Have A Voice – Ask Challenging Questions

There have been a number of central government policy breakdowns in recent months. The cause appears to be inadequate research on which decisions are based. An example is the reversal of the decision to close three hospital departments specialising in children’s heart disease. The data was flawed.

What has this got to do with the Taylor Wimpey and Wheatley Homes appeals against the rejection of their proposals to build large numbers houses to the north and south of Hare Street Road? The answer is that even to a lay person’s eyes their planning applications make unsupported assumptions and have implications that are totally wrong for Buntingford. The town’s heritage in the Rib Valley would be lost forever.

BCS are highly critical of EHC planners and their failure to produce even an interim District Plan and to concur with developers’ opportunistic schemes without any consultation with the community. There is a need for an agreed vision for Buntingford which will stand the test of critical examination.

The appeals will probably take place in the autumn and it is essential that applications are not looked at in isolation but in total for their negative consequences for Buntingford and its residents. If there is one word from the National Planning Policy Framework that is key it is ‘sustainable’. The applications going to appeal are unsustainable.

Derek K Cooper,

Chairman, Buntingford Civic Society