There was a good attendance at the River CC meeting last night, some of those on the public benches were there to gather support against the planning application for 11 flats on the Lodgehill Clinic site. River members gave the application considerable debate, this is the second application for the site, the first one was withdrawn and reammended but not before it too had gathered considerable opposition. The meeting was told that this building would actually be higher than the last proposal. Friday is the closing date for submissions on this application so someone from River CC will no doubt be busy drafting a letter this morning, they are concerned about the height and density of this building, worried that it will have no lifts and that it will cause parking difficulties whilst being out of keeping with the area.
This observer believes the River are right to back the residents in this area. The residents are being entirely reasonable and realistic, indicating that they have no objection to a smaller development of two stories on this site. If the new planning process is genuinely all about compromise and community consultation then hopefully they will get the size of the development reduced. If something inappropriate does go ahead then we all suffer - we have to look at it as we go past!
Anyone minded to support the residents still has until Friday to do so and this can be done by a quick submission on the Council's e-planning site.
Perhaps it would help blog readers to understand more about the potential effect of what is being proposed if photographs could be taken of the site showing the width of the surrounding roads and the proximity and height (to the proposed flats) of adjacent buildings?
ReplyDeleteIt would have to be exact or it would be unfair to the developer. In a democratic world they have rights too :-)
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to see the 3-D town centre show that showed possibilites for the future as the 'Consultation/Focus Group?' were coming up with the goods.
It might cost a lot unfortunately but if the like could be done for contentious planning applications it would be interesting.
A lot of Gurnites will know the area well and how busy and difficult to negotiate (for both pedestrians and drivers) it can be at times of the day.
Failing that a virtual tour on Google street view might be an interesting way to spend a few minutes if the bad weather is still having an impact on normal routine.