Councillor Sue Smith

Sadly last week this application was approved despite good speeches by local resident Mark Wilson and my fellow ward councillor Ian Johnson. Despite the undoubted improvements in the new revised application we still felt that the application was an over-development of the site and thus not in keeping with the area.

Because our area is one of high density according to Planning it is always a struggle to find grounds for refusal. It was regrettable that the developer in this case did not meet with local residents prior to his application as has happened elsewhere in the ward. Such a meeting potentially enables a compromise to be reached with less aggro for all concerned.