Red faced Bromsgrove and Redditch council officers had to re-issue the document, running to 149 pages, a fact they didn’t publish on their website until an eagle-eyed campaigner spotted it.
“I just can’t fathom it out, they are meant to be the professionals but they can’t hit a deadline and then the document they submit is wrong – I call it imcompetence,” said David Rose, chairman of the Webheath Action Group (WAG) which is fighting the plans together with villagers from Bentley.
“And in the end it’s just a narrative, a document which is just opinion and not based on facts.”
At the heart of the issue is a call from planning inspector Simon Hetherington for the council to justify why the sites at Webheath and Bentley were chosen for the development over other potential locations.
WAG has made clear it doesn’t mind shouldering some of the burden of the new homes but objects to having to take them all.
The councils initially offered do a full review, with public consultation and taking 18 months which was rejected by Mr Hetherington so they offered a two month one instead but without the consultation.
Now in the (revised) document the public consultation has been re-instated.
“It really is baffling,” said Mr Rose, “You really get the impression that they don’t know what they are doing.”
A council spokesperson said: “Clarification from the inspector enabled us to produce a more simplified piece of work where consultation on its methodology was not required.
“However, we are always keen to give our residents the opportunity to comment and the consultation on the finished work would always have taken place.
“When we originally submitted the most recent document we did unfortunately miss out a small element and this was purely down to officer error.
“We have apologised for this error and to compensate have extended the consultation on this document for an extra four days. We did make a mistake but it has been rectified.”
To make a comment on the council’s review, click http://www.redditchbc.gov.uk/council/policy-and-strategy/planning-policies/borough-of-redditch-local-plan/borough-of-redditch-local-plan-no-4/examination-in-public.aspx
