RE: Balcombe - still no change29 Nov 2022 09:42
Push2 I have to respectfully disagree, as a professional in the planning field, by law the decision to be made by the Inspector has to be based purely on the facts relevant to the appeal proposal - policy, site consideration, proposed operations on the site, potential impacts and proposed mitigation. Taking into account anything else runs the risk of judicial review by any of the interested parties, including Angus.
My money is on an overstretched, under-funded Inspectorate (PINS) - I have an ex-colleague and friend who is an inspector and from what he has said, it's been 10 years of cuts and failed IT systems!
The latest stats from PINS for the 12 months until the end of August 2022, they had received 21,704 appeals, and made 17,519 decisions, with the FTE of 335 Inspectors.