Planning campaigners win control of council
CAMPAIGNERS against a council leader’s plan to build a home in a beauty spot have seen him ousted as chairman of the parish authority after they took control of the council.
Chris Wilton, the chairman of Rame-with-Maker Parish Council until last week’s local elections, was at the centre of a long-running row over his plans for a new home on his family farm. He was given rights to build an agricultural worker’s dwelling with four bedrooms and farm office, balcony, garden, double garage and parking on the Rame peninsula in August, under an agricultural tie.
A group of objectors, Rame Protection Group, claimed the property would be worth £1 million with its sea views, and felt so strongly that they took a judicial review against Cornwall Council’s decision to grant planning permission to the High Court in London.
Malcolm Cross, from the group, told the BBC last year: “Rame Head itself is a spectacular setting... It’s always regarded here as tranquil, calm, very unspoilt. This will lead to more development. We think it’s the thin end of the wedge and will set the wrong example for Cornwall”.
Mr Wilton, who said his family were tenant farmers of 280 acres going back 200 years, rejected claims of the £1m price tag. He said he would live in the home and that objectors’ comments about the plan in the area of outstanding natural beauty were “ridiculous” and “misleading”.
Now Mr Cross is part of a community group that has taken control of their parish council after wanting to get rid of its “negativity”.
Independents for Rame and Maker (INFORM) put forward eight candidates for the election to the parish council and they won seven of its 11 seats in elections on Thursday May 6, while Mr Wilton lost his seat.
Mr Cross, from INFORM, now says the row over the property was almost a separate issue. He said: “The thinking behind INFORM was more about the parish council as a whole rather than the planning row. We didn’t think they did well in that application but it was not the only issue.”
Mr Cross said he established INFORM after speaking to others in the area about how the council was operating. “We were talking about the election and because the parish council had been poor and dysfunctional in our view, not just in planning but in other ways,” he said. “Local residents were not able to contribute and it was a really negative culture.
“We felt we should make a concerted attempt to try and change that. We came up with the idea of creating what the Electoral Commission calls a minor political party. But we did that with the aim of maintaining independence.”
Mr Cross said he was pleased with the election outcome: “We had a very positive agenda and we have gone out of our way to be positive and that worked.”
The Maker-with-Rame Parish Council election also saw a significant 67 per cent of people turn out to vote.
Mr Cross said: “There had been a bad feeling locally. We wanted nothing to do with that and we are hoping that will be behind us now and we can move forward positively.”