Local Labour Councillor for Shrewsbury working for the people all year around

Jon Tandy Labour

PLANNING IGNORANCE

Written by Jon Tandy on 15 September 2007

Local residents will probably have seen the reports of Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski’s intervention into the plans to replace the Fox Inn Cross Houses, with housing.

Local villagers would rather keep their pub and called upon their MP to help.

Nothing wrong with that in my view, just the sort of campaign an MP should be involved in. Particularly in a matter concerning development, a competent MP should be able to advise his or her constituents of the correct channels and procedure to be followed in order to have their views fully heard.

Sadly this doesn’t seem to have happened with the Fox Inn. Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council granted planning consent for the development on 14^th August 2007. But our Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski met villagers on 4^th September and told them that the approval should be called into the Council’s Scrutiny committee for investigation, and that was their democratic right.

Bearing in mind that Daniel Kawczynski has been our MP now for nearly two and a half years, one would have thought by now he would have a working knowledge of the planning system. Once the Council has granted a planning permission it only has limited powers to revoke that permission, and any decision to do so can result in the council having to pay compensation to the applicant. The Scrutiny committee has no power in such matters at all. Appeals against planning decisions are dealt with by the Planning Inspectorate based in Bristol. The system has been in this form since Town and Country Planning began in 1947.

Our MP has no detailed first hand experience of local democracy and how it works, he has never been a councillor on any council. I am not saying you have to first be a local councillor before you can be a good MP that would be untrue. But what I do strongly believe is that an MP should quickly make themselves fully aware of planning rules, so that they do not misinform their constituents in this way. Senior Borough Council Officers have now had to be involved in correcting this error, which is a needless waste of their time and our Council Tax.

Could I just ask Daniel Kawczynski, before he jumps aboard the next passing bandwagon, to just first check his facts?

Letter sent to the Shrewsbury Chronicle 15 September 2007 ( Published —)

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