As an early step in drawing up the new local plan, the District Council has been required by the government to produce a ?Statement of Community Involvement? which is supposed to show how democratic and fair things will be. What?s more, you have a chance to fill in a questionnaire and make your comments. You have until April 6th to send in your comments ? you can find the Statement and the questionnaire in the Civic Suite in Rayleigh, or in Rayleigh Library, or on the
council website here
Obviously, you can say what you like in the questionnaire.
But you might like to make comments about
– whether the public should be allowed to speak at planning meetings,
– whether any council meetings deciding planning applications should be held in private,
– whether the conditions attached to outline planning applications should be ignored at a later stage
– and whether the council should notify you if there’s a new house being built next-door-but-one to you (at the moment they often notify nearest neighbours only)
You are not supposed to write things like “Stop Dumping Development on West Rayleigh” – we are talking about procedures here, not outcomes. However there’s no law against adding that if that’s how you feel…