The Humble Petition of the residents of Bozeat, Northamptonshire and the surrounding areas,
Sheweth,
That the proposed housing development, application number WP/2013/0332 on the land off Hillside Close, Bozeat, is unacceptable because the scale and location of the development is out of character with the village and would extend the village boundary.
Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your Honourable House urges the Department for Communities and Local Government, and the Borough Council of Wellingborough to work together to ensure that this development does not occur.
And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c.—[Presented by Mr Peter Bone, Official Report, 11 November 2013; Vol. 570, c. 774.]
[P001289]
Observations from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government:
The Borough Council of Wellingborough is responsible for the day-to-day planning of their area. The Government’s policy is not to interfere with the jurisdiction of a local planning authority unless it is necessary to do so. This is because local authority Councillors are elected to represent the views of local people and, in the main, it is these Councillors who are in the best position to decide whether a development should go ahead. In determining a planning application the local planning authority are required to have regard to all material considerations including the development plan, national policies and views expressed by third parties. It is, of course, for local planning authorities to provide whatever justification that may be appropriate to give for their decisions and procedures.
Officials have been in contact with planning officers at the Borough of Wellingborough Council. If the Council are minded to approve the planning application the Secretary of State will carefully consider this case against call-in policy, as set out in the Written Statement by the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Grantham and Stamford (Nick Boles), Official Report, 26 October 2012, column 71WS. The policy makes it clear that the power to call in a planning application will only be used very selectively. The Government are committed to giving more power to councils and communities to make their own decisions on planning issues, and believes planning decisions should be made at the local-level wherever possible.