Ignore the people who will be affected

AN open letter to Councillor Carl Marshall, Leader of the Labour Group, Durham County Council

DEAR Coun Marshall, do you recollect the planning meeting held on Tuesday January 11, 2022, to determine the planning application to site shipping container holiday accommodation on the green belt at Poplar Tree Garden Centre, Shincliffe?

That was the meeting where all seven of the Labour members on the committee, led by yourself, voted en bloc to support the application going against your council’s own policy and against the advice of your own planning officer.

For what reason? The benefits in terms jobs and the local economy were miniscule. They couldn’t possibly outweigh the degree of harm the planning officer said would be caused to the green belt. You actually said that the proposal “complies with the planning requirements of this council”.

You must know that is not so, the planning officer said that it did not. You do know, because you concluded that the economic benefits outweighed any harm to the green belt.

The actual policy is that any development that is harmful to

the green belt should not be approved except in very special circumstances. There is nothing so very special about four self-catering units creating two jobs when over 50% of the self-catering accommodation in County Durham was empty at the last count.

For the listening person you claim to be, you obviously weren’t listening to the local community, the local county councillor or the Member of Parliament.

So, who were you listening to? Did you bother consulting the excellent Labour candidate who was only narrowly defeated by the sitting Lib Dem county councillor in Durham South at the last council elections when Labour candidates across the county suffered so badly? Did you bother to read even one of the 161 letters of objection from local residents which you likened to follows or likes on

Twitter or Facebook?

The Labour candidate won so many votes largely because she understood and responded to community concerns about the green belt.

What are the chances of getting a Labour county councillor elected in Durham South now that you and your colleagues have favoured a developer in the green belt over the concerns of the community and the freshly approved County Durham Plan?

COLIN JUBB, Member of City of Durham Constituency

Labour Party