Megaphone Development


For some mysterious reason the Scottish Borders' Planning Highheidyins have made it difficult to access the latest details of the contentious outline planning application for four new houses at Hutton Castle Barns. It may be because this is not a new application but the continuation of an old one which was withdrawn late last year because of local opposition and because the planning flaws in the proposal were exposed. It was a classic case how not to apply. Let the neighbours find out either when they are contacted via the formal notification process or when they log on to the SBC Planning website! It would surely have been more courteous to have knocked on a few doors (5 or so only) and explained what they wanted to do taking account of people's views and comments and seeking to modify the proposal accordingly. Should not be a problem when it is for an outline planning permission and there is accordingly room for manoeuvre. In this case the neighbours were presented with plans apparently showing houses in-your-face-mate-just-right-across-the-road-peering into-your-bedroom-sort-of-thing. In fact the sites were so large that putting the houses at the back of the plot rather than at the very front might have helped to elicit a more positive neighbourly response. And apart from understandable nimbyism there were also real problems of access and excessive traffic.

And then the proposal resurfaces a few months later, unchanged and without any attempt at consultation. Same plans, same in your face bricks and mortar, same access problems, same green field site on good farming land-nothing altered in the light of previous comments. With the obvious result. Same opposition.Same deficiencies

You might think, mightn't you that such a proposal hardly deserves to succeed? And the smart money says

it won't

Labels: Hutton Castle Barns, Planning

  ¶ 12:16 PM