A crunch decision on a major flats building programme was delayed after ‘amazing inaccuracies’ were found in a planning report.
If approved the plan would have seen a total of 43 homes, including 35 flats along with eight houses, built on land of Grizedale Close, Smithills, with two bungalows that occupied the site demolished.
But the decision was delayed after planning reports were said to have missed out key details, including about objections that residents may have still had about the proposal.
Cllr Susan Priest, who represents Smithills, said: “I attended my first planning committee meeting last week and was amazed that inaccuracies in the planning report for Grizedale Close meant that this had to be deferred.
“Not only did this cause inconvenience for the Committee but also those who attended specifically for this case.
“The planning and enforcement appeal statistic report was also missing vital information.”
Planning committee chairman Cllr John Walsh said he had no choice but to defer the decision until this month.
By this time, he hopes, members would have been given the correct information before making their final decision, including details on which objections from residents may still be in place.
But, addressing a full meeting of Bolton Council Cllr Priest wanted to know how this had been allowed to happen in the first place and when she could expect to see the planning department function ‘properly.’
In response, cabinet member for planning Cllr Toby Hewitt claimed it was inevitable some difficulties would arise out of the more than 2,350 planning applications made over the last year.
He said: “I’m sure we can agree that officers never intended to mislead of inconvenience the planning committee or anyone attending the meeting.”
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He added: “Officers are committed to ensuring that the detail will be available in full for the next committee meeting so there will be no requirements to discuss it further.”
The decision on the plans for Grizedale Close is now set to be made at the next meeting of the planning committee on August 18.
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