Recently I have
been in receipt of copies of correspondence in relation to highways
concerns over a planning application, and I am conscious that as
councillors we have certain obligations.
In addition to remaining
objective and unbiased when coming to decisions on whether or not to
support an application, there are a number of statutory consultees to
whom we, and planning officers, turn to for professional advice.
Although
I appreciate budgetary constraints, and the cut backs that go with it,
the current situation with regard to highways advice is less than
satisfactory. More often than not no comment is received from them,
resulting in those of us making these important decisions being reliant
on local knowledge, or the planning officer's opinion, rather than
experts advice and guidance.
What seems to have crept in lately is the statement for 'County Standing Advice' to be applied.
This
means that to all intents and purposes planning officers are now
required to read, understand and apply information provided by a
standard manual, which surely any of us, including the applicants could
do.
In that case, why would we bother consulting highways at all?
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