Another great turnout for WILD’s second open meeting on Thursday, 3rd October in Sayers Common Village Hall. Thank you to everyone who took the time to come along. The main purpose of the meeting was to bring everyone up to date with the planning process stage and explain what WILD has been doing since the last open meeting.
- Toby Waldock from WILD chaired the meeting and gave an overview of the planning stage and WILD’s approach to the upcoming Inspectors hearings. He explained how funds (including a generous donation from Avtrade) are being used, for supporting studies and legal representation at the hearings.
- Tim Higginson provided more detail on the topics WILD is focussing on: the Council’s failure to communicate properly; their assessment of strategic options which didn’t consider all options fairly; the use of the 20-minute neighbourhood concept in an inappropriate (rural) setting; and no evidence that transport and flood risk issues had been fully considered when the plan was being developed.
After the speakers the meeting was opened up to questions from the floor. Some of the questions which arose were:
- Has Alison Bennett been approached for her response to this? Not formally by WILD but her stance is clear by having voted for the plan.
- How often is a plan rejected by an inspector? It does happen, but not frequently. The objective for the inspector is to help the council pass the plan, not to find reasons to reject it.
- Is there definitely a stage 2 for the hearings? The inspector has said that she needs to be satisfied that the issues she is raising in stage 1 have been resolved. She will then set dates for Stage 2, when she will look at aspects of the plan – such as the allocation of sites – in more detail.
- Should we attend the hearings in person? There isn’t really a need for people to attend the hearings in person. A big turnout won’t affect the outcome. It is up to individuals if they would like to be there. It will also be live streamed on YouTube.
The meeting closed with a call for all those present to subscribe to the WILD website and make a donation.
You can see a copy of the slides from the meeting here.