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The truths they don't want you to read....

Monday, July 23, 2007

Local Public Inquiry

I tripped over this issue by mistake, as I had forgotten all about the Inquiry into the Comhairle's local plan.

For those of you who missed the extensive coverage in the local press, you will be unaware that the local plan requires to be advertised and any amendments considered and either agreed between the objectors and the Comhairle, or be taken up in front of the Reporter.

The final documents in pdf format are very large, but if you have broadband, they are worth downloading just for the list of 'usual suspects' in objecting (page 50 of 92) to anything and everything.

The objections were heard at a meeting in mid-June (2007 and not 2008, as the Comhairle website has it), with the final outcome to be reported to the Committee in August.

As you always find, some of the objections are quite sensible, but many are multiple objections obviously framed in exactly the same way, and a look at the Final Schedule of Representations is amusing just to see the serial complainers causing work and expense for the Comhairle i.e. you and me, in the mistaken belief that 20 copies of the same letter have more impact than 1.

For anyone who thinks these complaints are immaterial, you may recall that the social housing at MacKay Court aka Balamory, beside the Health Board Offices, was delayed for over a year due to a nuisance complaint from the worst serial complainant of all (see blogs passim), which was eventually thrown out as ludicrous. I will carry news of the
outcome in due course.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am sorry to say that the thing that struck me most about this document was not the 'usual suspects' but the fact that so much paper was wasted - could the pages (one after another in most cases) with just the one tiny box at the top not be run together? Has no-one been able/willing to invent a printer to do this?

Anonymous said...

Given that it was a PDF I don't see how any paper was wasted

Anonymous said...

I hasten to add that I did not print it out... but I know others will have. Either because their eyes (like mine) get tired looking at the screen or they don't have the time to look at it at that moment or (like last week) they are going on holiday and want some holiday reading (some folk are strange)