Concern at officers’ OK for planning changes

AMENDMENTS to planning applications passed by committee should not be approved by officers without the say-so of councillors.

That’s the view of one councillor amid an ongoing row over paid officers being delegated the rights to amend developments after being green-lighted by elected members.

Calls for an independent review were raised two years ago in relation to planning approval to demolish the derelict Plas Pistyll hotel near Nefyn and replace it with 36 luxury chalets.

According to several councillors, however, the subsequent development does not match what was approved in 2012 by the authority’s planning committee after six separate amendments were passed by planning officers without again going in front of committee.

These include deleting the condition that restricted people from residing in one of the holiday units for more than three months, plans to build a reception to service the site, installing roof lights and a gable, and changing staff accommodation to holiday unit use.

Cllr Gruff Williams, who has been outspoken against the development, told a meeting of the Communities Scrutiny Committee on Thursday that such measures represented a “loss of democracy” and questioned why so many applications were being decided by officers.

He was also critical of changes to the authority’s planning system which he described as making it more difficult for members to access the weekly lists of the latest planning applications.

But officers stated their view that automatically referring all amendments to committee would be “a step back,” while conceding that local members still had a major role to play in monitoring applications in their area as what officers and local people viewed as contentious can vary dramatically.

Members were told, however, that efforts were under way to re-establish automatic emails to inform members of all new applications.