With Residents for You sweeping into power on Chipping Bonhunt Town Council and also the District Council it wouldn’t be long before they faced some pretty sticky decisions, cleaning up the mess left by the previous District administration.
Over the last week they’ve faced a “double whammy,” having to look at the decision made on airport expansion and also deciding whether to stick with the draft Local Plan or to start again.
Both are very difficult decisions: by not issuing planning consent, the Council could face an appeal from the airport owners which the Council might lose, thereby facing a big bill. Starting again on the flawed Local Plan would open up a free for all to developers who’d probably secure approval at appeal for most of the proposed new settlements and get away without providing all the infrastructure and important “Garden Village” features the Local Plan can help force them to include.
The Council has gone for a “one -all” solution. They’ve taken a risk on the airport planning consent with the aim of forcing consideration of new legislation and hopefully getting a better outcome for residents.
On the Local Plan, they’ve decided to go forward with it so the process can be completed and hopefully the plan can be improved.
A sensible start!