The Campaign to Protect of Rural England (CPRE) has attacked the joint local plan process in the South Hams, which it has condemned as a ‘developer’s charter’.
Mr Justin Haque and Dr Katy Brown from the CPRE South Hams have both issued a statement declaring: ‘The only way to accurately describe the JLP consultation is an expensive PR exercise, or put more simply, a ‘faux consultation’.
‘In the South Hams alone, both the meetings that we have hosted as the CPRE and those held by the parish councils have illustrated that the public’s sense of frustration and outrage is only matched by the corresponding display of patronising arrogance of the council’s representatives………In summary, the veneer of a JLP public consultation in combination with the changes to the local planning guidelines will now render the National Planning Policy Framework simply as a ‘developer’s charter’. For the most part, we, the public, are ignored by our national and local politicians.’
The Consultation Institute writes:
The Campaign to Protect of Rural England claims that consultation over the planning blueprint for the future has been reduced to an expensive PR exercise which has left members of the public frustrated and outraged. Meanwhile, district council representatives have been accused of ‘patronising arrogance’.
CPRE South Hams chairman Justin Haque claims figures used to justify the number of homes needs in the region are ‘sensationally wrong’ and points to the 504 homes earmarked for Dartington alone, which the parish has been told it will get whether its wants them or not. The CPRE South Hams recently held a meeting in Dartington attended by more than 60 people to try to draw together the campaign experience of various groups in an attempt to fight off unwanted development in their areas.
See more background on CPRE South Hams, read more on the Consultation Institute website and read the article in Totnes Today
