PROTECT TUNSTALL COMMUNITY

#359: - Re: SBC PLANNING MEETING

It is clear from your comment that you have no understanding of the processes involved, so let me enlighten you.

The planning officer involved with the case will look at the application, together with the supporting documentation, and consider it in relation to local and national planning policy. They will also consider any objections raised to the proposal and whether they are relevant or not in terms of planning. They will also normally consult a wide number of public bodies, such as the Highways Authority, the Police, Fire Brigade, and so on, to see if they have any comments to make.

Once the Planning officer has completed this part of the process, he/she is then required to put forward a reasoned argument, either for or against the proposal, in a report, which is, as a matter of courtesy, presented to the Planning Committee on behalf of the Head of Planning.

The report is circulated a week or so before the Planning Committee meeting, to enable the committee members, and members of the public who may wish to speak at the meeting, to assimilate themselves with the Head of Planning's recommendations. The members of the Planning Committee will then have the opportunity to discuss the application during the actual Planning Committe meeting and a vote will then be held on whether to support the application or not.

In light of the above, to say that the decision in relation to Tunstall School was pre-determined is factually incorrect. Also, if you had done your homework, you would have known that Swale BC planning committee has a recent history of voting against the Head of Planning's recommendations on politically sensitive applications such as this one, so much so, that he has taken recently to putting strongly worded warnings in a number of his reports.