'Last chance to have a say' planning inspector warns
THE independent inspector who will be in charge of the planning inquiry for the review of the Island Development Plan has welcomed the quality of representations made so far.
The deadline for representations is 5pm tomorrow.
The inspector, Keith Holland, said this was the last chance to raise all issues which could then be discussed further as the process continues.
Mr Holland said that while there will be an opportunity for further representations at a later date, at that stage it will only be possible to comment on matters which have already been raised in the first round of comments.
‘From my preliminary look at the representations received to date, I am very pleased to feed back that these submissions are overwhelmingly highly informative, regardless of whether representors are agreeing or disagreeing with the draft amendments proposed,’ he said.
‘However, it is essential that I am able to secure a full range of views and I would urge anyone who has an interest in the review to submit their representations before the closure of the initial representations consultation period.’
Mr Holland said that all the written representations would be ‘received with equal weight’ as verbal representations made at the inquiry hearing sessions.
With community engagement in mind, he plans to facilitate an additional plenary hearing session at the end of the topic-based sessions to ensure that all representors who formally indicate they wish to speak will have an opportunity to do so.
