Why Cllr Geraldine Mathieson will be a key speaker at the West Newton planning meeting13 Mar 2022 08:23
Many of the councillors were undecided at the start of the 30th September 2021 planning committee meeting for West Newton. Interestingly even when it came to the final vote we heard.."Can you make your minds up please, hands going up and down...show clearly please...for refusal ?"
Cllr Geraldine Mathieson stood out for me and spoke the most sense at that planning committee meeting. She was very well researched and had studied many other comparative reports and other previous planning inspector documents. She highlighted Sittingbourne, who got partial costs at appeal after refusal of planning, and another important case to her was Stansted Airport which got awarded full costs. Stansted was a good comparison to West Newton for an appeal outcome decision in her mind. She acknowledged that they, as councillors, are the amateurs, who do not know more than the planning experts here and that they must abide to by law. Geraldine also stated that all objections had been discounted and addressed by conditions for West Newton. She accepted their case would be seen as weak at appeal and as a council they would get hurt. She said she was 100 % certain that case law would be against a refusal by the council. She admitted that an appeal would be approved by the inspector and full costs would be awarded. Also, it would not stop the development, it would just delay it and give false hope to objectors. She was also sensitive to not wanting to waste hard earned tax payers money.
Geraldine came across as an intelligent lady who holds balanced views which is needed in the energy transition. She supported useful action where the energy transition was concerned and not political hot air. She spoke of the bus station in her constituency still struggling to install batteries and how the solar farms to feed in to those batteries were still not there yet.
Geraldine will, without a doubt, be an important speaker and influence at the West Newton planning meeting this week. She will be very aware well versed regarding the current energy crisis globally and the effects on the UK in terms of rising bills and the importance of West Newton in terms of energy security. I would be very surprised if she refused the application this time and I believe those councillors who may be undecided will listen intently to Geraldine’s thinking and this will make their mind up when it comes to the final vote.
Sign In
Follow the stocks
