So just a brief update on this long drawn out process which many people signed a petition about, and which was obviously peaked by events which took place in January of this year regards destruction of urban forest off Temple Way. The site allocations SH35 and SH36 within the wordy document are of course a longstanding controversial issue and one which is not suddenly appearing as a new scheme.
The examination is to take place over three weeks, with the first week kicking off from Tuesday 15th July. In a nutshell this week concerned legal matters around the plan and whether it was compliant with this. I took part, as the only member of the public to participate in the hearing sessions, and in that I made the point as to how off putting this process has been with hundreds of pages of documents being dropped within a short consultation time making it virtually impossible for the layman to digest. As I have said before, the process favours developers and their agents whose job it is to decipher the jargon, argue on theoretical matters and hide behind computer models that can tell you everything that you programme it too. The methodology may look good on paper, but in reality where has rattlechain lagoon and its near neighbour ever got with grandiose plans that never materialise?
The Sandwell Plan examination is examined by an independent inspector appointed by the Secretary of State. Whatever you make of Ms Rayner, it does at least put SMBC councillors and employees on their toes, which is a very rare event when it comes to scrutiny of their activities- see the Wragge report and other matters from not so long ago, and you can see how dire the situation has been in this rotten borough- especially on matters of planning and development and favours being granted due to dodgy land sales.
Usually, the comrades at the council have already practiced yesternight the Sandwell Labour pantomime that is the full council meeting in the chamber, where certain individuals pompously big up how wonderful the borough is under their direct control and weak insignificant “opposition” sit by as passive observers. But with an outside inspector as the chair, you could visibly see the apprehension and nervous looks etched on the faces. There was even some pre meeting comment from one council wag before she walked in about whether the jug of water on her desk “was the poisoned one”. If only they took certain poisoned water bodies in their area more seriously eh? 😳
The hearing session from day one can be viewed below, though I say this with apprehension as to the dodgy connection sometimes offered. Inspector Jack graciously offered to take the matters that I wanted to take part in first- her matters and issues questions 9 and 10, as I thought these the only ones really relevant to the discussion in terms of issues I had raised on legal compliance. There will be plenty more to come in subsequent weeks regards the “soundness” of the plan, so stay tuned.
I did make an early point about the sound quality in the chamber, which I am aware at times has been very poor at broadcast meetings. That is why I wanted to make my own recording as to my participation. I sat pensively from seat 13, my lucky number. 🙂
Councillor Vicki Smith read a pre prepared script about the plan, and I would pick out some comments from this as quite telling. It is clear that in private at least, the officers and councillors know that Sandwell can not possibly allocate the numbers of houses that The Labour Government want. Rebellion however is not something that these Starmerites have in their DNA.
I had raised the disparity of how Sandwell is over populated in the region, and certainly nationally with lack of green space some time ago, based on the then census figures.
Source: office of national statistics
Source: office of national statistics
I did make the point that it was due to Dudley councils rather treacherous actions of pulling the plug on what was the “black country core strategy” which then became “the Black country plan” that Sandwell had to hurriedly create its own bastardised version. This must have diverted hundreds of officer hours and it is apparent that this haste has led to errors and omissions which I am in no doubt the inspector is quite aware of.
It was argued by the council that publication of the plan had been extensive and was published on social media and also the council’s own in house paper.
But as for the Sandwell Herald, this party political propaganda rag invariably ends up being delivered to the local cut, as can be evidenced here in the Tividale area. I wonder how many actually saw an opportunity to comment on the stages of the plan, as I have at every stage, or just how many could not be bothered? It should bother everyone in Sandwell– it will affect your lives into the 2040’s and those of any children you have.
poison propaganda in water
Some of the officers from planning I have crossed swords with before- I’d like to think tongue in cheek, no offense meant. Some I have never heard of, but there are rather a gollop of them. Mr Richards the QC for the council I couldn’t help liking. He summarised points that I was making and didn’t really go on the full attack as I thought he might- I do think there is some grudging respect of my “mischief” in trying to derail the plan site allocations, though of course this is unlikely to happen in reality in terms of the way the process is stacked. The opportunity however to make the case a public matter and one which sees the light of day cannot be passed over.Â
