Tories are masters at manipulating the planning system

From: Coun Paul Andrews, Malton Ward, Ryedale District Council.

IT is a bit rich for Keith Knaggs, the former leader of Ryedale Council, to criticise the way the planning system works. When it comes to manipulating the system, his Conservative group at Ryedale are the masters.

Ryedale’s draft district plan is nothing but a Nimby charter. Ryedale is one of the most sparsely populated districts in the country, with just over 50,000 residents living in an area of 550 square miles. Even so, all the country members (i.e. most of Ryedale’s Conservative group) decided that all new market housing for the next 15 years (all 4,000 houses) should be built in the few square miles occupied by the towns and a few larger villages – and half of these (2,000 houses) should be built in Malton/Norton, which to date has fewer than 6,000 dwellings.

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They also decided that Malton/Norton should have 80 per cent of all new employment development, and a huge new superstore. All this was planned by Coun Knaggs and his group for a town which is well-known for its attractive Georgian centre and the narrow road network, its inadequate access to the A64 trunk road and the traffic issues which go with it.

Coun Knaggs and his group clearly decided to sacrifice Malton/Norton in the interests of preserving the rest of Ryedale in aspic. The fact that blocking further development in villages is most likely to bring them a slow death just does not concern them.

In order to achieve the objectives of the Conservative group, Ryedale Council instructed a number of eminent consultants to prepare reports to justify what the council wanted.

On close examination, the data used by the consultants does not seem to justify their conclusions. This was particularly evident in the case of the supermarket proposal, where, under rigorous questioning, the consultants’ advice was found to be so badly flawed that a government inspector awarded costs against the council – believed to amount to about £200,000.

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Unfortunately the rest of the district plan was examined separately before another inspector under different rules and a procedure which does not permit rigorous cross-examination. Sadly, the inspector has rubber stamped the council’s proposals, in spite of its flawed logic.

In doing so, the inspector completely ignored the views of the local residents of Malton/Norton, as evidenced in a number of ways – particularly in a local public consultation carried out in connection with a draft neighbourhood plan, which has been agreed by both Malton and Norton Town Council. Malton/Norton people are not Nimbys; they were prepared to accept 1,000 new houses, but 2,000 was far too many. Clearly local opinion does not matter, and the Government’s localism policies are exposed as a hollow lie.

The sheer folly and unfairness of this plan shows precisely what is wrong with the local plans system. Yes, Coun Knaggs, there is much wrong with the system, and you and your group have exploited its opportunities ruthlessly and unfairly to impose the wishes of people who do not live in Malton/Norton on an unwilling town.

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