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2015 March: Covering Letter To Sir Bill Cash MP + Responses

From: Cheadle Unite [mailto:cheadleunite@dsl.pipex.com]
Sent: 11 March 2015 23:21
To: 'MCCONALOGUE, Jim'
Cc: Anthony Joynes; 'Clare Powell'; 'David Edwards'; 'Greg Powell'; 'Martyn and Rosies'; Nigel Kelsall; Nigel Kelsall; 'Paul Fisher'; 'Paul Keeling'
Subject: Cheadle Unite - Letter to Bill Cash Re Statement of Community Involvement 5th March 2015

Dear Bill Cash MP,

We hope you are well.

Following on from our emails below, as stated, we received a ‘Statement of Community Involvement’  from SMDC last Thursday 5th of March. Having looked at the document we sent out a response yesterday for the Attention of the Chief Executive of Staffordshire Moorlands District Council.  We copied this to you yesterday for your attention (Attached again in PDF Form).

In addition to the statement made, the following points have been flagged to us.

During the Cheadle East (Thorley Drive) Planning application, SMDC planning offers presented heavily pro-development biased documentation to the planning committee. Residents and action groups that pay Council Tax to SMDC and are largely opposed to such developments were not given equal representation and the District council planning officers emphasised the presumption to favour development to the Councillors. Further at the point at which the councillors looked likely to vote and the tone was to reject the proposal,  an SMDC representative asked if the councillors would like legal advice without the presence of the general public. Fortunately Councillors stood their ground on this occasion. An SMDC representative then went on to state that there could be cost implications of rejecting the application, effectively lobbying to influence the councillors democratic decision just before a vote was likely. Stating the costs could be significant given that the developers may pursue a costs claim and further claiming that we did not have 5 years land provision.

We have written to the Chief Executive asking who takes on legal responsibility for the claims made by the Planning Officers, should any of their claims prove incorrect. For example impacts on road traffic. If there is the potential for developers to make a claim against SMDC, then surely inaccurate planning officer guidance would be somewhere they would look as the basis for a claim. This practice of providing a case for development by SMDC should surely be a concern when there is strong objection to such development.  To date we have not had any written response from the Chief Executive’s office regarding this.

We realise you are due to write to us when you have a response from SMDC regarding the email sent to you on the 20th Feb (detailed below),  (SMDC planning department have indicated some form of direct response due within the week ) but in the meantime can you please  forward the additional information (copied to you yesterday regarding our Response to SMDC Notification of the Staffordshire Moorlands Statement of Community Involvement)   and the points made above to the Minister of State and the Department For Communities and Local Government and include us on the circulation.

We are working towards a summary statement /  or FAQ  style document to circulate around the community. We will circulate this to you for comment before hand, but would like as much clarity as is possible on the way our concerns are being handled at Government level as much as by SMDC along with your position on this.

Kind regards,

Greg Powell

Cheadle Unite – Secretary.

From: MCCONALOGUE, Jim [mailto:MCCONALOGUEJ@parliament.uk]
Sent: 24 March 2015 14:58
To: Cheadle Unite
Subject: RE: Cheadle Unite - Letter to Bill Cash Re Statement of Community Involvement 5th March 2015

Dear Greg,

Many thanks for your recent correspondence to Sir Bill – Bill is grateful for you sending this to him and he has now received the attached letter from Staffordshire Moorlands District Council – which I note you will have received on 18th March – and we are chasing for a response from the Minister of State.

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me.

With kind regards,

Jim

Jim McConalogue
Office of Sir William Cash MP

  1320 Houses/Dwellings Still Planned for Cheadle    250 Houses In Cheadle North East       Brookhouses Development already approved  

  26%+ Swell in Our Population Planned in 12 years   441 In Urban Sites Around Cheadle    200 Properties on Small Urban Extensions

  More Traffic/Pollution. Services stretched                  124 Builds Already Completed              86+ Developments already agreed

  To receive our emails contact us at cheadleunite@dsl.pipex.com