Council to make formal complaint against planning decision for homes

At a meeting of Guilsfield Community Council (GCC), councillors received an update of the findings of a task group, formed to probe a decision to give outline planning for nine homes on the site of Fairview Garage, a former petrol station in the centre of the village.

The council thought that the application was on hold due to the Covid-19 crisis, and had not given Powys County Council (PCC) an opinion on the scheme before it was decided at a planning committee meeting on October 1.

GCC chairman, Councillor Ian Harrison, said: “We consulted planning lawyers.

“They said that to take the planning authority to judicial review to challenge the decision would cost somewhere between £20,000 and £40,000.

“There would be a danger if we lost then we would incur significant charges or cost of the defence.

“We decided not to pursue that as the risk was just too high.”

Councillor Harrison said the group had spoken to Planning Aid Wales.

They advised the council that they could make a formal complaint to PCC regarding the “failure” of process.

Councillor Harrison added: “I suggested missing out PCC and going straight to the ombudsman (Public Services Ombudsman for Wales).

“But I was told the ombudsman wouldn’t deal with us until we’ve been through the formal complaint process.”

Support

Councillor Harrison told the meeting that he recommended writing a letter of complaint to PCC on the process and how poorly GCC had been treated in: “what is a national emergency”.

He also thought that other community councils who also have planning issues with PCC might add their voices to a complaint.

Councillor Trevor Trevor said: “I support writing to object to the way we have been treated.

“It’s important that we write as soon as possible rather than gathering like minded councils.

“That could be a secondary letter.

“We didn’t like the decision, but our objection is to the process and we’d need to find other councils who’ve had problems with process rather than result.”

The recommendation to make a formal complaint was approved.

At the planning meeting on October 1 questions were asked whether the community council had an opinion on the plans.

Lead professional planning officer, Peter Morris, said that they had received correspondence overnight where GCC had pointed out that the officer handling the application was giving them more time due to Covid-19.

GCC had not been able to discuss the application, as meetings had been cancelled from March until September due to the pandemic.

Mr Morris said that he understood the difficulties faced by community councils holding meetings through the Covid-19 lockdown.

He told those he’d spoken to that comments from councillors could be added individually if no meeting had been held.

He said that GCC had been given enough time to respond.