A complaint as to why a planning application to convert a former church into a Muslim prayer centre did not go before a committee of councillors has been lodged by the British National Party's north Shropshire organiser.
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| Raising Awareness of Plans in December 2012 |
The Shropshire Star reports
here that the decision was approved by council officers under delegated powers.
Below is the complaint emailed to Shropshire County Council.
Dear Sir / Madam
I would like to make a complaint as to how the planning
application 12/04730/FUL (change of use from Furniture Store, previously Presbyterian Church, to Oswestry Muslim
Centre) has been dealt with by Shropshire County Council.
I believe the Council have acted with maladministration
regarding their decision to allow Planning Officers to deal with this case
rather than deal with the application as a Council at a Public Meeting.
I understand that in passing this case to the Planning
Department the Council have acted in accordance with their own regulations,
however I believe that they have acted without due consideration to the views
of the local electorate and as such the Council have a moral case to answer.
Based on pure aesthetics, the application 12/04730/FUL is
relatively straightforward and the Council would have expected that it would be
passed by Planning Officers.
However, this application will change the cultural landscape
of Oswestry and the Council had a moral duty to make this decision in order to
ensure they are fully accountable to the electorate.
...Your goal is not only to convince the councillors that
you have a case in planning terms, but to demonstrate the support your case has
in the local community. Planning
officers are mainly interested in the planning arguments, but councillors will
often give weight to wider views. Planning is not a science and councillors
may judge the issues differently from officers.
Given that the application
12/04730/FUL received 103 Public comments with the majority of these
comments being objections, I firmly insist that the Council should have made an
electorally accountable decision. In fact, the Council have acted with
political cowardice and with no regard for Public sentiment.
I believe the application12/04730/FUL is of major cultural
significance to the local community and whether a local resident is strongly in
favour or strongly objects to the application’s approval, it is now technically
impossible for a local resident to vote for or against a councillor or
councillors regarding their views on this application as the decision was
passed to an unelected body.
My complaint raises a significant moral argument and it is
imperative that elected councillors take full responsibility for major
applications such as this.
I would like to make it clear that my complaint lies with
the elected councillors who chose not to deal with this issue. The planning
team are not to blame as they are bound by regulations while councillors must
deal with Public sentiment. I believe the Council fully understands the wider
implications regarding the approval of this application and their motive for
not deciding upon the application as a Council is to render themselves immune
from any Public backlash via the ballot box.
In matters such as this, electoral accountability is
paramount. Therefore in order to resolve this issue I would like the following action
to be taken:
1. To appeal the decision made by the Planning Department
and get the application re-heard by Councillors at a Public Meeting.
2. To ensure that any further applications regarding change
of use of a religious nature are henceforth decided by the Council at a Public
Meeting.
3. Point (2) must be included in the Council’s Constitution
to ensure all similar applications are in future decided upon by the Council
rather than an unelected body, i.e. the Planning Department.
I feel I speak for a significant number of the 'silent
majority' who desperately crave proper electoral accountability for decisions
that affect their communities yet feel so disenfranchised with politics they do
not consider it worthwhile to be a part of the political system. When an
elected body shies away from important decision making, in situations such as
application 12/04730/FUL, the disillusionment of the 'silent majority' will
increase.
I have read and understood the complaints procedure and look
forward to a satisfactory outcome. I would appreciate a reply that includes
details of who to contact next if I deem the Council’s reply to be
unsatisfactory.
Yours sincerely
Mr P Reddall