Speedy wrote:
Dont think i am against wake and a stadium, but the problem you have got is that the council has to follow these guidelines
Under the Town and Country Planning Acts there is a presumption in favour of development. However within the Green Belt this situation is reversed and there is a general presumption against inappropriate development. Such development should not be approved, except in very special circumstances.
Inappropriate development is by definition harmful to the Green Belt. Very special circumstances will not exist unless the harm by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm to the Green Belt, is clearly outweighed by other considerations. This is a tough test and it is for the applicant to show why permission should be granted. Whilst it is for the local planning authority to judge the special circumstances being put forward it would be unreasonable to give weight to a matter which national policy is unlikely to view as a very special circumstance. For example the fact that something can or cannot be seen should not be a determining factor. Planning applications for inappropriate development will, therefore, by their very nature, conflict with the development plan and if the Council wishes to grant permission the proposal must be treated as a departure from the development plan and referred to the Secretary of State.
That will cost a small fortune, believe me, and i has to be bourne by the developer in the first instance, they may get recompensed if the enquirery is sucessful, but its not always that way, Ive been involved pesonally with one of these and it is a long drawn out issue,
What you say is true regarding Public Inquiry but it refers to
inappropriate development. Departures from the LDF are not uncommon and if the departure is fully supported by the Council the application when called in can be passed back to the Council to determine without the need for a Public Inquiry.
Not every departure leads to a Public Inquiry. Indeed you are probably aware that the Glasshoughton application involved some green belt land. The application was called in and passed back to the Council to determine without a Public Inquiry. The delays on Glasshoughton were as a result of the Highways Agency issuing an Article 14 Notice.
We now have a Government that is wanting to cut red tape and pass decision making back to a local level. They will not want the expense of a Public Inquiry and with the Private Sector putting in substantial funding into a Community Project it tick a lot of their boxes but not others. If the Council gives its 100% support to Newmarket there is every chance that planning could be passed in time for the next franchise bidding round.
Some would say, certainly not me, that the Council is deliberately delaying Newmarket to force Wakefield into a groundshare at Glasshoughton so that Castleford gets a Stadium and franchise for 2012 and to hell with Wakefield - they don't have much support in Wakefield so it has no political ramifications.
One thing is for certain its putting fan against fan which is the last thing we want but I fear the worst for the both of us. There are some difficult decisions to be made which inevitably are going to brass quite a few people off.
