How dare he do this (From Bucks Free Press)

How dare he do this

12:19pm Friday 27th August 2010 in

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YOUR report (Marlow Free Press – 13th August) refers to my response to Wycombe District Council’s decision to approve significant changes to the planning consent granted to the developers of the premises in Institute Road currently occupied by Green Health [the tenants who were not responsible for the changes].

This approval allowed these changes to be made to the shop front without requiring a fresh application to be made. Your report also refers to the response of the council’s officers to my comments and to their much more detailed response that appears on the Free Press website. Their response consists of a lengthy defence of their role, stressing their dedication to the protection and enhancement of the town’s appearance and the fact that they have to operate within a tightly constrained legal framework.

All of this is doubtless true, and although it is gratifying that the officers have taken the trouble to produce such a detailed reply, it is disappointing that this almost entirely fails to address the issue that was the main reason for my comments.

No mention is made of the fact that the council's procedures also give members of the public and their elected representatives the opportunity to express their views when a planning application is submitted.

It is this opportunity that has been denied by the officer’s decision not to ask for a revised application that would have shown proposed changes to the one that had already been approved, on the grounds that such a revised application would have been likely to have succeeded. There is nothing in the guidance that officers have to follow that would have prevented him from asking for a new application to be submitted in this case. How dare he second guess what the elected members would have decided on behalf of their constituents! There are many recent examples of planning decisions taken by councillors that have gone against the advice of their officers, and been supported on appeal.

Derek Done, Harwood Road, Marlow