Not convinced planning officers can change minds on Les Blanches
ISLAND Development Ltd has lodged appeals against the decisions by the former Environment Department and the Development & Planning Authority, to reject its two proposals to build houses on top-class agricultural land at Les Blanches in St Martin's.
There are many points which we feel must be raised before the tribunal considers the appeal but one, we feel, is of great importance and some urgency and this revolves around the Kafkaesque situation that the protocols for the Appeals Tribunal has thrown up in this particular case.
The protocols put the defence of the board's rejection in the hands of the planning officers who in most of the cases advised the rejection and as a result most appeals are against the advice given by the planning officers. The planning officers, therefore, are in the vast majority of cases the best candidates for the role of convincing the Appeals Tribunal that rejection was the correct decision.
However, in this case the protocol for appeals has thrown up the situation where those assigned to convincing the Appeals Tribunal that the rejections are correct are the same people who, you will undoubtedly remember, were the people who championed and assisted Island Development Ltd in its bid to build the houses on prime agricultural land.
Having recommended acceptance of the proposals to the boards of the Environment Department and the Development & Planning Authority, only for their recommendations to be ignored and the proposals rejected by the boards, we are now expected to believe that these self-same planning officers will press the case for rejection of the appeal with the maximum vigour possible.
We do not doubt that the planning officers will put forward the defence as well as they are able, but with the best will in the world we do not believe that they can suddenly switch from championing the proposals to championing their rejection with the same degree of inherent enthusiasm that 'a true believer' will have.
Consequently, they will not be able to defend the rejections by the boards with the same degree of vigour which somebody with the conviction that their case is right will be able to do.
We would, therefore, seek through the medium of your newspaper to let people know that we will be asking the tribunal to allow representatives of those who have opposed the proposals from the outset to address them at the appeal.
TONY LEE,
Les Salines,
Le Vallon,
St Martin's,
GY4 6DN.
