Council ignores local plan ideas (From Basingstoke Gazette)
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Council ignores local plan ideas
11:20am Monday 19th November 2012 in Letters
Sir.–The recent appeal by the Conservative leader of our council for residents to write to him with ideas for the development of a local plan rings hollow.
In response to the council’s last consultation, there was one standout overwhelming message from residents. We all felt that Basingstoke had built far more than its fair share of new homes.
Recent evidence supports that. As a result the overwhelming majority, 75 per cent, made it clear they did not want high rates of development.
Yet leader Councillor Clive Sanders decides not only to ignore this unequivocal response, he actually approves a 30 per cent increase in the housing number target from the plan originally approved before the administration was found to have acted unlawfully and irrationally over Manydown.
If this is his idea of ‘listening’ and ‘localism’, it is little surprise residents don’t bother to respond to consultations.
–P Lynch, Pyotts Hill, Old Basing.
