Pylons spark deputy to seek planning meetings clarification
A DEPUTY is questioning publicly whether or not the current policy on open planning meetings should be reviewed in light of the controversy surrounding the pylons erected at La Grande Mare golf course.
Steve Falla has submitted a set of written questions to the Development & Planning Authority under rule 14 of the States’ Rules of Procedure.
They include queries about the potential need for more open planning meetings and the options available to remedy the situation at the site, as well as the exact representations the DPA was shown before permission for the development was granted.
The DPA must respond within 15 days.
Deputy Falla said that he wanted to go on record with the questions because he had received a number of representations from neighbours who had been surprised at the scale of the visual impact of the pylons.
‘The difficulty is that, sometimes, even politicians don’t realise the detail and enormity of the consequences of some planning applications. I think it is therefore worth asking about the possible need for more open planning meetings in future.’
There has only been one open planning meeting held so far this year, which was in relation to the housing development at Briarwood in St Martin’s in March.
The DPA has previously stated that such meetings are expensive and are therefore held rarely.
Deputy Falla also said that he was interested to hear more from DPA president Deputy Victoria Oliver, who said that the authority was seeking to act as 'a middleman' in order to remedy the situation.
‘I’d like to know what some of these remedies are. This isn’t a Nimby-type process, it is a localised issue and people are genuinely concerned.’
