Fight now to avoid more Hill View Farm cases
6th September 2013
The Government wants to continue relaxing the rules on which developments need planning permission. This could mean your community changing overnight – but you’d get no say in it. Act now!
An application to convert Hill View Farm in Old Marston from agricultural use to a meeting hall highlights the dangers of new rules that prevent local people having any say in planning decisions.
Local opposition to this barn conversion may be disregarded because new ‘Permitted Development Rights’ introduced last May mean that many buildings can now change their use without needing planning permission.
Sidestepping planning controls in this way makes a nonsense of ‘localism’ in allowing no local opinion to be expressed at all.
And now the Government is hoping to relax the rules even further!
For example, shops and agricultural buildings up to 150 square metres could be allowed to change to residential use without planning permission.
We think that our local communities deserve a say, as we are the ones that will be affected if shops suddenly disappear or there is an overnight increase in traffic to previously quiet agricultural sites.
The public consultation on these proposed changes runs until 15 October 2013.
PLEASE RESPOND NOW!
Details of proposed changes and how to respond to the consultation are available here (gov.uk website).