Page 14 - Hunstanton Town & Around - September 2014

14 Hunstanton Town & Around September 2014 Tel: 01485 533422 email: editor@townandaround.net
Letters to the Editor (more on page 56) members shoes. In fact he could have been a good deal harsher about
our performance.”
Planning application
A bad day for local democracy - August 4th 2014
The lack of information, misinformation, poor understanding and
misdirection which haunted County Hall during the incinerator event Hunstanton Town Hall has been the setting for some extraordinary
has obviously found a new home in Hunstanton. meetings in my lifetime, which stretches back for more than seven
I went to the public meeting of HTC on the 4th August. The hall decades, but the latest attempt by a majority of town councillors to stifle
was full as one planning application on the agenda had and still has local public opinion turned into the most extraordinary meeting to date.
the power to blight many lives. It is the Hopkins Homes application After repeatedly informing Manorfields residents that their voices would
for 166 homes on land south of Hunstanton. be heard once Hopkins Homes got round to applying for planning
A question was raised about the types of housing indicated in the permission, the Mayor did not suspend Standing Orders to permit
application. Was some of it really four storeys as stated in a local questions and comments from the public. Instead, she restricted the time
paper?’ No, no’, said a prominent councillor loudly, ‘That is just a to 10 minutes at the beginning and 5 minutes at the end. This is the time
misprint’. ‘Yes’ agreed the mayor ‘that is the trouble when plans are allowed for questions at normal meetings, but with more than 100
sent to newspapers, they get it wrong’ (or similar words). ‘They are members of the public present in was totally inappropriate, especially
only two storeys or possibly 2.5’ said another councillor. when the first 'questioner', a Hunstanton exile, decided to use up more than
If Hunstanton Town councillors had bothered to read documents his fair share by telling us why only a Hopkins Home would tempt him
submitted with the application (which had been made available to them back!
two weeks before the meeting) then they would have read in the Design One councillor described what followed as democracy, but democracy
and Access Statement, ‘Further down the slope to the south, dwellings was not served by an inadequate sound system and the absence of a
rise to between 2 and 4 storey’. In addition, architects drawings would PowerPoint presentation to show the exact location of the preferred sites
have shown them rafts of three storey dwellings. for future housing needs.
Discussion about the road access took some time. Though a correct It was even more worrying when, 12 months after a majority of town
interpretation of the problems it would cause was explored by a councillors agreed 'in principle' to the Hopkins Homes proposal to build
minority of councillors others lacked common sense and were blind 166 new homes on a non-preferred site, no one attempted to explain why
to anything which might mar the application. One councillor said that those Councillors ignored the reasons previously agreed for objecting to
a similar estate already in Hunstanton (the middle of Hunstanton) had development on land to the south of Hunstanton.
no traffic problems so this new one wouldn’t. The Hopkins proposal The reasons given for objecting to housing on this land, provided in a
exits onto a road about a mile from the centre of Hunstanton and will response to the consultation exercise, are still valid and have been endorsed
empty onto the A149 at either of two traffic bottle necks most likely by the Civic Society; Hunstanton Environmental Environmental
fouling up Heacham’s roads in the process. The mayor advised that Landscape Programme; Heacham Parish Council and the Campaign to
any traffic problems were not for them to sort, County Highways Protect Rural England, to which the town council is affiliated! This is
would have to do that. Let us hope they do - an access onto the top of surely a good enough reason for asking councillors to reconsider the
the hill was preferred by developers and Highways alike at the start of decisions taken on August 4th?
this process. This makes me wonder just how many councillors who voted to support
A presentation by Cruso and Wilkin, agents for the Le Strange estate, the Hopkins Homes application now regret the fact that by doing so they
assuring councillors that preferred sites for development were indeed voted for all vehicular access (except emergency service vehicles) to be
able to be developed and provide any necessary homes, was also via Hunstanton Road, Heacham and the A149?
largely ignored. Indeed HTC seems intent on almost doubling the The Town Council is only a consultee and the borough council makes
number of new homes actually ‘required’ of them in the Local Plan. the decisions, which makes it all the more important for councillors to take
Did you ask for that Hunstanton? into account the views of residents most affected by a proposed major
In the event, Hunstanton Town Council voted to accept this development, before deciding whether to support or object to a planning
application for a large scale development without qualification even application.
though they didn’t appear to really know what was in the small, and Members of the town council planning committee expect the chairman
large, print. Democracy, it makes you proud. to find out if alterations or extensions to a single property will adversely
Objections had to be received by the 14th though the window will affect the neighbours. Therefore, before making a decision that will have
likely be open right up until the case is heard at KLWN Hopkins far reaching consequences for the neighbouring village, Heacham Parish
Homes did not consult Heacham residents at all. Application number Council should have been asked if the proposed development is likely to
14/01022/FM. have an adverse impact on Heacham residents?
Terence Parish, Heacham Having read the le Strange Estate's written submission to the borough
council and listened to a summary on behalf of the Estate, all town
Editor’s note: I passed Mr Parish’s letter on to the Council for councillors should have been satisfied that work could begin as early as
comment. The Clerk and the Mayor did not accept the content as an next year on building 100 new homes on land east of the A149 within easy
accurate reflection of the meeting. The Mayor added via e mail: “I walking distance of the town centre.
don't propose to get involved in a tit for tat line by line reply. Thank For reasons of their own, which remain a mystery, nine councillors,
you for the opportunity to comment.” She copied her response to none of them residing south of Oasis Way, voted to support the Hopkins
members of HTC and Cllr Parton e mailed: “If you put yourselves in Homes application.
the shoes of an audience member the debate could well have been August 4th 2014 turned out to be a bad day for Hunstanton and for local
perceived in this way. As far as factual inaccuracies go I suppose the democracy, especially when the purpose of town and parish councils is to
assertion that HTC is attempting to almost double the number of act as sounding boards for local public opinion! The only consolation for
houses suggested by the local plan could be regarded as exaggeration me was the thought that August 4th 1914 was a much worse day for my
but other than that Mr Parish's recollection is an not unreasonable parents, grandparents and for millions of others...
recollection of events if, as I said, you put yourself in an audience John Maiden