Meeting of the planning committee demonstrated how impotent and irrelevant the planning process in Bolton has become

First it seems that although the houses constructed at Grundy’s Farm bear no relationship to the plans which had been given consent and the submission to allow the building to proceed unchanged was rejected, it appears that there is little prospect of these houses being demolished. Secondly, even though the planning department had allowed St Paul’s Mill to operate as a wedding venue for some two years without consent and without any form of enforcement to prevent it doing so, it was given permission to continue. This was in the face of parking arrangements (or lack of them) breaching just about every planning requirement.

It seems now that provided the local ‘community’ can come to some agreement between themselves, then that is sufficient and planning regulations can be ignored.

This less than 24 hours after Councillor Nick Peel insisted that the Planning Review found no fault with the operation of the committee.

Councillor Paul Richardson

Ripon Close

Little Lever