Public Inquiry Blog

We have recently found that three of the Centros planning applications relating to two large residential developments and an office/retail unit (08/00864/OUT, 08/00865/OUT and 07/00602/OUT) have not been included in the public inquiry. A complaint to the Secretary of State about this omission of the first two elicited a response from the Government Office for the Northwest (GONW) showing that the Council are not above muddying the waters in their dealings with GONW. In this case GONW informed us that the council told them that the planning applications in question had not been decided. As far as we know, outline planning consent was granted on these applications at the extended plannning committee meeting on October 14th 2008, though the council planning application web pages now show the status of the first two applications as 'Pending Decision' without saying what decision is pending. Application 07/00602/OUT for a building with retail at ground floor level with offices above on land east of the Golden Lion on Moor Lane is shown as 'Application Permitted'

A detailed objection to 08/00864/OUT (the site at the junction of Alfred St and St Leonards Gate), sent to the council before the centros plans were approved, highlights many failings of this particular application and the associated Centros planning documents refer to the main application frequently. This extract from the Plannning Committee meeting on Oct 13th/14th 2008 clearly notes links and dependencies between the main application and 08/00864/OUT and gives a reason for delay of 08/00864/OUT as being 'Joint determination with main outline planning application', but despite all this evidence, the council has managed to convince GONW that these applications should not be considered at the inquiry. We will be trying to get these applications included as well.