal.
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You can smell the “brown envelopes” in the air.
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I love the smell of backhanders in the morning.
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This is a very hot topic, respect for posting it Phil..
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Indeed, and I believe the Kensington planners are on site even as I write this. We’ll have a Noddy Town on our doorstep before you know it!
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dont forget Wyre Council, they are just as bad!
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Am not convinced this will ever get off the ground. Certainly not until the recession/depression improves and that could be 5+ years away.
What developer is going to want to build it when they will find it difficult to get finance from the banks.
Who one earth is going to buy these houses? Lets face it even in the boom times there is just not the quality of employment nor the people that can afford to buy these sorts of places.
In any event the build quality of these places is absolutely dire and it would be criminal for anyone to consider such a move without doing their due diligence first.
That said I notice they have started levelling the Pontins site. Be interesting to see how that develops but I can see any serious construction work starting for quite some time.
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I hope so Geezer, the same goes for Wyre, especially those 400 houses at Fleetwood docks, what a crazy place to put houses, at the back of a tip and a smelly fish plant and smelly water works!
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Planners are on site, bulldozers next!
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Don’t they get some sort of subsidy or stop the planning permission expiring if works are started? I remember reading quite some time ago that this was a common ploy when they wanted to put sites into mothballs without having to go through the rigmarole (and costs not to mention the chances of it being turned down) of re applying for PP.
As far as I know any PP is only valid for 5 years from when it was granted.
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I think it’s still 3 years for planning permission (it changed down from 5 in 2005) though renewing it is usually just a formality if they are worried that changes in legislation might mean the permission is not automatically renewed starting the work stops any reapplication being necessary.
The decision notice should be on Blackpool council’s website which will say the time limit (though personally I don’t find it easy to navigate compared to Fylde’s).
Where there is a financial kickback for the council to let the permission go through (say a link road to St Annes as part of the Queensway decision – though of course in that case it was just pure money because they didn’t own the land and there couldn’t be assumed that permission would be granted for a road due to conservation matters and an airport) – then in the decision notice there are set stages as to how to release the money – usually not until x number of dwellings are built and this is usually only part of the payment – so it’s easy for the developer to delay having to pay until they start getting money back from the site).
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