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Thank you for alerting us to the development. I'm quite close to where it is and had no idea whatsoever it was taking place.This seems to me indicative of a planning system that is profoundly dysfunctional. I attended a planning meeting a few years ago and it reminded me of one of those Soviet era parliaments in which a pretence of democracy was made by delegates rubber stamping decisions that had already been made and they had little understanding of.The view of planning officers is that they are the professionals and the less involvement councillors and the public have in making decisions the better. It isn't actually an illogical point of view. Planning law is complex and it is probably better all round that planning decisions are not politicised. By minimising public awareness of planning applications, council officers feel they can just get on with their job with minimal interference and everyone will be better off. They would argue that larger schemes like the Oaks where there is widespread awareness prove their point - planning issues become utilised for political point scoring and members of the public become very agitated requiring an extended and time-consuming process of approval. Ultimately, whether or not an application proceeds is a matter of planning law so all the fuss is to no avail.But it isn't as simple as that. A lack of scrutiny by democratically elected officials and the public creates a very dangerous situation. The checks and the balances have gone. By publicising planning applications in newspapers that nobody reads and then bamboozling unqualified councillors into doing as they are told, officers have gained total control of the process for most applications. The have done this because it makes the system more streamlined. The problem is that without scrutiny the system is more open to corruption. As a first step to avoiding this , there needs to be more onus on Councils to make sure the public are aware of planning applications in their area.

Andy Jones ● 4401d