Further to the article “Slum of the future” in The Voice (October 29).
Planning officers and inspectors follow the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) as a priority for most of their decisions.
This framework which was published in 2012 states quite clearly there should be a presumption in favour of sustainable development.
Sometimes this seems to be in conflict with the South Holland District Council Local Plan which was published in 2006.
The absence of five years’ supply of housing within this plan effectively makes parts of the plan out of date as far as the planning inspectors are concerned.
Sometimes the planning officers at SHDC will recommend approval but because of objections or controversy it is put before the Chairman’s Panel for a decision to delegate powers to the officers or put the application before the Planning Committee.
Most applications are decided upon by the planning officers and the majority of applications are approved.
A small number eventually come before the Planning Committee which is composed of approximately 15 elected members of the council.
Sometimes the committee does not accept the officers’ recommendation for approval and dismisses the application. Almost inevitably this results in an appeal by the applicant to the Planning Inspectorate which will often override the elected committee’s decision in favour of the planning officer’s recommendation.
The Planning Inspectorate’s decision is final and no further appeals will be considered.
The only recourse that applicants or objectors have is to take the matter to the High Court which rarely happens because of the huge costs involved.
Interestingly enough, of the cases which are heard in the High Court the Planning Inspectorate is deemed to have acted illegally a third of the time and its decisions have been overturned.
The NPPF is not law and sometimes officers and inspectors will follow it in detriment to the local population and the pressure applied by the drive of central government to build more houses and developments in general.
Without up-to-date local and neighbourhood plans any council is exposed to undesirable development and the risk to open countryside and loss of fertile land is very apparent.
Andrew Parks
Gedney
