Planning, puppies and trees

At West Suffolk Lib Dems we often joke amongst ourselves that we Liberals get so involved in dotting every 'i' and crossing every 't' that we get tied up in all our tidied up loose ends. But I am very happy to have been able to tie up an extremely important loose end in the way Planning works in West Suffolk.

The Development Control Committee (DCC) are the 16 councillors who ultimately decide any cases that are not obviously “yes” or “no” planning applications.  When we come to a determination it must be on a strict set of criteria.  We couldn’t, for example, refuse a planning application because we thought the applicant looked shifty, or because we just didn’t want the building.  It has to be because of a Material Concern. This could be building in the countryside, or contradicting the local plan, or any number of things. 

The problem is when you have valid concerns about a planning application and those concerns are not Material.  We had an application from a dog breeder where puppies had no access to grass, trees or greenery of any kind, just a bare gravel yard with no behavioural enrichment or toys (at least when we were there).  This is not a Material planning matter, but it was something that concerned members when we attended the site.

The way it has worked up until now is that those concerns must be put to one side and that is that.  I felt this was not good enough.  Over the past 3 months I’ve worked with my fellow vice Chair, and the Chair, and Officers, to formalise a process whereby our Non-Material concerns can be forwarded to a relevant body. 

Before, an officer might have taken up an issue, but there was no feedback or way of knowing if an item had been picked up, and no recourse to follow up a concern.  Now the DCC can formally, through the chair, request that a matter be taken up with a relevant external body, and then feedback given to the DCC at a later date.  We have a paper trail to make sure that concerns do not slip through the tracks.

It may not be earth-shattering stuff, but it is an example of how tying up loose ends can make West Suffolk better for all of us, including some puppies who now have access to trees.