Chorley Labour oppose Tory Ministers intention to ignore local residents views and bypass our local planning committee
Most residents will be well aware of the massive amounts of housing development that Chorley and our villages have endured over recent years due to flawed government targets, which we all hoped to see less of in the future.
We were, therefore, amazed that Tory Government Minister Michael Gove announced this week that Labour-controlled Chorley Council has been designated concerning performance in major planning applications, which he views has seen too many planning applications refused by Chorley’s Planning Committee made up of local councillors!
This means that developers could in the future bypass the local democratically elected decision-making powers of the Chorley Planning Committee and rather applications will be considered directly by unaccountable civil servants in Westminster. This cannot be right or fair.
Despite many meetings held and letters sent over years by Chorley Council and the MP for Chorley, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, to explain to the government the impact of their demand that Chorley builds yet more housing, despite our being amongst the highest delivering areas in the UK over recent years. The Conservative minister bizarrely seems to think we are not building enough
Labour Council Leader Alistair Bradley said “We’ve been honest with people that we have been fighting speculative development with one hand tied behind our back. We are not anti-development – far from it – we have already built more than enough housing and certainly believe all decisions should be made here in Chorley with local residents input.
“This is proven by our consistent and continual homebuilding in line with government policy, figures which are already unreasonably far higher than our neighbouring areas. Chorley Labour Councillors demand that Mr Gove rethinks his misguided decision immediately ”.
