A slight rumble in Creeting St Mary - when a planning application causes unrest...

A copy of the Creeting St Mary newsletter drops through the front door, and a pretty professional effort it is too. I always read it, in part because there are things happening in our neighbouring parish that impact on us, and because, if they've gone to the trouble of dropping a copy through our door, it seems only fair that I do so.

This month's issue is more interesting than usual though, as there is a two page article about an apparently controversial planning application at Whissels Farm. Admittedly, I don't actually know much about it, but the contributor is clearly deeply unhappy about the response of the Parish Council, who approved it by a vote of 6-1.

As a mandatory consultee, a Parish Council generally finds itself in a difficult position. As councillors, we're not really equipped to deal with anything remotely complex, as training is sparse, and support sparser still. I was offered an afternoon session entitled 'Planning for Parish Councils' by Mid Suffolk District Council which, whilst interesting, merely scratched the surface of what is possible. And perhaps the fact that Mid Suffolk's planning department isn't thought to be very good is, to some extent, unhelpful...

Accordingly, when confronted with anything bigger than a single building, consideration risks being a matter of 'sticking a wet finger in the air and seeing which way the wind is blowing'. Consideration of any District, County or Regional development plans relies on having the information easily available, and having the time to do the research, not necessarily a possibility for 'well-meaning amateurs' like myself.

In addition, a good planning application, even an unpopular one locally, is likely to be approved by the District Council in any event, and parish councillors are then obliged to consider what terms they might reasonably extort from the applicant in exchange for their acquiescence. Better, perhaps, to have one's wishes known in advance, than have the District Council claim any Section 106 benefits for itself.

I'll be keeping a weather eye open for this application in any event, as the site is on All Saints Road, one of the three access routes into Creeting St Peter...