DO IT YOURSELF PLANNINGI am sure a number of people, among them Farmer C, Organic Egg guru M, the Laird and possibly even Big Jim F would agree, for different reasons with Professor Robb's letter to this weeks Berwickshire:SIR, - The letter claiming that “planners are at the mercy of councillors” (September 4) asks what is the point in employing professionals to form and implement policy when their recommendations are overturned by councillors.I agree, absolutely no point at all! Indeed, as I shall show, there is no point in involving the committee either.Officials have the task of ensuring that all applications are in compliance with the rules which they have devised and which the council has approved. Only applications that are in compliance with those rules should be sent to the...
Planning on the HoofA 'Name and Address Supplied' Has written to the Berwickshire as followsSIR, - Staggering is the only word for it.We may not always agree with what we perceive to be the decisions that the “planners” make but we must be aware that they, the “planners”, are often completely at the mercy of the councillors on the Berwickshire Area Committee.Attending the committee last Tuesday was an eye opener - what a farce! The ignorance of planning policy, voted for by the councillors themselves, and of basic legal procedure defies belief. What is the point in employing professionals to form policy, and then to try to implement that policy, when it is regularly overturned by councillors who are completely subjective in their judgement and make up policy on the hoof. Of the...
Megaphone Development: The outcomeIf you look here*you will see that Huttonian has tracked down the application referred to in the post immediately below. He thought it might be turned down.It was.Lesson there somewhere.(*On opening the link scroll down to 'Hutton and Paxton Community Council' in the appropriate search slot and put in 01/04/2008 as the start date and 01/08/2008as the finishing one and Bob's your new...
Holding back the Concrete MixersA bloggee who has been at the cutting edge of development in the countryside has sent Huttonian this extract from the Taylor Review whose sentiments I am confident he shares:The planning process has to become an engine of regeneration or we face a future of rural decline. Over-zealous or ill-thought through restriction of development has held back rural economies and made rural homes increasingly unaffordable. The right balance of housing and employment opportunities are crucial. We need a can-do system that asks the question of each development proposal “how will this development add to or diminish the sustainability of this community” and includes social, economic and environmental factors in the answer.‘Living working countryside’ The Taylor...
Huttonian, as a change from Eyemouth, visited Fife's answer to that Berwickshire gem: Tayport in north Fife-and that feels very north. One thing you can say about the Scottish Borders Planning highheidyins is that, compared to their Fifer colleagues, they know their stuff. Tayport is a case in point. Formerly an attractive wee fishing village it now has a Marina stuffed into its harbour which is surrounded by the most inappropriate development imaginable. On one side MacSeaside, big, pretentious and boring. On the landward side-a row of Neo Marxist East German, 1950s. blockhouses. Their backs turned resolutely to the sea with blank walls sporting one small window each and sharing an unfenced back yard dog loo. Just boring. And no doubt expensive. The only point of interest was the...
