Letter: GBC Continues to Promote the Tory Local Plan Trajectory

Published on: 20 Jun, 2022
Updated on: 20 Jun, 2022

Local Plan Part 2

From: Ben Paton

In response to: Local Plan Part 2 Moves to Next Stage, Despite Environmental Concerns

“He [Cllr Joss Bigmore] said proposed policies on ancient woodland and protecting trees were ‘about a strong as it gets’, given that developments which threatened them should be refused “unless there are wholly exceptional reasons, and a suitable compensation strategy exists.”

This is risible.

Changing green belt boundaries was subject to identical “protection” but GBC drove a coach and horses through the rules. It invented bogus “exceptional circumstances” like the deliberately exaggerated housing target based on Office for National Statistics projections that are now admitted to be materially wrong.

R4GV is carrying on where the last Conservative administration left off. Ritual homage to the rules and continued support for the wrong developments in the wrong places.

The Lib Dems now defend all the things they complained of before they ran the council. Soon they will be inviting the Conservative and former council leader Paul Spooner back onto the Executive.

The Local Plan’s policies are an expression of what the last Conservative administration could force onto society with the support of the Lib Dems to promote Cllrs Mansbrige and Juneja’s development ‘trajectory’.