Andrew provided the following Facebook update on the Covid-19 snake on Western Road, and on the 4R planning application. You can find Andrew's Facebook page online here: https://www.facebook.com/andrewpercyofficial/
Loved seeing the Covid-19 snake on Western Road whilst delivering some shopping to older residents in the area.
What a great idea and a really fab way of giving people something positive to focus on. Well done to the kids who came up with the idea.
In other news the planning committee meeting for the 4R planning application for a waste recycling operation in Swinefleet was abandoned this week due to technical issues. As many residents already know, this was to be determined online by the planning committee but the system crashed meaning that the application will now be considered in a couple of weeks.
It seems clear to me that the Council is under a lot of pressure to approve this, given the Planning Inspector's report from the appeal into the refusal of the first application. Whilst the Inspector upheld the refusal, he also gave a pathway to how the applicants could be successful second time around!
As such, I formally asked for the planning application to be called-in by the Secretary of State. This would mean that a Minister would determine the application and take the decision off the Council.
This is normally reserved for very significant planning applications of some scale. The Secretary or State would also have to give similar consideration to the previous planning appeal.
I took the decision to ask for this when it became apparent that the independent planning officers at the Council were going to strongly recommend that the application be approved by Councillors.
I can't guarantee that the Secretary is State will call it in or that we would stop this application even if he did. However, I am trying to use every tool and option available to us to block this disgusting operation taking place locally.
The Secretary of State has given formal notice to the Council that he is considering calling the matter in. This means that even if the Council approve the application, it could still be recovered by the Secretary of State and decided by him.
