Originally Posted by: Whaley Laner

It was a very sad day when planning permission was granted on C9. John Pritchard David Lomax and Linda Leather did their best to represent Whaley Bridge and should be congratulated for their efforts. The reason why C9 will become a housing estate is down to Caitlin Bisknell and her Labour council colleagues who have shown no interest in local opinion or the effects this decision will have on Whaley Bridge. It will be a long time before Whaley Bridge residents forget how shabbily they have been treated and this may well be remembered at the next election.

Edited by user 03 September 2014 17:04:54(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Rockbanker thinks I am being disingenuous but I have no doubt in my mind that Caitlin Bisknell and her Labour council colleagues are responsible for the approval of planning permission for a housing estate on the greenfield site between Linglongs Road and Macclesfield Road.

The lack of affordable housing is an enormous problem in this country brought about by the previous Labour government. Since 1997 planning policies have been tightened due to Tony Blair buckling to pressure from the green lobby whilst at the same time immigration has spiralled upwards. A combination of fewer houses being built and an increasing population for 13 years is a recipe for rising house prices and a national housing crisis especially for the young and the poor in society.

Figures have now been released showing the number of affordable housing delivered by each local authority between 2010 and 2014. Of the 331 Local Authorities in England High Peak came 309 only delivering 120 houses during this period. This confirms the Borough Council under the Labour leadership of Caitlin Bisknell has failed in providing much needed housing for less well off people in High Peak.

Most residents agree new houses need to be built but the crucial decision is where to build them. I believe this is the reason the Local Housing Plan idea was introduced to ensure sufficient houses are built whilst allowing local people to decide where to build them. This is far more preferable than sites being imposed by civil servants in Whitehall.

An adopted Local Plan should stop unwanted developments but a major problem arises when you have an incompetent Borough Council who after more than three years in control and more than two years of shambolic preparation have still not been able to deliver an adopted Local Plan. This makes every green field in the High Peak vulnerable to a planning application.

High Peak Borough Council have now submitted a Local Plan for approval of the Planning Inspectorate but the decision of the Development Control Committee on 4 August to approve the application for 107 houses on the greenfield site between Linglongs Road and Macclesfield Road makes a complete nonsense of the newly agreed Local Plan as the application by Gladman Developments is for almost twice the area of the C9 site contained within the Local Plan that is currently being considered for approval..

The Development Control Committee is dominated by Labour Councillors from outside Whaley Bridge and they ignored a number of well founded planning objections to the proposal purely because of the need to allocate more land for housing. When it came to the vote all the Labour Councillors present at the meeting voted in favour of approving planning permission making the votes of the other councillors meaningless. The decision of the Labour controlled committee has meant a costly legal battle is required to challenge the decision to approve planning permission.

There are plenty of brownfield sites in High Peak which are suitable for development and would accommodate the required number of dwellings but these have not been adequately explored due to the incompetence of the council. None of the speakers at the Development Control meeting thought Linglongs Road / Macclesfield Road was an appropriate place to build but all the Labour Councillors voted for approval because they no longer have sufficient time to find other more suitable sites to meet the predicted demand for housing and would prefer an unsuitable development in Whaley Bridge rather than Buxton or Glossop.

I still believe Whaley Bridge residents will remember how shabbily they have been treated by Caitlin Bisknell and her Labour council colleagues when they cast their votes in future elections including next years General Election when Caitlin Bisknell is the Labour Party candidate and thinks she should be our next MP.

Originally Posted by: Jonny Summers

Have you EVER posted anything that didn't have a go at the Labour Party? Far from blaming the last Labour government for the lack of social/affordable housing (although I do blame them for many other things) I think most people would agree it was Thatcher's policy of selling council houses off and then preventing the council from building replacements that has led to high house prices all over the country and the lack of social housing in general!!! ...and NO, I'm not a Labour supporter or even Labour voter!

Thatcher was responsible for many things but I don't think she can be blamed for the granting of planning permission to build 107 houses between Linglongs Road / Macclesfield Road or the fact that High Peak Borough Council have built fewer affordable homes than 93% of other local authorities in England between 2010 and 2014. Our local borough councillors Linda Leather David Lomax and John Pritchard did their best but I still believe those responsible for a beautiful area of Whaley Bridge being turned into a housing estate are Caitlin Bisknell Godfrey Claff and their Labour colleagues on High Peak Borough Council.