Planning system ‘with no teeth’

TOWN councillors have expressed concerns that developers are taking advantage of a planning system with no teeth.

The comments were made at a virtual meeting of Hungerford Town Council’s environment and planning committee on Monday.

The committee had been discussing recent applications where changes had been made to homes where planning permission was applied for retrospectively.

District councillor James Cole (Con, Hungerford and Kintbury) told the meeting: “If it happens again... I would have no hesitation in asking for a building to be torn down next time around.

“We don’t have the capacity to keep control if things go wrong.”

Committee chairwoman Denise Gaines replied: “We could do, if the planning authority had enough teeth to do that. In some areas it seems to be a free for all.”

She asked how many building control enforcement officers West Berkshire Council had. Mr Cole replied two – but that these were shared between two other councils.

During the committee debate, reference was made to another controversial local development where developers defied West Berkshire Council planners in 2015. In that case a planning inspector subsequently ruled that two new homes in Upper Eddington could stay – despite having been changed without planning permission and in defiance of a ‘stop’ order.

Then, in 2017, the district council’s planning enforcers said they could no longer afford to routinely investigate all planning breaches due to Government cuts.

Former town councillor Carolann Farrell warned at the time: “It seems this could be just the start of a slippery slope.

“It worries me greatly.”