Tollerton Parish Council members say they were ‘shocked and disappointed’ that on 1 October a consultation on a proposed Supplementary Planning Document was launched by Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) in connection to Tollerton – Gamston planning.
A spokesperson said:
‘Despite Rushcliffe Borough Council having nearly ten years to prepare for this consultation, the Parish Council was not informed by RBC before the publication, indeed coming after the end of the working day councillors learnt about it
from the media.‘The Parish Council thinks that the way that the Consultation has been arranged is totally unacceptable and has written to RBC to express those very strong concerns. You can see a copy of the letter below.’
‘Our main concerns are;
1. The consultation is set to run for five weeks, two of which are half-term – far too short a time for people to feed in usefully
2. No information has been provided to residents either through their doors or in local venues like the pub, post-office or church halls.
3. There is a single public meeting arranged, not even in Tollerton, despite our many suitable meeting venues.
4. The Parish Council does not meet during the period of the consultation so we are not able to bring residents together to discuss these proposals in public
“When we have a response to our letter we will update and in the meantime, in parallel with this, we are preparing a full response to the Consultation and will share this with residents in due course.
“The Parish Council is committed to ensuring that the voice of local people is heard loudly and clearly regarding building on the Airport site. This consultation from RBC will not achieve that and we work with local residents to fix it.
A Rushcliffe Borough Council spokesperson said: “The consultation is following the same process as all similar engagement on planning matters, so that it remains an independent process in line with our duty as the planning authority. This means external stakeholders are informed at the same time to ensure all have the same opportunity to comment on the proposals.
“We recognise the proposed Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) for the former airport site is of significant interest to local communities and we understand the wider perspectives many local people and councils may have on the matter. However we need to follow our protocols fairly to ensure we remain independent. We encourage residents to have their say in our consultation that is now live and available on our website at www.rushcliffe.gov.uk/supplmentary-planning-documents.”
