RE: Officers Report5 Sep 2019 08:35
Yes, that’s absolutely how it works...
The officers report to the framework documents, the law.
Councillors usually follow the recommendation. Once in a while they Rebel and the appeal costs ,hit the council a p in the ÂŁ50,000 range.
The only time a council SHOULD reject the officers report if a new valid planning issue raises its head in the 10 days before the planning meeting. Such as the discovery of a pair of breading Surrey dodos, natajack toads,
I did this when the planning officers used the wrong map and I proved that more than 20 Ha of grade 3a farm land was being lost to a housing development. Using the defra map rather than the county planning map. The defra map was more detailed and up to date.