It's an extraordinary proposal to build a development that will loom over and dominate the surrounding area with something completely out of local character. The pressure of the hundreds or thousands of new people all slap-bang in one place would have a huge impact which really does not seem to be have been properly assessed.Not surprisingly when the council approved the building a number of residents were less than happy.
These decisions aren't meant to be party political but on this occasion there were very clear party lines with the Greens and Lib Dems voting against and Labour voting for (and then the Labour chair used his casting vote to approve). I've never heard a convincing reason from Labour as to why they voted en bloc for a proposal that seems so ill conceived.
Of course, the planning requests were put together before the financial bubble burst so who knows whether this will really go ahead. If the economic climate gives residents more time to make their voices heard then it's just as well as it will be an uphill struggle ever since Labour got the rubber stamp out for the developers.
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Hi Jim
Worth being absolutely clear that cllrs on planning committee are not supposed to be whipped or to act on party political grounds, but to judge applications on their merits (or otherwise) and based on planning policies. Dean was very careful to exclude himself from any discussions we had locally about this application and no one put any pressure on him to vote one way or the other (though personally I'm glad he voted as he did).
This development has been far and away the most commonly mentioned issue on the doorstep so far in Ladywell. Most of the residents I've spoken to don't oppose reasonably high density development in that location, and wouldn't be averse to 8-12 storeys, ie slightly more than on the adjacent Rivermill estate, but feel that what is proposed is way OTT.
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