The Rayleigh Action Group website highlights tonight an interview with Linda Kendall in the Echo about the 500 homes proposed in Rawreth- and her court case.
The Rayleigh Action Group website highlights tonight an interview with Linda Kendall in the Echo about the 500 homes proposed in Rawreth- and her court case.
Session expired
Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.
The thing is , even if Linda wins , the battle is’nt over – at best RDC will be made to “re-consult the people” in order to meet the ‘effective consultation’ criteria. However I wish her every success because it is an opportunity to mobilise mass opposition and slow it down in order to get infrastructure upgrading in place first – fingers crossed????.
Apologies to all the regulars if this is obvious but….even if RDC had conducted the consultation excercise differently and had received, say, 1000’s of objections. Are they legally bound to take any notice ?
Well, the responses are collected by RDC and go straight to the inspector. He is supposed to read them all…
For those unaware. RDC have a SCI (Statement of Community Involvement) which requires them to consult with the residents before proceeding with any programme. It has a number of criteria that should be applied when decisions are taken. Unfortunately the issue of consultation does NOT require them to take notice of the results of any consultation i.e. in one exercise on the Core Strategy 195 responses were received from Rayleigh (population 33,000) such was the level of communication. Of those 195 , 194 rejected the proposals for west Rayleigh and just 1 approved the schemes. RDC went ahead. This information was put to the High Court not by my legal team but by RDC in their evidence to prove their case. Perhaps this shows the paucity of the whole consultation process.
So RDC could be forced to repeat the consultation exercise and then ignore the results and go ahead anyway. Is it me ? ????
Oz @ 5. Exactly right Oz. We do not underestimate the task we were set and realise it may be too huge a hurdle. Although we understand we might face this situation the overturning of a Government Inspector’s agreement to part of a Local Plan will create some turmoil across planning circles. It will make news. Then perhaps the many unanswered questions of just how RDC managed to get their Local Plan through despite the clear lack support from the people they are paid to ‘serve’ will be up for discussion in a wider forum. Who have they served is the question that needs answering it clearly isn’t the public at large? We need an enquiry into the decisions taken over a long period across Rochford. It can’t be any accident that every Parish / Town council has rejected their proposals.
Oz , as I said in first post the battle is’nt won with a court victory but , If Linda wins it will make the national papers / Look East etc; and that exposure in the run up to the General Election will hopefully put a big dent in the credibility of both the MP and Tory led RDC . And I’ve no doubt that sort of high profile coverage would’nt be an opportunity that Linda would miss in “discussing” the wider undemocratic Cabinet
decisions made against the electorate wishes.
Jim, I so want to believe you but I don’t think it will make any difference, I really hope I am proved wrong. Something tells me that these houses will be built come what may.
Do we know when the judgement will be given? Seems to be taking a long time
Oz at # 8 – I know, you are probably right , I’ve always thought it will happen but if you don’t fight it all the way then you cannot influence it at all ( roads / infrastructure ) .
They ( RDC ) would get away with murder if they were not challenged.
Christine. Judge said he will act as fast as is possible but estimate was 6-8 weeks from 3rd October.
If the Judge were to find in the appellant’s (Linda Kendall) favour, then his decision would hold the potential for immense implication in terms of local planning authorities’ process and practice with their Local Plans across England. Not only would this cause Rochford Council to reconsult on its Site Allocations Plan (bearing in mind that the council’s underlying Core Strategy document is already Adopted and therefore in terms of housing numbers a matter of Policy until it is reviewed), but may cause other council’s to re-start their public consultation exercises simply in order to ensure their plans are not legally challengeable. Bearing in mind that Rochford Council did advertise and consult on both its Core Strategy & Site Allocations development plan documents (how effectively is now a matter for The Hon Mr Justice Lindblom to determine), I think that for him to find against Rochford Council represents a very big ‘ask’. This has been a brave but inherently very risky undertaking on Linda’s part, but win or lose she deserves a great deal of recognition and support. Good luck with the judge’s decision.
Yes , that you think it is a big ask for the judge to decide against a Council ( because of wider implications – not the facts in question ) shows just how undemocratic country we have become.