A controversial planning application for 200 homes on farmland will be decided by a full meeting of a local authority on Wednesday night in a rare procedural move.
The meeting was the third to consider the proposal by Prospect Homes on a site allocated for housing in the council’s Local Plan. At the March 9 meeting the council’s head of development control Paul Gatrell warned councillors that they ‘would not have delegated authority to pass such a resolution as this would be a decision that was substantially contrary to the Local Plan’.It was then referred to the authority’s legal boss Catherine Waudby.
Her highly unusual ruling infuriated the local residents’ group and Liberal Democrat group leader and local councillor Gordon Birtwistle who moved rejection of the proposal which was passed by seven votes to six. Wednesday night’s special meeting will consider the application and a report from senior council officials recommending approval with a developer contribution of £1.