The special meeting of Scottow Parish Council on Wednesday gave local people the opportunity to comment on the planning applications for a solar farm and for the conversion of the Three Horseshoes pub to housing.
Those attending were opposed to the solar farm and the Parish Council has decided to object to the planning application. While there were lots of criticisms of the proposal the key concern related to the impact of the proposal on the landscape and I made the point to the applicant’s planning consultants, who were at the meeting, that there was very little information about landscaping included with the application. The planning consultants accepted this and promised to give more detail on this. I was also critical of the applicant’s decision to not carry-out any pre-application consultation and no explanation of this was forthcoming.
Many people also questioned why there is a proposal to turn agricultural land into a solar farm at the same time as the County Council is proposing to turn much of the former airbase back to agriculture. As I said at the meeting however, this is not a reason that the planning officers and planning committee may take into account. The only thing that they can consider is whether this planning application is acceptable, not whether there is a better place for it.
When discussion turned to the Three Horseshoes application every single member of the public left the meeting, leaving the Parish Councillors to discuss the matter on their own. Their view was that given the problems with antisocial behaviour that have surrounded the pub for the last few years, they were supportive of the proposal to turn the building into housing.
Both applications will now be considered by the Council’s planning officers and I shall keep you all updated.